CREATE EVENT SESSION (Transact-SQL)
Creates an Extended Events session that identifies the source of the events, the event session targets, and the event session options.
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Transact-SQL Syntax Conventions.
Syntax
CREATE EVENT SESSION event_session_name
ON SERVER
{
<event_definition> [ ,...n]
[ <event_target_definition> [ ,...n] ]
[ WITH ( <event_session_options> [ ,...n] ) ]
}
;
<event_definition>::=
{
ADD EVENT [event_module_guid].event_package_name.event_name
[ ( {
[ SET { event_customizable_attribute = <value> [ ,...n] } ]
[ ACTION ( { [event_module_guid].event_package_name.action_name [ ,...n] } ) ]
[ WHERE <predicate_expression> ]
} ) ]
}
<predicate_expression> ::=
{
[ NOT ] <predicate_factor> | {( <predicate_expression> ) }
[ { AND | OR } [ NOT ] { <predicate_factor> | ( <predicate_expression> ) } ]
[ ,...n ]
}
<predicate_factor>::=
{
<predicate_leaf> | ( <predicate_expression> )
}
<predicate_leaf>::=
{
<predicate_source_declaration> { = | < > | ! = | > | > = | < | < = } <value>
| [event_module_guid].event_package_name.predicate_compare_name ( <predicate_source_declaration>, <value> )
}
<predicate_source_declaration>::=
{
event_field_name | ( [event_module_guid].event_package_name.predicate_source_name )
}
<value>::=
{
number | 'string'
}
<event_target_definition>::=
{
ADD TARGET [event_module_guid].event_package_name.target_name
[ ( SET { target_parameter_name = <value> [ ,...n] } ) ]
}
<event_session_options>::=
{
[ MAX_MEMORY = size [ KB | MB ] ]
[ [,] EVENT_RETENTION_MODE = { ALLOW_SINGLE_EVENT_LOSS | ALLOW_MULTIPLE_EVENT_LOSS | NO_EVENT_LOSS } ]
[ [,] MAX_DISPATCH_LATENCY = { seconds SECONDS | INFINITE } ]
[ [,] MAX_EVENT_SIZE = size [ KB | MB ] ]
[ [,] MEMORY_PARTITION_MODE = { NONE | PER_NODE | PER_CPU } ]
[ [,] TRACK_CAUSALITY = { ON | OFF } ]
[ [,] STARTUP_STATE = { ON | OFF } ]
}
Arguments
event_session_name
Is the user-defined name for the event session. event_session_name is alphanumeric, can be up to 128 characters, must be unique within an instance of SQL Server, and must comply with the rules for Identifiers.ADD EVENT [ event_module_guid ].event_package_name.event_name
Is the event to associate with the event session, where:event_module_guid is the GUID for the module that contains the event.
event_package_name is the package that contains the action object.
event_name is the event object.
Events appear in the sys.dm_xe_objects view as object_type 'event'.
SET { event_customizable_attribute= <value> [ ,...n] }
Allows customizable attributes for the event to be set. Customizable attributes appear in the sys.dm_xe_object_columns view as column_type 'customizable ' and object_name = event_name.ACTION ( { [event_module_guid].event_package_name.action_name [ ,...n] })
Is the action to associate with the event session, where:event_module_guid is the GUID for the module that contains the event.
event_package_name is the package that contains the action object.
action_name is the action object.
Actions appear in the sys.dm_xe_objects view as object_type 'action'.
WHERE <predicate_expression>
Specifies the predicate expression used to determine if an event should be processed. If <predicate_expression> is true, the event is processed further by the actions and targets for the session. If <predicate_expression> is false, the event is dropped by the session before being processed by the actions and targets for the session. Predicate expressions are limited to 3000 characters, which limits string arguments.event_field_name
Is the name of the event field that identifies the predicate source.[event_module_guid].event_package_name.predicate_source_name
Is the name of the global predicate source where:event_module_guid is the GUID for the module that contains the event.
event_package_name is the package that contains the predicate object.
predicate_source_name is defined in the sys.dm_xe_objects view as object_type 'pred_source'.
[event_module_guid].event_package_name.predicate_compare_name
Is the name of the predicate object to associate with the event, where:event_module_guid is the GUID for the module that contains the event.
event_package_name is the package that contains the predicate object.
predicate_compare_name is a global source defined in the sys.dm_xe_objects view as object_type 'pred_compare'.
number
Is any numeric type including decimal. Limitations are the lack of available physical memory or a number that is too large to be represented as a 64-bit integer.'string'
Either an ANSI or Unicode string as required by the predicate compare. No implicit string type conversion is performed for the predicate compare functions. Passing the wrong type results in an error.ADD TARGET [event_module_guid].event_package_name.target_name
Is the target to associate with the event session, where:event_module_guid is the GUID for the module that contains the event.
event_package_name is the package that contains the action object.
target_name is the target. Targets appear in sys.dm_xe_objects view as object_type 'target'.
