Nimsoft Monitor sqlserver Release Notes All series
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Contents Chapter 1: sqlserver General Overview 7 Chapter 2: Requirements 9 Hardware Requirements... 9 Software Requirements... 9 Supported Platforms... 9 Chapter 3: Considerations 11 Installation Considerations... 11 Chapter 4: Known Issues and Workarounds 13 Known SQL Server 2000 Problem... 13 Known SQL Server 2005 problem with av_fragmentation... 13 Chapter 5: Migration Considerations 15 Chapter 6: V2 QoS Compatibility Mode 17 Permissions Required... 17 Chapter 7: Fixed Defects 19 Revision History... 19 Contents 5
The number of a ctive users Chapter 1: sqlserver General Overview The sqlserver probe will run selected SQL's to extract vital information about your SQL Servers. The following information is presented to database-administrator as alarms and/or as a report: Database uptime Number of databases available The data-file size for each database Log-file size for each database File-group size for each database Table size for each database The buffer cache-hit ratio The log-file cache-hit ratio The number of users currently logged onto the server Number of deadlocks per second Number of transactions pr. second Number of database page reads/writes pr. second Number of flush waits per second Number of latch requests per second Number of full scans (table or index) per seconds The usage (growth/shrinking) of the transaction logs Table/index fragmentation Memory resources CPU and I/O resources Locking and locking resources Free connections Backup status Long running queries (SQL Server 2005 only) Long running jobs Active connection ratio Chapter 1: sqlserver General Overview 7
Hardware Requirements Mirroring state of Mirror Database Status of Mirroring Witness Server Status of SQL Server instance hosting mirror database 8 sqlserver Release Notes
Chapter 2: Requirements This section contains the requirements for the sqlserver probe. This section contains the following topics: Hardware Requirements (see page 9) Software Requirements (see page 9) Supported Platforms (see page 9) Hardware Requirements The sqlserver probe should be installed on systems with the following minimum resources: Memory: 2-4GB of RAM. Probe's OOB configuration requires 256MB of RAM' CPU: 3GHz dual-core processor, 32-bit or 64-bit Software Requirements The sqlserver probe requires the following software environment: Nimsoft Monitor Server 5.1.1 or later Nimsoft Robot 5.23 or later Java Virtual Machine 1.6 or later (typically installed with NMS 5.0 and above) MDAC 2.5 or higher + ADO provider for database to be connected SQL Server Native Client (SQLNCLI), SQL Server 7.0 or higher Note: For SOC functionality, NM Server 5.6 or later and UMP 2.5.2 or later is required. Supported Platforms The sqlserver probe supports the same set of operating systems and databases as supported by the Nimsoft Server solution. Please refer to the Nimsoft Compatibility Support Matrix for the latest information on supported platforms. Chapter 2: Requirements 9
Chapter 3: Considerations This section contains the considerations for the sqlserver probe. This section contains the following topics: Installation Considerations (see page 11) Installation Considerations Install probe on a robot running MS-SQL server or a PC installed with client software for SQL Server. Chapter 3: Considerations 11
Chapter 4: Known Issues and Workarounds This section contains the known issues and workarounds for the sqlserver probe. This section contains the following topics: Known SQL Server 2000 Problem (see page 13) Known SQL Server 2005 problem with av_fragmentation (see page 13) Migration Considerations (see page 15) V2 QoS Compatibility Mode (see page 17) Permissions Required (see page 17) Known SQL Server 2000 Problem Sometimes SQL Server internal tables are not updated with current size values. This can cause negative size values in checkpoints database_size, free_size, fg_free_size and table_size. Use command DBCC UPDATEUSAGE to correct the values in SQL catalog (Running this command on large databases can take long time). Known SQL Server 2005 problem with av_fragmentation SQL Server 2005 changed SQL syntax for some commands during SP2 maintenance. If you want to run the checkpoint av_fragmentation, you need to apply this maintenance, otherwise checkpoint will return an error 0x80040e14. Chapter 4: Known Issues and Workarounds 13
Chapter 5: Migration Considerations Checkpoints "logic_fragment" and "scan_density" are not supported on SQL Server 2005. Use "av_fragmentation" instead. The checkpoint "database_status" has been replaced by "database_state". Database status values from SQL Server 2000 (and lower) are mapped to database state as defined in SQL Server 2005. Chapter 5: Migration Considerations 15
Chapter 6: V2 QoS Compatibility Mode In the V3 the has_max flag has been added to following checkpoints: alloc_space fg_free_space free_connections free_space locks_used logic_fragment scan_density server_cpu server_io user_cpu workspace_memory If you have created the QoS definition for any of these checkpoints under V2 sqlserver probe, you will need to enable the checkbox "QoS V2 compatibility" on the general tab of the GUI to make sure all data is inserted correctly into the QoS database. If you want to use the V3 format (has_max), you have to delete the V2 generated QoS definitions for these checkpoints (all the data for these checkpoints will then de deleted). For any questions related to this, please contact tech support. Permissions Required For SQL Server versions 9 and 10, set VIEW SERVER STATE permission on master database. Chapter 6: V2 QoS Compatibility Mode 17
