CREATE SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION (Transact-SQL)

Article
12/29/2022

Applies to: SQL Server Azure SQL Managed Instance

Creates a server audit specification object using the SQL Server Audit feature. For more information, see SQL Server Audit (Database Engine).

Transact-SQL syntax conventions

Syntax

CREATE SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION audit_specification_name  
FOR SERVER AUDIT audit_name  
{  
    { ADD ( { audit_action_group_name } )   
    } [, ...n]  
    [ WITH ( STATE = { ON | OFF } ) ]  
}  
[ ; ]

Note

To view Transact-SQL syntax for SQL Server 2014 (12.x) and earlier versions, see Previous versions documentation.

Arguments

audit_specification_name
Name of the server audit specification.

audit_name
Name of the audit to which this specification is applied.

audit_action_group_name
Name of a group of server-level auditable actions. For a list of Audit Action Groups, see SQL Server Audit Action Groups and Actions.

WITH ( STATE = { ON | OFF } )
Enables or disables the audit from collecting records for this audit specification.

Remarks

An audit must exist before creating a server audit specification for it. When a server audit specification is created, it is in a disabled state.

Permissions

Users with the ALTER ANY SERVER AUDIT permission can create server audit specifications and bind them to any audit.

After a server audit specification is created, it can be viewed by users with CONTROL SERVER permission, the sysadmin account, or principals having explicit access to the audit.

Examples

The following example creates a server audit specification called HIPAA_Audit_Specification that audits failed logins, for a SQL Server Audit called HIPAA_Audit.

CREATE SERVER AUDIT SPECIFICATION HIPAA_Audit_Specification  
FOR SERVER AUDIT HIPAA_Audit  
    ADD (FAILED_LOGIN_GROUP)  
    WITH (STATE=ON);  
GO

For a full example about how to create an audit, see SQL Server Audit (Database Engine).