KB982399 - ConfigMgr site server stops responding while processing status messages

I find that from time to time a ConfigMgr site will stop responding. Some of the first symptoms that are noticed are software distribution will stop, site backups fail and you no longer get site status messages. In the Application event viewer you may notice the following error:

A timeout (30000 milliseconds) was reached while waiting for a transaction response from the SMS_EXECUTIVE service.

Generally restarting the SMS Executive service and the SMS Site Component Manger service or rebooting your site server will resolve the issue. (Temporarily) Microsoft has released a hotfix for ConfigMgr SP2 site servers that resolves this issue http://support.microsoft.com/kb/982399 According to the article the issue is caused by a deadlock situation in the SMS Executive service. I’ve applied the hotfix to one of my problematic site servers and I have not experienced a reoccurrence of this issue.