Chapter 7: Fixed Defects This section contains the fixed defects for the sqlserver probe. This section contains the following topics: Revision History (see page 19) Revision History This section describes the history of the revisions for this probe. Date Description State Version March 2013 Fixed: Garbled data coming in alarm message for user_waits checkpoint. GA 4.81 Chapter 7: Fixed Defects 19
Revision History Date Description State Version March 2013 Added features in user_waits for blocking length and the include, exclude feature in exclude of user_waits. 4.80 January 2013 January 2013 December 2012 Added checkpoint logfile_usage_with_avail_disk and category_name for jobs in checkpoint long_jobs. Added feature in backup_status for ignoring databases for no of days, restoring databases and database snapshots. Added feature for clear alarm for profile level alarms. Added feature in long_jobs for active jobs, their name, job run time and name of category. Fixed: Errors with respect to checkpoint logfile_usage and logfile_size. Fixed: Multiple conf_sqlserver_4.40.exe are created while testing sqlserver probe. Fixed: Changes getting applied on click cancle button also. Fixed: Details of one custom checkpoint gets displayed on another custom checkpoint. Fixed: Alarms related to float values. Fixed: av_fragmentation checkpoint reporting NULL table values. Fixed: Probe to show Fully Qualified Domain Name as QOS source. Fixed a defect where checkpoint's check_interval was not working. Added checkpoint logfile_usage_with_avail_disk and category_name for jobs in checkpoint long_jobs. Updated the mirror state values in the hints section of mirror_state checkpoint. GA 4.72 GA 4.71 GA 4.71 20 sqlserver Release Notes
Revision History Date Description State Version December 2012 Added a feature in custom checkpoints which will allow thresholds to be defined for multiple columns. GA 4.70 Added functionality to set up a schedule for each alarm in custom as well as built in checkpoints. Added functionality to set up key specific alarms in custom checkpoints. Added new checkpoint(fg_freespace_with_avail_disk) which monitors free space in filegroups after considering the available disk size. Fixed check_dbalive checkpoint to send value "0" instead of "NULL" as QoS for connection failure. Fixed an issue related to incorrect calculation for fg_free_space checkpoint. Fixed an issue related to negative values for the checkpoints fg_free_space and free_space. Fixed an issue in custom checkpoints where NULL QoS with invalid keys were generated in case of any database related errors. Fixed an SOC issue of CM Authentication Failure. Chapter 7: Fixed Defects 21
Revision History Date Description State Version September 2012 June 2012 Fixed an issue where the "Windows Authentication" method allows you access to the server with or without providing a valid user account Fixed an issue where the "Windows Authentication" method on local system is connecting using system account rather than the domain account configure in the connection. Added a feature "suppress all alarms" so that all the alarms will be suppressed. Added a feature so that a monitoring profile does not run concurrently and the delay alarm raised whenever the profile run is delayed. Fixed an issue where the profile shows template checkpoints even though the group is selected. Fixed the issue with logfile_usage checkpoint which was reporting incorrect values. Fixed an issue where probe was crashing if "detect domain automatically" is selected on a machine which is not on domain. Fixed an issue with backup_status checkpoint was reporting wrong value. GA 4.6 GA 4.41 22 sqlserver Release Notes
Revision History Date Description State Version June 2012 Added a new checkpoint suspect_pages for reporting if suspect pages are logged for databases. 4.40 Added a new checkpoint agent_job_failure for reporting failed agent jobs within a defined interval. Added new checkpoints ls_primary_status, ls_secondary_status, ls_primary_time_since_last_backup, ls_secondary_time_since_last_copy, ls_secondary_time_since_last_restore and ls_secondary_last_restored_latency checkpoints for monitoring Log Shipping in SQLServer 2005 and above. Added a callback that able to specify wildcard or regex in profile_name value to fetch active profiles. Fixed an issue where active_connection_ratio checkpoint was not working. Fixed an issue where checkpoint schedule was running for an extra minute. Chapter 7: Fixed Defects 23
Revision History Date Description State Version March 2012 Fixed an issue where the probe was failing to pick up no. of samples(overridden) correctly for static checkpoints. 4.30 Fixed a logging issue where the probe was incorrectly logging sqlserver password in plain text. Fixed an issue where in some cases the probe was failing to return any rows for custom checkpoint queries. Fixed QOS V2 compatibility issue, earlier the probe was not able to send the QOS as per V2 QOS specification Fixed an issue in manual signed stored procedure feature related to permissions. Fixed an issue where the probe was incorrectly converting metric units(kb/mb/gb etc.) for some checkpoints Fixed an issue where the probe was not able to return any rows in case of complex custom checkpoint queries. Fixed an issue in logfile_size and logfile_usage checkpoints where the checkpoints were failing when any database is in the middle of recovery. The probe now skips the databases which are being recovered until the recovery is complete and database is online. March 2012 Fixed Misspelling in description of lock_requests checkpoint December 2011 Fixed Size reporting for large databases. 4.22 Fixed SOC Issues. 4.21 24 sqlserver Release Notes
