Teratrax Monitoring Agent
Teratrax Monitoring Agent runs in the background and monitors
one SQL Server instance at a time. The instance can be a local instance
or a remote instance. A database is created on each instance to store
performance data for historical analysis. To monitor all servers in your enterprise, Teratrax recommends that you
install a copy of Teratrax Performance Monitor and configure Monitoring
Agent locally on each monitored server. You can also monitor servers
remotely, however, each server requires a separate copy of Monitoring
Agent installed on a different desktop or server computer. Teratrax Monitoring Agent
queries
the monitored instance of SQL Server every five minutes to checks the
pulse of the instance and collect performance data for analysis by Performance
Viewer. Once all servers are monitored, you can register them all in
Performance Viewer and analyze their performance from a single location.
Permanent Monitoring
Teratrax Performance Monitor is designed to
monitor SQL Server instances permanently and not only during periods of slow
performance. Teratrax Monitoring Agent accesses the server
once every 5 minutes, keeping the footprint at a low level. Also, the
ability to change the minimum values (duration) for captured SQL code and
SQL Server blocking allows you to further decrease the volume of monitoring.
Permanent monitoring allows you to take preemptive actions to correct
performance problems before they escalate. For example, an UPDATE
statement taking 100 ms today, could require more time as
the table grows. With permanent monitoring, you can configure
Monitoring Agent to capture SQL code that takes more than 10,000 ms (10
seconds) to run. Once the UPDATE statement reaches the 10 second mark,
Performance Monitor captures it and alerts you to the problem.
This way, you can view performance data on your server every week or so to
determine which code is performing slower than expected.
If the performance of a given server reaches an acceptable level and
you find yourself reviewing performance information every week instead
of daily, keep the monitoring agent running but increase the minimum
values from the Defaults tab in Teratrax Monitoring Agent. Increasing
the minimum values allows you to capture unexpected surges without
collecting a large number of information.
The only area that Teratrax does not recommend permanent monitoring for is SQL Server
blocking. By default, block detection is disabled. You can enable
block detection for small periods of time. For instance, if you suspect that
your applications are causing blocks, you can enable block capturing for a
day or so then disable it. The captured blocks will be stored and available for you to
analyze at any time.
Configuring Monitoring Agent
You need to configure the following values in Monitoring Agent:
- Instance Name: Name or IP address of the
server you want to monitor. For example, SQLServ or SQLServ\Instance2
for a named instance
- Windows Authentication or SQL Server Authentication: Select
the method of authentication you want to use to connect to the server.
Remote servers require SQL Authentication. Keep in mind that if you
select Windows Authentication, Monitoring Agent will use the
LocalSystem account in Windows to connect since it runs in the
background as a service.
- Login Name: The login name used to connect
to SQL Server if SQL Server Authentication is used.
- Password: The password used to connect to SQL Server if SQL
Server Authentication is used.
- Monitor SQL Server from this computer: Check this box and
click Apply to start monitoring or uncheck it and click Apply to stop
monitoring.
The login account used to connect to SQL Server must belong to the
sysadmin server role.
Configuring Defaults
Teratrax Monitoring Agent allows you to enable or disable the
monitoring of slow SQL code and SQL Server blocking.
- Slow SQL Code: Uncheck this box if you do not want to
monitor SQL statements and stored procedure. By default, this box is
checked.
- Process Blocking: Check this box if you want
Teratrax Performance Monitor to monitor and report SQL Server process
blocking. By default, this box is unchecked. Teratrax recommends that
you enable monitoring of process blocking on demand only since this
feature requires access to the server every 5 seconds. Other areas of
Monitoring Agent query the server every 5 minutes.
- Slow/Failed
Jobs: Slow and failed SQL Server Agent jobs are monitored all the
time.
You can change the minimum values for slow SQL, block duration, and
job execution time from the Defaults tab in Teratrax Monitoring Agent. Related Links
SQL Server Blocking
Slow/Failed Jobs
Slow SQL Code
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