How to avoid a database race condition when manually incrementing PK of new row

Question

I have a legacy data table in SQL Server 2005 that has a PK with no identity/autoincrement and no power to implement one.

As a result, I am forced to create new rec

Answer 1

Note: All you need is a source of ever-increasing integers. It doesn't have to come from the same database, or even from a database at all.

Personally, I would use SQL Express because it is free and easy.

If you have a single web server: Create a SQL Express database on the web server with a single table [ids] with a single autoincrementing field [new_id]. Insert a record into this [ids] table, get the [new_id], and pass that onto your database layer as the PK of the table in question.

If you have multiple web servers: It's a pain to setup, but you can use the same trick by setting appropriate seed/increment (i.e. increment = 3, and seed = 1/2/3 for three web servers).