SQL Server Logging/User Tracking Capabilities

Question

We have recently converted an Access Application to store the date on SQL server. The forms still reside in the MS Access, but are linked through file DSN's to SQL server.

A question came up of the capabilities to track user activity within SQL server.

I have speculated that if we set up individual users in SQL server and use these individual accounts when setting up the DSN's on the user's computers that perhaps then we could use SQL server to track user activity. Is this true?

We currently have SQL server 2005 standard but will be upgrading to 2008 relatively soon.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Answer 1

When you upgrade to SQL 2008 you have Change Data Capture.

Answer 2

Is this true?

Yes, triggers on tables to capture changes would work. You could also set up a server side trace to log login events to a table if you were after that kind of info. Be more specific for some more answers.

Answer 3

I work currently on tracking DDL changes , so here is one DDL trigger with the needed 2 functions and table structure ... Before running the code set ext props for your database for "DbVersion"(e.g. 2.3.4) and "DbType" (e.g. dev , test , prod ) and replace the [ga] namespace with the one with your choice or create one ... Edit: fixed bug with null Version if object is new ...

USE [GA_DEV]
GO

/****** Object:  DdlTrigger [TraceDbChanges]    Script Date: 05/07/2009 11:15:57 ******/
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO

SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO


create trigger [TraceDbChanges]
on database
for create_procedure, alter_procedure, drop_procedure,
create_table, alter_table, drop_table,
create_function, alter_function, drop_function , 
create_trigger , alter_trigger , drop_trigger 
as

set nocount on

declare @data xml
set @data = EVENTDATA()
declare @DbVersion varchar(20)
set @DbVersion =(select ga.GetDbVersion())
declare @DbType varchar(20)
set @DbType =(select ga.GetDbType())
declare @DbName varchar(256)
set @DbName [email protected]('(/EVENT_INSTANCE/DatabaseName)[1]', 'varchar(256)')
declare @EventType varchar(256)
set @EventType [email protected]('(/EVENT_INSTANCE/EventType)[1]', 'varchar(50)')
declare @ObjectName varchar(256)
set @ObjectName  = @data.value('(/EVENT_INSTANCE/ObjectName)[1]', 'varchar(256)')
declare @ObjectType varchar(25)
set @ObjectType = @data.value('(/EVENT_INSTANCE/ObjectType)[1]', 'varchar(25)')
declare @TSQLCommand varchar(max)
set @TSQLCommand = @data.value('(/EVENT_INSTANCE/TSQLCommand)[1]', 'varchar(max)')
declare @opentag varchar(4)
set @opentag= '<'
declare @closetag varchar(4) 
set @closetag= '>'
declare @newDataTxt varchar(max) 
set @newDataTxt= cast(@data as varchar(max))
set @newDataTxt = REPLACE ( REPLACE(@newDataTxt , @opentag , '<') , @closetag , '>')
-- print @newDataTxt
declare @newDataXml xml 
set @newDataXml = CONVERT ( xml , @newDataTxt)

declare @Version varchar(50)
set @Version = @newDataXml.value('(/EVENT_INSTANCE/TSQLCommand/CommandText/Version)[1]', 'varchar(50)')

-- if we are dropping take the version from the existing object 
if  ( SUBSTRING(@EventType , 0 , 5)) = 'DROP'
set @Version =( select top 1 [Version]  from ga.DbObjChangeLog where ObjectName=@ObjectName order by [LogId] desc)
if ( @Version is null)
set @Version = '1.0.0'

declare @Description varchar(max)
set @Description = @newDataXml.value('(/EVENT_INSTANCE/TSQLCommand/CommandText/Description)[1]', 'varchar(max)')

declare @ChangeDescription varchar(max)
set @ChangeDescription = @newDataXml.value('(/EVENT_INSTANCE/TSQLCommand/CommandText/ChangeDescription)[1]', 'varchar(max)')

declare @LoginName varchar(256) 
set @LoginName = @data.value('(/EVENT_INSTANCE/LoginName)[1]', 'varchar(256)')
declare @FirstName varchar(50)
set @FirstName= (select [FirstName] from [ga].[LoginsForUsers] where [LoginName] = @LoginName)
declare @LastName varchar(50)
set @LastName  = (select [LastName] from [ga].[LoginsForUsers] where [LoginName] = @LoginName)
declare @SchemaName sysname 
set @SchemaName = @data.value('(/EVENT_INSTANCE/SchemaName)[1]', 'sysname');
--declare @Description xml 
--set @Description = @data.query('(/EVENT_INSTANCE/TSQLCommand/text())')




print 'VERSION IS ' + @Version
print @newDataTxt
print cast(@data as varchar(max))


-- select column_name from information_schema.columns where table_name ='DbObjChangeLog'
insert into [ga].[DbObjChangeLog]
(
[DatabaseName] ,
[SchemaName],
[DbVersion] ,
[DbType],
[EventType],
[ObjectName],
[ObjectType] ,
[Version],
[Description],
[ChangeDescription],
[SqlCommand] ,
[LoginName] ,
[FirstName],
[LastName] 
)

values(

@DbName,
@SchemaName,
@DbVersion,
@DbType,
@EventType, 
@ObjectName, 
@ObjectType , 
@Version,
@Description,
@ChangeDescription,
@newDataTxt, 
@LoginName , 
@FirstName , 
@LastName
)


GO

SET ANSI_NULLS OFF
GO

SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER OFF
GO

DISABLE TRIGGER [TraceDbChanges] ON DATABASE
GO

ENABLE TRIGGER [TraceDbChanges] ON DATABASE
GO