Integrating SQL Monitor alerts with other systems

One of SQL Monitor’s most valuable capabilities is raising alerts when bad things happen in SQL Server. The alerts are listed within SQL Monitor but can also be sent out as emails. However, many of our customers have said they’d like to see those alerts in their other systems too. The latest version of SQL Monitor does just that, allowing you to send reports either as SNMP traps, or as messages into Slack.

Slack

Slack has become an essential communications tool for people working in teams (we use it at Redgate), so it was a no-brainer to integrate SQL Monitor alerts into Slack. Setup is simple. Go to the configuration tab in SQL Monitor and click on Notification Settings. It’s then just a question of filling in a webhook url (obtained from Slack), along with a username and the channel to post to.

SQL Monitor notification configuration screenshot

You’ll receive messages like these, giving an overview of the alert, along with a link to view its details in SQL Monitor.

SQL Monitor Slack messages

Everybody in your team’s Slack channel can then see the alerts as they come through.

SNMP Traps

Likewise, SNMP traps are configured in a similar way and don’t require much setup – just a target IP address and a community string. You can consume SNMP traps in other tools like SCOM or ServiceNow, enabling you to treat SQL Monitor’s detailed alerts as part of the incident escalation processes you have created in those services.

SQL Monitor SNMP trap

One point to note is that currently if you disable an e-mail notification for a particular alert, you will not get a Slack or SNMP trap message either.

We’d really appreciate any feedback on this. Let us know how you’re using it, or if you encounter any problems – just email SQLMonitorFeedback@red-gate.com.

If you’d like to know more about how to configure SCOM 2012R2 to consume alerts from SQL Monitor, I’ve written another blog post where I give a walkthrough.