Parsing the Blocked Process report

October 20, 2011

As you know the new blocked process report in SQL Server 2005 and beyond is awesome. Now if you have lots of blocked processes being reported it can be a bit overwheleming. How can you quickly tell if it’s the same senario over and over again or if your hitting multiple scenarios. I don’t know about you but I’m cheap and I don’t want to buy a tool so I’ll tell you how to do this yourself.

1) Run a profiler trace for blocked process event on the SQL Instance in question.
2) Save the profile to a table.
3) You need to save the data again from the table in step 2 as xml just use the textdata column but it needs to be an XML Data Type.

Here is a sample.

select DATEDIFF(ss,Starttime,EndTime)DurationInSec,
StartTime,
CONVERT(xml,textdata) As BlockedRPT, Servername
INTO ALLBLOCKS
from dbo.myProfileTable
where EventClass = 137

4) Run the following SQL to get the distinct Blocking and being Blocked statements

SELECT
distinct
X.x.value(‘data(.)’,'varchar(5000)’) AS BlockedSQLcmd,
Y.x.value(‘data(.)’,'varchar(5000)’) AS BlockingSQLcmd
FROM ALLBLOCKS a
CROSS APPLY
blockedRpt.nodes(‘/blocked-process-report/blocked-process/process’) AS X(x)
CROSS APPLY
blockedRpt.nodes(‘/blocked-process-report/blocking-process/process’) AS Y(x)

4) Run the following SQL to get all the details you need about each blocked process report.

SELECT
convert(date,starttime),
X.x.value(‘@currentdb’, ‘nvarchar(45)’) Blockeddb,
X.x.value(‘@waitresource’, ‘nvarchar(45)’) BlockedObject ,
X.x.value(‘@lockMode’, ‘nvarchar(45)’) BlockedBlockLockMode,
X.x.value(‘@hostname’,'nvarchar(45)’) BlockedFromHOst,
X.x.value(‘@loginname’,'nvarchar(45)’) BlockedFromLogin,
X.x.value(‘@isolationlevel’,'nvarchar(45)’) BlockedFromIso,
X.x.value(‘data(.)’,'varchar(5000)’) AS BlockedSQLcmd,

Y.x.value(‘@waitresource’, ‘nvarchar(45)’) BlockingObject ,
Y.x.value(‘@hostname’,'nvarchar(45)’) BlockingFromHOst,
Y.x.value(‘@loginname’,'nvarchar(45)’) BlockingFromLogin,
Y.x.value(‘@isolationlevel’,'nvarchar(45)’) BlockingFromIso,
Y.x.value(‘data(.)’,'varchar(5000)’) AS BlockingSQLcmd
FROM ALLBLOCKS a
CROSS APPLY
blockedRpt.nodes(‘/blocked-process-report/blocked-process/process’) AS X(x)
CROSS APPLY
blockedRpt.nodes(‘/blocked-process-report/blocking-process/process’) AS Y(x)


Checking Index Fragmentation

October 18, 2011

If your not monitoring your indexes on a regular basis shame on you, you should be. Depending on how many databases you are supporting this could end up being extremely tiedious. So here is what I do and you can tailor the process to your env.

1) Each production server I support has a DBA database on it.

2) Create the table IndexStats in each of the DBA databases (scripts below)

3) Create a job with the script below to capture the index statisics . (I do it once a week)

4) Now here it’s up to you on how you want to do this. I have a huge number of servers that I support so I transfer the statistics from each individual server to a central repository. I use an SSIS package which connects to the table in each database and dumps it into a table of the same format on my repository. The SSIS package uses Simple Data flows to do this and is pretty straight forward. I’m not going to go into the package in this post. If you need assistance on creating data flows in SSIS there are plenty of resources out there.

5) Create the report stored procedure to email you indexes which need to be rebuilt and schedule it based on your needs. I run it once a week then rebuild the indexes that weekend on the server in questions.

