Is it ok to use 100% of SQL Server CPU?

I haven't heard of this before but an administrator told me that it is
not good to allow a SQL server to operate at 100% cpu.

This came up when I was running some queries with fairly sizeable
joins. It ran at 100% for about 20 minutes.
I'm not certain of the specific hardware - but it's an 8-way HP server.

I was told that the OS is not able to adequately serve other requests
and that 100% is not good.

Would you happen to know more on this topic? Can you point me to some
MS documentation that addresses this?

I thought 100% was ok since other DB users were still getting good
response.<cjtwantstoknow@.yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1112649353.788935.142780@.f14g2000cwb.googlegr oups.com...
> I haven't heard of this before but an administrator told me that it is
> not good to allow a SQL server to operate at 100% cpu.
> This came up when I was running some queries with fairly sizeable
> joins. It ran at 100% for about 20 minutes.
> I'm not certain of the specific hardware - but it's an 8-way HP server.
> I was told that the OS is not able to adequately serve other requests
> and that 100% is not good.
> Would you happen to know more on this topic? Can you point me to some
> MS documentation that addresses this?
> I thought 100% was ok since other DB users were still getting good
> response.

"You're both right." :-)

On on hand, you don't want to hit 100% CPU because it does mean that if
additional requests come along, things will get slower.

On the other hand, if no one is complaining, it means you're getting maximum
performance out of your system at this time. That's a good thing.

On the gripping hand, I'd probably look into rewriting the queries or
getting faster hardware. Though I suspect upgrading an 8-way box ain't
gonna be easy. :-)