Grant Fritchey (12/6/2013)

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kevaburg (12/6/2013)

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Grant Fritchey (12/6/2013)

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kevaburg (12/6/2013)

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For this sort of thing I would recommend a server-side profiler trace. Don't use the Profiler itself if you intend to trace over an extended period.

If you're on 2008 or better, I strongly recommend not using trace. Extended events are much less intrusive, filter better, collect better information more easily. The only problem with them is that they're just a little more difficult to consume since in 2008 & 2008R2 there is no GUI available.

why the recommendation not to use them? Performance implications or because extended events are simply better?

Both.

I have tons of evidence, but I'll give you just one.

When you filter a trace event, the event fires, the data is collected, it goes into the buffer, then a determination is made if that event meets the filter criteria. In short, it filters after collecting the data. With an extended event, the event fires, the filter checks to see if the criteria is met, if so, it collects the data, if not, the data is never collected. Just that one thing alone makes a huge difference in how those two different mechanisms interact with the system and there are lots more.