sp_monitorconfig

Displays cache usage statistics regarding metadata descriptors for indexes, objects, databases, and the kernel resource memory pool. sp_monitorconfig also reports statistics on auxiliary scan descriptors used for referential integrity queries, and usage statistics for transaction descriptors and DTX participants.

Syntax

sp_monitorconfig "configname"[, "result_tbl_name"][, "full"]

Parameters

Examples

Usage

There are additional considerations when using sp_monitorconfig:
  • The output for additional network memory reports the utilization statistics for the global network memory pool regardless of whether or not memory has been added to this pool by setting additional network memory to a positive value.

  • If the max cis remote connections configuration parameter has a config_value, the system_val reports a value of zero (0).

  • If you reconfigure a resource using a value that is smaller than the original value it was given, the resource does not shrink, and the Num_active configuration parameter can report a number that is larger than Total_val. The resource shrinks and the numbers report correctly when the SAP ASE server restarts.

  • sp_monitorconfig displays cache usage statistics regarding metadata descriptors for indexes, objects, and databases, such as the number of metadata descriptors currently in use by the server.

  • sp_monitorconfig also reports the number of auxiliary scan descriptors in use. A scan descriptor manages a single scan of a table when queries are run on the table.

  • sp_monitorconfig monitors the following resources:
    • additional network memory

    • audit queue size

    • heap memory per user

    • max cis remote connection

    • max memory

    • max number network listeners

    • memory per worker process

    • max online engines

    • number of alarms

    • number of aux scan descriptors

    • number of devices

    • number of dtx participants

    • number of java sockets

    • number of large i/o buffers

    • number of locks

    • number of mailboxes

    • number of messages

    • number of open databases

    • number of open indexes

    • number of open objects

    • number of open partitions

    • number of remote connections

    • number of remote logins

    • number of remote sites

    • number of sort buffers

    • number of user connections

    • number of worker processes

    • partition groups

    • permission cache entries

    • procedure cache size

    • size of global fixed heap

    • size of process object heap

    • size of shared class heap

    • size of unilib cache

    • txn to pss ratio

  • The columns in the sp_monitorconfig output provide the following information:
    • Num_free – specifies the number of available metadata or auxiliary scan descriptors not currently used.

    • Num_active – specifies the number of metadata or auxiliary scan descriptors installed in cache (that is, active).

    • Pct_active – specifies the percentage of cached or active metadata or auxiliary scan descriptors.

    • Max_Used – specifies the maximum number of metadata or auxiliary scan descriptors that have been in use since the server was started.

    • Reuse_cnt – specifies whether a metadata descriptor was reused in order to accommodate an increase in indexes, objects, or databases in the server. The returned value is Yes, No or NA (for configuration parameters that do not support the reuse mechanism, such as the number of aux scan descriptors).

  • Use the value in the Max_Used column as a basis for determining an appropriate number of descriptors; be sure to add about 10 percent for the final setting. For example, if the maximum number of index metadata descriptors used is 142, you might set the number of open indexes configuration parameter to 157.

  • If the Reused column states Yes, reset the configuration parameter to a higher value. When descriptors need to be reused, there can be performance problems, particularly with open databases. An open database contains a substantial amount of metadata information, which means that to fill up an open database, the SAP ASE server needs to access the metadata on the disk many times; the server can also have a spinlock contention problem. To check for spinlock contention, use the system procedure sp_sysmon. See the Performance and Tuning Series: Monitoring Adaptive Server with sp_sysmon. To find the current number of indexes, objects, or databases, use sp_countmetadata.

  • To get an accurate reading, run sp_monitorconfig during a normal SAP ASE peak time period. You can run sp_monitorconfig several times during the peak period to ensure that you are actually finding the maximum number of descriptors used.

  • result_tbl_name creates a table using the following syntax. All the result information is saved in this table, which returns no standard output.

    create table table_name(
        Name varchar(35), Num_free int,
        Num_active int, Pct_act char(6),
        Max_Used int, Reuse_cnt int,
        Date varchar(30))
  • Some configuration parameters, such as number of sort buffers and txn to pss ratio, are dependent on the number of configured user connections, while other configuration parameters, such as max number of network listeners, are per engine.

  • For the configuration value permission cache entries, the values of Num_free, Num_active, Pct_act, and Max_Used are averages of per connection values, however Reuse_cnt is a server-wide value.

  • The output of sp_monitorconfig uses the number of user connections and online engines to calculate the values for the columns num_free, num_active, pct_act and max_used.

  • The updates on the internal monitor counters are done without using synchronization methods because of performance reasons. For this reason, a multi-engine SAP ASE server under heavy load might report numbers in the sp_monitorconfig output that are not a completely accurate.

  • You might see the number of active locks as greater than 0 on an idle system. These “active” locks are reserved and used internally.

Permissions

The permission checks for sp_monitorconfig differ based on your granular permissions settings.

SettingDescription
Enabled

With granular permissions enabled, you must be a user with mon_role or have manage server privileges.

Disabled

With granular permissions disabled, you must be a user with either mon_role or sa_role.

InformationValues
Event

38

Audit option

exec_procedure

Command or access audited

Execution of a procedure

Information in extrainfo
  • Roles – Current active roles

  • Keywords or options – NULL

  • Previous value – NULL

  • Current value – NULL

  • Other information – All input parameters

  • Proxy information – Original login name, if set proxy in effect

Auditing

Values in event and extrainfo columns from the sysaudits table are:

Related reference
sp_configure
sp_countmetadata
sp_helpconfig
sp_helpconstraint
sp_sysmon