Use the Deadlocks alert in Mini DBA to monitor Azure SQL Database instances and make this condition visible before it becomes a wider database incident.
Mini DBA describes this alert as: Processes deadlocked by other processes Often caused by locks being held for too long, in turn caused by poor index design The default evaluation frequency is Minute, so the alert is intended to be close enough to operational reality for live triage.
This alert highlights concurrency pressure. Blocking, long sessions, and lock waits can turn a healthy server into a slow user experience, so the alert gives administrators an early route to the sessions, statements, and applications involved.
Enable it on any monitored Azure SQL Database instance where this condition would require an administrator to investigate or communicate with the application team. Tune noisy development systems after you have a short baseline.
Threshold meaning: Deadlocks per minute. Major threshold: 10 deadlocks. Minor threshold: 0 deadlocks. Comparison direction: "over". Use higher thresholds on batch-heavy, development, or intentionally bursty systems where brief pressure is expected. Use lower thresholds on latency-sensitive production systems, small instances with little headroom, and services with strict recovery or availability commitments.
Open the activity, blocking, and query views to identify the lead blocker, SQL text, wait type, login, host, and application. Prefer fixing the query or transaction pattern, but kill or cancel the blocking session when the business impact is higher than the rollback risk.
If the alert creates repeated noise, review whether it is enabled on the correct instances, whether maintenance windows are configured, and whether the minor and major routes match the real business impact. Keep enough history to prove the new setting before changing it broadly.