Best and economical enterprise monitoring tool

  • Friends,

    I have used Microsoft SCOM, HP Openview, BMC Patrol and a few more tools to monitor my database infrastructure..But currently, I am using a tool called traverse for one of my clients and its really giving me nightmares.

    Do you guys have some suggestions for a monitoring tool, which isn't too expensive but can turn around things pretty well?

    Requirement is that the tool should monitor my SQL error logs, event viewer logs, job failures, database corruptions, locks, blocks, capture CPU memory or IO bottlenecks..

    and anything extra is a bonus 😀

  • All the tool vendors will do this for you.

    I work for Redgate software. I like our tool, SQL Monitor[/url]. It does all of what you're asking for and more. It does it at a very reasonable price point. You can download it and try it out for free to see how it works. My one strong recommendation is that you carefully adjust the alerts after installing it (I would add this advice for every tool from every vendor as well).

    "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

  • Ditto Grant's recommendation. I also like Idera's SQL Diagnostic Manager. It's been about 6 years since I last used it but, as a DBA I really liked it and the price.

    "I cant stress enough the importance of switching from a sequential files mindset to set-based thinking. After you make the switch, you can spend your time tuning and optimizing your queries instead of maintaining lengthy, poor-performing code."

    -- Itzik Ben-Gan 2001

  • I am running SQL Monitor for our main 24X7X365 SQL Servers and it is a decent price and does a good job. They are making updates to it to make it better all the time.

  • Benki Chendu (11/29/2016)


    Friends,

    I have used Microsoft SCOM, HP Openview, BMC Patrol and a few more tools to monitor my database infrastructure..But currently, I am using a tool called traverse for one of my clients and its really giving me nightmares.

    Do you guys have some suggestions for a monitoring tool, which isn't too expensive but can turn around things pretty well?

    Requirement is that the tool should monitor my SQL error logs, event viewer logs, job failures, database corruptions, locks, blocks, capture CPU memory or IO bottlenecks..

    and anything extra is a bonus 😀

    Stop buying, start building. It'll make you much more valuable.

    --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)

  • Jeff Moden (12/1/2016)


    Benki Chendu (11/29/2016)


    Friends,

    I have used Microsoft SCOM, HP Openview, BMC Patrol and a few more tools to monitor my database infrastructure..But currently, I am using a tool called traverse for one of my clients and its really giving me nightmares.

    Do you guys have some suggestions for a monitoring tool, which isn't too expensive but can turn around things pretty well?

    Requirement is that the tool should monitor my SQL error logs, event viewer logs, job failures, database corruptions, locks, blocks, capture CPU memory or IO bottlenecks..

    and anything extra is a bonus 😀

    Stop buying, start building. It'll make you much more valuable.

    I'd say you're valuable and a true T-SQL artisan, but not everyone can be Jeff Moden. 🙂

    "Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho

  • Eric M Russell (12/1/2016)


    Jeff Moden (12/1/2016)


    Benki Chendu (11/29/2016)


    Friends,

    I have used Microsoft SCOM, HP Openview, BMC Patrol and a few more tools to monitor my database infrastructure..But currently, I am using a tool called traverse for one of my clients and its really giving me nightmares.

    Do you guys have some suggestions for a monitoring tool, which isn't too expensive but can turn around things pretty well?

    Requirement is that the tool should monitor my SQL error logs, event viewer logs, job failures, database corruptions, locks, blocks, capture CPU memory or IO bottlenecks..

    and anything extra is a bonus 😀

    Stop buying, start building. It'll make you much more valuable.

    I'd say you're valuable and a true T-SQL artisan, but not everyone can be Jeff Moden. 🙂

    Thank you for the compliment but you're wrong. 😉 Everyone CAN be a T-SQL artisan if they start doing stuff with it instead of buying things which, of course, was my whole point in what I said. Folks need to spend a little time learning their trade and there's only one way to do that. :w00t:

    --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)

  • Jeff Moden (12/1/2016)


    Eric M Russell (12/1/2016)


    Jeff Moden (12/1/2016)


    Benki Chendu (11/29/2016)


    Friends,

    I have used Microsoft SCOM, HP Openview, BMC Patrol and a few more tools to monitor my database infrastructure..But currently, I am using a tool called traverse for one of my clients and its really giving me nightmares.

    Do you guys have some suggestions for a monitoring tool, which isn't too expensive but can turn around things pretty well?

    Requirement is that the tool should monitor my SQL error logs, event viewer logs, job failures, database corruptions, locks, blocks, capture CPU memory or IO bottlenecks..

    and anything extra is a bonus 😀

    Stop buying, start building. It'll make you much more valuable.

