If your SQL server is in trouble and you cannot connect then the next option is to connect with the Dedicated Administators Connection (DAC). Once connected, you can collect some information on what is happening. Since you are under pressure, it would be nice to have a stored procedure to execute that displays information? Below is my script that does just that.

You want to execute the code below in the MASTER database to create the sp_dba_DAC stored procedure. We do this in MASTER because you generally have access to this database when the server is extremely busy. Now open a CMD/DOS window and execute the following.

sqlcmd -A -S<server/instance name> -dmaster -E -Q"sp_dba_DAC" -oc:\dac-results.txt

Replace the <server/instance name> with your server or instance name.

Once you execute this command, a connection is made to the server/instance and the stored procedure "sp_dba_DAC" located in the MASTER dataabse is executed. A file called "dac-results.txt" is created in the root of C: and the connection is terminated.

Open the "dac-results.txt" file with notepad (or any other editor) and you can quickly see the information.

Below is what is collected

• Shows SQL Servers information
• Shows top 5 high cpu used statemants
• Shows who so logged in
• Shows long running cursors
• Shows idle sessions that have open transactions
• Shows free space in tempdb database
• Shows total disk allocated to tempdb database
• Show active jobs
• Shows clients connected
• Shows running batch
• Shows currently blocked requests
• Shows last backup dates
• Shows jobs that are still executing
• Shows failed MS SQL jobs report
• Shows disabled jobs
• Shows avail free DB space
• Shows total DB size (.MDF+.LDF)
• Show hard drive space available

Remember to create this stored procedure on your servers before you need to connect with DAC. Add additional stored procedure(s) or T-SQL code to provide even more information.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
USE master
GO
-- This stored procedure will give you infomation on the SQL server in question.
-- Connect with DAC and then execute this stored procedure located in the master database
CREATE PROC sp_dba_DAC
AS
SELECT '*** Start of DAC Report ***'
SELECT '-- Shows SQL Servers information'
EXEC ('USE MASTER') 

SELECT 
 CONVERT(char(20), SERVERPROPERTY('MachineName')) AS 'MACHINE NAME', 
 CONVERT(char(20), SERVERPROPERTY('ServerName')) AS 'SQL SERVER NAME',

 (CASE WHEN CONVERT(char(20), SERVERPROPERTY('InstanceName')) IS NULL
 THEN 'Default Instance'
 ELSE CONVERT(char(20), SERVERPROPERTY('InstanceName'))
 END) AS 'INSTANCE NAME',
CONVERT(char(20), SERVERPROPERTY('EDITION')) AS EDITION,
 CONVERT(char(20), SERVERPROPERTY('ProductVersion')) AS 'PRODUCT VERSION',
 CONVERT(char(20), SERVERPROPERTY('ProductLevel')) AS 'PRODUCT LEVL',
(CASE WHEN CONVERT(char(20), SERVERPROPERTY('ISClustered')) = 1
 THEN 'Clustered'
 WHEN CONVERT(char(20), SERVERPROPERTY('ISClustered')) = 0
 THEN 'NOT Clustered'
 ELSE 'INVALID INPUT/ERROR'
 END) AS 'FAILOVER CLUSTERED',
(CASE WHEN CONVERT(char(20), SERVERPROPERTY('ISIntegratedSecurityOnly')) = 1
 THEN 'Integrated Security '
 WHEN CONVERT(char(20), SERVERPROPERTY('ISIntegratedSecurityOnly')) = 0
 THEN 'SQL Server Security '
 ELSE 'INVALID INPUT/ERROR'
 END) AS 'SECURITY',
(CASE WHEN CONVERT(char(20), SERVERPROPERTY('ISSingleUser')) = 1
 THEN 'Single User'
 WHEN CONVERT(char(20), SERVERPROPERTY('ISSingleUser')) = 0
 THEN 'Multi User'
 ELSE 'INVALID INPUT/ERROR'
 END) AS 'USER MODE',
CONVERT(char(30), SERVERPROPERTY('COLLATION')) AS COLLATION

SELECT '-- Shows top 5 high cpu used statemants'
SELECT TOP 5 total_worker_time/execution_count AS [Avg CPU Time],
 SUBSTRING(st.text, (qs.statement_start_offset/2)+1, 
 ((CASE qs.statement_end_offset
 WHEN -1 THEN DATALENGTH(st.text)
 ELSE qs.statement_end_offset
 END - qs.statement_start_offset)/2) + 1) AS statement_text
FROM sys.dm_exec_query_stats AS qs
CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_sql_text(qs.sql_handle) AS st
ORDER BY total_worker_time/execution_count DESC;

SELECT '-- Shows who so logged in'
SELECT login_name ,COUNT(session_id) AS session_count 
FROM sys.dm_exec_sessions 
GROUP BY login_name;