Script 1 Create Table to hold your statistics in your DBA database.

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[IndexStats](
[SQLInstance] [varchar](160) NULL,
[DatabaseName] [varchar](160) NULL,
[TableName] [varchar](160) NULL,
[IndexName] [varchar](160) NULL,
[IndexType] [varchar](160) NULL,
[Databaseid] [smallint] NULL,
[object_id] [int] NULL,
[index_id] [int] NULL,
[user_seeks] [bigint] NULL,
[user_scans] [bigint] NULL,
[user_lookups] [bigint] NULL,
[user_updates] [bigint] NULL,
[last_user_seek] [datetime] NULL,
[last_user_scan] [datetime] NULL,
[last_user_lookup] [datetime] NULL,
[last_user_update] [datetime] NULL,
[system_seeks] [bigint] NULL,
[system_scans] [bigint] NULL,
[system_lookups] [bigint] NULL,
[system_updates] [bigint] NULL,
[last_system_seek] [datetime] NULL,
[last_system_scan] [datetime] NULL,
[last_system_lookup] [datetime] NULL,
[last_system_update] [datetime] NULL,
[rows] [int] NULL,
[StatisticsCaptured] [date] NULL,
[avg_fragmentation_in_percent] [float] NULL,
[page_count] [int] NULL,
[Index_Depth] [int] NULL,
[Index_level] [int] NULL,
[Avg_record_Size_in_bytes] [int] NULL
) ON [PRIMARY]GO

SET ANSI_PADDING OFF
GO

ALTER TABLE [dbo].[IndexStats] ADD DEFAULT (getdate()) FOR [StatisticsCaptured]
GO

Script 2 Schedule this script from SQL Agent to populate your IndexStats Table. I delete data from this table since my data is moved into a central repository but if you are not doing that then you can remove the delete part of the script

insert into MyDBADB..IndexStats
exec
sp_msforeachdb
‘use ?
DECLARE @dbid int
select @dbid = db_id(”?”)
select
DISTINCT
@@SERVERNAME as SQLInstance,
”?” as DB,
OBJECT_NAME(a.object_id) as [TableName],
B.name as [Index],
B.type_desc as [IndexType],
A.*,
p.rows,
getdate(),
OS.avg_fragmentation_in_percent,
OS.page_count,
OS.Index_Depth,
OS.Index_level,
OS.Avg_record_Size_in_bytes
FROM ?.sys.dm_db_index_usage_stats a
INNER JOIN ?.sys.indexes B on a.object_id = B.object_id and a.index_id = B.index_id
inner join ?.sys.partitions p on B.object_id =p.object_id and B.index_id =p.index_id
INNER JOIN ?.sys.dm_db_index_physical_stats(@dbid,NULL,NULL,NULL,”SAMPLED”) OS on
A.object_id = OS.Object_id and A.index_id =OS.Index_id
WHERE
OBJECT_NAME(a.object_id) not like ”sys%” and OBJECT_NAME(a.object_id) not like ”spt%”
and OBJECT_NAME(a.object_id) not like ”queue%”
and a.database_id = DB_ID(”?”)
order by B.namedelete from MyDBADB..IndexStats
where StatisticsCaptured > GETDATE() -14

Script 3 Create the following stored procedure on your repository and schedule it to run as you see fit. This will alert you on the indexes with Fragmentation percent greater then 50.

