PREEMPTIVE_OLEDBOPS is recorded when a thread switches to preemptive mode (outside SQL Server’s cooperative scheduler) to communicate with an OLE DB provider. It is the third member of the linked server wait family: OLEDB covers provider calls generally, MSQL_DQ covers distributed query completion, and this one covers assorted provider operations made preemptively, connection management and provider housekeeping among them.
Instances with no linked servers or external providers should barely register it.
Is It a Problem?
Not historically; it has not been a noticeable contention point and typically trails well behind OLEDB in linked server workloads. Its useful property is corroboration: when it rises together with OLEDB and MSQL_DQ, the linked server layer as a whole is where the time is going, and provider-level slowness (connection establishment, remote instability) is part of the story rather than just slow remote queries.
Alone and small, it is noise.
Common Causes
- Linked server activity: connections being established, provider metadata calls, housekeeping.
- Unstable or slow remote endpoints stretching provider operations.
- Third-party OLE DB providers with expensive internal operations.
What To Do
- Read it with the family:
OLEDBandMSQL_DQcarry the main signal; this one adds the provider-plumbing dimension. - If connection-heavy patterns drive it, reduce per-call connection churn (connection pooling behaviour of the provider, fewer chatty distributed calls).
- Test remote endpoint health directly when the family rises together; the bottleneck is usually the far side.
How To See It
Rank it against everything else with Get-WaitStatistics, as supporting evidence in the linked server picture.
Part of the SQL Server Wait Types Library.
Related deep dive: ASYNC_NETWORK_IO Wait Type.
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