Linked Server - Getting Error when performing Cross Instance Query with joins

Question

Hi Guys,
I've successfully created a Linked Server that connects a local DB Engine with another DB Engine through an ip over an extranet. I am able to run simple Select statement queries on the Local DB
Engine and get results from the linked server. However when attempting to perform more complex queries that join tables from
the linked server with tables from the local DB server, I get the following error message after several minutes of execution:
OLE DB provider "SQLNCLI11" for linked server "<ip of Linked Server>" returned message "Protocol error in TDS stream".
OLE DB provider "SQLNCLI11" for linked server "<ip of Linked Server>"
returned message "Communication link failure".
Msg -1, Level 16, State 1, Line 0
Session Provider: Physical connection is not usable [xFFFFFFFF].
OLE DB provider "SQLNCLI11" for linked server "<ip of Linked Server>"
returned message "Communication link failure".
Msg -1, Level 16, State 1, Line 0
Session Provider: Physical connection is not usable [xFFFFFFFF].
OLE DB provider "SQLNCLI11" for linked server "<ip of Linked Server>"
returned message "Communication link failure".
Msg 10054, Level 16, State 1, Line 0
TCP Provider: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host.
Grateful if you could advise what may be causing this issue and how I can resolve it. I've read on Distributed Transactions but I understand that it only applies to manipulation statements?
Both are SQL servers. Linked Server is SQL2008R2 if not mistaken. Local DB Engine is SQL2014.
Thanks and Regards,
Rhyan.

Answer 1

Thank you for your insight Erland. Can you advise how I can check the SQL Server errorlog pls?
I just got word from a user that the query ran successfully this morning but took 15 mins to complete.. does it ring a bell to you in terms of issues that may be causing this?
This kind of behaviour would suggest something makes the query "time out" or stop abruptly.. How can I further investigate it pls? Can a BEGIN DISTRIBUTED TRANSACTION  statement in the query help me mitigate or resolve the error? ref: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188386.aspx?f=255&MSPPError=-2147217396
SQL Version for Remote Server is : 
Microsoft SQL Server 2012 (SP1) - 11.0.3000.0 (X64) Oct 19 2012 13:38:57 Copyright
(c) Microsoft Corporation Standard Edition (64-bit) on Windows NT 6.2 <X64> (Build 9200: ) (Hypervisor)
SQL Version for Local Server is:
Microsoft SQL Server 2014 - 12.0.2000.8 (X64) Feb 20 2014 20:04:26 Copyright
(c) Microsoft Corporation Enterprise Edition (64-bit) on Windows NT 6.3 <X64> (Build 9600: ) (Hypervisor)
Thanks and Regards,
Rhyan