Foglight for SQL Server Hardware Sizing Guide

Transcription

1 Foglight for SQL Server 5.7.0

2 2014 Dell Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This guide contains proprietary information protected by copyright. The software described in this guide is furnished under a software license or nondisclosure agreement. This software may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of the applicable agreement. No part of this guide may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording for any purpose other than the purchaser s personal use without the written permission of Dell Inc. The information in this document is provided in connection with Dell products. No license, express or implied, by estoppel or otherwise, to any intellectual property right is granted by this document or in connection with the sale of Dell products. EXCEPT AS SET FORTH IN THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS AS SPECIFIED IN THE LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR THIS PRODUCT, DELL ASSUMES NO LIABILITY WHATSOEVER AND DISCLAIMS ANY EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY WARRANTY RELATING TO ITS PRODUCTS INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL DELL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE, SPECIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION OR LOSS OF INFORMATION) ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THIS DOCUMENT, EVEN IF DELL HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. Dell makes no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this document and reserves the right to make changes to specifications and product descriptions at any time without notice. Dell does not make any commitment to update the information contained in this document. If you have any questions regarding your potential use of this material, contact: Dell Inc. Attn: LEGAL Dept 5 Polaris Way Aliso Viejo, CA Refer to our web site (software.dell.com) for regional and international office information. Patents This product is protected by U.S. Patents #: 7,979,245 and 8,175,862. Additional Patents Pending. For more information, go to Trademarks Dell, the Dell logo, and Foglight, IntelliProfile, PerformaSure, and Tag and Follow are trademarks of Dell Inc. "Apache Tomcat" and "Tomcat" are trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation. AIX, IBM and WebSphere are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. HP is a registered trademark that belongs to Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Linux is the registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, other countries, or both. Microsoft, Windows, Active Directory, Internet Explorer, Hyper-V, SharePoint, and SQL Server are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Oracle, Oracle Solaris, Java, and WebLogic are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. MySQL is a registered trademark of MySQL AB in the United States, the European Union and other countries. Novell and edirectory are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc., in the United States and other countries. Ubuntu is a registered trademark of Canonical Ltd. Mozilla and Firefox are registered trademarks of the Mozilla Foundation. Mac OS and Safari are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Google and Chrome are registered trademarks of Google Inc. The X Window System and UNIX are trademarks of The Open Group. VMware, ESX, ESXi, vsphere, and vcenter are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. Symantec and Veritas are trademarks or registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. OpenLDAP is a registered trademark of the OpenLDAP Foundation. "Red Hat", "JBoss" and the JBoss logo are registered trademarks of Red Hat, Inc. Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others. Legend CAUTION: A CAUTION icon indicates potential damage to hardware or loss of data if instructions are not followed. WARNING: A WARNING icon indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death. IMPORTANT NOTE, NOTE, TIP, MOBILE, or VIDEO: An information icon indicates supporting information. Foglight for SQL Server Updated - December 2014 Software Version Cartridge version 5.7.0

3 Contents Introduction to this Guide SQL Agents - System Requirements Foglight Management Server Agent Manager SQL PI Repository Deployment Use Cases Tuning Foglight for SQL Server Opening the Databases Administration Dashboard Adjusting the Collection and Display Settings Adjusting Collection Settings Configuring Rules Configuring Log Scanning Configuring User-defined Collections Configuring Performance Counters Configuring Buffer Cache Retrieval Configuring Plan Cache Retrieval Configuring Locks Retrieval Configuring Block Retrieval Configuring Retention Policy Configuring Top SQL Statements Collection Configuring the Collection of Database Indexes Configuring the Collection of Database Tables Tuning and Optimizating Collections Agent Alert List Agent Job List Blocking History CLR Assemblies Database Information Database Properties Databases File Data Flow Statistics File Groups Files Full Text Catalog Mirroring Mirroring Performance Counters Top SQL Summary

