The issue has been mitigated. The database lock was cleared and error rates returned to normal. All systems are currently operating as expected.

The database connection pool was exhausted due to a spike in queries. This led to resource saturation (CPU/memory or disk I/O), preventing the database from handling new connections.

Immediate Actions Taken:
Restarted SQL Server
Increased connection timeout threshold to prevent cascading failures

The production database became unresponsive, causing application-level timeouts and service degradation across all services. Users experienced slow response times, failed authentication, and in some cases, complete service outages.