/******************************************************************************************************
* Created By: MotherofAllGeeks.Com
* Created on: 3/2011
* Purpose gather space information for trending or possibly alerting
* Create it in master and it will gather stats for all databases
* Sample Call proc_getdatabasespace_r
* Prereq is that you must have a DBADB and you must have created FileStats table in MyDBADb.
* exec [proc_GetFragmentationReport_r] 7,’Mom@motherofallGeeks.com’, ‘MyMailProfile’
******************************************************************************************************/
CREATE PROCEDURE [dbo].[proc_GetFragmentationReport_r]
@days int ,
@recipients varchar(255),
@profile varchar(255)

AS

BEGIN
SET NOCOUNT ON

BEGIN TRY

BEGIN
DECLARE @tableHTML NVARCHAR(MAX), @currentDate date, @usagepercentage int

SET @tableHTML =
N’

‘+ N’

‘+N’Database’+N’CountofFragmenedIndexes’+N’

‘ +CAST ((SELECTtd = convert(varchar(30),sqlinstance) ,” ,td = convert(varchar(60),databasename),” ,td = convert(varchar(24),counttables) ,”FROM (select sqlinstance,databasename,count(tablename) counttablesfrom indexstatswhere avg_fragmentation_in_percent > 50and StatisticsCaptured > GETDATE() – @daysgroup by sqlinstance, databasename) Aorder by counttables descFOR XML PATH(‘tr’), TYPE) as NVARCHAR(max) ) + N’

SQLInstance

IF (@tableHTML is not null)
BEGIN

declare @subject varchar(55)
SELECT @subject = ‘Fragmented Indexes ‘
exec msdb.dbo.sp_send_dbmail
@profile_name = @profile,
@recipients = @recipients,
@subject = @subject,
@body = @tableHTML,
@body_format = ‘HTML’
END
END

END TRY

BEGIN CATCH

DECLARE @ErrorMessage varchar(max)

SELECT @ErrorMessage =
‘ErrorNumber:’ + convert(varchar(7),ERROR_NUMBER()) + ‘
‘ +
‘ErrorSeverity:’ + convert(varchar(7),ERROR_SEVERITY()) +’
‘+
‘ErrorState:’ + convert(varchar(7),ERROR_STATE()) +’
‘+
‘Calling Procedure:’ + CONVERT(VARCHAR(25), OBJECT_NAME(@@PROCID))+ ‘
‘+
‘ErrorProcedure:’+ ERROR_PROCEDURE() +’
‘+
‘ErrorLine:’ + convert(varchar(7),ERROR_LINE()) +’
‘+
‘ErrorMessage:’ + ERROR_MESSAGE() +’


RAISERROR(@ErrorMessage,16,1)

END CATCH

END

GO


Blocking Monitor

October 2, 2009

I wanted to share a little something we put together to monitor blocking on our SQL 2005 servers. Every once in awhile the blocking gets out of control and when it does we get these emails so we can quickly jump in and troubleshoot before the Help desk tickets start rolling in.  Create this in your master database be sure to change the database name where it says YOURDB. Create a SQL Server job that runs constantly. In the Job SQL put the following infinite loop to call the proc below:

declare @count int
set @count = 5000000
WHIle @count > 0
BEGIN
waitfor delay ’00:00:15′
exec [Proc_LeadBlocker] 0, ‘YOUR MAIL PROFILE’, ‘Youremail@email.com’
end

 

CREATE  PROCEDURE [dbo].[Proc_LeadBlocker]
(@maxtime int = 0,@MailProfile varchar(100),@recipients varchar(255) )   
as   
--=======================================================================   
-- Proc Name : sp__leadblocker   
-- Description : This procedure will report processes that are blocking   
--    other processes and processes that are being blocked   
--    
-- Author : Motherofallgeeks.com
--=======================================================================   
 
--DECLARE VARIABLES   
DECLARE @BLKemailmsg varchar(1000)   
DECLARE @WAITemailmsg varchar(1000)   
DECLARE @message varchar(max)
   