    I'd say you're valuable and a true T-SQL artisan, but not everyone can be Jeff Moden. 🙂

    Thank you for the compliment but you're wrong. 😉 Everyone CAN be a T-SQL artisan if they start doing stuff with it instead of buying things which, of course, was my whole point in what I said. Folks need to spend a little time learning their trade and there's only one way to do that. :w00t:

    I recognize that I work for a vendor, so everything that follows has to be taken with a HUGE grain of salt.

    Absolutely you can build your own monitoring solution. You don't need to buy them. Building your own solution will also teach you tons about SQL Server and your business. However, the reason I've been buying, and now sell, monitoring solutions is not because I can't build my own, but because I don't have the time to build my own. I spent the majority of my time working on developing new databases and new applications. If I spent more of my time building the monitoring tools (that I certainly know how to build), that's time away from what my focus is supposed to be. Further, the monitoring tools I've built in the past absolutely got the job done. However, not as nicely as the third party products did. I didn't have all the pretty reports and sophisticated alerts. Again, more time to spend that I just didn't have.

    When I teach monitoring classes, I show everyone exactly how to do the monitoring themselves. "These are the queries you run. These are the key metrics to look for." I show each and everything you need to do to set up your own monitoring. Then I ask the question, who has time to do this?

    Buying a tool to get monitoring done isn't a bad thing. It's making a choice on where your time is spent. You spend some money to retrieve some time. That's a choice each person should make within their environment. If you have the time, build your own. If you don't. Buy one.

    I'll take my beating quietly now.

    "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 (12/1/2016)


    Eric M Russell (12/1/2016)


    Jeff Moden (12/1/2016)


    Benki Chendu (11/29/2016)


    Friends,

    I have used Microsoft SCOM, HP Openview, BMC Patrol and a few more tools to monitor my database infrastructure..But currently, I am using a tool called traverse for one of my clients and its really giving me nightmares.

    Do you guys have some suggestions for a monitoring tool, which isn't too expensive but can turn around things pretty well?

    Requirement is that the tool should monitor my SQL error logs, event viewer logs, job failures, database corruptions, locks, blocks, capture CPU memory or IO bottlenecks..

    and anything extra is a bonus 😀

    Stop buying, start building. It'll make you much more valuable.

    I'd say you're valuable and a true T-SQL artisan, but not everyone can be Jeff Moden. 🙂

    Thank you for the compliment but you're wrong. 😉 Everyone CAN be a T-SQL artisan if they start doing stuff with it instead of buying things which, of course, was my whole point in what I said. Folks need to spend a little time learning their trade and there's only one way to do that. :w00t:

    We use SQLSentry (SentryOne), which I feel is a very comprehensive monitoring and diagnostic tools. Perhaps it's more than what I personally need. I'm not sure about licensing costs. However, I still maintain a substantial collection of T-SQL/DMV scripts for quickly drilling down on details like status of running processes or what objects are allocated in TEMPDB.

    One problem with rolling your own monitoring solution is that disaster may strike several times before you can even have the first most basic iteration coded and polling the X number of instances that exist across your enterprise. It also useful to have a standardized 3rd party monitoring solution, because it's easier for new hires or contractors to ramp up on how to use it.

    "Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho

  • I've used Red-Gate for years, commissioning it across several different employers. The price is right, does everything I need, and has an easy to understand interface.

  • I have mixed feelings on this topic, but several people have described exactly where I am on it.

    We use SQL Sentry as well. Like Eric said, it's much more than I need. I see the poor performance of the interface and would like to perform surgery on it, but I fight the urge. Also like Eric, I have a collection of scripts I use in investigation. I couldn't get by with SQL Sentry by itself.

    Like Jeff recommended, I'm really itching to write my own because I know how and I know that what I write is going to be more suited to my environment. However, like Grant said, I simply don't have the time. I want to write my own in the worst way, but that'll take me away from what I'd supposed to be focused on.

  • Over the years I've used both purchased and self-built monitoring solutions. Now that I've acquired a large set of monitoring and diagnostic type queries that I've put into a simple .Net program, I've never looked back and stuck with my own solution. Of course it took 2 or 3 years to build up enough stuff and understanding that I was comfortable with my solution over a purchased one, because of limited time like others have stated.

    Self built certainly fulfills the economical part of this request if you have the time. Of course with just a little research these days you can find articles on many of the things that SQL Server can monitor and alert you on itself via SQL Server Agent alerts, blocking/deadlock monitoring, reading the default trace, extended events, etc.

Viewing 12 posts - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply