Problem Statement:

Sometimes When we do a DML operation in SQL Server, we end up with the below error –

“Length of LOB data to be replicated exceeds configured maximum 65536. Use the stored procedure sp_configure to increase the configured maximum value for max text repl size option, which defaults to 65536. A configured value of -1 indicates no limit, other that the limit imposed by the data type. The statement has been terminated.”

From the error message, its clear that the operation has been terminated by SQL Server.

Analysis:

I would say, this is a clear error message that means it contains the error information, steps to resolve the exception and its implication. Let us expand the error message a bit more than what its provided for our clear understanding with this blog post.

Details:
Length of LOB data to be replicated exceeds configured maximum 65536.

This means that the length of a LOB data is exceeding the configured value of 65536 which defaults to 65536. There is a configuration “max text repl size option” in SQL Server which can be viewed by sp_configure system procedure or querying sys.configurations system table. By default, the value of the configuration has been set to 65536 in SQL Server.This has an impact on systems configured with replication, Change Data Capture. The configuration “max text repl size (B)” is not an advanced configuration, so you do not need to reconfigure with “show advanced options” to see this setting.

From the above picture, the description of max text repl size (B) configuration is clear that it denotes the maximum size of a text field in replication. However, we need to understand the value is also applicable for LOB datatypes as well. The issue can be raised whenever a LOB data that contains more length than the specified value for this configuration. The operation gets terminated for the same reason.

What do we do when we get this error?

The simple solution is to set the configuration “max text repl size (B)” to “-1”. This will ensure there is no limit other than imposed by the datatype of the column.

EXEC sp_configure 'show advanced options',1
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE
EXEC sp_configure 'max text repl size (B)', -1
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE
EXEC sp_configure 'show advanced options',0
RECONFIGURE WITH OVERRIDE

However, this may have some detrimental impact on replication as the size increases we need to make sure the replication has no other side effects due to the size of the data to be replicated over the network etc.

1. Identify the LOB datatype column in the table
2. Assess the size or length of the data in the table and confirm that the size of the data is exceeding the configured value of “max text repl size (B)”
3. Identify if there are any replication/CDC configured with the table/database
4. If Change data capture does not require the LOB column to be tracked, avoid the column from capture by specifying ONLY required columns in captured_column_list for the table while configuring CDC for the table
5. Assess your data and conclude the maximum size of data it can reached up to as per the business requirement. As an example, a photo field can be restricted with a specified size through application that can be uploaded etc.
6. Set the required or expected size for max text repl size (B) configuration if possible instead of maximum -1

Note: We recently observed similar issue with a database configured AlwaysOn-Availability Group

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