Lock Escalation

Architecture Digest

Sep 5, 2020 · Databases

Understanding SQL Server Lock Escalation and How to Prevent It

This article explains the fundamentals of SQL Server locking, illustrates how row‑level locks can automatically escalate to table‑level locks during large batch operations, and provides practical techniques—such as batching deletes, adding appropriate indexes, and holding intent locks—to avoid lock escalation and improve concurrency.