--CHECK FOR BLOCKING   
IF EXISTS (select 1 FROM sys.dm_exec_requests  
     WHERE Session_ID in
      (SELECT blocking_session_id 
      FROM sys.dm_exec_requests 
      WHERE (wait_time/15000) > @maxtime))    
BEGIN  
 --BUILD BLOCKING PROCESSES EMAIL MSG   
 select @BLKemailmsg = 'The Following Processes are Blocking other Processes:(BLOCKER)  <br>' 
 select @BLKemailmsg = @BLKemailmsg+    
   '<b> SPID: </b>'+ convert(varchar(5),DR.Session_ID) +  '<br>' +
   '<b> STATUS: </b>' + DS.status +    '<br>' +
   ' <b>CMD: </b>' +DR.command+    '<br>' +
   '<b> DB:</b> '+ db_name(DR.database_id) +    '<br>' +
   '<b> LOGIN:</b> '+ DS.login_name +    '<br>' +
   '<b> HOSTNAME:</b> '+ DS.host_name +    '<br>' +
   '<b> LAST_BATCH_TIME: </b>'+ convert(varchar(20),Ds.last_request_Start_time,113)+   '<br>' +
 '<b> wAIT rESOURCE: </b>'+wait_resource + '<br>' +
 '<b> last_wait_type: </b>'+last_wait_type + '<br>' +
   ' <b> SQL Statement: </b>' +  (select name from [YOURDB].sys.objects where object_id=s2.objectid)+ ' '+ SUBSTRING(s2.text,  statement_start_offset / 2, ( (CASE WHEN statement_end_offset = -1 THEN (LEN(CONVERT(nvarchar(max),s2.text)) * 2) ELSE statement_end_offset END)  - statement_start_offset) / 2)    +  --convert(varchar(8000),s2.text) +   '<br>'
   '<HR>'
FROM sys.dm_exec_requests DR  INNER JOIN sys.dm_exec_sessions DS  ON DR.Session_id = DS.Session_id
CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_sql_text(dr.sql_handle) AS s2 
WHERE DR.Session_ID in
 (SELECT blocking_session_id
   FROM sys.dm_exec_requests 
   WHERE (wait_time/15000) > @maxtime)   
         
   
 --BUILD WAITING PROCESSES EMAIL MSG   
 select @WAITemailmsg = ' The Following Processes are Waiting for Resources:(BEING BLOCKED) <br> '
 select @WAITemailmsg = @WAITemailmsg +
   '<b> SPID: </b>'+ convert(varchar(5),DR.Session_ID) +    '<br>' +
   '<b>  CMD: </b>' +DR.command+    '<br>'+
   '<b>  DB:</b> '+ db_name(DR.database_id) +   '<br>' + 
   '<b>  LOGIN:</b> '+ DS.login_name +   '<br>' + 
   ' <b> WAITTIME:</b> '+ convert(varchar(4),DR.wait_time/15000)+   '<br>' +
   ' <b> BLOCKED BY:</b> '+ convert(varchar(5),DR.blocking_session_id) +   '<br>'   + 
 '<b> wAIT rESOURCE: </b>'+wait_resource + '<br>' +
 '<b> last_wait_type: </b>'+last_wait_type + '<br>' +
 ' <b> SQL Statement: </b>' +  (select name from [YOURDB].sys.objects where object_id=s2.objectid)+' '+  SUBSTRING(s2.text,  statement_start_offset / 2, ( (CASE WHEN statement_end_offset = -1 THEN (LEN(CONVERT(nvarchar(max),s2.text)) * 2) ELSE statement_end_offset END)  - statement_start_offset) / 2)    + '<br>' --convert(varchar(8000),s2.text) +   '<br>'
FROM sys.dm_exec_requests DR 
INNER JOIN sys.dm_exec_sessions DS  ON DR.Session_id = DS.Session_id
CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_sql_text(dr.sql_handle) AS s2 
WHERE   (DR.wait_time/15000) > @maxtime
 and DR.blocking_session_id <> 0
SELECT @message =  @BLKemailmsg + ' ' + @WAITemailmsg
      exec msdb..sp_send_dbmail  @profile_name =  @MailProfile
     ,  @recipients =  @recipients
     ,  @subject =  'Blocking Processes'
     ,  @body_format =  'HTML'
     ,  @body = @message
  ,@query_result_header = 0
 END
--

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