Verify Max Worker Threads Setting

This rule checks the max worker threads server option for potentially incorrect settings. Setting the max worker threads option to a small value may prevent enough threads from servicing incoming client requests in a timely manner and could lead to "thread starvation". However, setting the option to a large value can waste address space, because each active thread consumes 512 KB on 32-bit servers and up to 4 MB on 64-bit servers.

Best Practices Recommendations

For instances of SQL Server 2000, set the max worker threads option to a value between 255 and 512 for 32-bit servers, or between 255 and 2000 on 64-bit servers.

For instances of SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008, set the max worker threads option to 0. This enables SQL Server to automatically determine the correct number of active worker threads based on user requests.