diff --git a/server/datastore/mysql/hosts.go b/server/datastore/mysql/hosts.go
index cb47b950be..bb659cfc76 100644
--- a/server/datastore/mysql/hosts.go
+++ b/server/datastore/mysql/hosts.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
+	"sort"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
@@ -746,6 +747,11 @@ func (d *Datastore) MarkHostsSeen(ctx context.Context, hostIDs []uint, t time.Ti
 		return nil
 	}
 
+	// Sort by host id to prevent deadlocks:
+	// https://percona.community/blog/2018/09/24/minimize-mysql-deadlocks-3-steps/
+	// https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/innodb-deadlocks-handling.html
+	sort.Slice(hostIDs, func(i, j int) bool { return hostIDs[i] < hostIDs[j] })
+
 	if err := d.withRetryTxx(ctx, func(tx sqlx.ExtContext) error {
 		var insertArgs []interface{}
 		for _, hostID := range hostIDs {
diff --git a/server/datastore/mysql/hosts_test.go b/server/datastore/mysql/hosts_test.go
index b74a9fb2bf..a921301ccd 100644
--- a/server/datastore/mysql/hosts_test.go
+++ b/server/datastore/mysql/hosts_test.go
@@ -653,7 +653,7 @@ func testHostsListStatus(t *testing.T, ds *Datastore) {
 			DetailUpdatedAt: time.Now(),
 			LabelUpdatedAt:  time.Now(),
 			PolicyUpdatedAt: time.Now(),
-			SeenTime:        time.Now().Add(-time.Duration(i) * time.Minute),
+			SeenTime:        time.Now().Add(-time.Duration(i) * time.Minute * 2),
 			OsqueryHostID:   strconv.Itoa(i),
 			NodeKey:         fmt.Sprintf("%d", i),
 			UUID:            fmt.Sprintf("%d", i),