Microsoft® SQL Server 2012 Unleashed

Using System Stored Procedures

A system stored procedure is a stored procedure that has some special characteristics. These procedures, created when SQL Server is installed or upgraded, are generally used to administer SQL Server or retrieve information from the system catalogs. They shield a DBA from accessing the system catalogs directly. Some system stored procedures are used to present information from the system catalog, and others modify the system catalogs.

Note

System stored procedures seem to have fallen out of favor with Microsoft. Most of them have been listed as deprecated features in SQL Server 2012 and been replaced with T-SQL commands, or the information provided by system stored procedures is now available via the catalog views ...