Collette Johnson

7 April 2021

Have your say on the state of database monitoring in 2021

Thanks to the hundreds and hundreds of IT professionals who took part in our database monitoring survey. The responses are in and the survey is now closed so that we can analyze the results. Look out soon for the highlights the 2021 State of Database Monitoring will reveal.

Since 2018, over 2,400 SQL Server professionals have provided valuable insights into how they monitor and manage their estates, and what challenges they’re facing, through the only industry-wide survey of its kind.

The results of the annual survey have not only benefited the community but also helped us better understand how we could shape our own product development to deliver more value where organizations need it.

When we last ran the survey in 2020, we gathered a wealth of information, culminating in the following key insights:

• Estates grew more than ever – Organizations with fewer than 100 instances fell, those with over 100 instances grew, and estates with over 1,000 instances were up nine percentage points year-on-year.
• Cloud adoption increased rapidly – Microsoft Azure was the most popular cloud platform, up 15 percentage points. Oracle DB Cloud Service usage was up too, seeing an increase of 13 percentage points.
• Performance, migrations, and recruitment were all challenges – Improving performance was the biggest overall challenge, increasing 10%, and overtaking migrating to the cloud, which also remained a big challenge. The biggest change was staffing and recruitment, which increased by more than 10%.
• Humans cause problems – 23% of respondents said “human error” was the most frequent cause of issues, and “Ad hoc user access” more than doubled to become the second biggest cause of problems.
• Monitoring was key to Database DevOps success – Respondents who used a third-party monitoring tool reported a 28% reduction in Mean Time To Detection (MTTD) of deployment issues, and a 22% reduction in Mean Time To Recovery (MTTR).

How has this changed in 2021?

2020 was the toughest year many businesses and organizations have ever faced. The last survey was taken when the pandemic had already started, but how have priorities changed after a year and more of challenges and uncertainty?

Have the shifts in business priorities changed the size and make-up of server estates, for example? Has remote working prompted a further increase in cloud usage? Do more people need more access to monitoring tools and information?

The 2021 State of Database Monitoring survey is now open for you to give us your insights into how you’re currently tackling your server, instance, and database monitoring.

Complete the survey and you’ll receive an exclusive advance preview of the 2021 Report, and your name will be entered into a draw with a chance to win a $500 Amazon voucher (or equivalent local currency).

The survey will run until midnight GMT on May 16, so visit us online and have your say on the state of database monitoring in 2021.