Trace file - how to use it

sql-server crash trace sql-server-profiler
lmsasu picture lmsasu · Feb 2, 2009 · Viewed 8.3k times · Source

we have an application running on an IIS 6/ASP.NET 2.0 backed by a SQL Server 2005 STD edition X64. From time to time, the application crashes with some silly messages (some of the fileds are not found into a "select firled1, filed2.. from mytable"). I obtained a trace of the activity from the sql server taken while the application reported the errors. Note: the crash is encountered only during some heavy load on that server, like creating some reports simmultaneously by several users.

The question is: how can I use the trace file to solve the situation? How can I detect what goes wrong?

Thanks

Answer

Brent Ozar picture Brent Ozar · Feb 21, 2009

I've got a video tutorial on getting started with Profiler at SQLServerPedia. In a nutshell, you'll want to export that trace file into a table, and then step through it in order looking at the errors that popped up. Profiler's trace files or trace tables by themselves won't say, "Here's what you need to fix in order to avoid this error" any more than a dump file will tell you "Here's the bad line of code" - you'll still need an experienced DBA to interpret the results. You may want to take the trace file to your local SQL Server User Group meeting and see if someone can help you.

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