Yesterday we used the sys.dm_os_performance_counters dynamic management view in the post Find Out What Percent Of The Log Is Being Used For Each Database In SQL Server 2005 and 2008 to find out the log space used, today we will use this dynamic management view to find out if we are using any deprecated features.

So you have upgraded your old server to SQL Server 2008 and you wonder if you have any deprecated features in your code. Well, there is a query for that, if I run this query below on one of my test servers where I have some databases that I just restored from a 2000 instance I get some results back

Here is the output from that query

instance_name   					cntr_value
Macedonian                                                    	2
Lithuanian_Classic                                            	2
Korean_Wansung_Unicode                                        	2
Hindi                                                         	2
Azeri_Latin_90                                                	2
Azeri_Cyrillic_90                                             	2
'@' and names that start with '@@' as Transact-SQL identifiers	20
String literals as column aliases                             	646
ROWGUIDCOL                                                    	104
PERMISSIONS                                                   	2
'::' function calling syntax                                  	5
Oldstyle RAISERROR                                            	34
CREATE_DROP_DEFAULT                                           	15
Numbered stored procedures                                    	2
fulltext_catalogs.data_space_id                               	9
fulltext_catalogs.path                                        	9
sql_dependencies                                              	5
sysprocesses                                                  	4
numbered_procedures                                           	17
syscurconfigs                                                 	1
sysdatabases                                                  	73
sysaltfiles                                                   	9
syslogins                                                     	21
sysservers                                                    	2
sysindexkeys                                                  	24
syscolumns                                                    	29
sysindexes                                                    	14
sysreferences                                                 	17
sysfilegroups                                                 	1
sysfiles                                                      	392
sysobjects                                                    	59
sysusers                                                      	7
sysdepends                                                    	3
SET ANSI_PADDING OFF                                          	68
SET CONCAT_NULL_YIELDS_NULL OFF                               	68
SET ANSI_NULLS OFF                                            	68
SET ROWCOUNT                                                  	1485
Database compatibility level 80                               	21
ALTER DATABASE WITH TORN_PAGE_DETECTION                       	2
sp_dboption                                                   	1
sp_addlogin                                                   	1
DATABASEPROPERTYEX('IsFullTextEnabled')                       	369
DATABASEPROPERTY                                              	22576
INDEX_OPTION                                                  	25
XP_API                                                        	28
USER_ID                                                       	48
DBCC SHOWCONTIG                                               	4
Table hint without WITH                                       	603
Data types: text ntext or image                               	546
More than two-part column name                                	2
NOLOCK or READUNCOMMITTED in UPDATE or DELETE                 	1566                                                                                   

Keep in mind that I have some throw-away databases that I use to answer questions on newsgroups so some of these things that show up might be because of that.

So how does this query help you? Well, you are at least aware that you are using these deprecated features inside your code somewhere. It is time to call the object_definition function to find exactly where this happens :-)

It could also be that internal code uses these deprecated features....wouldn't that be ironic?

You can also take a look at these blog posts by George Mastros that show you how you can find out where some of this stuff is called from

Identify procedures that call SQL Server undocumented procedures
Don't use text datatype for SQL 2005 and up

In case you don't have access to this dynamic management view, here is the whole list of deprcated features that this query returns

