System Stored Procedures (Transact-SQL)
In SQL Server 2005, many administrative and informational activities can be performed by using system stored procedures. The system stored procedures are grouped into the categories shown in the following table.
In This Section
| Category | Description |
|---|---|
Used to register instances of SQL Server and SQL Server databases in Microsoft Windows 2000 Active Directory. |
|
Used to implement ODBC data dictionary functions and isolate ODBC applications from changes to underlying system tables. |
|
Used to implements cursor variable functionality. |
|
Used for general maintenance of the SQL Server Database Engine. |
|
Used to perform e-mail operations from within an instance of SQL Server. |
|
Used to set up core maintenance tasks that are required to manage database performance. |
|
Used to implement and manage Distributed Queries. |
|
Used to implement and query full-text indexes. |
|
Used to configure, modify, and monitor log shipping configurations. |
|
Enable standard Automation objects to be used within a standard Transact-SQL batch. |
|
Used to manage SQL Server 2005 Notification Services. |
|
Used to manage replication. |
|
Used to manage security. |
|
Used by SQL Server Profiler to monitor performance and activity. |
|
Used by SQL Server Agent to manage scheduled and event-driven activities. |
|
Used for creating Web pages. |
|
Used for XML text management. |
|
Provide an interface from an instance of SQL Server to external programs for various maintenance activities. |
Note
Unless specifically documented otherwise, all system stored procedures return a value of 0. This indicates success. To indicate failure, a nonzero value is returned.
API System Stored Procedures
Users that run SQL Server Profiler against ADO, OLE DB, and ODBC applications may notice these applications using system stored procedures that are not covered in the Transact-SQL Reference. These stored procedures are used by the Microsoft SQL Native Client OLE DB Provider and the SQL Native Client ODBC driver to implement the functionality of a database API. These stored procedures are just the mechanism the provider or driver uses to communicate user requests to an instance of SQL Server. They are intended only for the internal use of the provider or the driver. Calling them explicitly from a SQL Server-based application is not supported.
The complete functionality from these stored procedures is made available to SQL Server-based applications through the API functions they support. For example, the cursor functionality of the sp_cursor system stored procedures is made available to OLE DB applications through the OLE DB API cursor properties and methods, and to ODBC applications through the ODBC cursor attributes and functions.
The following system stored procedures support the cursor functionality of ADO, OLE DB, and ODBC:
sp_cursor |
sp_cursorclose |
sp_cursorexecute |
sp_cursorfetch |
sp_cursoropen |
sp_cursoroption |
sp_cursorprepare |
sp_cursorunprepare |
|
The following system stored procedures support the prepare/execute model of executing Transact-SQL statements in ADO, OLE DB, and ODBC:
sp_execute |
sp_prepare |
sp_unprepare |
The sp_createorphan and sp_droporphans stored procedures are used for ODBC ntext, text, and image processing.
The sp_reset_connection stored procedure is used by SQL Server to support remote stored procedure calls in a transaction. This stored procedure also causes Audit Login and Audit Logout events to fire when a connection is reused from a connection pool.
The system stored procedures in the following tables are used only within an instance of SQL Server or through client APIs and are not intended for general customer use. They are subject to change and compatibility is not guaranteed.
