04 July 2012

Processes in a runnable state (worker query)

by Grant Fritchey

9,757 1 Performance

This metric measures the load of running processes within SQL Server. It doesn’t show any specific problems, but can act as a measure of the pressure being put on your SQL Server instance.

Install metric...

Metrics install automatically if you have Redgate Monitor installed.

If you are using Redgate’s SQL Server monitoring tool, Redgate Monitor, you can instantly install and run this metric on your servers.

This metric measures the load of running processes within SQL Server. It doesn’t show any specific problems, but can act as a measure of the pressure being put on your SQL Server instance. You will need to compare these values to a baseline in order to properly interpret them.

Metric definition

Name

Processes in a runnable state (worker query)

Description

Acts as a simple measure of SQL Server load by measuring the number of processes that are in a runnable state.

The T-SQL query that will collect data


		
			
			
Transact-SQL
			
			--Query sys.dm_os_workers to get a count of processes in a runnable state as an indicator of processor load 
SELECT COUNT(*)
FROM sys.dm_os_workers AS dow
WHERE state = 'RUNNING';
			
				
					
				
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						--Query sys.dm_os_workers to get a count of processes in a runnable state as an indicator of processor load 
SELECT COUNT(*)
FROM sys.dm_os_workers AS dow
WHERE state = 'RUNNING';

Instances to collect from

Select all

Databases to collect from

master

Collection frequency

300

Use collected or calculated values

Leave the Use a calculated rate of change between collections check box unchecked

Metric collection

Enabled

Alert definition

An alert is not required

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What are custom metrics?

The Redgate Monitor custom metric feature lets you run T-SQL queries against your SQL Servers to collect specific data. You can analyze and receive alerts about your custom data just like everything else Redgate Monitor collects.

But what if you don’t want to write your own queries? No problem. Redgate has brought together a range of quality custom metrics for you to use in Redgate Monitor, which are all are free, tried and tested. You can install straight away, and use the resources on this site to help you write your own.

What is Redgate Monitor?

Redgate Monitor is a SQL Server performance monitoring tool that gives you real-time and historical SQL Server performance data with alerts and diagnostics.

With its embedded expertise from SQL Server experts and MVPs, it gives you the information and advice you need to find and fix issues before users are even aware.

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Processes in a runnable state (worker query)

Metric definition

Name

Description

The T-SQL query that will collect data

Instances to collect from

Databases to collect from

Collection frequency

Use collected or calculated values

Metric collection

Alert definition

What are custom metrics?

What is Redgate Monitor?

Featured custom metrics

Total database file size

Number of active backups and restores

Full backup to odd path

Find metrics