“Update-Database” command fails with TimeOut exception

Question

I\'m using EF migrations and have a table with a lot of data. I need to change MaxLength of a concrete column (it hadn\'t length constraints).

ALTER TABLE MyDb A         


        

Answer 1

Alternatively script out the change by using

Update-Database -script

You can then take the script and run it using SQL Management Studio against the database.

Answer 2

Found solution by myself.

Since EF5 there is a new property CommandTimeout which is available from DbMigrationsConfiguration

internal sealed class MyMigrationConfiguration : DbMigrationsConfiguration<MyDbContext>
{
    public Configuration()
    {
        CommandTimeout = 10000; // migration timeout
    }
}

Answer 3

I just had almost the exact same thing: timeout expired when trying to increase a column length. For me, using update-database had been working just fine an hour ago. The problem turned out to be an open transaction on the database and table I was trying to alter. Once I rolled back that transaction, the update-database command went through without problems.

Answer 4

In my case the issue was caused by a very large query which timed out in EF but was able to complete in SSMS.

The answer which suggests Update-Database -script did not work for me, it gave another error message.

For me, I did the following:

• Open SSMS
• Tools > SQL Server Profiler
• Go back to VS and run Update-Database
• Watch the Server Profiler
• You should be able to see the query it times out on
• Copy that query and run it in SSMS
• Now re-run Update-Database and that slower part should be fine because the query has already been completed.

Disclaimer: This might not work for all cases, because it depends on what particular query is slowing you down. For me, it worked.