SQL Monitoring Tools

  • Hi,

    Just curious, what monitoring tools do you guys use to get notification when something isn't going so well on your SQL Servers. I just finished demoing SQL Response, but though it didn't satisfy everything on my wish list it was decent... but unfortunately the price tag is alittle steep since we have about 6-8 servers I need to monitor.

    What other options are out there? Or is it best to roll my own solution?

    Thanks -

    Sam

  • Others are Idera Diagnostic manager, Redgate now has a tool, Confio has a tool, Spotlight, and the homegrown monitoring solutions that many will implement. Each will have pros and cons.

    Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
    _______________________________________________
    I have given a name to my pain...MCM SQL Server, MVP
    SQL RNNR
    Posting Performance Based Questions - Gail Shaw[/url]
    Learn Extended Events

  • SCOM also can do SQL Monitoring if you already have it for other reasons. I don't think you'll find a purchased solution that isn't close to or more than SQLResponse.

    Jack Corbett
    Consultant - Straight Path Solutions
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  • I use SQL SPY LIVE MONITORING. it's free and gives you a lot of informations......

    please check http://www.ispysql.com/....

  • I'm usgin SCOM because we have it for the monitoring of the whole server farm.

    I wouldn't buy it just for the SQL monitoring, it is a general monitoring tool and it's not very focused on SQL Server.

    -- Gianluca Sartori

  • I highly recommend Performance Advisor from SQL Sentry.

    Best,
    Kevin G. Boles
    SQL Server Consultant
    SQL MVP 2007-2012
    TheSQLGuru on googles mail service

  • Anyone ever use SQL Power Tools for SQL2008 ENT?

    We inherited a custom app with substantial amount of generated dynamic tsql.

    I need to identify the code being executed so it can be optimized.

    Thanks in advance.

  • mattfitz (3/12/2010)


    Anyone ever use SQL Power Tools for SQL2008 ENT?

    We inherited a custom app with substantial amount of generated dynamic tsql.

    I need to identify the code being executed so it can be optimized.

    Thanks in advance.

    You don't need any third party tool to do this. Profiler is perfectly appropriate for this type of capture. Trace to a local file (for performance reasons and to ensure you don't miss any events), use fn_trace_gettable to load the trace files to a sql server table and then do analysis of the traces. There are free code online to strip out parameters to 'standardize' the traces if you like. All kinds of stuff you can do once the data is in a table. SQLNexus could work for you here too - a wonderful freebie from MS. Or you can engage a consultant to do the grunt work for you while teaching you how to do good tuning and analysis.

    Best,
    Kevin G. Boles
    SQL Server Consultant
    SQL MVP 2007-2012
    TheSQLGuru on googles mail service

  • If you have SQL Mail enabled, then the SQL Server Agent alerts can work.

    Set up one alert to any error with a severity of 17 or higher.

    Alerts for various performance counters.

    One you configure the alerts on one server, you can script and then run against other SQL Servers.

    SQL = Scarcely Qualifies as a Language

  • If cost is the constraint, then you can set up traces in SQL itself in SQL 2008. Else i would recommend SCOM for Jobs, Disk space, Memory, cluster services etc. SCOM does great job to monitor complete SQL Server farm.

    EnjoY!
  • GTR (3/13/2010)


    If cost is the constraint, then you can set up traces in SQL itself in SQL 2008. Else i would recommend SCOM for Jobs, Disk space, Memory, cluster services etc. SCOM does great job to monitor complete SQL Server farm.

    Two main constraints are always time and money.

    If you have more time, I would certainly lean toward developing an in-house monitoring solution. with powershell, SMO, CLR, .Net and Event Notifications - one could develop a pretty good monitoring system. The cost here would be time. It would be a system though well worth the knowledge gained.

    Flip-side is if you don't have time, then a purchased solution may be necessary for the interim.

    We developed an in-house solution that saved a former employer about $500k in licensing and maintenance.

    Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
    _______________________________________________
    I have given a name to my pain...MCM SQL Server, MVP
    SQL RNNR
    Posting Performance Based Questions - Gail Shaw[/url]
    Learn Extended Events

  • CirquedeSQLeil (3/13/2010)


    GTR (3/13/2010)


    If cost is the constraint, then you can set up traces in SQL itself in SQL 2008. Else i would recommend SCOM for Jobs, Disk space, Memory, cluster services etc. SCOM does great job to monitor complete SQL Server farm.

    Two main constraints are always time and money.

    If you have more time, I would certainly lean toward developing an in-house monitoring solution. with powershell, SMO, CLR, .Net and Event Notifications - one could develop a pretty good monitoring system. The cost here would be time. It would be a system though well worth the knowledge gained.

    Flip-side is if you don't have time, then a purchased solution may be necessary for the interim.

    We developed an in-house solution that saved a former employer about $500k in licensing and maintenance.

    Agreed!

    EnjoY!
  • SQL Diagnostic Manager is excellent as being able to roll back through the history and see what was happening at a particular time helps with overnight diagnostics.

    Also, the SQL Mobile Manager (free) for our Blackberrys enables 24/7 monitoring. You can even type TSQL commands in through the interface as well as being able to see all of the performance counters.

    Downside is it's expensive but we only use it for our production clusters.

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