Set Your Application Names Before You Wish You Had.

Setting an application name in your connection string helps identify which app is running which query when using monitoring tools like sp_BlitzWho or sp_WhoIsActive. Without it, you'll see empty strings or generic driver names like 'Core .Net SqlClient Data Provider' that provide no useful context. SQL Server doesn't store which user or app ran a query in the plan cache or Query Store, so tracking historical query origins requires setting up Extended Events traces or periodic sampling of session data into a table.

Source: https://www.brentozar.com/archive/2026/09/set-your-application-names-before-you-wish-you-had. 8 Sync News only summarizes and links out; content copyright belongs to the authors and original sources.