Chapter 1: System Procedures

sp_modify_resource_limit

Description

Changes a resource limit by specifying a new limit value, or the action to take when the limit is exceeded, or both.

Syntax

sp_modify_resource_limit {name, appname } 
	rangename , limittype , limitvalue , enforced , action , scope

Parameters

name: is the Adaptive Server login to which the limit applies. You must specify either a name or an appname or both. To modify a limit that applies to all users of a particular application, specify a name of null.

appname: is the name of the application to which the limit applies. You must specify either a name or an appname or both. If the limit applies to all applications used by name, specify an appname of null. If the limit governs a particular application, specify the application name that the client program passes to the Adaptive Server in the login packet.

rangename: is the time range during which the limit is enforced. You cannot modify this value, but you must specify a non-null value to uniquely identify the resource limit.

limittype

is the type of resource to which the limit applies. You cannot modify this value, but you must specify a non-null value to uniquely identify the resource limit. The value must be one of the following:

Limit type	Description
row_count	Limits the number of rows a query can return
elapsed_time	Limits the number of seconds in wall-clock time that a query batch or transaction can run
io_cost	Limits either the actual cost, or the optimizer’s cost estimate, for processing a query
tempdb_space	Limits the number of pages from a tempdb database that a single session can have

limit_value

is the maximum amount of the server resource that the login or application can use before Adaptive Server enforces the limit. This must be a positive integer less than or equal to 2³¹ or null to retain the existing value. The following table indicates what value to specify for each limit type:

Limit type	Limit value
row_count	The maximum number of rows a query can return before the limit is enforced
elapsed_time	The maximum number of seconds in wall-clock time that a query batch or transaction can run before the limit is enforced
io_cost	A unitless measure derived from optimizer’s costing formula
tempdb_space	Limits the number of pages from a temporary database that a single session can have.

enforced: determines whether the limit is enforced prior to or during query execution. You cannot modify this value. Use null as a placeholder.

action

is the action to take when the limit is exceeded. The following codes apply to all limit types:

Action code	Description
1	Issues a warning
2	Aborts the query batch
3	Aborts the transaction
4	Kills the session
null	Retains the existing value

scope: is the scope of the limit. You cannot modify this value. You can use null as a placeholder.

Examples

Example 1

Modifies a resource limit that applies to all applications used by “robin” during the weekends time range. The limit issues a warning when a query is expected to return more than 3000 rows:

sp_modify_resource_limit robin, NULL, weekends, row_count, 3000, NULL, 
    1, NULL

Example 2

Modifies a resource limit that applies to the acctg application on all days of the week and at all times of the day. The limit aborts the query batch when estimated query processing time exceeds 45 seconds:

sp_modify_resource_limit NULL, acctg, "at all times", elapsed_time, 
    45, 2, 2, 6

Usage

You cannot change the login or application to which a limit applies or specify a new time range, limit type, enforcement time, or scope.
The modification of a resource limit causes the limits for each session for that login and/or application to be rebound at the beginning of the next query batch for that session.

Permissions

Only a System Administrator can execute sp_modify_resource_limit.

Auditing

Values in event and extrainfo columns from the sysaudits table are:

Event	Audit option	Command or access audited	Information in extrainfo
38	exec_procedure	Execution of a procedure	Roles – Current active roles Keywords or options – NULL Previous value – NULL Current value – NULL Other information – All input parameters Proxy information – Original login name, if set proxy in effect