Error 3917

Severity

16

Message text

An attempt was made to startup a multi-database update in database ’%S_DBID’ after starting up the master transaction in tempdb. This could render the database ’%S_DBID’ unrecoverable and this update is therefore not allowed.

Explanation

Error 3917 is raised when you initiate a transaction in tempdb and the transaction attempts to update one or more tables in another database. For example:

1> use tempdb
2> go

1> begin tran
2> go

1> update geo..nation
2> set n_comment="This is a grade V earthquake zone"
3> where n_nationkey = 4
4> go

Msg 3917, Level 16, State 1:
Line 1:
An attempt was made to startup a multi-database update in database
’geo’ after starting up the master transaction in tempdb.
This could render the database ’geo’ unrecoverable and this
update is therefore not allowed.

You cannot start update transactions in tempdb because tempdb is truncated upon recovery. If the transaction is left in a prepare state and it becomes necessary to restart the server, this will render the user database (the one being updated) unrecoverable.