From: esquel@sommarskog.se   
      
   migurus (migurus@yahoo.com) writes:   
   > The WAN is over stable dedicated circuit, but I'd like to hear what are   
   > potential problems here, any suggestions on how to code for those   
   > situations.   
      
   Linked servers often mean hassle.   
      
   > The query will be fired with customer calling in for status, if remote   
   > server is not available for whatever reason I need the application to   
   > get 0.   
      
   Exactly what will happen depends on whether there is a plan for the   
   procedure in the cache or not. If there is no plan in the cache, and the   
   remote server is not available, you will get an error when the procedure   
   is compiled and the TRY block is never entered. If the plan is already in   
   the cache, the TRY block is entered, but I am not sure that the error is   
   caught.   
      
   In any case, for any such scenario where you want a certain behaviour   
   you should test that your code behaves as expected. For a simple procedure   
   like this one, I would recommend that you open a direct connection   
   from the application instead.   
      
      
   --   
   Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, esquel@sommarskog.se   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)