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How do you troubleshoot excessive CPU usage in SQL Server?

Expert MS SQL
Quick Answer For CPU issues: check sys.dm_exec_query_stats for queries with high total_worker_time. Look for missing indexes, non-SARGable predicates, or excessive recompilation. Execution plans showing large sorts, hash joins, or scans on big tables are CPU-heavy. Fixing those reduces CPU รขโ‚ฌโ€ indexes shift work from CPU to I/O.

Answer

Troubleshooting steps:

  • Identify high-CPU queries in DMVs
  • Check plans for sorts, hashes, conversions
  • Validate statistics
  • Review index usage
  • Investigate parallelism waits
  • Check server MAXDOP settings
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