SQL Profiler

  • Hello,

    We had a database emergency few days back and the temp db started to get huge. We solved it by restarting the SQL Server but we would like to investigate the transaction that caused this to happen.

    I am using SQL Profiler to achieve this goal by creating a trace file and setting the filter for start dae, end date and database. The date i enter here is that of 3 days back.

    I do not get anything on the profiler. It just says "Trace start" and the trace runs for a long time with no other output.

    Am I off the track ? Please help me.

    Thanks

    Shruti

  • Profiler, and SQL Trace, show you what is happening now. It cannot go back in time. It is a real time tool.

    There is a default trace, but I'd guess that it doesn't have information from 3 days back.

    http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/SQL+Server+2005/64547/

  • SQL Profiler can show you currently what is happening to your database and who is doing what and how the sql server is responding to it. It cant show past data.

  • As an alternative to running Profiler continuously, there are a number of third-party products which would have helped you here. One I am familiar with and can recommend (also for its excellent analysis views and intuitive UI) is Spotlight from Quest.

    Paul

  • Steve Jones - Editor (5/21/2009)


    There is a default trace, but I'd guess that it doesn't have information from 3 days back.

    It might, depends how active the server is and how often SQL is restarted. That said, it's a very limited number of events. It won't show queries that were running.

    Gail Shaw
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
    SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

    We walk in the dark places no others will enter
    We stand on the bridge and no one may pass
  • Thank you all for your inputs.

    I managed to get a file by querying the default trace. But, I find that the default trace contains only the transaction ids and not the names. Im interested in knowign what transactions were going on. So, is there a way i can get the transaction names maybe by joining the default trace with a system/dynamic view that has the transaction names?

    Please let me know

    Thanks

    Shruti

  • Transactions don't have names, unless explicitly marked them with a BeGIN TRANSACTION and a name.

  • ok. is there a way to see the queries for those transactions? Like the textdata column while running a trace in sql server profiler ?

    Thanks

  • Only what's in the default trace. not sure how much information there is.

    You can get a tool like ApexSQL Log to read the log itself if you have backups or the actual file.

  • If you name a transaction with something like BEGIN TRANSACTION transaction_name, and trace the SQLTransaction event in Profiler, the transaction name appears in the ObjectName column. This is true for both Begin (0) and Commit (1) event sub classes.

    Paul

  • shruti.ratnagirish (5/26/2009)


    ok. is there a way to see the queries for those transactions?

    Not from the default trace. The SQL Batch/Statement start/complete events aren't there. The SP completed/started events aren't there.

    You can see what events are in the trace with this:

    SELECT DISTINCT t.EventID, e.name as Event_Description

    FROM fn_trace_geteventinfo(1) t

    JOIN sys.trace_events e ON t.eventID = e.trace_event_id

    Gail Shaw
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
    SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

    We walk in the dark places no others will enter
    We stand on the bridge and no one may pass
  • use this command to shrink the temp db

    select * from sysfiles

    -- use this to get the temp log file name

    backup log tempdb with truncate_only

    dbcc shrinkfile (templog, 20)

    so do this instead of restarting the SQL Server and to avoid users getting a error during logging to the database

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