sp_monitor (Transact-SQL)
Applies to: 
SQL Server
Displays statistics about SQL Server.
Transact-SQL syntax conventions
Syntax
sp_monitor
[ ; ]
Arguments
None.
Return code values
0 (success) or 1 (failure).
Result set
| Column name | Description |
|---|---|
last_run |
Time sp_monitor was last run. |
current_run |
Time sp_monitor is being run. |
seconds |
Number of elapsed seconds since sp_monitor was run. |
cpu_busy |
Number of seconds that the server computer's CPU has done SQL Server work. |
io_busy |
Number of seconds that SQL Server spent doing input and output operations. |
idle |
Number of seconds that SQL Server was idle. |
packets_received |
Number of input packets read by SQL Server. |
packets_sent |
Number of output packets written by SQL Server. |
packet_errors |
Number of errors encountered by SQL Server while reading and writing packets. |
total_read |
Number of reads by SQL Server. |
total_write |
Number of writes by SQL Server. |
total_errors |
Number of errors encountered by SQL Server while reading and writing. |
connections |
Number of logins or attempted logins to SQL Server. |
Remarks
SQL Server keeps track, through a series of functions, of how much work was done. Executing sp_monitor displays the current values returned by these functions and shows how much they have changed since the last time the procedure was run.
For each column, the statistic is printed in the form number(number)-number% or number(number). The first number refers to the number of seconds (for cpu_busy, io_busy, and idle) or the total number (for the other variables) since SQL Server was restarted. The number in parentheses refers to the number of seconds or total number since the last time sp_monitor was run. The percentage is the percentage of time since sp_monitor was last run. For example, if the report shows cpu_busy as 4250(215)-68%, the CPU was busy 4,250 seconds since SQL Server was last started up, 215 seconds since sp_monitor was last run, and 68 percent of the total time since sp_monitor was last run.
Permissions
Requires membership in the sysadmin fixed server role, or execute permission directly on this stored procedure.
Examples
The following example reports information about how busy SQL Server has been.
USE master;
GO
EXEC sp_monitor;
Here is the result set.
last_run current_run seconds
----------------------- ----------------------- ---------
2024-05-01 15:27:51.287 2024-08-21 17:20:34.097 9683563
cpu_busy io_busy idle
--------------- ------------- --------------------
14452(14451)-0% 2555(2554)-0% 4371742(4371629)-45%
packets_received packets_sent packet_errors
---------------- ------------ -------------
18032(17993) 64572(64533) 0(0)
total_read total_write total_errors connections
----------- ----------- ------------- --------------
1593(1593) 4687(4687) 0(0) 155625(155557)