[12.1.279 Pro] - SQL Profiler

[12.1.279 Pro] - SQL Profiler

When I try to profile anything in the SQL Profiler, I'm given an error message:

Quote:

Unable to create server trace
Msg 19068, Level 16, State 1, Proc "sp_trace_create", Line 1, The trace file path is not valid or not supported.
Msg 50000, Level 16, State 1, Can not create SQL trace. SQL Server returned error status 18

DECLARE @rc INT, @trace_id INT, @msg NVARCHAR(max), @maxfilesize BIGINT = 5, @stoptime DATETIME = DATEADD(year, 1, getdate())
EXEC @rc = sp_trace_create @trace_id OUTPUT, 2, N'sa-20221017-134726-table', @maxfilesize, @stoptime, 10
IF @rc != 0
BEGIN
SET @msg = 'Can not create SQL trace. SQL Server returned error status ' + CONVERT(VARCHAR, @rc)
RAISERROR(@msg, 16, 1)
END
ELSE
SELECT @trace_Id AS trace_id.

Any hints on how to fix this?

Could you please check the result of

	Code:
	SELECT [path] FROM sys.[traces] WHERE is_default = 1

To figure out path for temporary trace files, it searches for location of the default trace, and uses the same path. In the error message I see that trace file name is N'sa-20221017-134726-table' without path, which makes me think it's unable to locate the default trace, or maybe a permissions issue.

That query yields an empty result set.

That explains it. It appears that the default trace is not enabled, and the server is not configured to have default path for trace files, which prevents SA from starting a SQL Profiler trace session.

I see. How does the SQL Server Profiler work? Why it is not impeded by the lack of this configuration being set?