The third DMV we will review is the sys.dm_exec_connections DMV. This DMV is Server-Scoped and displays information about each and every current connection on your SQL Server Instance. Lets take a look at some information that this DMV returns.

SELECT * FROM sys.dm_exec_connections

After reviewing this DMV, in my opinion, its not a whole lot of useful information returned from this DMV from a monitoring or troubleshooting standpoint. The primary use case I have for this DMV is when I need to get a quick count of how many connections I have on one of my SQL Server boxes. For this purpose a quick SELECT COUNT(*) satisfies my need. However, for those who need it, there is other information such as what type of authentication a specific connection is using, network packet size, and client/local TCP ports being used. This information can come in handy for specific scenarios but you probably wont need it very much for your day to day monitoring/troubleshooting needs. However, this is still an important DMV that you should be aware of in the event that you need it.

For more information on this DMV, please see the below Books Online link:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms181509.aspx