SELECT '-- Shows long running cursors'
EXEC ('USE master')
SELECT creation_time ,cursor_id 
 ,name ,c.session_id ,login_name 
FROM sys.dm_exec_cursors(0) AS c 
JOIN sys.dm_exec_sessions AS s 
 ON c.session_id = s.session_id 
WHERE DATEDIFF(mi, c.creation_time, GETDATE()) > 5;
SELECT '-- Shows idle sessions that have open transactions'
SELECT s.* 
FROM sys.dm_exec_sessions AS s
WHERE EXISTS 
 (
 SELECT * 
 FROM sys.dm_tran_session_transactions AS t
 WHERE t.session_id = s.session_id
 )
 AND NOT EXISTS 
 (
 SELECT * 
 FROM sys.dm_exec_requests AS r
 WHERE r.session_id = s.session_id
 );
SELECT '-- Shows free space in tempdb database'
SELECT SUM(unallocated_extent_page_count) AS [free pages], 
(SUM(unallocated_extent_page_count)*1.0/128) AS [free space in MB]
FROM sys.dm_db_file_space_usage;

SELECT '-- Shows total disk allocated to tempdb database'
SELECT SUM(size)*1.0/128 AS 
FROM tempdb.sys.database_files
SELECT '-- Show active jobs'
SELECT DB_NAME(database_id) AS [Database], COUNT(*) AS [Active Async Jobs]
FROM sys.dm_exec_background_job_queue
WHERE in_progress = 1
GROUP BY database_id;

SELECT '--Shows clients connected'
SELECT session_id, client_net_address, client_tcp_port
FROM sys.dm_exec_connections;
SELECT '--Shows running batch'
SELECT * FROM sys.dm_exec_requests;

SELECT '--Shows currently blocked requests'
SELECT session_id ,status ,blocking_session_id
 ,wait_type ,wait_time ,wait_resource 
 ,transaction_id 
FROM sys.dm_exec_requests 
WHERE status = N'suspended'

SELECT '--Shows last backup dates ' as ' '
SELECT B.name as Database_Name, 
 ISNULL(STR(ABS(DATEDIFF(day, GetDate(), 
 MAX(Backup_finish_date)))), 'NEVER') 
 as DaysSinceLastBackup,
 ISNULL(Convert(char(10), 
 MAX(backup_finish_date), 101), 'NEVER') 
 as LastBackupDate

 FROM master.dbo.sysdatabases B LEFT OUTER JOIN msdb.dbo.backupset A 
 ON A.database_name = B.name AND A.type = 'D' GROUP BY B.Name ORDER BY B.name
SELECT '--Shows jobs that are still executing' as ' ' 
exec msdb.dbo.sp_get_composite_job_info NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL, 1, NULL, NULL
SELECT '--Shows failed MS SQL jobs report' as ' ' 
SELECT name FROM msdb.dbo.sysjobs A, msdb.dbo.sysjobservers B WHERE A.job_id = B.job_id AND B.last_run_outcome = 0
SELECT '--Shows disabled jobs ' as ' ' 
SELECT name FROM msdb.dbo.sysjobs WHERE enabled = 0 ORDER BY name
SELECT '--Shows avail free DB space ' as ' ' 
exec sp_MSForEachDB 'Use ? SELECT name AS ''Name of File'', size/128.0 -CAST(FILEPROPERTY(name, ''SpaceUsed'' )
 AS int)/128.0 AS ''Available Space In MB'' FROM .SYSFILES'
SELECT '--Shows total DB size (.MDF+.LDF)' as ' ' 
 set nocount on
 declare @name sysname
 declare @SQL nvarchar(600)
 -- Use temporary table to sum up database size w/o using group by 
 create table #databases (
 DATABASE_NAME sysname NOT NULL,
 size int NOT NULL)
 declare c1 cursor for 
 select name from master.dbo.sysdatabases
 -- where has_dbaccess(name) = 1 -- Only look at databases to which we have access
 open c1
 fetch c1 into @name
while @@fetch_status >= 0
 begin
 select @SQL = 'insert into #databases
 select N'''+ @name + ''', sum(size) from '
 + QuoteName(@name) + '.dbo.sysfiles'
 -- Insert row for each database 
 execute (@SQL)
 fetch c1 into @name
 end
 deallocate c1
select DATABASE_NAME, DATABASE_SIZE_MB = size*8/1000 -- Convert from 8192 byte pages to K and then convert to MB
 from #databases order by 1

 select SUM(size*8/1000)as '--Shows disk space used - ALL DBs - MB ' from #databases

 drop table #databases
SELECT '--Show hard drive space available ' as ' ' 
EXEC master..xp_fixeddrives
SELECT '*** End of Report **** '
GO