What can user do with VIEW SERVER STATE permissions?

Question

In SQL Server 2008 there is a permissions VIEW SERVER STATE. What rights this permission give to user? What SQL Server mean by SERVER STATE?

Answer 1

Read http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188754.aspx

Dynamic management views and functions return server state information that can be used to monitor the health of a server instance, diagnose problems, and tune performance.

There are two types of dynamic management views and functions:

- Server-scoped dynamic management views and functions. These require VIEW SERVER STATE permission on the server.
- Database-scoped dynamic management views and functions. These require VIEW DATABASE STATE permission on the database.