Does any know how / if it is possible to view all tables/views/stored procedures that depend on a linked server in Sql Server 2008. Basically as if the context menu "View dependencies" was accessible for linked servers?
Any help much appreciated.
Thanks
Search for it
SELECT OBJECT_NAME(object_id), *
FROM sys.sql_modules
WHERE definition LIKE '%myLinkedServer%'
Or use the free Red gate SQL Search to do the same with a GUI
There is no table or feature that tracks dependencies between the server-level linked server objects and database-level objects
Note: INFORMATION_SCHEMA views and the legacy syscomments truncate the definition so are unreliable for definition searches.
Following @Mitch Wheat's suggestion, here's some sql to run @gbn's answer for all db's on the server. Maybe this will a bit of time for someone.
USE Master;
GO
IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#Deps') IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
DROP TABLE #Deps
END
CREATE TABLE #Deps
(
[ServerName] [VARCHAR](500) NOT NULL,
[DatabaseName] [VARCHAR](500) NOT NULL,
[SchemaName] [VARCHAR](500) NOT NULL,
[ObjectName] [VARCHAR](MAX) NULL,
[ObjectId] [INT] NOT NULL,
[ObjectType] [VARCHAR](500) NOT NULL,
[DependsOnLinkedServer] [VARCHAR](500) NOT NULL,
[definition] [VARCHAR](MAX) NULL
)
IF OBJECT_ID('tempdb..#Queries') IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
DROP TABLE #Queries
END
SELECT
REPLACE('INSERT INTO #Deps
(
[ServerName]
,[DatabaseName]
,[SchemaName]
,[ObjectName]
,[ObjectType]
,[ObjectId]
,[DependsOnLinkedServer]
,[definition]
)
SELECT
@@SERVERNAME,
''?'' AS DatabaseName,
s.name AS SchemaName,
o.name AS ObjectName,
o.type_desc AS ObjectType,
m.object_id AS ObjectId,
''' + srv.name + ''' AS DependsOnLinkedServer,
m.definition
FROM
[?].sys.sql_modules m
LEFT OUTER JOIN [?].sys.objects o
ON m.object_id = o.object_id
LEFT OUTER JOIN [?].sys.schemas s
ON o.schema_id = s.schema_id
WHERE
definition LIKE ''%' + srv.name + '%''', CHAR(13) + CHAR(10), '') AS Query
INTO
#Queries
FROM
sys.servers srv;
GO
DECLARE @Query AS VARCHAR(MAX)
DECLARE LinkedServerCursor CURSOR FAST_FORWARD
FOR
SELECT
Query
FROM
#Queries
OPEN LinkedServerCursor
FETCH NEXT FROM LinkedServerCursor INTO @Query;
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
EXECUTE master.sys.sp_MSforeachdb @Query
FETCH NEXT FROM LinkedServerCursor INTO @Query;
END
CLOSE LinkedServerCursor;
DEALLOCATE LinkedServerCursor;
GO
SELECT
ServerName,
DatabaseName,
ObjectName,
'[' + ServerName + '].[' + DatabaseName + '].[' + SchemaName + '].[' + ObjectName + ']' AS QualifiedObjectName,
DependsOnLinkedServer,
ObjectType
FROM
#Deps
ORDER BY
ServerName,
DatabaseName,
ObjectName
I would recommend changing the middle part of the query to be as below to ensure only when it is used in a query you get a hit.
If not you will get a lot of false positives whenever the servername is mentioned.
WHERE
definition LIKE ''%\[' + srv.name + '\].%''
or definition LIKE ''%' + srv.name + '.%''', CHAR(13) + CHAR(10), '') AS Query