Improvement
The current definition for the system_health XEvent session has a maximum file size of 5 megabytes (MB) and maximum of 4 files for a total maximum of 20 MB of system_health XEvent data. On systems that have a lot of activity, you can roll over this limitation very quickly and miss important information in the event of a problem that affects the system. In order to keep more troubleshooting data available on the system, the default file size is changed in this update from 5 MB to 100 MB, and the default number of files is changed from 4 to 10, for a total maximum of 1 GB of system_health XEvent data. If the definition of the system_health session was already modified from the default values, this improvement will not overwrite the existing settings.
Additionally, you can change the system_health session configuration manually by using the following Transact-SQL script:
ALTER EVENT SESSION [system_health] ON SERVER DROP TARGET package0.event_file
ALTER EVENT SESSION [system_health] ON SERVER
ADD TARGET package0.event_file
(
SET filename=N'system_health.xel',
max_file_size=(100),
max_rollover_files=(10)
)
Resolution
This improvement is included in the following cumulative updates for SQL Server:
About cumulative updates for SQL Server:
Each new cumulative update for SQL Server contains all the hotfixes and all the security fixes that were included with the previous cumulative update. Check out the latest cumulative updates for SQL Server:
Service pack information for SQL Server 2016
This issue is fixed in the following service pack for SQL Server:
Service packs are cumulative. Each new service pack contains all the fixes that are in previous service packs, together with any new fixes. We recommend that you apply the latest service pack and the latest cumulative update for that service pack. You do not have to install a previous service pack before you install the latest service pack. Use Table 1 in the following article to find more information about the latest service pack and latest cumulative update.
Determine the version, edition, and update level of SQL Server and its components
References
Learn about the terminology that Microsoft uses to describe software updates.
