sp_who3

My ERRORLOG shows some spids have an ’s’ after them. What’s going on?

That “s” is new in SQL Server 2005.  It means that the SPID is a system process.  For example my database is having a problem with tempdb running out of space for no reason.  When I look in the log I see that SPID 118s is the offending SPID.  When I watch SPID 118 using sp_who3 I see that the output looks a little strange.  I see a lot of CPU and disk load and that the thread and been logged in for ever using the sa account but with no hostname, host process, or mac address listed.  This is because this is the service broker process which is what runs the activated procedures.  Starting in SQL Server 2005 system processes no longer need to run with SPIDs less than 50.  Because of this, Microsoft has decided to make live easier when trying to identify the system processes by putting the s after the SPID number in the logs.

This same information appears to hold true for SQL Sever 2008 (so far at least).

Denny

Upgrade for sp_who2 called sp_who3

I’ve published this before over on tek-tips.com, but I figured that I’d republish it here as well.  I’ve written an update for sp_who2 which I call sp_who3.  It can be most useful when trying to diagnose slow running queries as it can provide a wealth of information in a single screen.

Usage:
exec sp_who3
exec sp_who3 active
exec sp_who3 blocked
exec sp_who3 72 /*Any active spid*/

Download: SQL 7 / SQL 2000 / SQL 2005

When using no parameter the output will match the output of sp_who2.

When using the “active” keyword the output will match the output of sp_who2 active.

When using the “blocked” keyword the output will have the same columns as sp_who3 active but show only the blocking and blocked processes.

This procedure has been used at companies like IGN / GameSpy, MySpace, Awareness Technologies, and Triad Financial to name a few.