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Use SQL Server Objects |
Learn about the SQL Server objects and counters that System Monitor uses to monitor activity in computers running an instance of SQL Server. |
MikeRayMSFT |
mikeray |
12/04/2023 |
sql |
performance |
conceptual |
|
[!INCLUDE SQL Server]
Microsoft [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] provides objects and counters that can be used by System Monitor to monitor activity in computers running an instance of [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion]. An object is any [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] resource, such as a [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] lock or Windows process. Each object contains one or more counters that determine various aspects of the objects to monitor. For example, the SQL Server Locks object contains counters called Number of Deadlocks/sec and Lock Timeouts/sec.
Some objects have several instances if multiple resources of a given type exist on the computer. For example, the Processor object type will have multiple instances if a system has multiple processors. The Databases object type has one instance for each database on [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion]. Some object types (for example, the Memory Manager object) have only one instance. If an object type has multiple instances, you can add counters to track statistics for each instance, or in many cases, all instances at once. Counters for the default instance appear in the format SQLServer:<object name>. Counters for named instances appear in the format MSSQL$<instance name>:<counter name> or SQLAgent$<instance name>:<counter name>.
[!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] performance counter values are generated using the Windows Performance Counter (WPC) engine. Some counter values are not calculated directly by [!INCLUDE ssDEnoversion]. The [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] provides base values to the WPC engine, which will perform the required calculations (like percentages). The sys.dm_os_performance_counters (Transact-SQL) dynamic management view provides all counters with the original value generated by [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion]. The cntr_type column indicates the type of counter. How the WPC engine processes [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] counter values depends on this type. For more information about performance counter types, see the WMI documentation.
By adding or removing counters to the chart and saving the chart settings, you can specify the [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] objects and counters that are monitored when System Monitor is started.
You can configure System Monitor to display statistics from any [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] counter. In addition, you can set a threshold value for any [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] counter and then generate an alert when a counter exceeds a threshold. For more information about setting an alert, see Create a SQL Server Database Alert.
Note
[!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] statistics are displayed only when an instance of [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] is installed. If you stop and restart an instance of [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion], the display of statistics is interrupted and resumes automatically. Also note that you will see [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] counters in the System Monitor snap-in even if [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] is not running. On a clustered instance, performance counters only function on the node where [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] is running.
This article contains the following sections:
The following table lists the performance objects provided for [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] Agent:
| Performance object | Description |
|---|---|
| SQLAgent:Alerts | Provides information about [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] Agent alerts. |
| SQLAgent:Jobs | Provides information about [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] Agent jobs. |
| SQLAgent:JobSteps | Provides information about [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] Agent job steps. |
| SQLAgent:Statistics | Provides general information about [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] Agent. |
The following table lists the performance objects provided for [!INCLUDE ssSB].
| Performance object | Description |
|---|---|
| SQLServer:Broker Activation | Provides information about [!INCLUDE ssSB]-activated tasks. |
| SQLServer:Broker Statistics | Provides general [!INCLUDE ssSB] information. |
| SQLServer:Broker Transport | Provides information on [!INCLUDE ssSB] networking. |
The following table describes [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] objects.
| Performance object | Description |
|---|---|
| SQLServer:Access Methods | Searches through and measures allocation of [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] database objects (for example, the number of index searches or number of pages that are allocated to indexes and data). |
| SQLServer:Backup Device | Provides information about backup devices used by backup and restore operations, such as the throughput of the backup device. |
| SQLServer:Batch Resp Statistics | Counters to track SQL Batch Response times. |
| SQLServer:Buffer Manager | Provides information about the memory buffers used by [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion], such as freememory and buffer cache hit ratio. |
| SQL Server:Buffer Node | Provides information about how frequently [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] requests and accesses free pages. |
| SQLServer:Catalog Metadata | This defines a catalog metadata manager object for SQL Server. |
| SQLServer:CLR | Provides information about the common language runtime (CLR). |
| SQLServer:Columnstore | Applies to: [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] ([!INCLUDE sssql16-md] and later). Provides information about rowgroups and segments for columnstore indexes. |
| SQLServer:Cursor Manager by Type | Provides information about cursors. |
| SQLServer:Cursor Manager Total | Provides information about cursors. |
| SQLServer:Database Mirroring | Provides information about database mirroring. |
| SQLServer:Databases | Provides information about a [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] database, such as the amount of free log space available or the number of active transactions in the database. There can be multiple instances of this object. |
| SQL Server:Deprecated Features | Counts the number of times that deprecated features are used. |
| SQLServer:Exec Statistics | Provides information about execution statistics. |
| SQL Server:External Scripts | Applies to: [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] ([!INCLUDE sssql16-md] and later). Provides information about external script execution. |
| SQLServer:FileTable | Statistics associated with FileTable and non-transacted access. |
| SQLServer:General Statistics | Provides information about general server-wide activity, such as the number of users who are connected to an instance of [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion]. |
| SQL Server:HADR Availability Replica | Provides information about [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] [!INCLUDE ssHADR] availability replicas. |
| SQL Server:HADR Database Replica | Provides information about [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] [!INCLUDE ssHADR] database replicas. |
| SQL Server:HTTP Storage | Provides information to monitor a Microsoft Azure Storage account when using SQL Server Data Files in Microsoft Azure |
| SQLServer:Latches | Provides information about the latches on internal resources, such as database pages, that are used by [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion]. |
| SQLServer:Locks | Provides information about the individual lock requests made by [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion], such as lock time-outs and deadlocks. There can be multiple instances of this object. |
| SQLServer:LogPool FreePool | Describes statistics for the free pool inside the Log Pool. |
| SQLServer:Memory Broker Clerks | Statistics related to memory broker clerks. |
| SQLServer:Memory Manager | Provides information about [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] memory usage, such as the total number of lock structures currently allocated. |
| SQLServer:Plan Cache | Provides information about the [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] cache used to store objects such as stored procedures, triggers, and query plans. |
| SQLServer: Query Store | Provides information about the Query Store. |
| SQLServer: Resource Pool Stats | Provides information about Resource Governor resource pool statistics. |
| SQLServer:SQL Errors | Provides information about [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] errors. |
| SQLServer:SQL Statistics | Provides information about aspects of [!INCLUDE tsql] queries, such as the number of batches of [!INCLUDE tsql] statements received by [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion]. |
| SQLServer:Transactions | Provides information about the active transactions in [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion], such as the overall number of transactions and the number of snapshot transactions. |
| SQLServer:User Settable | Performs custom monitoring. Each counter can be a custom stored procedure or any [!INCLUDE tsql] statement that returns a value to be monitored. |
| SQLServer: Wait Statistics | Provides information about waits. |
| SQLServer: Workload Group Stats | Provides information about Resource Governor workload group statistics. |
The following table lists the performance objects provided for [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] replication:
| Performance object | Description |
|---|---|
| SQLServer:Replication Agents SQLServer:Replication Snapshot SQLServer:Replication Logreader SQLServer:Replication Dist. SQLServer:Replication Merge For more information, see Monitoring Replication with System Monitor. |
Provides information about replication agent activity. |
For the SSIS Pipeline counter, see Performance Counters.
For SQL Server XTP (In-Memory OLTP) counters, see SQL Server XTP (In-Memory OLTP) Performance Counters.
Use of the [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] objects depends on Windows permissions, except SQLAgent:Alerts. Users must be a member of the sysadmin fixed server role to use SQLAgent:Alerts.