Revision History Date Description State Version August 2011 SOC Support Added. Added support for signed store procedure for standard and custom checkpoints queries. Probe can be run in standard as well as in sign mode. Added new checkpoints mirror_state, mirror_witness_server and mirror_sqlinstance for monitoring Database Mirroring state, status of witness server and status of sql server instance hosting mirroring database. Fixed an issue where sqlusr_cpu store procedure are not deleted after executing queries in case of SQL Server 2000. Modified qos_key value for user_cpu checkpoints for avoiding large amount of QoS. Fixed an issue related to subsystemid field where subsystemid shows wrong value. Fixed an issue where long_jobs checkpoint do not send any alarms. Fixed an issue where logic_fragment checkpoint gives Lock request time out error. Fixed Handle leak issue. Added support for configuring unit as minutes, hours and days in backup_status, transaction_backup_status and differential_backup_status checkpoints. Added a new error alarm message that will be send in case of checkpoint query execution failure. April 2011 Added support for internationalization. 4.20 4.11 September 2010 Added support for reading alarm tokens from cfg. Fixed division by zero errors for Logfile_Usage and Logfile_Size checkpoints. 4.01 Added interval_value variable in custom checkpoints, so QoS can be sent on interval_value. Updated QoS definition of logfile_size i.e. removed qos_max. Chapter 7: Fixed Defects 25
Revision History Date Description State Version 26 sqlserver Release Notes September 2010 Added a new checkpoint logfile_size for reporting database log file size in MB. Initial implementation of sqlserver probe based on V4 database framework. Fixed defects in probe and GUI Added support for extended NIS database information. Implemented support for alarms.cfg. Added a new checkpoint blocked_users for calculating blocked user connections Added support for authentication on untrusted domain Fixed an issue in backup_status checkpoint where it was incorrectly reporting logfile_usage QOS Fixed a crash in GUI configurator related to editing message variables Fixed the white space issue in GUI configurator Added support for includes functionality in the probe. This feature works just the same as exclude feature Fixed an issue in fg_free_space checkpoint where incorrect values are being reported by the probe Added support for reporting QoS values for long_queries checkpoint Added a new checkpoint active_connection_ratio for reporting active connection ratio Added two new checkpoints transaction_backup_status and differential_backup_status for reporting transaction and differential backup status Fixed an issue in GUI configurator where the "Alarm Severity filter" field on the setup tab was editable, now the field is made non-editable Added support for creating custom checkpoints for reporting per-second metric values Added support for configuring separate sql timeouts for checkpoints Added 64-bit support Updated cfx file for message variables in 4.00
Revision History Date Description State Version August 2010 September 2009 Fixed security token leak by closing the security tokens when they are not required. In case of custom checkpoints, the query password was not always saved properly. Fixed the query password encryption in GUI. Note: If any custom checkpoints are deactivated by the probe, those checkpoints will have to be deleted from the GUI and will have to be added again in the probe. 3.14 3.13 January 2009 SQL Native Client 2008 support. 3.11 December 2008 October 2008 September 2008 Query for checkpoint free_connections corrected. Threshold migration for check_dbalive corrected. V2 QoS compatibility modus Problem with crashes in multithreaded environment fixed. Query database_size for SQL Server 2000 corrected. Several other queries for SQL Server 2000 corrected. Memory leak problem fixed. 3.07 3.05 Problem with empty password solved 3.03 August 2008 Windows authorization support corrected. 3.02 queries logfile_usage and fg_free_space corrected Chapter 7: Fixed Defects 27
Revision History Date Description State Version May 2008 Multithreading - every profile runs in a separate thread. Scheduling - every checkpoint can have its own schedule. Multiple thresholds - every checkpoint can have more than one threshold. Message pool - messages can be customized and reused among checkpoints. Connection retry - for every connection there can be number of attempts defined, before the probe raise an alarm. Resizable GUI windows - all windows with lists are resizable. Multiple QoS per checkpoint Exclude lists # of samples for alarming Auto-update (GUI) Customer-created checkpoints New checkpoints: long_queries, long_jobs, backup_status Problem with occasional "probe may be hanging" message fixed Problem with database names containing "-" or other special character solved Support for case-sensitive database added "No response" parameter added into GUI June 2007 problem with database names containing "-" or other special character solved November 2006 support for case-sensitive database added "No response" parameter added into GUI Added library to enable support for SQL Server 2005. Integer overflow in free space calculation fixed. Hardcoded "oracle.log" removed. Long domain instance name possible. 3.00 2.14 2.12 28 sqlserver Release Notes
Revision History Date Description State Version April 2006 New checkpoint database_status 2.10 November 2005 Database name added to "locked_users" message new checkpoint alloc_space buf_cachehit_ratio corrected for SP3 2.09 domain user-id support for Windows security Severity for "Database report generation time..." alarm changed (default "critical" now) Chapter 7: Fixed Defects 29