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 two configuration options where the
value and
value_in_use may not be the same and this is expected behavior:
- "max server memory (MB)" - The default configured value of 0 will show 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 will be 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 commnad 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 command was executed.
For a configuration option that is not dynamic there is no way to tell if the RECONFIGURE 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 command to ensure all configuration changes will take effect after a SQL Server restart.