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It's notoriously impossible to decode what the wait_resource pointer in the System Health Extended Event means. But if all of my long waits in that Extended Event for a certain time period are reporting the same pointer, then does that indicate anything at all?

I'm experiencing high PAGELATCH_SH waits for this time period and expect that the reason why all of pointers are the same will be related to that. I've not included the XML here because I am absolutely certain that it won't help answer the question. I'm just trying to fathom if there is ever a case where I should pay attention to the wait_resource value in this Extended Event when it is obviously a pointer.

J. Mini
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1 Answers1

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As far as I can make out, the pointer you are interested in is the same as the resource_address on sys.dm_os_waiting_tasks.

In your case, it would indicate that the long waits are associated with a latch, which you already know.

I suppose it might be useful if you were also recording information from sys.dm_os_waiting_tasks on a regular basis and wanted to match things up.

Otherwise, the answer in the Q & A you linked to covers a practical approach.

Paul White
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