READ COMMITTED is the default isolation level for SQL Server. It is important to understand the differences between SQL Server isolation levels and scenarios for which each is appropriate. If SQL Server detects two write operations attempting to modify the same data at the same time, it returns a message to the application in which there should be appropriate logic for resolving this conflict. Optimistic isolation levels make a copy of data for read operations so that write operations can proceed unhindered. Pessimistic isolation levels rely on locks to prevent changes to data during read operations and to block read operations on data that is being changed by another operation.
Pessimistic isolation levels use blocking to avoid conflicts whereas optimistic isolation levels use snapshots of the data to enable higher concurrency. SQL Server supports both pessimistic and optimistic isolation levels for concurrency management. Therefore, you must find the appropriate balance between protecting data and the effect of each isolation level. If you raise the isolation level, you minimize these concurrency problems, but transactions are more likely to block one another and performance is more likely to suffer. If you lower the isolation level, you can increase the number of concurrent transactions that SQL Server processes, but you also increase the risk of dirty reads and other problems associated with concurrent processes as we described in Skill 3.1. The purpose of the isolation levels is to specify how read operations should behave when other concurrent transactions are changing data.
If a transaction modifies data, SQL Server always acquires an exclusive (X) lock on the data to change, and holds the lock for the duration of the transaction. It is important to note that setting an isolation level does not change the way in which SQL Server acquires locks. Additionally, isolation levels block transactions requiring access to a resource with an exclusive lock. Isolation levels also determine whether a read operation can access rows that have been changed by another transaction and whether it can access uncommitted rows. It does this by using isolation levels to control whether a lock is acquired during a read, the type of lock, and the duration of the lock.
#SQL BALANCE LOCK FULL#
Identify the resource and performance impact of given isolation levelsĪt one end of the spectrum, SQL Server can protect data completely to prevent one transaction from seeing the effects of another transaction, while at the other end of the spectrum, it can give all transactions full access to the data. Identify differences between isolation levelsÄefine results of concurrent queries based on isolation level