SQL Server ERROR Messages Severity Level

In My Previous Post, I explained how to list all the errors from Database. Every error is mapped with severity code, This article Explains what is severity code.

When you or system executes any SQL Scripts or related tasks, SQL Server DB Engine raises the error as well as it indicates the severity of error.

 

Severity code helps to understand the type of error. 

The following table lists the severity code and its meaning:

 

Severity Code	Description
0-10	It is Informational messages not actual error, actually 0 means No Error, No Information, before invoke the Programs, DB Engine converts to 0 then start performing operations
11-16	Error can be corrected by user, this may be syntax error
11	Object Doesn't Exists
12	Don't allow to do lock on Any Object
13	Transaction Dead Lock Errors
14	Security related Error, access denied
15	Syntax Error
16	General Error like invalid arguments, string value not quoted properly etc.,
17-19	Software Error, not corrected by User
17	Out of memory exception, disk usage, lock, write protected, no access to resource etc.,
18	DB Engine related error
19	Non-Configurable limit exceeded with DB Engine
19-25	Note: 19-25 error will be updated in SQL Error Log
20-25	Fatal Error occurred based on single or batch process running currently
20	Problem with current Task only
21	problem affects all other process
22	Table or Index Damaged by software or hardware. It occurs rarely. Run DBCC CHECKDB to determine error
23	Problem with integrity of Database, corrupted
24	Need to restore database, database may be corrupted, may be hardware issue
25	System Error

 

You can create or define new error message using system procedure sp_addmessage, when you add, you can use any one of the severity type (1-25) listed above