SQL Monitor 3.1

Ensuring optimum performance of your SQL Servers is essential for any enterprise. Downtime or slow-running servers can have serious implications for your organization.

SQL Monitor lets you keep an eye on your SQL Server health and performance from a single, intuitive interface. As the UI is web-based, you can monitor your servers at any time, wherever you are.

SQL Monitor also alerts you to problems via email and the Alert Inbox in the UI, so you know about them before your users do. It provides you with the diagnostic data needed to resolve the issue.

SQL Monitor is a monitoring and alerting tool that provides you with information and data about problems as they happen, so you do not need to manually check your servers for problems. Instead, with SQL Monitor, you can work proactively to diagnose and resolve problems sooner.

SQL Monitor's information about each alert is presented intuitively. SQL Monitor does not directly auto-fix the problems related to any alerts raised for your SQL Servers.

Version 1 of SQL Monitor was known as SQL Response. The name change for version 2 does not affect existing product support agreements for version 1 customers.

SQL Monitor does not install anything on the SQL Servers being monitored – no agents, stored procedures or any other components. Performance overheads are negligible.

You can configure SQL Monitor to capture SQL Profiler trace data for a particular SQL Server. This captures additional information for any alerts that are raised, but will have a greater impact on server performance.

For more information about SQL Profiler trace data, see How can capturing SQL Trace data help me?

SQL Monitor can be configured at any time to capture SQL Profiler trace data for a particular SQL Server.

Normally, when you use the SQL Profiler tool to capture trace data, you have to manually create and configure the trace. With SQL Monitor, SQL Profiler trace can be switched 'On' or 'Off' for a monitored server in the Configuration tab.

Enabling the collection of trace data lets you review the key SQL statements that were executing around the time of a raised alert. SQL Profiler trace data captured from just before and after the alert will be displayed as part of the diagnostic data provided by SQL Monitor.

Note that enabling the optional capturing of SQL Profiler trace data will increase processor activity on that SQL Server (typically, by up to 5%). For that reason, we recommend you enable trace data only on problematic SQL Servers.

No. SQL Monitor does not require you to install any components on your SQL Servers being monitored. SQL Monitor gathers its data from your SQL Server instances remotely at regular and frequent time intervals.

However, please note that SQL Monitor will automatically enable trace flag 1204 on the servers you are monitoring, if it has permission to do so. This allows SQL Server to write deadlock information to the error log when a deadlock occurs.

You are alerted to problems by email and via SQL Monitor's Alert Inbox, accessible in the Alerts tab of the UI.

You can configure which email address(es) should receive which alerts from the Configuration tab of the UI.

SQL Monitor's alerts are fully customizable, but come with sensible default settings, so it works straight out of the box. Any changes you'd like to make take place in the Configuration tab of the UI.

SQL Monitor uses three alert levels – High, Medium, Low. Some alerts use all three levels, each of which can be configured with a specific threshold. Other alerts use only one level, but you can choose whether they appear as High, Medium or Low. You can also turn off the alert altogether for particular issues.

Alerts can be customized at any level, from across your SQL Server setup, to the individual database, or for groups of servers.

SQL Monitor has been designed to install quickly and easily. SQL Monitor works out of the box with sensible default settings, but also offers a simple configuration process, so you can tailor the tool to your own environment.

The usability of the tool and the ease of installation have been a strong focus throughout the development of SQL Monitor. It has been designed so you can be up-and-running within minutes.

SQL Monitor uses three main components:

• The web server – delivers the website pages for the SQL Monitor UI.
• The base monitor service – monitors your SQL Servers.
• The data repository database – a SQL Server database that stores the data the base monitor collects.

The web server and base monitor can be installed on any computer on your network, or on the same computer. For more details, see the Support Center pages.

The website can be installed on an existing IIS Web Server, or the XSP Web Server provided with SQL Monitor. For more information, see the Support Center pages.

The data repository can be hosted on any SQL Server 2005, 2008 or 2008 R2 instance, but the base monitor requires access to it.

We've tested SQL Monitor on currently available mobile devices, and are continuing this as new mobile devices become available.

Yes. SQL Monitor stores your data in a SQL Server repository, for later access. You can view historical data in the Analysis tab of the UI. It can also be exported in .csv format, or analysed using SSRS.

The Configuration tab of the UI includes options for purging the repository and changing the length of time historical data is kept.

SQL Monitor has a Back in Time mode, accessible from the Overviews tab, which lets you bring up data for a particular point in time. Overviews, analysis and other features remain fully functional, but present static data for the time you've specified. You can also 'scroll' backwards or forwards, to check what was happening before or after the point in time you have selected.

If your trial period expires before you've had a chance to evaluate, please contact us and we would be happy to extend your trial.

You buy a license according to the number of servers you wish to monitor. You only need one license per monitored server, even if you have more than one instance of SQL Server running, and even if you have a multi-processor server.

If you have any further questions about licensing, please don't hesitate to contact us. We would be very pleased to help.

We use a per server pricing and licensing model for SQL Monitor. You need one license per monitored server, even if you have more than one instance of SQL Server running and even if you have a multi-processor server. Read full license details on our website.

SQL Monitor works with SQL Server 2000 (as a monitored instance only), SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 R2. For full details, see the Requirements page.