sp_eventmon: *** waiting 5 seconds for marker file lock... (4311116)

The utility sp_eventmon prints the error message *** waiting 5 seconds for marker file lock... on the screen.

- There are multiple instances of sp_eventmon, pointing to the same username.mrk file, running.
- Permission problems prohibit sp_eventmon creating the username.mrk and/or username.mrk.LOCK files.

Multiple instances:

Check that there is only one sp_eventmon running which points to the one username.mrk file. You are allowed to run multiple copies of sp_eventmon on one system, but these have to run against different sp_cops; thus creating different username.mrk files.

Permission problems:

Check that sp_eventmon is able to create the username.mrk and/or username.mrk.LOCK files. Move the script and the needed files to a local mount point.

Quick fix:

Delete username.mrk and username.mrk.LOCK files. The file username.mrk will get recreated the next time sp_eventmon is running (defined by the -t option)