Foglights

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Foglights

astrid 69000

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October 29, 2020 at 8:19 pm

#3802607

Hi,

We are looking into the monitoring software foglights? any thoughts?

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Grant Fritchey SSC Guru Points: 398882 More actions · Answer 1

So, let's be clear up front, I work for Redgate Software and we make a tool that competes with Foglight, so you can take that into account with what I'm about to say.

Don't use Foglight.

If you only need to monitor SQL Server databases, the better tools are Redgate SQL Monitor and SentryOne (also a competitor). If you need to monitor multiple database platforms, know that a generic tool is a compromise over a specialized tool like the two I've mentioned. However, a better choice than Foglight is Solarwinds (another competitor). Foglight has a lot of problems. I'd strongly suggest researching one of the other tools before you implement it.

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt

Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1004324 More actions · Answer 2

astrid 69000 wrote:

Hi,
We are looking into the monitoring software foglights? any thoughts?

In all seriousness, what is it that you think you want to monitor and what benefits do you think it will provide? I find that a lot of people buy monitoring tools and then don't know what the hell to do with all the information it provides.

For example, a lot of CPU is being used... your monitoring system tells you that. Now, what do you intend to do with that bit of information? About 95% of the time, the high CPU is being caused by code (external or internal) being run against the server. Knowing that, what do you intend to do about it?

Be careful to have a plan for what you're going to do with what a monitoring system is going to tell you or it's a complete waste of initial investment and a complete waste of time by looking at all the pretty pictures of symptoms if you don't actually have a plan to fix code.

I won't say which companies they are but I've done work for many companies that have all different manner of monitoring running ... and all it does is take up some CPU and disk storage space because the people that bought it, didn't have a plan to find and fix what the monitoring was identifying as out of whack symptoms.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

astrid 69000 Hall of Fame Points: 3208 More actions · Answer 3

Thanks, I do understand that the monitoring only gives you a big picture and you need to go and dig.

Ideally we wont get a tool that gives me what I can track by basic monitoring. So tools give you more inside on what was running when something happened, so you have a clear view on where to look for stuff.

I personally had my eye on sentry one, which I tried and like. But my boss thinks Foglights will be on the same caliber, and as I never heard about that monitoring I was wondering. The internet reviews were not great.

homebrew01 SSC Guru Points: 55548 More actions · Answer 4

The tools I have used in the past have had a free trial period of several weeks or a month. Try before you buy.

Tom Uellner SSCrazy Points: 2995 More actions · Answer 5

We have Redgate SQL Monitor looking after 10 servers at work. It's been very helpful in tracking down issues. The main dashboard gives me a quick look at what is going on. If I get a report from a user about a performance problem at a particular time or I see something going on, I can go into the server overview and use the sliding window to look at the metrics for just the time when the issue occurred. I can see the top expensive queries, waits, CPU, etc. I personally find it very helpful. That said, I've never used any of the other tools that have been mentioned above.

I'd second HomeBrew01's comment about downloading a free trial of a few different tools and see what works best for you.