ALTER LOGIN WITH SET CREDENTIAL
SQL_AltDiction_CP1253_CS_AS
Macedonian
Lithuanian_Classic
Korean_Wansung_Unicode
Hindi
Azeri_Latin_90
Azeri_Cyrillic_90
sp_detach_db @keepfulltextindexfile
DESX algorithm
Vardecimal storage format
SET DISABLE_DEF_CNST_CHK
DEFAULT keyword as a default value
'@' and names that start with '@@' as Transact-SQL identifiers
'#' and '##' as the name of temporary tables and stored procedures
String literals as column aliases
IDENTITYCOL
ROWGUIDCOL
XMLDATA
COMPUTE [BY]
INSERT NULL into TIMESTAMP columns
Non-ANSI *= or =* outer join operators
FASTFIRSTROW
sp_configure 'ft notify bandwidth (min)'
sp_configure 'ft notify bandwidth (max)'
sp_configure 'ft crawl bandwidth (min)'
sp_configure 'ft crawl bandwidth (max)'
sp_configure 'priority boost'
sp_configure 'set working set size'
sp_configure 'open objects'
sp_configure 'locks'
sp_configure 'allow updates'
sp_configure 'disallow results from triggers'
CREATE TRIGGER WITH APPEND
PERMISSIONS
GROUP BY ALL
Multiple table hints without comma
HOLDLOCK table hint without parenthesis
'::' function calling syntax
SETUSER
Oldstyle RAISERROR
DROP INDEX with two-part name
Create/alter SOAP endpoint
CREATE_DROP_DEFAULT
CREATE_DROP_RULE
Numbered stored procedures
TIMESTAMP
dm_fts_memory_buffers.row_count
dm_fts_active_catalogs.row_count_in_thousands
dm_fts_active_catalogs.worker_count
dm_fts_active_catalogs.previous_status_description
dm_fts_active_catalogs.previous_status
dm_fts_active_catalogs.status_description
dm_fts_active_catalogs.status
dm_fts_active_catalogs.is_paused
fulltext_catalogs.file_id
fulltext_catalogs.data_space_id
fulltext_catalogs.path
dm_fts_memory_buffers
dm_fts_active_catalogs
fulltext_catalogs
endpoint_webmethods
soap_endpoints
sql_dependencies
sysperfinfo
fn_servershareddrives
fn_virtualservernodes
sysprocesses
syscacheobjects
fn_get_sql
database_principal_aliases
numbered_procedure_parameters
numbered_procedures
syscurconfigs
sysconfigures
sysopentapes
sysdevices
syslockinfo
sysdatabases
sysaltfiles
syslogins
sysoledbusers
sysremotelogins
sysmessages
sysservers
systypes
sysindexkeys
syscolumns
sysindexes
sysconstraints
sysforeignkeys
sysreferences
sysfilegroups
sysfiles
syscomments
sysobjects
sysusers
sysdepends
sysfulltextcatalogs
syspermissions
sysprotects
sysmembers
sp_fulltext_service @action=resource_usage
sp_fulltext_service @action=data_timeout
sp_fulltext_service @action=connect_timeout
sp_fulltext_service @action=clean_up
MODIFY FILEGROUP READWRITE
MODIFY FILEGROUP READONLY
UPDATETEXT or WRITETEXT
READTEXT
SET ANSI_PADDING OFF
SET CONCAT_NULL_YIELDS_NULL OFF
SET ANSI_NULLS OFF
SET REMOTE_PROC_TRANSACTIONS
SET ROWCOUNT
Database compatibility level 90
Database compatibility level 80
RESTORE DATABASE or LOG WITH PASSWORD
RESTORE DATABASE or LOG WITH MEDIAPASSWORD
ADDING TAPE DEVICE
BACKUP DATABASE or LOG TO TAPE
BACKUP DATABASE or LOG WITH PASSWORD
BACKUP DATABASE or LOG WITH MEDIAPASSWORD
ALTER DATABASE WITH TORN_PAGE_DETECTION
RESTORE DATABASE or LOG WITH DBO_ONLY
sp_estimated_rowsize_reduction_for_vardecimal
sp_helpdevice
sp_lock
sp_getbindtoken
sp_bindsession
sp_helpextendedproc
sp_dropextendedproc
sp_addextendedproc
sp_help_fulltext_catalog_components
sp_help_fulltext_tables_cursor
sp_help_fulltext_tables
sp_help_fulltext_columns_cursor
sp_help_fulltext_columns
sp_help_fulltext_catalogs_cursor
sp_help_fulltext_catalogs
sp_fulltext_column
sp_fulltext_table
sp_fulltext_database
sp_fulltext_catalog
sp_db_vardecimal_storage_format
sp_resetstatus
sp_attach_single_file_db
sp_attach_db
sp_dbcmptlevel
sp_renamedb
sp_indexoption
sp_dboption
sp_dbremove
sp_create_removable
sp_certify_removable
sp_remoteoption
sp_helpremotelogin
sp_dropremotelogin
sp_addremotelogin
sp_addserver
sp_depends
sp_dropalias
sp_unbindrule
sp_bindrule
sp_unbindefault
sp_bindefault
sp_droptype
sp_addtype
sp_change_users_login
sp_srvrolepermission
sp_dbfixedrolepermission
xp_loginconfig
sp_changeobjectowner
sp_droprole
sp_addrole
sp_approlepassword
sp_dropapprole
sp_addapprole
sp_revokedbaccess
sp_grantdbaccess
sp_dropuser
sp_adduser
sp_defaultlanguage
sp_defaultdb
sp_password
xp_revokelogin
xp_grantlogin
sp_revokelogin
sp_denylogin
sp_grantlogin
sp_droplogin
sp_addlogin
IN PATH
FULLTEXTSERVICEPROPERTY('ConnectTimeout')
FULLTEXTSERVICEPROPERTY('DataTimeout')
FULLTEXTSERVICEPROPERTY('ResourceUsage')
DATABASEPROPERTYEX('IsFullTextEnabled')
FULLTEXTCATALOGPROPERTY('LogSize')
FULLTEXTCATALOGPROPERTY('PopulateStatus')
DATABASEPROPERTY
sp_configure 'remote proc trans'
SET OFFSETS
ALL Permission
INSERT_HINTS
INDEX_OPTION
OLEDB for ad hoc connections
XP_API
Using OLEDB for linked servers
DBCC INDEXDEFRAG
REMSERVER
INDEXKEY_PROPERTY
USER_ID
FILE_ID
EXTPROP_LEVEL0USER
EXTPROP_LEVEL0TYPE
Returning results from trigger
DBCC [UN]PINTABLE
DBCC DBREINDEX
DBCC SHOWCONTIG
Text in row table option
Table hint without WITH
Indirect TVF hints
TEXTVALID
TEXTPTR
Data types: text ntext or image
More than two-part column name
Index view select list without COUNT_BIG(*)
NOLOCK or READUNCOMMITTED in UPDATE or DELETE

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