4 1 Introduction to this Guide Welcome to the Foglight for SQL Server. This guide is intended to assist with determining the optimal hardware requirements and product configurations to ensure the best user experience possible. This guide provides both an overview and detailed, collection-specific instructions for tuning Foglight for SQL Server. This guide is intended for all users who want to customize Foglight for SQL Server s default settings for sampling and collecting data, to suit their specific requirements. SQL Agents - System Requirements Use the following to determine the amount of resources required to monitor your SQL Server instances. Resources need to be allocated over: Foglight Management Server Agent Manager SQL PI Repository The above monitoring elements can be either distributed over different machines (preferable in large environments) or centralized. For more information, see Deployment Use Cases. Foglight Management Server Table 1. Foglight Management Server # of SQL Agents Memory Foglight JVM settings (MB) Machine CPU 1-5 Xms Xmx= GB 2 cores 6-10 Xms Xmx= GB 2 cores Xms Xmx= GB 4 cores Xms Xmx= GB 4 cores Xms Xmx= GB 4 cores A single Foglight Management Server can host up to 300 SQL agents. NOTE: Edit the Foglight Management Server JVM settings in the server.config file located under Dell\Foglight\config\ 4

5 Agent Manager SQL Agents Table 2. SQL Agents # of SQL Agents CPU Memory Foglight JVM settings (MB) core Xms Xmx= core Xms Xmx= cores Xms Xmx= cores Xms Xmx=2048 A single Agent Manager can host up to 100 SQL Agents. SQL Agents with SQL PI monitoring Table 3. SQL Agents with SQL PI monitoring # of SQL Agents CPU Memory Foglight JVM settings (MB) A single Agent Manager can host up to 50 SQL PI Agents. Memory Machine core Xms Xmx= GB 2 cores core Xms Xmx= GB 2 cores cores Xms Xmx= GB 4 cores CPU NOTE: Edit the Agent Manager JVM settings in the baseline.jvmargs.config file located under Dell\Foglight Agent Manager\state\default\config\ Average network throughput measured from the Agent Manager to the Monitored host average is 0.36Mbps per SQL agent. SQL PI Repository 2.4 GHz CPUs one of the following: Table 4. For SQL Agents with SQL PI Monitoring # of SQL Agents Memory CPU Disk Space GB 1 core 4 GB GB 2 cores 8 GB GB 4 cores 20 GB GB 8 cores 50 GB SQL PI repositories A single SQI PI repository can host up to 100 agents. 5

6 Machine Prerequisites Operating system version - Windows Server 2008 and above Operating system architecture - x64 Agent Manager available It is recommended that you install the SQL PI repository on a dedicated machine. Deployment Use Cases All in One All monitoring elements reside on a single machine. Recommended architecture for up to 5 SQL agents (with SQL PI). Can be considered for more as long as the sizing requirements are met. The following diagram describes 5 SQL agents with SQL PI monitoring. Distributed Monitoring elements are distributed amongst different machines. Architecture can be fully or partially distributed. Recommended architecture for growing environments. The following diagram describes 100 SQL agents with the SQL PI monitoring in the most distributed architecture (preferable in large or growing environments). 6

7 Number of Files Opened on the Agent Manager Server While monitoring SQL Server instances, Foglight for SQL Server agents pass file descriptors to the kernel on the Agent Manager server to request that files be opened. For your reference, the following table states the number of files that are open while monitoring one SQL Server instance. The numbers vary based on the operating systems used to host the Agent Manager and to host the instance. The last column shows how many files are opened when agents are added to monitor additional SQL Server instances. Table 5. The number of files open while monitoring one SQL Server instance. OS Hosting Agent Manager Abbreviations used in the table: DB = SQL Server Database Instance OS = Operating System OS Hosting SQL Server Instance IC = Infrastructure Cartridge DB OS IC Total UNIX/Linux Windows ~80 Windows Windows ~30 Files per Agent Added 7

8 Tuning Foglight for SQL Server 2 Tuning involves adjusting the default product configuration to better suit your monitored environment and thereby improve product performance. The first step in tuning Foglight for SQL Server is to review the default settings for collections and alarms. You review and edit the settings in the Databases Administration dashboard. Opening the Databases Administration Dashboard To open the Databases Administration dashboard: 1 In the navigation panel, under Homes, click Databases. 2 Select the row check boxes beside one or more SQL Server instances. 3 Click Agent settings and then click Administration. The Administration dashboard opens, containing settings for all the selected agents. Figure 1. Administration dashboard 4 Next steps Edit settings to improve product performance. See the following sections: Adjusting the Collection and Display Settings Tuning and Optimizating Collections 8

