Profiler equivalent templates for Extended Events Sessions in SQL Server 2016

By:Rajendra Gupta || Related Tips:More >Extended Events

Problem

In previous tips SQL Server 2016 extended events detailed backup information , SQL Server restore steps with extended events and SQL Server 2016 Telemetry Extended Event Session we have seen how useful Extended Events are in SQL Server 2016 compared to Profiler. I want to do more with Extended Events, but the predefined templates in SQL Server Profiler make it so easy to start a trace. Are there any predefined templates forExtended Events like the ones inProfiler?

Solution

Extended Events are quite useful in tracking performance issues, workload analysis and more. Extended Events puts less overhead on your server compared toProfiler and Profiler may be deprecated in future releases of SQL Server, so now is the time to start learning more about Extended Events.

As you may know, in Profiler there are some useful predefined templates which makes it easy to run a trace.

These templates are quite easy to use for running a trace with Profiler. If we want to use Extended Events we need to manually create an Extended Events session with the events, but this has changed with SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) release 13.0.15700.28.

As you know, SQL Server Management Studio is no longer part of the standard installation for SQL Server 2016 and it uses a web installer that can be downloaded from the internet. This is generally available and does not require a SQL Server license to install and use. With this change, it is very easy to maintain updates in SSMS and keep updated with new features. Recently Microsoft released SQL Server Management Studio 13.0.15700.28. With this release Microsoft has provided new Extended Events templates that match the functionality of SQL Server Profiler templates. It can be downloaded from this link: Download SQL Server Management Studio 16.3 release . It's quite easy to install and after installation we can check the version in SSMS by clicking on Help > About as shown below.

Now to check if the Extended Events templates are equivalent to Profiler, go to Management > Extended Events > Session > New Session. In the template section, we can see the template group named "Profiler Equivalents" as shown below.

Here is a breakdown of the templates provided for Extended Events:

SP_Counts : This template matches the 'SP_Counts' template in Profiler. Captures stored procedure execution behavior over time. Standard : This template matches the 'Standard' template in Profiler. Generic starting point for creating a trace. Captures all stored procedures and Transact-SQL batches that are run. Use to monitor general database server activity. TSQL : This template matches the 'TSQL' template in Profiler. Captures all Transact-SQL statements that are submitted to SQL Server by clients and the time issued. Use to debug client applications. TSQL_SPs : This template matches the 'TSQL_SPs' template in Profiler. Captures detailed information about all executing stored procedures. Use to analyze the component steps of stored procedures. Add the sql_statement_recompile event if you suspect that procedures are being recompiled. TSQL_Duration : This template matches the 'TSQL_Duration' template in Profiler. Captures all Transact-SQL statements submitted to SQL Server by clients and their execution time (in microseconds). Use to identify slow queries. TSQL_Locks : This template matches the 'TSQL_Locks' template in Profiler. Captures all of the Transact-SQL statements that are submitted to SQL Server by clients along with exceptional lock events. Use to troubleshoot deadlocks, lock time-out, and lock escalation events. TSQL_Replay : This template matches the 'TSQL_Replay' template in Profiler. Use to perform iterative tuning, such as benchmark testing. Tuning : This template matches the 'Tuning' template in Profiler. Captures information about stored procedures and Transact-SQL batch execution.

Here is a comparison of Profiler versus Extended Events for each template to see which events are captured.

Template Name Profiler Event Extended event SP_Counts SP:Starting module_start Standard Audit Login
Audit Logout
ExistingConnection
RPC:Completed
SQL:BatchCompleted
SQL:BatchStarting Login
Logout
existing connection
rpc completed
sql_batch_completed
sql_batch_starting TSQL Audit Login
Audit Logout
ExistingConnection
RPC:Starting
SQL:BatchStarting Login
Logout
existing connection
rpc_starting
sql_batch_completed
sql_batch_starting TSQL_Duration RPC:Completed
SQL:BatchCompleted rpc_completed
sql_batch_completed TSQL_Grouped Audit Login
Audit Logout
ExistingConnection
RPC:Starting
SQL:BatchStarting login
logout
existing connection
rpc_starting
sql_batch_completed
sql_batch_starting TSQL_Locks Blocked Process Report
SP:StmtCompleted
SP:StmtStarting
SQL:StmtCompleted
SQL:StmtStarting
Deadlock Graph
Lock:Cancel
Lock:Deadlock
Lock:Deadlock Chain
Lock:Escalation
Lock:Timeout (timeout>0) blocked_process_reports
sp_statement_completed
sp_statement_starting
sp_statement_completed
sp_statement_starting
xml_deadlock_report
Lock:Cancel
Lock:Deadlock
Lock:Deadlock Chain
Lock:Escalation
Lock:Timeout (timeout>0) TSQL_Replay CursorClose
CursorExecute
CursorOpen
CursorPrepare
CursorUnprepare
Audit Login
Audit Logout
Existing Connection
RPC Output Parameter
RPC:Completed
RPC:Starting
Exec Prepared SQL
Prepare SQL
SQL:BatchCompleted
SQL:BatchStarting attention
cursor_close
cursor_execute
cursor_open
cursor_prepare
cursor_unprepare
exec_prepared_sql
existing_connection
login
logout
prepare_sql
rpc_completed
rpc_starting
sql_batch_completed
sql_batch_starting Tuning RPC:Completed
SP:StmtCompleted
SQL:BatchCompleted rpc_completed
sp_statement_completed
sp_batch_completed TSQL_SPs Audit Login
Audit Logout
ExistingConnection
RPC:Starting
SP:Com