◆ Microsoft SQL Server

Resolve high CPU utilization in SQL Server

This is real work, not a feature someone invented — it comes from real job ads and real questions people asked. Below are four ready AI prompts: get it done, make it easy for the next person to say yes to, work out the right move when you are stuck, and stop it coming back.

3prompts

The same task, four prompts

today's deadline · the next reviewer · the stuck moment · the pattern
AImprove — make it easier to acceptBefore I dive into the host to fix this CPU spike, give me a quick summary of the usual…+
Before I dive into the host to fix this CPU spike, give me a quick summary of the usual suspects for high CPU in our environment, focusing on things like recent deploys, large data imports, or scheduled jobs that might have changed their runtimes.
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
BDecide — diagnose the stuck momentThe CPU is pegged again, and I'm getting calls from the business users. I suspect it's related…+
The SQL Server CPU just spiked to 98% for the third time this week, right after the morning ETL finished, and the users are already complaining about slow reports.
The CPU is pegged again, and I'm getting calls from the business users. I suspect it's related to the morning ETL, but I don't know if it's a new query or an old one suddenly misbehaving. What's the fastest way to pinpoint the exact query or process causing this spike right now, without interrupting the current operations, so I can tell the VP of Finance what's going on?
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?
CBecome — change the patternI'm always reacting to CPU spikes after users complain. I need a better way to proactively…+
I keep getting pulled into urgent CPU investigations every few weeks, always reacting to user complaints.
I'm always reacting to CPU spikes after users complain. I need a better way to proactively monitor and alert on unusual CPU patterns before they impact the business. What habit should I change to shift from reactive firefighting to proactive management of database CPU?
when the reply comes backPush once: ask it to sharpen the weakest part, and to say what it assumed. Helpful?

Questions people actually ask

honest answers, no sign-up

Every task here was seen in the real world. Someone doing the job named it, a real job ad asked for it, or a lot of people asked about it online.

If nothing real showed a task, it is not on the page. That is the whole rule.

They are the same job approached four ways, because what you need depends on where you are.

Get it done today. Make it easy for the next person to say yes to. Work out the right move when you are stuck. Learn the pattern so the job stops coming back.

For most of these jobs it can carry the heavy thinking - draft it, sort it, check it, rehearse it with you.

It cannot sit in your chair, take the blame when a number is wrong, or notice what nobody wrote down. Let it do the first 80%. Keep the last 20% that is truly yours.

No. Copy any prompt and paste it into the AI you already use. No account, no score, no wall in the way.

Any of them. The prompts describe the work rather than naming a product, so they are not tied to one assistant.

That is also why they keep working when you switch.

Change it freely. Every prompt is a starting line, not a rule.

Put in your real numbers, your real names and your real deadline. The more you make it yours, the better the answer comes back.

The tasks come from real job ads, published job data and the questions people ask in public forums.

The steps come from Microsoft SQL Server's own documentation, with practitioner sources for the traps the manual does not mention.

Push once. Ask it to sharpen the weakest part and to say what it assumed.

Most wrong answers come from a missing detail rather than a bad prompt - tell it the thing it could not know.