9 Adjusting the Collection and Display Settings The Databases Administration dashboard provides several options for adjusting collection and display settings: Adjusting Collection Settings Configuring Rules Configuring Log Scanning Configuring User-defined Collections Configuring Performance Counters Configuring Buffer Cache Retrieval Configuring Plan Cache Retrieval Configuring Plan Cache Retrieval Configuring Locks Retrieval Configuring Block Retrieval Configuring Retention Policy Configuring Top SQL Statements Collection Configuring the Collection of Database Indexes Configuring the Collection of Database Tables Adjusting Collection Settings Collection settings can be adjusted to reduce system overhead. The sections below instruct how to use the Collection Frequencies view in the Databases Administration dashboard to carry out the required adjustments. Adjusting collection frequencies Changing the value for the current collection frequency of the selected agents reduces the amount of data that is being collected and processed by Foglight for SQL Server. The valid options are as follows: High high-rate collection is always on Normal collection rate is variable Low background collection is always on For more details, see the online help text for the configuration settings, accessible by clicking. Adjusting Collection Intervals The Collection Details table allows changing the configured collection interval for individual collections. Such changes will have the following implications: For offline frequency affecting the overhead imposed by a collection when no users are accessing the system For Online and Real-Time frequencies affecting the overhead imposed by collection when users are actively accessing the SQL Server screens. 9

10 Figure 2. Collection Details table The various frequencies for each collection Disabling Collections Disabling collections is the final option, which should always be considered a last resort or a conscious decision to exclude certain data from collection. To disable a collection, clear the Collection Enabled check box, in the leftmost column of the collection details table. Figure 3. Collection Enabled check box The Collection Enabled check box Configuring Rules If certain rules are not of interest, those rules should be disabled to reduce system overhead. In addition, for rules that apply to databases, certain databases can be excluded from some of the Databases rule group, as described in the sections below. Disabling a specific rule The Alarms view in the Databases Administration dashboard allows selecting a specific rule to be disabled from monitoring. To disable a specific rule: 1 Select the requested rule in the Alarms list. 2 In the Alarm Settings pane, click the alarm status indicator. 10

11 Figure 4. Alarm Settings pane Alarm status indicator The Enable/Disable Alarm dialog box appears. Figure 5. Enable/Disable alarm box 3 Change the status to Disabled. 4 Click Set. 5 Repeat Step 1 to Step 4 for all rules that are to be disabled. 6 Click Save changes at the bottom of the screen. Disabling a rule group The Alarms view in the Databases Administration dashboard, which contains all of the alarms that are to be invoked for each of Foglight for SQL Server's rules, divided by groups, allows disabling an entire rule group in a monitored instance environment. 11

12 Figure 6. Alarms screen Alarm Settings pane Group title To disable an entire rule group: 1 Select the group s title. All of the group s alarms are displayed in the Alarms Settings pane. 2 Click Disable all. 3 Repeat Step 1 to Step 2 for all rule groups that are to be disabled. 4 Click Save changes at the bottom of the screen. Disabling all of the rules for the selected agents To disable all rules for the selected agents: 1 Click the All Alarms title, which appears at the top of the Alarms list. All of the alarms are displayed in the Alarms Settings pane. Figure 7. Alarms Settings pane 2 Click Disable all. 3 Click Save changes at the bottom of the screen. 12

13 Excluding database objects from monitoring The following rules under the Databases group apply by default to all of the database objects monitored by the selected agents: DBSS - Days Since Last Backup DBSS - Days Since Last Backup - No Backup DBSS - Dynamic Data File Growths Remaining DBSS - Dynamic Log File Growths Remaining DBSS - Fixed Data File Used DBSS - Fixed Log File Used DBSS - Unavailable Consider using the Alarms view for excluding data from specific rules, for example: exclude certain databases from the Days Since Last Backup rule, if one or more database is not a part of your backup and recovery routine. To exclude one or more database objects from being monitored: 1 Select the requested alarm from the Databases group. Figure 8. Alarm selected from the Databases group 2 Click Add value. The Add a value to Exclude from the Rule dialog box appears. Figure 9. Add a value to Exclude from the Rule dialog 3 Select from the list the agent where the requested database objects are to be excluded from the rule. 13

