Useful system stored procedures in SQL Server

Question

I recently discovered that I could use the sp_help to get a table definition and have been hooked onto it since then. Before my discovery, I had to open up the Obje

Answer 1

All of these undocumented ones

xp_getnetname 

xp_fileexist 

xp_dirtree 

xp_subdirs 

sp_who2

xp_getfiledetails 

xp_fixeddrives 

Sp_tempdbspace 

xp_enumdsn 

xp_enumerrorlogs

sp_MSforeachtable 

sp_MSforeachDB 

See here: Undocumented stored procedures

And now since SQl Server 2005 all the Dynamic Management Views like sys.dm_db_index_usage_stats

Answer 2

sp_ helpindex [table] - shows you index info (same info as sp_help)

sp_helpconstraint [table] - shows you primary/foreign key/defaults and other constraints *

sp_depends [obj] - shows dependencies of an object, for example:

sp_depends [table] - shows you what stored procs, views, triggers, UDF affect this table

sp_depends [sproc] - shows what tables etc are affected/used by this stored proc

Answer 3

Alt + F1 is a good shortcut key for sp_help.

sp_helptext is another goodie for getting stored procedure text.

Answer 4

sp_who/sp_who2 - lets you know who is doing what on the server.

Answer 5

sp_rename

for renaming database objects (tables, columns, indexes, etc.)

Answer 6

• sp_who
• sp_who2

• sp_helptext

• list of useful system stored procedures