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794

answers:

4

What level of CPU usage should be considered high for SQL Server? ie 80% 90% 100%?

A: 

It really depends on your machine. The best thing is to monitor the server using perfmon and see when things start to run slowly. It is normal for SQL to use a lot of CPU under load.

Tom
+6  A: 

if under normal loads the CPU averages above 40% I start to get nervous. However, that's because I know the nature of our traffic and the spikes we get. Your mileage may vary.

Danimal
A: 

Generally, you don't want a machine to sustain a constant CPU of over 40 or 50%, because it won't be able to handle spikes in activity.

Eric Z Beard
+1  A: 

We actually aim even lower, for about a 7-10% average, but we do sometimes get processing that will spike us to 60%.

We measure total CPU every 30 seconds and email a report daily, and if we see a move of 2% away from that average we expect for that day we investigate.

It takes time but it's helps me sleep better at night :)

Ciaran Archer