14 4 Select the check boxes near the requested database objects on the Available for Exclusion table. Alternatively, use the relevant field to enter the names of the database object to exclude. 5 Click Add. 6 Click Close. 7 Repeat Step 3 to Step 6 for each agent from which database objects of this type (for example, log file) are to be excluded from the rule. 8 Repeat Step 1 to Step 7 for all requested rules. 9 Click Save changes at the bottom of the screen. Configuring Log Scanning Optimizing the list of search words (display filters) for the error log scanning by removing or disabling unnecessary filters, modifying or adding other filters, can reduce system overload. This operation is carried out via the Error Log Filtering view in the Databases Administration dashboard. Figure 10. Error Log Filtering view IMPORTANT: System overload resulting from error logs can also be reduced by using SQL Server stored procedures to recycle the logs frequently, thereby keeping them small. Configuring User-defined Collections Foglight for SQL Server allows configuring an unlimited number of customized collections that are derived from SQL statements, via the User-defined Collections view in the Databases Administration dashboard. While user-defined collections can highly accelerate your work and make it more efficient, having a large number of user-defined collections, or collections deriving from non-optimized SQL statements, can overload 14

15 system resources. Therefore, the list of user-defined collections should be constantly reviewed, and, if needed, the following measures can be carried out: Reducing the number of user-defined collections Optimizing the SQL statements Figure 11. User-defined Collections view Configuring Performance Counters Foglight for SQL Server allows adding custom collections of performance counters to a specified agent, via the Performance Counters view in the Databases Administration dashboard. This view, which provides a complete list of available performance counters, can be used for adding custom collections of performance counters to a specified agent, by selecting them from the list. It is advisable to review periodically the list of available performance counters, thereby ensuring that this list does not contain counters whose monitoring is no longer necessary, and, if needed, to remove such counters. Configuring Buffer Cache Retrieval Decreasing the number of cache objects that are retrieved to the Memory > Buffer Cache panel (by default:20) can reduce system overhead. To reduce the number of retrieved cache objects, go to the Buffer Cache view in the Databases Administration dashboard and modify the parameter Top N Buffer Cache Objects by Cached MB. Figure 12. Buffer Cache Settings view Insert a new value here Configuring Plan Cache Retrieval Decreasing the number of plan cache objects that are retrieved to the Memory > Plan Cache panel can reduce system overhead. 15

16 Consider making the following changes in the Plan Cache view in the Databases Administration dashboard: Reducing the number of retrieved cache objects (by default: 20) Excluding from retrieval certain object types Defining to display only objects that reside on certain databases Figure 13. Procedure Cache Settings screen Exclude Adhoc objects Exclude system objects Set specific databases from which objects are to be retrieved Decrease the number of objects to be retrieved Set specific object types to be retrieved Configuring Locks Retrieval Locks retrieval can be adjusted to reduce system overhead. Adjustments can be made by excluding from retrieval certain types of locks or specifying retrieval to be carried out only for specific objects or to specific databases, as detailed in the following sections: Disabling the retrieval of locks of a certain type Foglight for SQL Server allows you to retrieve the following lock types: Database shared locks Intent locks TempDB locks By default, only database shared locks and intent locks are retrieved. Use the Locks view in the Databases Administration dashboard to disable the collection of one or more lock type, by setting its collection setting to False, as shown below. Figure 14. Locks Settings view Disabling lock types Limiting the object scope By default, Foglight for SQL Server retrieves locks for all object types, and does not display system objects. The number of objects for which locks are to be retrieved can be reduced using one or more of the following measures: Limiting object retrieval to specific object, by typing data in the Filter Object Name field. 16

