sp_helpserver
Reports information about a particular remote or replication server, or about all servers of both types. Provides the server name, the server's network name, the server's replication status, the server's identification number, collation name, and time-out values for connecting to, or queries against, linked servers.
Syntax
sp_helpserver [ [ @server = ] 'server' ]
[ , [ @optname = ] 'option' ]
[ , [ @show_topology = ] 'show_topology' ]
Arguments
[@server =] 'server'
Is the server about which information is reported. When no server is supplied, reports about all servers in master.dbo.sysservers. server is sysname, with a default of NULL.
[@optname =] 'option'
Is the option describing the server. option is varchar(35), with a default of NULL, and must be one of these values.
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| collation compatible | Affects the Distributed Query execution against linked servers. If this option is set to true, Microsoft® SQL Server™ assumes that all characters in the linked server are compatible with the local server, with regard to character set and collation sequence (or sort order). |
| data access | Enables and disables a linked server for distributed query access. |
| dist | Distributor. |
| dpub | Remote Publisher to this Distributor. |
| lazy schema validation | Skips schema checking of remote tables at the beginning of the query. |
| pub | Publisher. |
| rpc | Enables RPC from the given server. |
| rpc out | Enables RPC to the given server. |
| sub | Subscriber. |
| system | For internal use only. |
| use remote collation | Uses the collation of a remote column rather than that of the local server. |
[@show_topology =] 'show_topology'
Is the relationship of the given server to other servers. show_topology is varchar(1), with a default of NULL. If show_topology is not equal to t or is NULL, sp_helpserver returns columns listed in the Result Sets section. If show_topology is equal to t, in addition to the columns listed in the Result Sets, sp_helpserver also returns topx and topy information.
Return Code Values
0 (success) or 1 (failure).
Result Sets
| Column name | Data type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| name | sysname | Server name. |
| network_name | sysname | Server's network name. |
| status | varchar(70) | Server status. |
| id | char(4) | Server's identification number. |
| collation_name | sysname | Server's collation. |
| connect_timeout | int | Time-out value for connecting to linked server. |
| query_timeout | int | Time-out value for queries against linked server. |
Remarks
A server can have more than one status.
Permissions
Execute permissions default to the public role.
Examples
A. Display information about all servers
This example displays information about all servers (sp_helpserver with no parameters).
USE master
EXEC sp_helpserver
B. Display information about a specific server
This example displays all information about the SEATTLE2 server.
USE master
EXEC sp_helpserver 'SEATTLE2'