SQLSERVER hogging CPU?

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At work we have a server running Windows XP Pro and 4 PCs connected to it also running XP Pro.

The PC's do very little aside run the till software Calculus V6 Pro for SQL.

The tills keep hanging when doing certain tasks, namely booking deliveries. When they hang the server CPU is at 90%+ in device manager with SQLSERVER listed as using the most resources.

I know the information given here is very limited but I don't really know where to go for advice or what info to give to help anyone diagnose the problem.

Any thoughts/suggestion/advice from anyone greatly appreciated.

 

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Whats the version of SQL inc. Service packs

 

Really sorry but how do I find out?

 

To find out the service pack version of your SQL server click on start - programs - Microsoft SQL Server - SQL Server Management Studio. The big bold in brackets (SQL Server 9.0.xxxx) is the service pack number or version.

You can also find this out by clicking on Help on the top left of the server whilst logged on to the database server engine in SQL. The dialogue box that appears would have all this info listed starting with the service pack version and number for your SQL database server.

Cheerio and best wishes

 

There is no entry under all programs for Msoft SQL Server. And you totally lost me on the next paragraph!

I have just found out that the server is in fact a simple PC, not a dedicated server. Is is an off the shelf PC running XP Pro if that makes any difference!

 

Might be listed as MSDE(Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine)

 

There is nothing listed under programs that has anything related to SQL in the name?

 

and nothing in control panel either.

 

Sorry to say this but XP is not a server OS and shouldn't be considered as such.

If you're wanting to run a client\server based application you would be better off actually running it on a proper server.

As far as finding out the version of the SQL that's running on the machine, do you have a SQL Server Management Studio? If so, run that and that should tell you the version you're running.

At a guess I would suggest that you probably need to get a proper server installed, migrate and upgrade the existing SQL db and point the clients at the new server.

 

Not the response I wanted, but kind of the one I expected!!

Thanks all.

 

Now I actually don't know how to take that one.

 

lol, nothing against you!!

I did suspect someone would tell me this when I found out the 'server' was in fact just a PC!

New server ordered and on it's way!

 

Theres two things that could be happening :-

1. The server is under too much load and failing

Undertake load testing and sizing exercise. Run tracing or profiling tools etc to see what is happening, also look at logs and performance counters. After sizing exercise decide on new hardware and purchase.

2. The application is doing something to cause the DB to crash or lock up.

There could be deadlocked transactions etc or you could have just triggered a known bug.

Similar to above, ensure all relevant service packs and hotfixes are installed. Use suitable monitoring and investigation tools to investigate the issue. If appears related to hotfix problem solved. If appears related to third party application, escalate to their support department and raise a ticket. Consider possible workarounds until a fix is receieved, maybe you can reboot the server each night or run cleanup scripts or triggers etc.

Theres a number of ways to find SQL version, heres some based on T-SQL :-

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321185

Management studio might be an easier way though. You must have something listed under control panel / programs and features.

Trouble is there are multiple versions and editions of MS SQL server so the exact name can vary.

Taskmgr will show the installation directory of the process if you right click it and select properties. (You may need to first select show processes for all users).

What do you have under program files directory ?

eg.
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server

SQL server should actually be running as a windows service and hosted by a service executable called sqlservr.exe. Each named instance could have a separate service.

Also why are you being asked to fix this if you know nothing about computers ?

 

Thanks for the reply, lots of suggestions in there. I haven't looked in the programs director but will do tomorrow. I don't think it is fair to say I know nothing about computers() but this problem is beyond my level of knowledge. I wasn't asked to sort it, just trying to save my company the cost of a new server.

Thanks again.

 

Well it depends on the business, a decent desktop could well do the job if the HA features of server hardware are not required. In fact some low end servers are pretty much desktops.

Client / Server is an architectural aspect or part of application / protocol design, it need have nothing to do with what hardware or software you run.

XP Professional is not a proper server OS in terms of MS licensing, features are typically removed or disabled in the client versions of MS's OS. There are restrictions on what versions of MS SQL Server can be installed on what operating systems, the more powerful versions tend to require a server version of the OS but this is largely down to licensing and revenue generation for MS. If you want to install the enterprise or datacentre versions you will definitely need a server OS. However I doubt that four XP clients will require anything more than the standard edition unless you need HA features from the higher editions or you have a very large DB or require a lot of performance.