SQL SERVER System Stored Procedures I Use to Get Started

Call me an old school or whatever there are certain things I believe in strongly. I have a working style and these in my opinion have evolved over the years. I keep innovating myself as I learn on my way, but there are few things I do that always makes me think I have not changed much. Let us learn aboutSystem Stored Procedures I Use to Get Started.

The basics of working with SQL Server in my opinion have not changed for decades now. The performance techniques I used more than a decade still holds good and it has taken a more refined state though. But the basics don’t change. They don’t challenge me anymore.

Consider this blog as old wine in a new bottle rather I would like to say this as old wine in the same old bottle. The reason is simple, I have rarely changed some of my troubleshooting techniques for ages. So let us get to the meat here. What am I talking about?

Invariably in all the performance troubleshooting consultations, I have seen that I use a number of system stored procedures. Even though the DMV’s have come a long way, I tend to use them often because they have stuck to me for ages. In this blog, I wanted to highlight those top System Stored procedures that I have been using invariably given any situation. I am sure you have used most of them, but a recap was required.

Though these SPs have been there for ages and helped me in multiple assignments, I would like to know are there some SPs that I have missed in the above list that fall into your DBA toolbox? Let me know via comments as this would help us all.

System stored procedure Reports information on

sp_who

Current SQLServer users and processes

sp_lock

Active locks, as well as blocking and deadlock information

sp_spaceused

The amount of disk space that a table or a database uses

sp_helpdb

Databases and their objects

sp_monitor

SQLServer statistics, such as total processing time, number of reads and writes, and connections

sp_helpindex

Indexes on a table

sp_statistics

All indexes on a specific table

PS: There are a number of other community built procedures that people use that I have added. But that would be reserved for a different blog.

Reference: Pinal Dave ( http://blog.sqlauthority.com )