Extreme wait-time when taking a SQL Server database offline

Question

I'm trying to perform some offline maintenance (dev database restore from live backup) on my dev database, but the 'Take Offline' command via SQL Server Management Studio is performing extremely slowly - on the order of 30 minutes plus now. I am just about at my wits end and I can't seem to find any references online as to what might be causing the speed problem, or how to fix it.

Some sites have suggested that open connections to the database cause this slowdown, but the only application that uses this database is my dev machine's IIS instance, and the service is stopped - there are no more open connections.

What could be causing this slowdown, and what can I do to speed it up?

Answer 1

do you have open SQL Server management studio windows that are connected to this DB?

put it in single user mode, and then try again.

Answer 2

There is most likely a conenction to the DB from somewhere (a rare example: asynchronous statistic update)

To find connections, use sys.sysprocesses

USE master
SELECT * FROM sys.sysprocesses WHERE dbid = DB_ID('MyDB')

To force disconnections, use ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE

USE master
ALTER DATABASE MyDB SET SINGLE_USER WITH

Answer 3

After some additional searching (new search terms inspired by gbn's answer and u07ch's comment on KMike's answer) I found this, which completed successfully in 2 seconds:

ALTER DATABASE <dbname> SET OFFLINE WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE

Thanks a bunch guys - I appreciate the help. =)

Answer 4

anytime you run into this type of thing you should always think of your transaction log. The alter db statment with rollback immediate indicates this to be the case. Check this out: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189085.aspx

Bone up on checkpoints, etc. You need to decide if the transactions in your log are worth saving or not and then pick the mode to run your db in accordingly. There's really no reason for you to have to wait but also no reason for you to lose data either - you can have both.