The following stored procedures are documented in SQL Server Books Online:
sp_catalogs |
sp_column_privileges |
sp_column_privileges_ex |
sp_columns |
sp_columns_ex |
sp_databases |
sp_datatype_info |
sp_fkeys |
sp_foreignkeys |
sp_indexes |
sp_pkeys |
sp_primarykeys |
sp_server_info |
sp_special_columns |
sp_sproc_columns |
sp_statistics |
sp_table_privileges |
sp_table_privileges_ex |
sp_tables |
sp_tables_ex |
The following stored procedures are not documented:
sp_assemblies_rowset |
sp_assemblies_rowset_rmt |
sp_assemblies_rowset2 |
sp_assembly_dependencies_rowset |
sp_assembly_dependencies_rowset_rmt |
sp_assembly_dependencies_rowset2 |
sp_bcp_dbcmptlevel |
sp_catalogs_rowset |
sp_catalogs_rowset;2 |
sp_catalogs_rowset;5 |
sp_catalogs_rowset_rmt |
sp_catalogs_rowset2 |
sp_check_constbytable_rowset |
sp_check_constbytable_rowset;2 |
sp_check_constbytable_rowset2 |
sp_check_constraints_rowset |
sp_check_constraints_rowset;2 |
sp_check_constraints_rowset2 |
sp_column_privileges_rowset |
sp_column_privileges_rowset;2 |
sp_column_privileges_rowset;5 |
sp_column_privileges_rowset_rmt |
sp_column_privileges_rowset2 |
sp_columns_90 |
sp_columns_90_rowset |
sp_columns_90_rowset_rmt |
sp_columns_90_rowset2 |
sp_columns_ex_90 |
sp_columns_rowset |
sp_columns_rowset;2 |
sp_columns_rowset;5 |
sp_columns_rowset_rmt |
sp_columns_rowset2 |
sp_constr_col_usage_rowset |
sp_datatype_info_90 |
sp_ddopen;1 |
sp_ddopen;10 |
sp_ddopen;11 |
sp_ddopen;12 |
sp_ddopen;13 |
sp_ddopen;2 |
sp_ddopen;3 |
sp_ddopen;4 |
sp_ddopen;5 |
sp_ddopen;6 |
sp_ddopen;7 |
sp_ddopen;8 |
sp_ddopen;9 |
sp_foreign_keys_rowset |
sp_foreign_keys_rowset;2 |
sp_foreign_keys_rowset;3 |
sp_foreign_keys_rowset;5 |
sp_foreign_keys_rowset_rmt |
sp_foreign_keys_rowset2 |
sp_foreign_keys_rowset3 |
sp_indexes_90_rowset |
sp_indexes_90_rowset_rmt |
sp_indexes_90_rowset2 |
sp_indexes_rowset |
sp_indexes_rowset;2 |
sp_indexes_rowset;5 |
sp_indexes_rowset_rmt |
sp_indexes_rowset2 |
sp_linkedservers_rowset |
sp_linkedservers_rowset;2 |
sp_linkedservers_rowset2 |
sp_oledb_database |
sp_oledb_defdb |
sp_oledb_deflang |
sp_oledb_language |
sp_oledb_ro_usrname |
sp_primary_keys_rowset |
sp_primary_keys_rowset;2 |
sp_primary_keys_rowset;3 |
sp_primary_keys_rowset;5 |
sp_primary_keys_rowset_rmt |
sp_primary_keys_rowset2 |
sp_procedure_params_90_rowset |
sp_procedure_params_90_rowset2 |
sp_procedure_params_rowset |
sp_procedure_params_rowset;2 |
sp_procedure_params_rowset2 |
sp_procedures_rowset |
sp_procedures_rowset;2 |
sp_procedures_rowset2 |
sp_provider_types_90_rowset |
sp_provider_types_rowset |
sp_schemata_rowset |
sp_schemata_rowset;3 |
sp_special_columns_90 |
sp_sproc_columns_90 |
sp_statistics_rowset |
sp_statistics_rowset;2 |
sp_statistics_rowset2 |
sp_stored_procedures |
sp_table_constraints_rowset |
sp_table_constraints_rowset;2 |
sp_table_constraints_rowset2 |
sp_table_privileges_rowset |
sp_table_privileges_rowset;2 |
sp_table_privileges_rowset;5 |
sp_table_privileges_rowset_rmt |
sp_table_privileges_rowset2 |
sp_table_statistics_rowset |
sp_table_statistics_rowset;2 |
sp_table_statistics2_rowset |
sp_tablecollations |
sp_tablecollations_90 |
sp_tables_info_90_rowset |
sp_tables_info_90_rowset_64 |
sp_tables_info_90_rowset2 |
sp_tables_info_90_rowset2_64 |
sp_tables_info_rowset |
sp_tables_info_rowset;2 |
sp_tables_info_rowset_64 |
sp_tables_info_rowset_64;2 |
sp_tables_info_rowset2 |
sp_tables_info_rowset2_64 |
sp_tables_rowset;2 |
sp_tables_rowset;5 |
sp_tables_rowset_rmt |
sp_tables_rowset2 |
sp_usertypes_rowset |
sp_usertypes_rowset_rmt |
sp_usertypes_rowset2 |
sp_views_rowset |
sp_views_rowset2 |
sp_xml_schema_rowset |
sp_xml_schema_rowset2 |
See Also
Reference
CREATE PROCEDURE (Transact-SQL)
Other Resources
Stored Procedures (Database Engine)
Running Stored Procedures (OLE DB)
Running Stored Procedures