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Starting SQL Server Profiler

You can start SQL Server Profiler in several different ways to support gathering trace output in a variety of scenarios. You can start SQL Server Profiler include from the Start menu, from the Tools menu in Database Engine Tuning Advisor, and from several locations in SQL Server Management Studio.

When you first start SQL Server Profiler and select New Trace from the File menu, the application displays a Connect to Server dialog box where you can specify the SQL Server instance to which you want to connect.

To start SQL Server Profiler from the Start menu

  • On the Start menu, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, point to Performance Tools, and then click SQL Server Profiler.

To start SQL Server Profiler in Database Engine Tuning Advisor

  • On the Database Engine Tuning Advisor Tools menu, click SQL Server Profiler.

Starting SQL Server Profiler in Management Studio

SQL Server Management Studio starts each profiler session in its own instance and continues to run if you shutdown SQL Server Management Studio.

You can start SQL Server Profiler from several locations in SQL Server Management Studio, as illustrated in the following procedures. When SQL Server Profiler starts it loads the connection context, trace template, and filter context of its launch point.

To start SQL Server Profiler from the Tools menu

  • In the SQL Server Management Studio Tools menu, click SQL Server Profiler.

To start SQL Server Profiler from the Query Editor

  1. On the SQL Server Management Studio menu bar, click New Query.

  2. In Query Editor, right-click and then select Trace Query in SQL Server Profiler.

    Note

    The connection context is the editor connection, the trace template is TSQL_SPs, and the applied filter is SPID = query window SPID.

To start SQL Server Profiler from Activity Monitor

  1. In Object Explorer, right-click an instance of SQL Server, and then click Activity Monitor.

  2. Click the Processes pane, right-click the process that you want to profile, and then click Trace Process in SQL Server Profiler.

    Note

    When a process is selected, the connection context is the Object Explorer connection when Activity Monitor was opened. The trace template is the default based on the server type, and the SPID equals the SPID for the selected process.

Security

In Windows Authentication mode, the user account that runs SQL Server Profiler must have permission to connect to an instance of SQL Server.

To perform tracing with SQL Server Profiler, users must also have the ALTER TRACE permission.