SQL Server Profiler - How to filter trace to only display events from one database?

Question

How do I limit a SQL Server Profiler trace to a specific database? I can't see how to filter the trace to not see events for all databases on the instance I connect to.

Answer 1

Under Trace properties > Events Selection tab > select show all columns. Now under column filters, you should see the database name. Enter the database name for the Like section and you should see traces only for that database.

Answer 2

In SQL 2005, you first need to show the Database Name column in your trace. The easiest thing to do is to pick the Tuning template, which has that column added already.

Assuming you have the Tuning template selected, to filter:

• Click the "Events Selection" tab
• Click the "Column Filters" button
• Select "DatabaseName", click the plus next to Like in the right-hand pane, and type your database name.

I always save the trace to a table too so I can do LIKE queries on the trace data after the fact.

Answer 3

By experiment I was able to observe this:

When SQL Profiler 2005 or SQL Profiler 2000 is used with database residing in SQLServer 2000 - problem mentioned problem persists, but when SQL Profiler 2005 is used with SQLServer 2005 database, it works perfect!

In Summary, the issue seems to be prevalent in SQLServer 2000 & rectified in SQLServer 2005.

The solution for the issue when dealing with SQLServer 2000 is (as explained by wearejimbo)

1. Identify the DatabaseID of the database you want to filter by querying the sysdatabases table as below

   SELECT * FROM master..sysdatabases WHERE name like '%your_db_name%' -- Remove this line to see all databases ORDER BY dbid

2. Use the DatabaseID Filter (instead of DatabaseName) in the New Trace window of SQL Profiler 2000

Answer 4

Create a new template and check DBname. Use that template for your tracefile.