sys.configurations (Transact-SQL)

Applies to: SQL Server

Contains a row for each server-wide configuration option value in the system.

Column name Data type Description
configuration_id int Unique ID for the configuration value.
name nvarchar(35) Name of the configuration option.
value sql_variant Configured value for this option.
minimum sql_variant Minimum value for the configuration option.
maximum sql_variant Maximum value for the configuration option.
value_in_use sql_variant Running value currently in effect for this option.
description nvarchar(255) Description of the configuration option.
is_dynamic bit 1 = The variable that takes effect when the RECONFIGURE statement is executed.
is_advanced bit 1 = The variable is displayed only when the show advancedoption is set.

Remarks

For a list of all server configuration options, see Server Configuration Options (SQL Server).

Note

For database-level configuration options, see ALTER DATABASE SCOPED CONFIGURATION (Transact-SQL). To configure Soft-NUMA, see Soft-NUMA (SQL Server).

The sys.configurations catalog view can be used to determine the config_value (the value column), the run_value (the value_in_use column), and whether the configuration option is dynamic (does not require a server engine restart or the is_dynamic column).

Note

The config_value in the result set of sp_configure is equivalent to the sys.configurations.value column. The run_value is equivalent to the sys.configurations.value_in_use column.

The following query can be used to determine if any configured values have not been installed:

select * from sys.configurations where value != value_in_use

If the value equals the change for the configuration option you made but the value_in_use is not the same, either the RECONFIGURE command was not run or has failed, or the server engine must be restarted.

There are configuration options where the value and value_in_use may not be the same and this is expected behavior. For example:

"max server memory (MB)" - The default configured value of 0 shows up as value_in_use = 2147483647

"min server memory (MB)" - The default configured value of 0 may show up as value_in_use = 8 (32bit) or 16 (64bit). In some cases, the value_in_use is 0. In this situation, the "true" value_in_use is 8 (32bit) or 16 (64bit).

The is_dynamic column can be used to determine if the configuration option requires a restart. is_dynamic=1 means that when the RECONFIGURE(T-SQL) command is executed, the new value will take effect "immediately" (in some cases the server engine may not evaluate the new value immediately but will do so in the normal course of its execution). is_dynamic=0 means the the changed configuration value will not take effect until the server is restarted even though the RECONFIGURE(T-SQL) command was executed.

For a configuration option that is not dynamic there is no way to tell if the RECONFIGURE(T-SQL) command has been run to perform the first step of installing the configuration change. Before you restart SQL Server to install a configuration change, run the RECONFIGURE(T-SQL) command to ensure all configuration changes will take effect after a SQL Server restart.

Permissions

Requires membership in the public role.

See Also

Server-wide Configuration Catalog Views (Transact-SQL)
Catalog Views (Transact-SQL)