Unknown token received from SQL Server [SQLSTATE HY000] (Error 0)

Question

Unknown token received from SQL Server [SQLSTATE HY000] (Error 0)

Mike Hanna 0

After installing SQL Server patch 13.0.6455.2 for SQL Server 2016, one of our agent jobs is failing with Unknown token received from SQL Server [SQLSTATE HY000] (Error 0).

The job has one step that executes a stored procedure. The stored procedure runs without issue when invoked from SSMS manually. It only fails when called by the agent job.

I'm able to bypass the error by commenting out the line beginning with:

 CREATE INDEX IX_TEMP_STRUCT ON tempdb.dbo.

Note that the failure is not on the CREATE INDEX statement itself, but on the subsequent MERGE statement that references the temp table. The MERGE statement is dynamic SQL that is executed with sp_executesql().

This worked fine on the previous SQL Server 2016 patch level.

Erland Sommarskog 119.9K Reputation points MVP

2025-02-10T22:11:58.9133333+00:00

Have you looked in the SQL Server errorlog? I would expect to find a stack dump there.

Since it works from SSMS, here is a shot from the hip to try. Add this command to the job:

SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON.

The normal recommendation when you get a stack dump is to open a support case. But since SQL 2016 is out of mainstream support, this may not work out.
Mike Hanna 0 Reputation points

2025-02-11T21:16:12.3633333+00:00
Thank you both for responding. No stack dump is generated, unfortunately. I did uncover some additional info.

The job ran successfully with no changes to the stored procedure on Saturday (it failed Friday and Sunday), so this can be classified as intermittent and not directly related to the stored procedure, as I had previously suspected (even though the results were consistent while debugging).

I also ran the job output to file. At the end of the log:

Msg 0, Sev 0, State 1: Unknown token received from SQL Server [SQLSTATE HY000]

Msg 16389, Sev 16, State 1: The connection is no longer usable because the server response for a previously executed statement was incorrectly formatted. [SQLSTATE 08S01]

There were no changes to the service account's permissions (we use a domain account for the agent). The only change was installing patch 13.0.6455.2.
Erland Sommarskog 119.9K Reputation points MVP

2025-02-11T22:08:16.9166667+00:00

No, your comment was not lost in lala land. :-) This forum just has the bad habit of not displaying posts directly, but there can be a delay.

Intermittent errors are always hard to troubleshoot, and there is not really anything that says that the patch level is the issue. It might just be a coincidence that you hit this issue just after the update.

The error message definitely suggests a bug in SQL Server, because it should not send unknown tokens to the client. But I have run into this every now and then, often with error handling. Possibly, in your case, the behaviour is plan-dependent, which could explain why you get it sometimes, but not always.

2 answers

Your answer

Erland Sommarskog 119.9K Reputation points MVP

2025-02-10T22:11:58.9133333+00:00

Have you looked in the SQL Server errorlog? I would expect to find a stack dump there.

Since it works from SSMS, here is a shot from the hip to try. Add this command to the job:

SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON.

The normal recommendation when you get a stack dump is to open a support case. But since SQL 2016 is out of mainstream support, this may not work out.
Mike Hanna 0 Reputation points

2025-02-11T21:16:12.3633333+00:00

Thank you both for responding. No stack dump is generated, unfortunately. I did uncover some additional info.

The job ran successfully with no changes to the stored procedure on Saturday (it failed Friday and Sunday), so this can be classified as intermittent and not directly related to the stored procedure, as I had previously suspected (even though the results were consistent while debugging).

I also ran the job output to file. At the end of the log:

Msg 0, Sev 0, State 1: Unknown token received from SQL Server [SQLSTATE HY000]

Msg 16389, Sev 16, State 1: The connection is no longer usable because the server response for a previously executed statement was incorrectly formatted. [SQLSTATE 08S01]

There were no changes to the service account's permissions (we use a domain account for the agent). The only change was installing patch 13.0.6455.2.
Erland Sommarskog 119.9K Reputation points MVP

2025-02-11T22:08:16.9166667+00:00

No, your comment was not lost in lala land. :-) This forum just has the bad habit of not displaying posts directly, but there can be a delay.

Intermittent errors are always hard to troubleshoot, and there is not really anything that says that the patch level is the issue. It might just be a coincidence that you hit this issue just after the update.

The error message definitely suggests a bug in SQL Server, because it should not send unknown tokens to the client. But I have run into this every now and then, often with error handling. Possibly, in your case, the behaviour is plan-dependent, which could explain why you get it sometimes, but not always.

Answer 1

LiHongMSFT-4306 31,311

Hi @Mike Hanna

This worked fine on the previous SQL Server 2016 patch level.

Does the SQL Server Agent service account have the same permissions for the operation as previous? Pease double check the service account's permissions.

Besides, check the SQL Server error logs, SQL Agent logs, and Windows Event Viewer for any relevant errors.

Best regards,

Cosmog

If the answer is the right solution, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Answer 2

Deleted

This answer has been deleted due to a violation of our Code of Conduct. The answer was manually reported or identified through automated detection before action was taken. Please refer to our Code of Conduct for more information.

Comments have been turned off. Learn more

Share via

Unknown token received from SQL Server [SQLSTATE HY000] (Error 0)

2 answers

Your answer