SET { target_parameter_name= <value> [, ...n] }
Sets a target parameter. Target parameters appear in the sys.dm_xe_object_columns view as column_type 'customizable' and object_name = target_name.Important
If you are using the ring buffer target, we recommend that you set the max_memory target parameter to 2048 kilobytes (KB) to help avoid possible data truncation of the XML output. For more information about when to use the different target types, see SQL Server Extended Events Targets.
WITH ( <event_session_options> [ ,...n] )
Specifies options to use with the event session.MAX_MEMORY =size [ KB | MB ]
Specifies the maximum amount of memory to allocate to the session for event buffering. The default is 4 MB. size is a whole number and can be a kilobyte (KB) or a megabyte (MB) value.EVENT_RETENTION_MODE = { ALLOW_SINGLE_EVENT_LOSS | ALLOW_MULTIPLE_EVENT_LOSS | NO_EVENT_LOSS }
Specifies the event retention mode to use for handling event loss.ALLOW_SINGLE_EVENT_LOSS
An event can be lost from the session. A single event is only dropped when all the event buffers are full. Losing a single event when event buffers are full allows for acceptable SQL Server performance characteristics, while minimizing the loss of data in the processed event stream.ALLOW_MULTIPLE_EVENT_LOSS
Full event buffers containing multiple events can be lost from the session. The number of events lost is dependant upon the memory size allocated to the session, the partitioning of the memory, and the size of the events in the buffer. This option minimizes performance impact on the server when event buffers are quickly filled, but large numbers of events can be lost from the session.NO_EVENT_LOSS
No event loss is allowed. This option ensures that all events raised will be retained. Using this option forces all tasks that fire events to wait until space is available in an event buffer. This may cause detectable performance issues while the event session is active. User connections may stall while waiting for events to be flushed from the buffer.
MAX_DISPATCH_LATENCY = { seconds SECONDS | INFINITE }
Specifies the amount of time that events will be buffered in memory before being dispatched to event session targets. By default, this value is set to 30 seconds.seconds SECONDS
The time, in seconds, to wait before starting to flush buffers to targets. seconds is a whole number. The minimum latency value is 1 second. However, 0 can be used to specify INFINITE latency.INFINITE
Flush buffers to targets only when the buffers are full, or when the event session closes.Note
MAX_DISPATCH_LATENCY = 0 SECONDS is equivalent to MAX_DISPATCH_LATENCY = INFINITE.
MAX_EVENT_SIZE =size [ KB | MB ]
Specifies the maximum allowable size for events. MAX_EVENT_SIZE should only be set to allow single events larger than MAX_MEMORY; setting it to less than MAX_MEMORY will raise an error. size is a whole number and can be a kilobyte (KB) or a megabyte (MB) value. If size is specified in kilobytes, the minimum allowable size is 64 KB. When MAX_EVENT_SIZE is set, two buffers of size are created in addition to MAX_MEMORY. This means that the total memory used for event buffering is MAX_MEMORY + 2 * MAX_EVENT_SIZE.MEMORY_PARTITION_MODE = { NONE | PER_NODE | PER_CPU }
Specifies the location where event buffers are created.NONE
A single set of buffers are created within the SQL Server instance.PER_NODE
A set of buffers are created for each NUMA node.PER_CPU
A set of buffers are created for each CPU.
TRACK_CAUSALITY = { ON | OFF }
Specifies whether or not causality is tracked. If enabled, causality allows related events on different server connections to be correlated together.STARTUP_STATE = { ON | OFF }
Specifies whether or not to start this event session automatically when SQL Server starts.Note
If STARTUP_STATE = ON, the event session will only start if SQL Server is stopped and then restarted.
ON
The event session is started at startup.OFF
The event session is not started at startup.
Remarks
The order of precedence for the logical operators is NOT (highest), followed by AND, followed by OR.
Permissions
Requires the ALTER ANY EVENT SESSION permission.
Examples
The following example shows how to create an event session named test_session. This example adds two events and uses the Event Tracing for Windows target.
IF EXISTS(SELECT * FROM sys.server_event_sessions WHERE name='test_session')
DROP EVENT session test_session ON SERVER;
GO
CREATE EVENT SESSION test_session
ON SERVER
ADD EVENT sqlos.async_io_requested,
ADD EVENT sqlserver.lock_acquired
ADD TARGET package0.etw_classic_sync_target
(SET default_etw_session_logfile_path = N'C:\demo\traces\sqletw.etl' )
WITH (MAX_MEMORY=4MB, MAX_EVENT_SIZE=4MB);
GO
See Also
Reference
ALTER EVENT SESSION (Transact-SQL)
DROP EVENT SESSION (Transact-SQL)
sys.server_event_sessions (Transact-SQL)