17 If system objects display was enabled, disable the display by resetting the value of the Show system objects field to False. Figure 15. Locks Settings view Setting specific objects for retrieval Disabling the display of system objects Setting specific databases from which locks are to be retrieved By default, Foglight for SQL Server retrieves locks from all databases. The parameter Filter Database Name can be used for setting lock retrieval to be carried out only from databases that meet a defined criteria. Configuring Block Retrieval Reducing the number of blocks that are collected and displayed can reduce the system resources overload. Foglight for SQL Server defines a value for the minimal duration (in seconds) for collecting and displaying data in the Blocking (History) panel. This value can be modified using the dedicated parameter in the Locks > Locks Setting table, as shown below. Figure 16. Locks Settings table Increasing the interval needed for collecting and displaying blocks Configuring Retention Policy Data that is kept for a relatively long period of time may overload system resources. In such a case, consider shortening the data retention period, by using the Retention Policies view in the Databases Administration dashboard to change the retention policy s value from the default Medium to Low. 17

18 Figure 17. Retention Policies global administration screen Data retention policy Configuring Top SQL Statements Collection Identifying high-load SQL statements is an extremely significant tuning activity, as such statements may often adversely affect database performance by consuming a disproportionate amount of system resources. Foglight for SQL Server identifies high-load SQL statements by collecting top SQL statements, namely: SQL statements that experienced the longest time of CPU consumption or the highest number of total wait events during the specified time range. Because these statements are stored in the application cache, collecting a large number of high-load SQL statements may put a heavy load on system resources. To reduce the load that results from the collection of top SQL statements, the Top SQL Statements view in the Databases Administration dashboard allows lowering the maximum number of SQL statements to be collected, using the parameter Maximum number of SQL statements to collect. Figure 18. Top SQL Statements global administration screen Setting a lower maximal value of SQL statements to be collected Configuring the Collection of Database Indexes Because handling database indexes is a highly resource-intensive task, requiring extensive calculation and processing, minimizing database index collection can reduce load on system resources. The sections below describe how to use the Database Indexes view in the Databases Administration dashboard to minimize database index collection. 18

19 Reducing the number of indexes to be collected By default,foglight for SQL Server collects 50 database indexes. To reduce the number of collected indexes, set a lower value for the parameter Maximum number of indexes to collect. Figure 19. Parameter Maximum number of indexes to collect Setting a lower ceiling for the number of collected indexes Narrowing the scope of database index collection To collect database indexes of a certain type, rather than all database indexes, modify the value of the parameter Collect indexes of type from the default All to a certain type, namely: Clustered, Non-clustered or Heap. Figure 20. Parameter Collect indexes of type Setting a specific index type to collect Configuring the Collection of Database Tables Because handling database tables is a highly resource-intensive task, requiring extensive calculation and processing, minimizing database table collection can reduce load on system resources. By default, Foglight for SQL Server collects 50 database tables. To reduce the number of collected tables, set a lower value for the parameter Maximum number of tables to collect. Figure 21. Parameter Maximum number of tables to collect Setting a lower ceiling for the number of collected tables Tuning and Optimizating Collections Some database environments may benefit from adjusting collection frequencies or alarm thresholds on the Databases Administration dashboard. The greatest impact in reducing the overhead generated by Foglight for SQL Server can be achieved by optimizing the following collections: Agent Alert List Agent Job List 19

20 Blocking History CLR Assemblies Database Information Database Properties Databases File Data Flow Statistics File Groups Files Full Text Catalog Mirroring Mirroring Performance Counters Top SQL Agent Alert List The Agent Alert List collection provides information regarding all SQL Server Agent alerts defined in this SQL Server (both event and performance alerts). The load imposed by the Agent Alert List collection is dependent upon the number of alerts invoked by the SQL Server Agent. High resource utilization is typically observed when this number is greater than If a monitored SQL Server environment recurrently experiences such a state, the collection frequency for this collection, defined via the Collection Frequencies view, should be lowered as follows: Real-time frequency: from 60 to 300 Online frequency: from 300 to 3600 Offline frequency: from 3600 to IMPORTANT: If this collection is disabled, no data will be displayed in the Support Services > SQL Agent Alerts panel, and the SQL Agent Alerts alarm will not be invoked. Agent Job List The Agent Job List collection provides information regarding all of the currently defined SQL Agent jobs, including their current status (running, succeeded, or failed). The load imposed by the Agent Job List collection is dependent upon the number of SQL Server Agent jobs. High resource utilization is typically observed when this number is greater than If a monitored SQL Server environment recurrently experiences such a state, the collection frequency for this collection, defined via the Collection Frequencies view, should be lowered as follows: Real-time frequency: from 60 to 300 Online frequency: from 300 to 3600 Offline frequency: from 3600 to IMPORTANT: If this collection is disabled, no data will be displayed in the Support Services > SQL Agent Jobs panel, and the Jobs Failed, Long Running Job and SQLJobRetry alarms will not be invoked. Blocking History The Blocking History collection provides information on blocking lock chains, to enable a complete analysis of concurrency issues in a database environment. 20

