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Adam Machanic

Adam Machanic, Boston-based independent database consultant, writer, and speaker, shares his experiences with programming, performance tuning, and optimizing SQL Server 2000, 2005, and 2008, in conjunction with related technologies such as .NET.

Who is Active? v7.30

Who is Active? is a comprehensive DMV-based monitoring script, designed to tell you at a glance what processes are active on your SQL Server and what they're up to. It has a number of optional features so that you can get results quickly, or monitor deeply, depending on your needs when you happen to be using the script. Today I'm happy to present a new version, v7.30, which includes a few bug fixes an a new feature.

Click here to download Who is Active? v7.30

Now that I've covered that (for people who haven't been paying attention to this blog as of late), a bit of commentary. After posting Who is Active? v7.22 on December 31, I expected to receive a huge amount of feedback from the community. Alas, there were a few issues:

  1. It turns out that December 31 is not a great day for a blog post that you would like to get lots of hits.
  2. Apparently many readers were confused about where to actually download the script.
  3. I was told that I need to document the thing better.

Luckily, some users did manage to download it, and I even received some feedback. Great feedback, primarily from a reader named Bill Kan. Thanks for all of your time, Bill!  I also discovered a couple of issues on my own, and added a new feature that I thought of while watching Grant Fritchey do an excellent talk at New England Data Camp v1.0.

So now to address those three issues. I'm posting this post on a Wednesday, it's not a holiday, and it will hit midday, so that covers issue #1. For issue #2, see above and see below.  I think the download links are painfully obvious at this point.  And as for issue #3, well, I'm sorry to say that today is not the day for that one.  I've done a fairly good job of documenting the script in the script (download it and take a look), and I think most readers will be able to feel their way around well enough.  If you have any questions, post them here and I will be happy to answer. And eventually I will write up a comprehensive document on the thing. But until then, two out of three isn't bad...

Click here to download Who is Active? v7.30

Please give it a try and let me know what you think. I've run out of new feature ideas for the moment and could certainly use some input. If you are using it, please let me know what features you've found to be helpful and how you're integrating it into your work. I'm hoping to identify a number of use cases as talking points for the forthcoming document on the script and actual user feedback will be key.

And, most importantly, enjoy! As I mentioned in December, this script has become a vital part of my toolkit; I have to say that it's made certain aspects of monitoring a lot easier and more interesting for me and I hope it does the same for you.

Published Wednesday, February 18, 2009 11:34 AM by Adam Machanic

Attachment(s): who_is_active_v7_30.zip

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Comments

 

Log Buffer #136: A Carnival of the Vanities for DBAs said:

February 20, 2009 12:06 PM
 

lance said:

cool script. i'm no dba so i don't know how to use half of the data, but i did notice it wouldn't work on our server because it's case sensitive. had to change cpu to uppercase and SYSNAME to lowercase to get it to work.

March 20, 2009 12:36 PM
 

Adam Machanic said:

Hi Lance,

Thanks for the feedback regarding case sensitivity.  That's something I'm currently working on fixing in new versions of the script.

March 20, 2009 1:24 PM
 

CG said:

What version of SQL does this tool work on..

It's not mentioned anywhere that I can see!!

March 25, 2009 1:26 PM
 

Adam Machanic said:

Hi CG,

SQL Server 2005 SP1+ (I use the memory grants DMV, which was added with SP1 as I recall), and SQL Server 2008.  I'll add that to the notes; thanks for the feedback.

March 25, 2009 4:41 PM
 

Adam Machanic said:

It has been only a month and a half since I posted the last version of Who is Active? ( v7.30 ), but

March 30, 2009 12:53 PM

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About Adam Machanic

Adam Machanic is a Boston-based independent database consultant, writer, and speaker. He has been involved in dozens of SQL Server implementations for both high-availability OLTP and large-scale data warehouse applications, and has optimized data access layer performance for several data-intensive applications. Adam has written for numerous web sites and magazines, including SQLblog, Simple Talk, Search SQL Server, SQL Server Professional, CoDe, and VSJ. He has also contributed to several books on SQL Server, including "Expert SQL Server 2005 Development" (Apress, 2007) and "Inside SQL Server 2005: Query Tuning and Optimization" (Microsoft Press, 2007). Adam regularly speaks at user groups, community events, and conferences on a variety of SQL Server and .NET-related topics. He is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for SQL Server, a Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP), and a member of the INETA North American Speakers Bureau.

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