Synapse Analytics - ActionTimedOut

Question

Synapse Analytics - ActionTimedOut

LE RAY Jerome 0

Apr 23, 2025, 7:09 AM

Hello Support Team,

For the past three days, our processes have been encountering recurring "ActionTimedOut" errors. No recent code changes have been made, and there has been no significant increase in data processing volume.

As you can see, the SILVER_ALL pipeline typically completes in under 1.5 hours. However, since April 21st, execution times have increased dramatically.
{4D3F69E4-79DE-4114-A3BA-A9444EA965EC}

Below, the execution of child pipelines

{3859B552-F924-47CB-BD5E-C864C1F4550F} One of our dataflows failed due to an "ActionTimedOut" error. However, when re-executed, it completed successfully.

{A7C76396-C0A2-4EA9-BE54-4BA43DCB69E6} Here the error message
{A93E8D7C-41B0-4F40-8758-22F23E92D585}

Could you help us investigate and identify the root cause of this issue? The sudden degradation in performance is quite unusual.
Let me know if you need any additional details.

Best regards,

phemanth 15,320 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

Apr 23, 2025, 8:16 AM
@LE RAY Jerome

The "ActionTimedOut" error in Synapse Analytics can be caused by several factors.

Here are some steps to help diagnose and resolve the issue. do confirm us if issue persists

Check the resource utilization on your Synapse workspace. High CPU or memory usage can lead to timeouts. Ensure that your resources are adequately provisioned.

Verify if there are any network issues or increased latency that might be affecting the dataflows. Network instability can cause timeouts.

If your pipelines interact with databases, check for any slow queries or locks that might be causing delays. Ensure that your database is performing optimally.

Review the configuration settings of your pipelines. Ensure that the timeout settings are appropriate for the volume of data being processed. You might need to increase the timeout duration.

Large data volumes can cause timeouts. Consider partitioning your data to process smaller chunks. This can help in reducing the load and avoiding timeouts

Review the logs and metrics for any anomalies or patterns that coincide with the timing of the errors. This can provide insights into what might be causing the timeouts.

Ensure that any external services or APIs your pipelines depend on are functioning correctly and not experiencing issues.

If you could provide more details about the specific configurations and any recent changes in your environment, it would help us.
Ganesh Gurram 6,455 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

Apr 25, 2025, 7:23 AM

@LE RAY Jerome

We haven’t heard from you on the last response and was just checking back to see if you have a resolution yet. In case if you have any resolution please do share that same with the community as it can be helpful to others. Otherwise, will respond with more details and we will try to help.
LE RAY Jerome 0 Reputation points

Apr 25, 2025, 11:45 AM

Hello,
We are currently experiencing issues affecting several data processing workflows on Azure (ADLS Gen2 storage using Parquet files).

It appears there may be a problem related to resource allocation on the subscription in use.

For instance, one of our dataflows failed twice earlier today with the following error

Error

DIM_Piste

{ "errorCode": "ActionTimedOut", "message": "Activity timed out", "failureType": "UserError", "target": "DIM_Piste", "details": "" }

but then completed successfully on the third attempt (retry value = 3).

Could you advise on how we might resolve these intermittent issues? Additionally, what steps would you recommend to help us analyze and identify the root cause?
Julien Desautels 0 Reputation points

Apr 25, 2025, 3:56 PM

We have exact same problem that started at the same time, with pipelines running data flows showing a massive augmentation in Sink Processing Time. But logs of the sink storage account show no change in processing time for the requests.
phemanth 15,320 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

Apr 28, 2025, 5:53 AM

@LE RAY Jerome

Here are some additional steps to address the "ActionTimedOut" errors in your Azure Synapse Analytics workflows:

Resource Allocation: Ensure that your subscription has sufficient resources allocated. Sometimes, resource constraints can cause timeouts. You might need to increase the resource allocation or scale up your Synapse workspace.

Retry Logic: Since the dataflow completed successfully on the third attempt, it suggests that transient issues might be causing the timeouts. Implementing a robust retry logic can help mitigate these transient errors.

Parallelism and Concurrency: Review the degree of parallelism and concurrency settings in your dataflows. High levels of parallelism can sometimes lead to resource contention, causing timeouts. Adjusting these settings might help.

Monitoring and Alerts: Set up monitoring and alerts to track resource utilization and performance metrics. This can help you identify patterns or spikes in resource usage that coincide with the timeouts.

Optimize Dataflows: Optimize your dataflows to ensure they are as efficient as possible. This might involve optimizing queries, reducing data shuffling, or breaking down complex transformations into simpler steps.