excessive CPU utilization by SQL server I have an issue with SQL server 2000. Its CPU utilization is high from 9.00 AM to 5.00 PM. Three applications use this server through three different instances but when the CPU utilization is high one instance is connected. I checked sp_who2 results which shows that there are many AWAITING COMMANDS and it takes up most of the CPU time. Please advise if more number of awaiting commands can cause high CPU utilization.
High CPU in SQL Server is very often caused by poor indexing

Unfortunately, SQL Server 2000 lacks the tools of later versions to track these down easily

Saying that, if you run SQL Profiler you will be able to find high CPU queries and start looking at query plans to work out what indexes are missing