21 The load imposed by the Blocking History collection is dependent upon the number of blocked processes that were held for longer than the threshold for collecting and displaying blocking lock-related data, which is specified in the Locks view (by default: minimum lock duration of 90 seconds). High resource utilization is typically observed when more than 20 blocking chains exceed this threshold. If a monitored SQL Server environment recurrently experiences such a state, the threshold should be adjusted to increase the minimum lock duration, thereby reducing the number of Long Lock Running alarms. IMPORTANT: If this collection is disabled, no data will be displayed in the SQL Activity > Blocking (History) panel and the Long Lock Running alarm will not be invoked. CLR Assemblies This collection is responsible for: The CLR Assemblies collection provides information regarding the security state of CLR (Common Language Runtime) assemblies. The load imposed by the CLR Assemblies collection is dependent upon the number of CLR assemblies per database. High resource utilization is typically observed when this number exceeds 500. If a monitored SQL Server environment recurrently experiences such a state, the collection frequency for this collection, defined via the Collection Frequencies view, should be lowered as follows: Real-time frequency: from 20 to Online frequency: from 60 to Offline frequency: from 300 to IMPORTANT: If this collection is disabled, the SQLCLRSecurity alarm will not be invoked. Database Information The Database Information collection provides various statistics relating to recent I/O activity on each database, as well as the number of log pages per second being written to disk by the Log Writer process. The load imposed by the Database Information collection is dependent upon the number of databases being monitored. High resource utilization is typically observed when this number exceeds If a monitored SQL Server environment recurrently experiences such a state, the collection frequency for this collection, defined via the Collection Frequencies view, should be lowered as follows: Online frequency: from 900 to 3600 Offline frequency: from 3600 to IMPORTANT: If this collection is disabled, no data will be displayed in the Log Flushes panel under the Home page and in the Databases > Summary pane > Database History chart. In addition, the Log Flush Wait Time alarm will not be invoked. Database Properties The Database Properties collection provides information about the database settings, which is returned by the SQL Server DatabasePropertyEx function. The load imposed by the Database Properties collection is dependent upon the number of databases being monitored. High resource utilization is typically observed when this number exceeds If a monitored SQL Server environment recurrently experiences such a state, the collection frequency for this collection, defined via the Collection Frequencies view, should be lowered as follows: Online frequency: from 3600 to

22 Offline frequency: from 3600 to IMPORTANT: If this collection is disabled, no data will be displayed in the Databases > Databases table (upper section), when selecting the Properties view. Databases The Databases collection provides various database-related data, as follows: General information about each of the monitored databases, such as the database s name, status, and total size of all data files and logs in the database Details about the oldest active transaction in each of the monitored databases Backup details for the database, including the total size of data files and the date and time of the most recent backup of any type for the database The load imposed by the Databases collection is dependent upon the number of databases being monitored. High resource utilization is typically observed when this number exceeds 100. In such a case, the collection frequency for this collection, defined via the Collection Frequencies view, should be lowered as follows: Real-time frequency: from 300 to 900 Online frequency: from 900 to 3600 Offline frequency: from to IMPORTANT: If this collection is disabled, no data will be displayed in the Databases > Databases table (upper section), when selecting the Overview, Transaction and Backup Status views. In addition, the Days Since Last Backup and Days Since Last Backup - No Backup alarms will not be invoked. File Data Flow Statistics This collection is responsible for: The File Data Flow Statistics collection provides information about the database files, which is returned by the SQL Server DatabasePropertyEx function. The load imposed by the File Data Flow Statistics collection is dependent upon the number of files per database (each database has at least two files). High resource utilization is typically observed when this number exceeds 500. In such a case, the collection frequency for this collection, defined via the Collection Frequencies view, should be lowered as follows: Real-time frequency: from 900 to 3600 Online frequency: from 900 to 3600 IMPORTANT: If this collection is disabled, no data will be displayed in the SQL Activity > IO by File panel. File Groups The File Groups collection provides information about the file groups and transaction logs. The load imposed by the File Groups collection is dependent upon the number of file groups per database. High resource utilization is typically observed when this number exceeds 500. In such a case, the collection frequency for this collection, defined via the Collection Frequencies view, should be lowered as follows: Real-time frequency: from 900 to 3600 Online frequency: from 900 to 3600 IMPORTANT: IF this collection is disabled, no data will be displayed in the Databases > File Groups pane and the Databases > Transaction Logs pane. 22

