Getting Started - SQL Monitor

SQL Monitor is a web-based monitoring and alerting tool for SQL Servers. It displays real-time data about the current performance of all host machines, SQL Server instances, and databases that you choose to monitor, and raises alerts when problems occur.

For help installing SQL Monitor, see the Installation guide.

For problems setting up SQL Monitor and connecting to the servers you want to monitor, see the Troubleshooting topics in the table of contents on the right.

You can use SQL Monitor to:

Quickly identify servers that require attention using the Global Overview
Drill down to view the current health and performance of any server or database
View detailed alerts for a wide range of issues such as job failures, deadlocks, overdue backups and fragmented indexes
Configure each type of alert for each server, job, database etc., to suit your environment; and set up email notifications
Analyze performance counters over time to determine performance trends and identify abnormal performance
Create custom metrics and custom alerts specific to your environment
"Rewind time" to review the activity on your servers when a problem occurred in the past
Run your own reports against the Data Repository SQL Server database that contains all collected data

What servers can I monitor?

SQL Monitor monitors both the host Windows machine as well as SQL Server instances.

You can monitor the following host Windows machines:

Windows 2000
Windows XP
Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2008
Windows Vista
Windows 7

You can monitor the following versions of SQL Server:

SQL Server 2000 SP4
SQL Server 2005
SQL Server 2008

Getting more information

Getting help in the product

Get hints for features and options in the interface by clicking .
Read about guidelines and best practices in the Description panels for performance counters and alerts.