Activity Monitor (Process Info Page)

  • Article

Use this page to view the properties of current processes.

Options

  • Process ID
    SQL Server Process ID.
  • User
    ID of the user who executed the command.
  • Database
    Database currently being used by the process.
  • Status
    Status of the process (for example, running, sleeping, runnable, and background).
  • Open Transactions
    Number of open transactions for the process.
  • Command
    Command currently being executed.
  • Application
    Name of the application program being used by the process.
  • Wait Time
    Current wait time in milliseconds. When the process is not waiting, the wait time is zero.
  • Wait Type
    Indicates the name of the last or current wait type.
  • Resource
    Textual representation of a lock resource.
  • CPU
    Cumulative CPU time for the process. The entry is updated only for processes performed on behalf of Transact-SQL statements executed when SET STATISTICS TIME ON has been activated in the same session. The CPU column is updated when a query has been executed with SET STATISTICS TIME ON. When zero is returned, SET STATISTICS TIME is OFF.
  • Physical IO
    Cumulative disk reads and writes for the process.
  • Memory Usage
    Number of pages in the procedure cache that are currently allocated to this process. A negative number indicates that the process is freeing memory allocated by another process.
  • Login Time
    Time at which a client process logged into the server. For system processes, the time at which SQL Server startup occurred is displayed.
  • Last Batch
    Last time a client process executed a remote stored procedure call or an EXECUTE statement. For system processes, the displayed time is that at which SQL Server startup occurred.
  • Host
    Name of the workstation.
  • Net Library
    Column in which the client's network library is stored. Every client process comes in on a network connection. Network connections have a network library associated with them that allows them to make the connection. .
  • Net Address
    Assigned unique identifier for the network interface card on each user's workstation. When the user logs in, this identifier is inserted in the Network Address column.
  • Blocked By
    Process ID (SPID) of a blocking process.
  • Blocking
    Indicates whether this process is blocking others. 1 = yes; 0 = no.
  • Execution Context
    Execution context ID used to uniquely identify the subthreads operating on behalf of a single process.

Status Values

The following icons and status values are possible:

Icon Term Definition
UI icon: process status is running

running

The process is currently performing work.
UI icon: process status is runnable

runnable

The process has a connection and has successfully run in the past. It currently has no work to perform.
UI icon: process status is sleeping

sleeping

The process has work to perform, but is waiting for something, such as a lock or user input.
UI icon: process status is background

background

A background process that wakes up periodically to execute work.
UI icon: process status is suspended

suspended

The process has work to perform but has been stopped. The status field does not contain the reason the process was suspended. The Wait Type field may contain information about why the process is suspended.
UI icon: process status is other

other

Process is not in one of the other statuses.

Permissions

Use Activity Monitor when troubleshooting database locking issues, and to terminate a deadlocked or otherwise unresponsive process.

To view the Activity Monitor the user needs VIEW SERVER STATE permission on the server.

Permission to KILL a process defaults to the members of the sysadmin and processadmin fixed database roles, and is not transferable.

See Also

Other Resources

sp_who (Transact-SQL)

Help and Information

Getting SQL Server 2008 Assistance