Datstage solutions, knowledge base, FAQ and best practices

2.21. Error timeout waiting for mutex

The error message usually looks like follows:
... ds_ipcgetnext() - timeout waiting for mutex

There may be several reasons for the error and thus solutions to get rid of it.
The error usually appears when using Link Collector, Link Partitioner and Interprocess (IPC) stages. It may also appear when doing a lookup with the use of a hash file or if a job is very complex, with the use of many transformers.

There are a few things to consider to work around the problem:
- increase the buffer size (up to to 1024K) and the Timeout value in the Job properties (on the Performance tab).
- ensure that the key columns in active stages or hashed files are composed of allowed characters – get rid of nulls and try to avoid language specific chars which may cause the problem.
- try to simplify the job as much as possible (especially if it’s very complex). Consider splitting it into two or three smaller jobs, review fetches and lookups and try to optimize them (especially have a look at the SQL statements).