GetServerInfo: server version, hardware, and database stats

GetServerInfo returns a three-section snapshot of the connected SQL Server or Azure SQL Database instance: server property values (version, edition, server and machine names, collation, and more), hardware and process runtime metrics, and user-database counts. It is compatible with SQL Server 2008 R2 through SQL Server 2022 and Azure SQL Database. GetServerInfo takes no parameters and is a useful first call to verify that the MCP server connection is active and to identify the SQL Server version and edition before issuing other tool calls.

Parameters

This tool takes no parameters.

Returns

server

object

SQL Server instance properties from SERVERPROPERTY() and @@VERSION.

Show server fields

productVersion

string | null

Full version string, e.g. 16.0.1000.6 (SQL Server 2022). null when unavailable.

productLevel

string | null

Release level, e.g. RTM, SP1, CTP2. null when unavailable.

edition

string | null

SQL Server edition string, e.g. Developer Edition (64-bit) or SQL Azure. null when unavailable.

engineEdition

integer | null

Numeric engine edition code: 1=Personal/Desktop, 2=Standard, 3=Enterprise/Developer, 4=Express, 5=Azure SQL Database, 8=Azure SQL Managed Instance. null when unavailable.

serverName

string | null

Registered server name. null on Azure SQL Database.

machineName

string | null

Host computer name. null on Azure SQL Database.

instanceName

string | null

Named instance name (e.g. SQLEXPRESS), or null for the default instance or Azure SQL.

isClustered

integer | null

1 if the instance is part of a failover cluster, 0 otherwise. null when unavailable.

isFullTextInstalled

integer | null

1 if Full-Text Search is installed. null when unavailable.

isIntegratedSecurityOnly

integer | null

1 if the server is configured for Windows Authentication only.

collation

string | null

Default server collation name, e.g. SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS.

versionString

string | null

Full @@VERSION multi-line string including OS version and build details.

hardware

object

Runtime hardware and process memory metrics. Individual fields are null when the account lacks VIEW SERVER STATE or when a DMV column does not exist on the target SQL Server version. The call always succeeds even when all hardware fields are null.

Show hardware fields

cpuCount

integer | null

Logical CPU count from sys.dm_os_sys_info.

hyperthreadRatio

integer | null

Hyperthread ratio from sys.dm_os_sys_info.

physicalMemoryMB

integer | null

Physical memory currently in use by the SQL Server process, in megabytes, from sys.dm_os_process_memory.

virtualMemoryMB

integer | null

Virtual address space committed by the process, in megabytes, from sys.dm_os_process_memory.

sqlServerStartTime

string | null

UTC timestamp of the most recent SQL Server service start, from sys.dm_os_sys_info.

warning

string | null

Explains why one or more hardware fields are null. Present only when a DMV query failed (e.g. VIEW SERVER STATE permission denied, or a column does not exist on the running version). null when all hardware data was retrieved successfully.

databases

object

Count of user databases (excludes the four system databases: master, tempdb, model, msdb).

Show databases fields

totalDatabases

integer

Total user database count regardless of state.

onlineDatabases

integer

User databases currently in the ONLINE state (state=0).

offlineDatabases

integer

User databases in any non-online state (restoring, suspect, offline, etc.).

Graceful degradation

GetServerInfo issues hardware queries against sys.dm_os_sys_info and sys.dm_os_process_memory inside separate try/catch blocks. If either query fails — because the account lacks VIEW SERVER STATE, or because a column was removed or renamed in the target SQL Server version — the server logs a warning, populates the hardware.warning field with the error message, and continues. The response is always returned successfully as long as the server-properties query succeeds.

VIEW SERVER STATE is typically required to read DMVs. On Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Managed Instance, VIEW DATABASE STATE is often sufficient for subset DMV access, but hardware-level DMVs may still be restricted. Check hardware.warning to confirm.

Usage notes

Call GetServerInfo as the first tool when starting a new investigation session. It verifies connectivity and gives you the SQL Server version and edition, which determines which features and syntax are available (e.g. TRY_CAST is not available before SQL Server 2012, and some DMV columns vary between versions).

databases.totalDatabases counts user databases only. To enumerate the databases by name use ReadData with SELECT name, state_desc FROM sys.databases WHERE database_id > 4.

Example

Request

{
  "tool": "GetServerInfo",
  "arguments": {}
}

Response — full access

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "server": {
      "productVersion": "16.0.1000.6",
      "productLevel": "RTM",
      "edition": "Developer Edition (64-bit)",
      "engineEdition": 3,
      "serverName": "DEVBOX\\SQLEXPRESS",
      "machineName": "DEVBOX",
      "instanceName": "SQLEXPRESS",
      "isClustered": 0,
      "isFullTextInstalled": 1,
      "isIntegratedSecurityOnly": 0,
      "collation": "SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS",
      "versionString": "Microsoft SQL Server 2022 (RTM) - 16.0.1000.6 (X64) ...(Developer Edition)"
    },
    "hardware": {
      "cpuCount": 8,
      "hyperthreadRatio": 8,
      "physicalMemoryMB": 1024,
      "virtualMemoryMB": 2048,
      "sqlServerStartTime": "2024-06-20T07:15:00",
      "warning": null
    },
    "databases": {
      "totalDatabases": 3,
      "onlineDatabases": 3,
      "offlineDatabases": 0
    }
  }
}

Response — restricted account (hardware unavailable)

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "server": {
      "productVersion": "12.0.6439.10",
      "productLevel": "SP3",
      "edition": "Standard Edition (64-bit)",
      "engineEdition": 2,
      "serverName": "PRODSERVER",
      "machineName": "PRODSERVER",
      "instanceName": null,
      "isClustered": 0,
      "isFullTextInstalled": 0,
      "isIntegratedSecurityOnly": 0,
      "collation": "SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS",
      "versionString": "Microsoft SQL Server 2014 (SP3) - 12.0.6439.10 (X64) ..."
    },
    "hardware": {
      "cpuCount": null,
      "hyperthreadRatio": null,
      "physicalMemoryMB": null,
      "virtualMemoryMB": null,
      "sqlServerStartTime": null,
      "warning": "sys.dm_os_sys_info unavailable: The user does not have permission to perform this action."
    },
    "databases": {
      "totalDatabases": 5,
      "onlineDatabases": 4,
      "offlineDatabases": 1
    }
  }
}

Overview

Inspection Tools

Write & DDL Tools

Insights Tools

GetServerInfo: server version, hardware, and database stats

Parameters

Returns

Graceful degradation

Usage notes

Example

Request

Response — full access

Response — restricted account (hardware unavailable)

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Overview

Inspection Tools

Write & DDL Tools

Insights Tools

Documentation Index

​Parameters

​Returns

​Graceful degradation

​Usage notes

​Example

​Request

​Response — full access

​Response — restricted account (hardware unavailable)

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Parameters

Returns

Graceful degradation

Usage notes

Example

Request

Response — full access

Response — restricted account (hardware unavailable)