diff --git a/opendj-server-legacy/src/main/java/org/opends/server/backends/jdbc/Storage.java b/opendj-server-legacy/src/main/java/org/opends/server/backends/jdbc/Storage.java
index 65a1289a63..9b4dfffc9b 100644
--- a/opendj-server-legacy/src/main/java/org/opends/server/backends/jdbc/Storage.java
+++ b/opendj-server-legacy/src/main/java/org/opends/server/backends/jdbc/Storage.java
@@ -389,8 +389,8 @@ boolean upsert(TreeName treeName, ByteSequence key, ByteSequence value) throws S
 					statement.setBytes(3, value.toByteArray());
 					return (execute(statement) == 1 && statement.getUpdateCount() > 0);
 				}
-			}else if (driverName.contains("microsoft")) { //ANSI MERGE with ; WITH (HOLDLOCK) makes the upsert atomic: without it SQL Server MERGE can race two concurrent NOT MATCHED inserts of the same key into a PRIMARY KEY violation
-				try (final PreparedStatement statement = con.prepareStatement("merge into " + getTableName(treeName) + " WITH (HOLDLOCK) old using (select ? h,? k,? v) new on (old.h=new.h and old.k=new.k) WHEN MATCHED THEN UPDATE SET old.v=new.v WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN INSERT (h,k,v) VALUES (new.h,new.k,new.v);")) {
+			}else if (driverName.contains("microsoft")) { //ANSI MERGE with ; WITH (HOLDLOCK) makes the upsert atomic: without it SQL Server MERGE can race two concurrent NOT MATCHED inserts of the same key into a PRIMARY KEY violation. UPDLOCK is required on top of it: with HOLDLOCK alone the search phase takes a shared lock that the WHEN MATCHED update then has to convert to an exclusive one, so two concurrent upserts of the same key deadlock on the conversion; an update lock is taken right away and makes the second transaction wait instead
+				try (final PreparedStatement statement = con.prepareStatement("merge into " + getTableName(treeName) + " WITH (HOLDLOCK, UPDLOCK) old using (select ? h,? k,? v) new on (old.h=new.h and old.k=new.k) WHEN MATCHED THEN UPDATE SET old.v=new.v WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN INSERT (h,k,v) VALUES (new.h,new.k,new.v);")) {
 					statement.setString(1, key2hash.get(ByteBuffer.wrap(key.toByteArray())));
 					statement.setBytes(2, real2db(key.toByteArray()));
 					statement.setBytes(3, value.toByteArray());