Community version of sp_who which provides information about current users, sessions, and processes in an instance of the Microsoft SQL Server Database Engine.
- Current active sessions/ requests
- Current idle sessions that have open transactions
- Connected users and how many sessions they have
- Connected sessions that are running no requests (sleeping)
There are other great tools with same purpose such as sp_blitz and sp_whoisactive. Those tools might be more compreensive and complete than sp_who3 for activity monitoring. For example, sp_whoisactive has twenty-four parameters which you choose from a variety of options but sp_who3 has only three.
The motivation behind the sp_who3 development is to have a simple, small and straightforward user experience tool to run faster during a critical war room where every second wasted to restore a service counts. The sp_who3 code can be easily maintained and modified as per user needs. To sum up, sp_who3 follow the KISS Principle of "Keep it Simple, Stupid".
sp_who3 [ [ @filter = ] 'login_name' | SPID ]
[, [ @info = ] 'IDLE' | 'COUNT' | 'SLEEPING' ]
[, [ @orderby = ] 'CPU' | 'DURATION' ]
[ @filter = ] 'login_name' | SPID
Is used to filter the result set. Default value is null.
login_name is sysname that identifies processes belonging to a particular login. It has no effect for @info = 'IDLE'
SPID is a session identification number belonging to the SQL Server instance. SPID is smallint. It has no effect for @info = 'IDLE' | 'COUNT'.
[ @info = ] 'IDLE' | 'COUNT' | 'SLEEPING'
Is used to select the type of information. Default value is null which show information about current users, sessions and requests in an SQL Server instance.
IDLE provides information about current idle sessions that have open transactions
COUNT provides information about connected users and how many sessions they have
SLEEPING provides information about connected sessions that are not running requests
[ @orderby = ] 'CPU' | 'DURATION'
Is used to order the result set by the selected option. Default value is null.
CPU provides information from highest to lowest cpu_time value. It has no effect for @info = 'IDLE' | 'COUNT' | 'SLEEPING'.
DURATION provides information from highest to lowest running_time value. It has no effect for @info = 'IDLE' | 'COUNT'.
| Column | Data Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| session_id | smallint | ID of the session to which this request is related. Is not nullable. |
| host_name | nvarchar(128) | Name of the client workstation that is specific to a session. The value is NULL for internal sessions. Is nullable. |
| login_name | nvarchar(128) | SQL Server login name under which the session is currently executing. |
| db_name | nvarchar(128) | Name of the database the request is executing against. Is not nullable. |
| status | nvarchar(30) | Status of the request. |
| command | nvarchar(32) | Identifies the current type of command that is being processed. |
| running_time | varchar | Period of time that request is running. Is not nullable. |
| blk_by | smallint | ID of the session that is blocking the request. |
| open_tran_count | int | Number of transactions that are open for this request. Is not nullable. |
| wait_type | nvarchar(60) | If the request is currently blocked, this column returns the type of wait. Is nullable. |
| wait_resource | nvarchar(256) | If the request is currently blocked, this column returns the resource for which the request is currently waiting. Isn't nullable. |
| page_type_desc | nvarchar(64) | Description of the page type (only available for SQL Server 2019 or later). |
| object_name | sysname | Name of object. |
| program_name | nvarchar(128) | Name of client program that initiated the session. The value is NULL for internal sessions. Is nullable. |
| query_plan | xml | Contains the compile-time Showplan representation of the query execution plan that is specified with plan_handle. |
| sql_text | varchar(max) | Retrieve the currently executing statement for the request. Is nullable. |
| sql_handle | varbinary(64) | Hash map of the SQL text of the request. Is nullable. |
| requested_memory_kb | bigint | Total requested amount of memory in kilobytes. |
| granted_memory_kb | bigint | Total amount of memory actually granted in kilobytes. Can be NULL if the memory is not granted yet. For a typical situation, this value should be the same as requested_memory_kb. |
| ideal_memory_kb | bigint | Size, in kilobytes (KB), of the memory grant to fit everything into physical memory. This is based on the cardinality estimate. |
| query_cost | float | Estimated query cost. |
| user_obj_in_tempdb_MB | bigint | Space usage for user objects in tempdb by the session. |
| internal_obj_in_tempdb_MB | bigint | Space usage for internal objects in tempdb by the session. |
| cpu_time | int | CPU time in milliseconds that is used by the request. Is not nullable. |
| start_time | datetime | Timestamp when the request arrived. Is not nullable. |
| percent_complete | real | Percentage of work completed for some commands. |
| est_time_to_go | datetime | Estimate complete time of the request. |
| est_completion_time | datetime | Estimate complete datetime of the request. |
Tested and validated for SQL Server 2012 or above.
sp_who3 (and its repository) is licensed under the MIT License
Rodrigo Nascentes - @ronascentes
System Dynamic Management Views - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/system-dynamic-management-views/system-dynamic-management-views
Microsoft Tiger Team - https://github.com/Microsoft/tigertoolbox
DynamicsPerf - https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/axinthefield and https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/axperf/
