Monitor/Service Properties for SQL Server

With this dialog, you can configure WhatsUp Gold to monitor the various parameters and processes of your SQL Server. Multiple monitors may be configured with like parameters to show where problems may be occurring with the SQL server or with the computer running the server.

Note: The WhatsUp Gold SQL Server Monitor only works with a MSDE or a Microsoft SQL Server database.

After the monitor is configured on this dialog, you must assign the monitor to a device through the Device Properties > Active Monitors dialog.

Configurable thresholds to monitor

The upper-half of this dialog contains the SQL server parameters that you can select for monitoring.

To select a parameter for monitoring:

Click a checkbox to select the parameter you want to monitor. Any parameter that is checked will be monitored.

To configure a threshold for a parameter:

Click a checkbox to select the parameter you want to configure, then click Configure.
- Default threshold settings have been provided for each parameter, but can be changed according to your needs. It is best to establish a baseline value for the parameter and then use it to configure a threshold.
- You can configure a threshold for a parameter whether or not the parameter is selected for monitoring.
- You can also configure custom parameters by selecting the Custom Values parameter, then click Configure. The Custom WMI Parameters dialog box appears.

SQL services to monitor

The lower-half of this dialog contains the SQL services that can be monitored. To monitor these services, select the services in this dialog. There is no configuration involved because SQL only reports whether the service is Up or Down.

Use in discovery. When this option is selected, WhatsUp Gold adds the monitor to the Active Monitors list. From that list, you can select to scan for the service on all applications found during discovery.

Note: You can add multiple parameters or processes to an SQL Monitor. In this case, the monitor will be "down" if any of the selected parameters exceeds a threshold or any of the processes fails.

If an instance of the SQL Monitor is down (or up), it is reported in the Activity log and the Debug log. It can also be reported via a notification. The Service name, its state, and a timestamp are reported. For example, if you have a service called SQLDisk to monitor disk space and the device's disk exceeds the threshold, it is reported as "SQLDisk is down."

You can use the %ActiveMonitor.Payload notification variable to report the status of the "aspects" of an SQL Monitor. Click here for an example of an Active Monitor Payload from the SQL monitor.