23 Files The Files collection provides information about the log files and data files, including their disk space consumption and growth potential, thereby enabling to alert if the used disk space or the number of growths remaining are close to reaching their limits. The load imposed by the Files collection is dependent upon the number of log files and data files per database. High resource utilization is typically observed when this number exceeds 500. In such a case, the collection frequency for this collection, defined via the Collection Frequencies view, should be lowered as follows: Real-time frequency: from 900 to 3600 Online frequency: from 900 to 3600 IMPORTANT: If this collection is disabled, no data will be displayed in the following panes under the Databases drilldown: Summary, Data Files, Log Files and Disk Space. In addition, the following alarms will not be invoked: Dynamic Data File Growths Remaining, Dynamic Log File Growths Remaining, Fixed Data File Used and Fixed Log File Used. Full Text Catalog The Full Text Catalog collection provides data regarding all full-text indexes on the server. The load imposed by the Full Text Catalog collection is dependent upon the number of full text indexes on the server. High resource utilization is typically observed when this number exceeds 500. In such a case, the collection frequency for this collection, defined via the Collection Frequencies view, should be lowered as follows: Real-time frequency: from 300 to 3600 Online frequency: from 900 to 3600 IMPORTANT: If this collection is disabled, no data will be displayed on the Support Services > Full Text Search panel. Mirroring The Mirroring collection provides data regarding all of the databases within the monitored instance that take part in a mirroring operation, either as a principal or as a mirror database. The load imposed by the Mirroring collection is dependent upon the number of mirrored databases within the monitored instance. High resource utilization is typically observed when this number exceeds In such a case, the collection frequency for this collection, defined via the Collection Frequencies view, should be lowered as follows: Online frequency: from 300 to 900 Offline frequency: from 900 to 3600 IMPORTANT: If this collection is disabled, no data will be displayed on the Support Services > Mirroring panel. In addition, the following alarms will not be invoked: Database - Mirroring Role Changed, Database - Mirroring State Changed and Database - Mirroring Witness State. Mirroring Performance Counters The Mirroring Performance Counters collection provides data regarding mirroring performance of both the Principal and the Mirror databases. The load imposed by the Mirroring Performance Counters collection is dependent upon the number of mirrored databases within the monitored instance. High resource utilization is typically observed when this number exceeds In such a case, the collection frequency for this collection, defined via the Collection Frequencies view, should be lowered as follows: 23

24 This data that is displayed on the Support Services > Mirroring panel, as well as on the Mirroring Performance History page. Invoking the The Database - Mirroring Queue Loaded Percent alarm IMPORTANT: If this collection is disabled, no data will be displayed on the Support Services > Mirroring panel and on the Monitoring Performance History page. In addition, the Database - Mirroring Queue Loaded Percent alarm will not be invoked. Top SQL The Top SQL collection provides detailed information about the SQL statements that experienced the longest time of CPU consumption or highest number of total wait events during the specified time range. The load imposed by the Top SQL collection is dependent upon the number of SQL statements collected and the size of the SQL text. High resource utilization is typically observed when the number of SQL statements collected exceeds 10. In such a case, the collection frequency for this collection, defined via the Collection Frequencies view, should be lowered as follows: Real-time frequency: from 60 to 300 Online frequency: from 300 to 900 Offline frequency: from 900 to 360 In addition, the Collection Settings > Top SQL Statements view can be used for reducing the number of submitted SQL statements (by default: 10), using the parameter Maximum number of SQL statements to collect, or reducing the amount of collected SQL Statements text, by setting a lower value to the parameter The maximum size (in characters) of the collected short SQL statement text is. By default, the value of this parameter is 256. IMPORTANT: If this collection is disabled, no data will be displayed in the SQL Activity > Top SQL Statements panel. Summary The following table summarizes the collections detailed in this document. All of the collections can be disabled, if required, to reduce system overload. 24

