Configuring a server side trace

When I’m after SQL Server performance  problems, SQL Server Profiler is still my number one tool. Allthough I know that extended events provide a mor lightweight solution, those are still a bit cumbersome to use (but I’ve seen that we can expect some improvements with SQL Server 2012).

When I’m using profiler to isolate performance issues, I try to configure server side traces, whenever possible. Fortunately, SQL Server Profiler will help you creating a script for a server side trace (File/Export/Script Trace Definition), so you don’t have to figure out all the event- and column-codes. Very good!

As I was doing the same configuration again and again, I decided to separate the TSQL code for the configuration inside a stored procedure.

And here comes dbo.configureServerSideTrace:

if object_id('dbo.configureServerSideTrace', 'P') is not null   drop procedure dbo.configureServerSideTrace go -- Example for: -- Start Trace --   declare @traceID int --   exec dbo.configureServerSideTrace @traceStatus = 1 --                                    ,@traceID = @traceID output --                                    ,@maxFileSize = 10000 --                                    ,@traceFileName = N'e:\VMITrace\Undo' --                                    ,@spId = @@spid -- -- End Trace --   exec dbo.configureServerSideTrace @traceStatus = 0, @traceID = @traceID create procedure dbo.configureServerSideTrace                                  (@traceStatus   bit                  -- 1 => Start Trace                                                                       -- 0 => Stop Trace                                  ,@traceID       int output           -- If the Trace is started, this param will return the TraceID                                                                       -- For stopping the trace, the param has to be provided                                  ,@spId          int           = null -- provide the @@spid, if you want to filter only events for this conection                                                                       -- Optional. If not provided => no filter. Not needed for stopping the trace                                  ,@maxFileSize   bigint        = 5000 -- Maximum Trace File Size in Megabyte. Trace will be stopped, if the filesize is reached.                                  ,@traceFileName nvarchar(200) = null -- Name of the trace file (server side!)                                                                       -- Optional. Not neded for stoping the trace                                                                       -- Attention! If the file already exists, the SP will yield an error                                                                       -- and no trace is started.                                  ) as begin if (@traceStatus = 0) begin    exec sp_trace_setstatus @TraceID, 0    exec sp_trace_setstatus @TraceID, 2    return; end -- Create a Queue declare @rc int exec @rc = sp_trace_create @TraceID output, 0, @traceFileName, @maxfilesize, NULL if (@rc != 0) goto error -- Set the events declare @on bit set @on = 1 exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 43, 15, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 43, 48, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 43, 1, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 43, 34, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 43, 35, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 43, 51, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 43, 4, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 43, 12, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 43, 13, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 43, 14, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 43, 22, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 42, 1, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 42, 14, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 42, 22, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 42, 34, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 42, 35, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 42, 51, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 42, 4, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 42, 12, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 45, 16, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 45, 48, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 45, 1, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 45, 17, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 45, 18, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 45, 34, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 45, 35, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 45, 51, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 45, 4, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 45, 12, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 45, 13, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 45, 14, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 45, 22, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 45, 15, @on -- XML Statistics Profile exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 146, 1, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 146, 51, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 146, 4, @on exec sp_trace_setevent @TraceID, 146, 12, @on -- Filter: Log only events for the provided @@spid if @spId is not null   exec sp_trace_setfilter @TraceID, 12, 0, 0, @spID -- Set the trace status to start exec sp_trace_setstatus @TraceID, 1 goto finish error: select ErrorCode=@rc finish: end go

Some annotations:

• For the parameters, see the comments.
• Don’t specify a filename extension for the trace file. .TRC will be added automatically.
• Ensure that the output file does not already exist. Otherwise you’ll get an error.
• Very often I replace the code for starting and stopping the trace inside “interesting code” inside a stored procedure. That is, I’m wrapping some more or less awkward code by starting and stopping a trace like this:

declare @traceID int exec dbo.configureServerSideTrace @traceStatus = 1                                  ,@traceID = @traceID output                                  ,@maxFileSize = 10000                                  ,@traceFileName = N'e:\MyTrace\Test'                                  ,@spId = @@spid -- -- Code of interest -- exec dbo.configureServerSideTrace @traceStatus = 0, @traceID = @traceID

Cheers.