SQL insert into suspended - Read uncommitted or split query? - sql

Question

I have a stored procedure that contains two insert into queries. While running the sp I often see these two as being suspended. The sp has been tested on a test server with almost no traffic but now as we moved it on to the production server these suspended states have appeared with 1-2 deadlocks.
I assume that SQL Server creates table locks while running these queries but I don't know what is the preferred way to solve this?
The insert into queries are moving 30000 records in one iteration into an other database. These are archive data, so queries coming from the normal production processes are nothing to do with the data being archived, they are 2-3 years old.
Can I add WITH NOLOCK to the selects to avoid suspended states and deadlocks?
Or should I set ISOLATION LEVEL to READ UNCOMMITTED? (these records are old, they won't change)
What other options do I have? Cursors to run through the ids it has to archive one by one? (I tried not to use cursors until now.)
These are the two queries. #workitemids and #workstepids are table variables containing one int field.
insert into archive_****.archive.workitems
select * from ****.dbo.WorkItems where ****.dbo.workitems.Id in (select Id from #workitemIds);
insert into archive_****.archive.worksteps([Id], [Timestamp], [Description], [WorkPlace_Id], [WorkItemState_Id], [UserId], [WorkItem_Id], [Technology_Id], [Failcodes_Id], [DrawingNo], [ManualData], [Deleted], [WorkItemState_Arrival_Id], Workstepdatas)
select [Id], [Timestamp], [Description], [WorkPlace_Id], [WorkItemState_Id], [UserId], [WorkItem_Id], [Technology_Id], [Failcodes_Id], [DrawingNo], [ManualData], [Deleted], [WorkItemState_Arrival_Id],
(select Fieldname Field, Value [Value], Unit [Unit] from ****.dbo.workstepdatas wsd
left join ****.dbo.technologydatafields tdf on tdf.Id = wsd.TechnologyDatafields_Id
where tdf.fieldname is not null and wsd.WorkStep_Id = ws.Id
and value NOT LIKE '%[' + CHAR(0)+ '-' +CHAR(31)+']%' COLLATE Latin1_General_100_BIN2
for xml auto,type)
from ****.dbo.worksteps ws
where ws.Id in (select Id from #workstepIds);

Answer 1

Please attempt to write the nested query into a cte as below and advise if any progress. You will need to change the database names.
insert into archive_db.archive.workitems (with tablock)
select *
from db.dbo.WorkItems as w
inner join #workitemIds as wi
on w.Id = wi.id;
with xmlcte
(ID, xmlRow)
as (
select ws.id
, (
select Fieldname as Field
, [Value]
, Unit
from db.dbo.workstepdatas wsd
left join db.dbo.technologydatafields tdf
on tdf.Id = wsd.TechnologyDatafields_Id
where
tdf.fieldname is not null
and wsd.WorkStep_Id = ws.Id
and [value] not like '%[' + char(0) + '-' + char(31) + ']%' collate Latin1_General_100_BIN2
for xml auto, type
) as xmlRow
from db.dbo.worksteps as ws
)
insert into archive_db.archive.worksteps (with tablock)
(
[Id]
, [Timestamp]
, [Description]
, [WorkPlace_Id]
, [WorkItemState_Id]
, [UserId]
, [WorkItem_Id]
, [Technology_Id]
, [Failcodes_Id]
, [DrawingNo]
, [ManualData]
, [Deleted]
, [WorkItemState_Arrival_Id]
, Workstepdatas
)
select ws.[Id]
, [Timestamp]
, [Description]
, [WorkPlace_Id]
, [WorkItemState_Id]
, [UserId]
, [WorkItem_Id]
, [Technology_Id]
, [Failcodes_Id]
, [DrawingNo]
, [ManualData]
, [Deleted]
, [WorkItemState_Arrival_Id]
, [xmlRow]
from db.dbo.worksteps ws
inner join #workstepIds as wsi
on ws.Id = wsi.id
inner join xmlcte -- I assume inner join is OK
on ws.id = xmlcte.id;