Any Suggestions on Fault Monitoring Tools?

• tjp8

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  September 16, 2003 at 3:24 pm

  #176713

  We are trying to find a tool that does a good job of proactively monitoring SQL Server for Faults(Trans log full, datafile full, SQL Server Down, etc) What we would like to do is be able to set % thresholds on many of these, so that standard thresholds can be created and we do not want to have to set them for every instance or database. We want to be alerted before we run out of space, etc.

  On a secondary note, we would like to be able to do some performance monitoring on some key critical servers, so doing this well would be a plus as well.

  We have looked at a few options, but I have not been happy with their abilities. Most common problems revolve around thresholds being set as integers rather than % or you are expected to write your own monitors through a T-SQL Prompt.

  Any suggestions or comments on any tools that you are or have used, good or bad would be greatly appreciated.

  Thanks

  TJP8

• philcart

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  September 16, 2003 at 4:50 pm

  #474524

  The first item you need clarify is how deep are the pockets? You can get some really handy tools, but they come at a price.

  Second item is, how do you want to see results of the monitoring. Do you want to have like a console that shows contiualy updating stats, or do you just want to recieve static messages?

  Here's some links for you to look at,

  Zero Impact SQL Monitor

  http://www.netiq.com/solutions/sql/default.asp

  Spotlight for SQL Server

  [urlhttp://www.quest.com/spotlight_sql/[/url]

  Microsoft MOM

  http://www.microsoft.com/mom/

  SmartDBA

  http://www.bmc.com/products/proddocview/0,2832,19052_19429_5944374_9743,00.html

  AppManager Suite

  http://www.netiq.com/solutions/sql/default.asp

  Hope this helps

  Phill Carter

  --------------------

  Colt 45 - the original point and click interface

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  Colt 45 - the original point and click interface

• tjp8

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  September 17, 2003 at 7:01 am

  #474622

  Thanks, I'll take a look at those. To give a little further information regarding the 2 questions asked by phillcart. Our pockets are not unlimited, but they are rather deep. I know many of the very good tools are very expensive, but we do have a significant amount of money budgeted for tools. Second, whatever tool that we choose, has to be able to Access Tivoli's TEC. All alerts, errors, etc have to be routed to operations through TEC.

  Thanks

  TJP8

• philcart

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  September 17, 2003 at 6:58 pm

  #474789

  quote:

  ---

  Zero Impact SQL Monitor

  http://www.sqlpower.com/products.html

  Spotlight for SQL Server

  http://www.quest.com/spotlight_sql/

  Microsoft MOM

  http://www.microsoft.com/mom/

  ---

  Just realised I mucked up a couple of the URL's

  For good SQL Monitoring and Tivoli intergration you're best bets are probably the offerings from BMC or NetIQ.

  NetIQ

  http://www.netiq.com/products/am/modules/connectors/tivoli.asp

  BMC

  http://www.bmc.com/products/proddocview/0,2832,19052_19444_23161_7166,00.html

  Hope this helps

  Phill Carter

  --------------------

  Colt 45 - the original point and click interface

  --------------------
  Colt 45 - the original point and click interface

• Thomas Rushton

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  September 24, 2003 at 9:50 am

  #475612

  quote:

  ---

  Thanks, I'll take a look at those.

  ---

  How did you get on with them? I'm looking around at the moment for similar tools, and have so far found Quest's Spotlight to be rather good, but expensive. My boss wants me to ask around in the community...

  Thomas Rushton
  blog: https://thelonedba.wordpress.com

• Steve Jones - SSC Editor

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  September 24, 2003 at 9:52 am

  #475614

  We use BMC's Patrol here. Kind of expensive, but monitors all Perf Mon counters and can take actions on threshholds.

  Steve Jones

  sjones@sqlservercentral.com

  http://www.sqlservercentral.com/columnists/sjones

  The Best of SQL Server Central.com 2002 - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/bestof/

  http://www.dkranch.net

• Thomas Rushton

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  September 24, 2003 at 10:10 am

  #475624

  What we're after is a single toolset that will monitor everything (SQL Servers, Exchange, Web, Active Directory, etc), and allow multiple users to monitor different bits. For example, I would be monitoring SQL Server, Steve would monitor Exchange, and Antony monitoring Windows / AD. And there would be a central PC somewhere that brings the whole lot together in one glorious display.

  Suddenly, life gets far more complicated...

  Thomas Rushton
  blog: https://thelonedba.wordpress.com

• Steve Jones - SSC Editor

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  September 24, 2003 at 10:12 am

  #475626

  Patrol can do this, but I'm not sure you really want this in "one console". Sounds good, doesn't work. You need to be able to distribute work from multiple consoles. Patrol can do this, NetIQ should be about the same. Both require $$$$

  Steve Jones

  sjones@sqlservercentral.com

  http://www.sqlservercentral.com/columnists/sjones

  The Best of SQL Server Central.com 2002 - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/bestof/

  http://www.dkranch.net

• Thomas Rushton

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  September 24, 2003 at 10:15 am

  #475629

  quote:

  ---

  Patrol can do this, but I'm not sure you really want this in "one console". Sounds good, doesn't work. You need to be able to distribute work from multiple consoles. Patrol can do this, NetIQ should be about the same. Both require $$$$

  ---

  I can't find any software that's like this that doesn't require ££££!

  I have a quote from Quest for software for monitoring five SQL Servers, one Windows site license, and a few other odds and ends, and it's about £10k. Understandably, my boss wants to know that he's signing the cheque to the right people for the job...

  Thomas Rushton
  blog: https://thelonedba.wordpress.com

• Steve Jones - SSC Editor

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  September 24, 2003 at 10:20 am

  #475631

  I'll say that Patrol works, but it can be configured indefinitely. For example, we setup space holders, 1GB files on disks. When the disk space drops below some value, Patrol deletes one of these files to free up space and sends an alert to us. It can also send SQL alerts, but they are hard to setup. Not to configure, but to decide what to alert. If you want to know when SQL Server goes above 90% CPU, you'll get killed because all kinds of spot values can throw this. So we only smaple every 5 minutes, too much data otherwise. And we throw alerts only after multiple "failures" or triggers, so I don't care unless a SQL Server is above 90% for more than 15 minutes.

  I suspect NetIQ is similar. Can't speak for the Quest tools, but I'd guess they're about the same.

  Steve Jones

  sjones@sqlservercentral.com

  http://www.sqlservercentral.com/columnists/sjones

  The Best of SQL Server Central.com 2002 - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/bestof/

  http://www.dkranch.net

• philcart

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  September 24, 2003 at 7:09 pm

  #475707

  Also take a look at TNT Software's ELM.

  http://www.tntsoftware.com/Products/

  Neat product that doesn't come with a huge price tag, but it's not cheap either.

  You might need to do a bit more customising than you would in some other products.

  Hope this helps

  Phill Carter

  --------------------

  Colt 45 - the original point and click interface

  --------------------
  Colt 45 - the original point and click interface