25 Table 1. Summary of collections Name Agent Alert List Agent Job List Blocking History CLR Assemblies Database Information Database Properties Load depends on Number of alerts Number of jobs Number of blocked processes that exceeded the threshold defined for collecting and displaying a block Number of unsafe CLR assemblies per database Number of databases Number of databases Tune if Exceeds Affected GUI Components/Alarms 1000 GUI Components: Support Services > SQL Agent Alerts panel Alarms: SQL Agent Alerts 1000 GUI Components: Support Services > SQL Agent Jobs panel Alarms: Jobs Failed Long Running Job SQLJobRetry 20 SQL Activity > Blocking (History) panel 500 SQLCLRSecurity alarm 1000 GUI components: Log Flushes flow under the home page Databases > Summary pane > Database History chart Alarms: Log Flush Wait Time 1000 Databases > Databases table (Properties view) Additional Performance Enhancement Measures Possible Lowering the collection frequency: Real-time frequency from 60 to 300 Online frequency from 300 to 3600 Offline frequency from 3600 to Lowering the collection frequency Real-time frequency from 60 to 300 Online frequency from 300 to 3600 Offline frequency from 3600 to Setting a higher value for the minimal duration (in seconds) for collecting and displaying data in the Blocking (History) panel Lowering the collection frequency: Real-time frequency from 20 to Online frequency from 60 to Offline frequency from 300 to Lowering the collection frequency: Online frequency from 900 to 3600 Offline frequency from 3600 to Lowering the collection frequency: Real-time frequency from 3600 to Online frequency from 3600 to

26 Table 1. Summary of collections Name Databases File Data Flow Statistics File Groups Files Load depends on Number of databases Number of files per database Number of file groups per database Number of files per database Tune if Exceeds Affected GUI Components/Alarms 1000 GUI components: Databases > Databases table (Overview view) Databases > Databases table (Transactions view) Databases > Databases table (Backup Status view) Alarms: Days Since Last Backup Days Since Last Backup - No Backup 500 SQL Activity > IO by File panel 500 GUI Components: Databases > File Groups pane Databases > Transaction Logs pane 500 GUI Components: Databases > Summary pane Databases > Data Files pane Databases > Log Files pane Databases > Disk Space pane Alarms: Dynamic Data File Growths Remaining Dynamic Log File Growths Remaining Fixed Data File Used Fixed Log File Used Additional Performance Enhancement Measures Possible Lowering the collection frequency: Real-time frequency from 3600 to Online frequency from 3600 to Offline frequency from to Lowering the collection frequency: Real-time frequency from 900 to 3600 Online frequency from 900 to 3600 Lowering the collection frequency: Real-time frequency from 900 to 3600 Online frequency from 900 to 3600 Lowering the collection frequency Real-time frequency from 900 to 3600 Online frequency from 900 to

27 Table 1. Summary of collections Name Mirroring Mirroring Performance Counters Top SQL Load depends on Number of mirrored databases Number of mirrored databases Number and text size of collected SQL statements Tune if Exceeds Affected GUI Components/Alarms 1000 GUI Components: Support Services > Mirroring panel Alarms: Database - Mirroring Role Changed Database - Mirroring State Changed Database - Mirroring Witness State 1000 GUI Components: Support Services > Mirroring panel Alarms: Database - Mirroring Queue Loaded Percent 10 SQL Activity > Top SQL Statements panel Additional Performance Enhancement Measures Possible Lowering the collection frequency: Online frequency from 300 to 900 Offline frequency from 900 to 3600 Lowering the collection frequency Reducing the number of submitted SQL statements Reducing the amount of collected SQL Statements text Lowering the collection frequency: Real-time frequency from 60 to 300 Online frequency from 300 to 900 Offline frequency from 900 to