Server Performance and Activity Monitoring

Applies to: SQL Server

The goal of monitoring databases is to assess how a server is performing. Effective monitoring involves taking periodic snapshots of current performance to isolate processes that are causing problems, and gathering data continuously over time to track performance trends. Microsoft SQL Server and the Microsoft Windows operating system provide utilities that let you view the current condition of the database and to track performance as conditions change.

The following section contains topics that describe how to use SQL Server and Windows performance and activity monitoring tools. It contains the following topics:

To perform monitoring tasks with Windows tools

To create SQL Server database alerts with Windows tools

To perform monitoring tasks with Extended Events

To perform monitoring tasks with SQL Server Management Studio

To perform monitoring tasks with SQL Trace and SQL Server Profiler

Important

The next sections describe methods of using SQL Trace and SQL Server Profiler.
SQL Trace and SQL Server Profiler are deprecated. The Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Trace namespace that contains the Microsoft SQL Server Trace and Replay objects are also deprecated.

This feature will be removed in a future version of SQL Server. Avoid using this feature in new development work, and plan to modify applications that currently use this feature.

Use Extended Events instead. For more information on Extended Events, see Quick Start: Extended events in SQL Server and SSMS XEvent Profiler.

Note

SQL Server Profiler for Analysis Services workloads is NOT deprecated, and will continue to be supported.

To perform monitoring tasks with SQL Trace by using Transact-SQL stored procedures

To create and modify traces by using SQL Server Profiler

To start, pause, and stop traces by using SQL Server Profiler

To open traces and configure how traces are displayed by using SQL Server Profiler

To replay traces by using SQL Server Profiler

To create, modify, and use trace templates by using SQL Server Profiler

To use SQL Server Profiler traces to collect and monitor server performance