Are SQL sev 19-24 events logged to Windows Application event log?

Question

I know that low severity DB Engine events (<19) are logged to the Windows Application event log, and only if the event_is_logged attribute is set to '1'.

From this article...

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/errors-events/database-engine-error-severities?view=sql-server-ver15

...it says that "Error messages with a severity level from 19 through 25 are written to the error log."

So are high severity events 19 - 25 also logged to the Application event log, or only to the SQL Server error log?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Hi @David C ,

May I ask how you tested to put a severity 19+ event in the event log?

You need to use sp_addmessage, and [ @with_log = ] { 'TRUE' | 'FALSE' } Is whether the message is to be written to the Windows application log when it occurs.

Test code on my side as next:

use testpowerapps  
go  
  
create TABLE TStudent (   
  StudentID varchar(10) NOT NULL,   
  Sname varchar(10) DEFAULT NULL,   
  sex varchar(4) DEFAULT NULL,   
  cardID varchar(20) DEFAULT NULL,   
  Birthday datetime DEFAULT NULL,   
  Email varchar(40) DEFAULT NULL,   
  Class varchar(20) DEFAULT NULL,   
  enterTime datetime DEFAULT NULL   
 )   
go  
  
create trigger insert_TStudent on TStudent for insert   
as  
declare @sum int  
select @sum=count(StudentID) from TStudent where StudentID in (select StudentID from inserted)  
if @sum>1  
begin  
raiserror(999999,21,1) with log  
rollback tran   
end  
  
insert TStudent (StudentID,Sname,sex) values ('1','A','W')  
  
--check 1  
SELECT * FROM sysmessages  
  
--sp_addmessage   
USE master;    
GO    
EXEC sp_addmessage @msgnum=999999, @severity=21,@msgtext=N'The StudentID is already exists', @with_log='true'  
GO    
  
--check 2  
SELECT * FROM sysmessages  
  
--test, insert one duplicated id  
use testpowerapps  
go  
insert TStudent (StudentID,Sname,sex) values ('1','A','W')  

--SSMS error message

--sqlserver error log

--Windows Applicatin Error

BR,
Mia

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Answer 2

I believe that they are logged to the Application Event Log in Windows. I did a quick test, and in that case at least there were entries in the Windows Event Log.

An indication is also that when you use RAISERROR with level 19 or high, the clause WITH LOG is mandatory, and this clause means that the error will be logged into the Windows event log.

Answer 3

Thank you! BTW, I know I can use the EVENTCREATE command to manually force a dummy event into the application event log. May I ask how you tested to put a severity 19+ event in the event log? RAISEERROR sounds good for doing it programatically, but I would like to demonstrate in my own environment how Database Engine can natively put a 19+ in the app log in addition to the SQL Server error log.