Product articles Database Security Monitoring
Finding Inactive SQL Server Databases
Phil Factor demonstrates how to identify objects in a database that are not being used. The technique uses Extended Events to detect acquisition of Intent locks, and so determine which databases are active or apparently 'dormant', and then drills down to investigate on which tables data has been modified recently, and which views and stored procedures have been run. Read moreChecking for Database Events Using Extended Events and SQL Monitor
You need to make sure that nobody tampers with your production databases, or really any databases outside Development. Even if you weren't of a nervous disposition, you'd want to know if a database was stopped or removed. You'd also be intrigued by the sudden unrehearsed addition of a database to a production server. Read moreChecking on Failed Server Logins, Server Errors and Warnings using SQL Monitor
Provides a PowerShell monitoring script for errors, warnings and critical events on the Windows server hosting your SQL Server instance, including the failed server login attempts that would accompany a brute-force password attack. Read moreMonitoring SQL Server Security: What’s Required?
If we know how a database is likely to be attacked, we can arrange our lines of defense, and install the monitors required to detect any attempts. However, some types of attack are difficult to imagine, so we also need our monitoring tool to be adaptable, so that it can collect a more diffuse collection of metrics, and then help us determine the reason for any sudden change in the patterns of access . Read moreMonitoring the Application with SQL Monitor: Website Activity
Using a PowerShell script that collects log data from a web server, plus a SQL Monitor custom metric, Phil Factor offers a way to check for suspicious website errors and unusual patterns of activity, right alongside your database monitoring. Read moreHow to Monitor IDENTITY columns to prevent unplanned downtime
If a table runs out of IDENTITY values then it, and any dependent services and applications, will be "read-only" until the problem is fixed. Steve Jones explains how to set up a custom monitor to detect and prevent such problems. Read moreOn Quickly Investigating a SQL Monitor Custom Security Alert
Phil Factor offers a clever way to report on a SQL Server intrusion, with a query that shows a full narrative description of all the security-related changes that have been detected by a set of SQL Monitor custom metrics. Read morePicking over the Bones of a SQL Injection Attack
The best way to learn how to protect your databases from SQL Injection is to to see it in action and confront its consequences. This article tells the story of an attack on a vulnerable SQL Server REST interface, explaining how the attack unfolds, the mistakes that made it possible, and SQL Monitor's role as the 'canary in the mine'. Read moreMonitoring Changes in Permissions, Users, Roles and Logins
Phil Factor uses the default trace and a SQL Monitor custom metric to alert you to unauthorized changes in security membership or permissions in any of your monitored databases. Read moreChecking for Database Drift using Extended Events and SQL Monitor
Phil Factor uses Extended Events and a SQL Monitor custom metric to detect when the metadata of a database has 'drifted', meaning that a database object has been created, deleted or modified outside of the official change management process. Read moreManaging the SQL Server Estate
Rodney Landrum describes how a monitoring tool must help us monitor, analyze and predict resource usage, including costs, across a growing and diversifying estate, and also help the organization to connect server resource usage and error conditions directly to their impact on business processes. Read moreSpotting Unauthorized Configuration Settings in SQL Server
If someone makes unauthorized changes to SQL Server configuration settings, it could compromise the availability, performance or security of your servers. Using using Extended Events, and a custom metric, in SQL Monitor, Phil Factor offers a way to get an immediate notification of such changes, and investigate their cause. Read moreHow to Detect SQL Injection Attacks using Extended Events and SQL Monitor
Phil Factor shows how to monitor for the errors indicative of a possible SQL Injection attack on one of your SQL Server databases, using a SQL Monitor custom metric that uses diagnostic data from Extended Events. Read moreHow to monitor the impact of patching on SQL Server performance
This article uses the Spectre/Meltdown bugs as means to demonstrate how you can use a tool like SQL Monitor to assess the impact of patching on the throughput and performance of your SQL Servers. Read moreRedgate Hub
-
Product Articles
Tips and how-to guides for Redgate products
-
University
Easy to follow video courses
-
Events
Join us online, or get sponsored
-
Forums
Ask, discuss, and solve questions about Redgate's tools
-
Community
Develop your skills and meet Redgate Advocates and Friends
-
Simple Talk
In-depth articles and opinion from Redgate's technical journal