Suspect Databases (SuspectDatabases)

Definition

Determines which databases are suspect or unusable. Suspect databases are those databases that the SQL Server cannot open or use. A database can become unusable due to inaccessible files.
The SuspectDatabases parameter does not go into an alarm state when it detects databases that are suspect but not configured for monitoring. However, all suspect databases are listed in the reports generated by the recovery actions that are triggered by an alarm. For information about how to configure databases for monitoring, see Monitoring-databases.

Recommendations

A database marked as suspect can be dropped only with the database consistency checker (DBCC) statement DBREPAIR. With assistance from Microsoft SQL Server support, some or all of the database might be recovered.

Use DBCC statements with caution; some DBCC statements cause permanent changes to your database. Consult your Microsoft SQL Server documentation.

Recovery actions

Whenever it goes into an alarm state, the SuspectDatabases parameter generates a report listing all suspect databases on the selected server.
 Other recovery actions for this parameter are controlled by the settings in the ARA Default Actions dialog box. By default, whenever this parameter crosses a warning or an alarm threshold, the ARA (automatic recovery action) feature does the following:

• Executes the ara_MSSQL.cmd script (if one exists) .
  For instructions on how to create a recovery action in the ara_MSSQL.cmd file see Setting up the ara_MSSQL command.

• Creates an output file in the PATROL_TEMP directory .
• Annotates the parameter warning or alarm.
• Triggers an event in the PATROL Event Manager.

To turn off these automatic recovery actions or to add other actions, see Customizing automatic recovery actions.

Default parameter attributes