SQL Server MP Guide

8/8/2019 SQL Server MP Guide

1/48

Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 and

SQL Server 2000Management PackRefresh for Microsoft Operations

Manager 1.0 SP1

Published: November 2003

Acknowledgements

Program Managers: Tom Keane, Steve Wilson

Writer: Brenda Carter

Technical Reviewer: James Hedrick

Editor: Scott Kendall

MicrosoftSQL Server 7.0 andSQL Server 2000Management Pack

Guide


2/48

Recommended Knowledge and Skills 2

Information in this document, including URL and other Internet Web site references, is subject to

change without notice. Unless otherwise noted, the example companies, organizations, products,

domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, people, places, and events depicted herein are fictitious,and no association with any real company, organization, product, domain name, e-mail address,

logo, person, place, or event is intended or should be inferred. Complying with all applicable

copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no

part of this document may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or

transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or

otherwise), or for any purpose, without the express written permission of Microsoft Corporation.

Microsoft may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual

property rights covering subject matter in this document. Except as expressly provided in any

written license agreement from Microsoft, the furnishing of this document does not give you any

license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property.

2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Active Directory, Microsoft, SQL Server, Windows, and Windows Server are either registered

trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their

respective owners.


3/48

Contents iii

Recommended Knowledge and Skills .....................................................1

Overview of the Microsoft SQL Server Management Pack Refresh ...... ...1Deploying the Microsoft SQL Server Management Pack Refresh ............4

Operations Tasks ..................................................................................33

Recommendations for the Network Operations Desk ...........................36

Troubleshooting ................................................................................... 36

Reference .............................................................................................37

Contents


4/48


Recommended Knowledgeand Skills

To deploy and operate the Microsoft SQL ServerManagement Pack Refresh, it is

recommended that you possess the following knowledge and skills:

A working knowledge of the Microsoft Operations Manager 2000 (MOM)

monitoring features.

Be familiar with the recommended process for deploying Management Packs as

described in Chapter 7, Deploying Management Packs, in the Microsoft

Operations Manager 2000 SP1 Deployment Guide.

Have an administrative and working knowledge of Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 andSQL Server 2000.

Have a working knowledge of databases and Transact-SQL.

Overview of the MicrosoftSQL Server ManagementPack Refresh

The Microsoft SQL Server Management Pack Refresh for MOM SP1 provides both proactive

and reactive monitoring of Microsoft SQL Server 7.x and Microsoft SQL Server 2000. This

Management Pack is provided as a Web download upgrade for existing users of the Microsoft

SQL Server Management Pack and provides additional monitoring of SQL Server functionality

in the following key areas:

Microsoft SQL Server clusters

Microsoft SQL Server 2000 named instances

Database and database transaction log free space monitoring

Microsoft SQL Server service monitoring

Local and remote connectivity monitoring

Database health monitoring

Support for Microsoft SQL Server named instance and clustered databases with

MOM SP1 reporting


5/48

2 Recommended Knowledge and Skills

An easy-to-understand and navigate processing rule group hierarchy

Public views of key operating system and SQL Server performance metrics


6/48


Microsoft SQL Server ManagementPack Monitoring Scenarios

The Microsoft SQL Server Management Pack monitors key data points to ensure the availability

of SQL Server and related components as well as reliable day-to-day operation of SQL Server.

SQL Server Availability and SQL Server Named InstanceAvailability

SQL Server service monitoring

SQL Server local connectivity monitoring

Database and transaction log space monitoring

Database health monitoring

SQL Server remote connectivity monitoring

SQL Server port bind errors

Collection of SQL Server Windows event log events

SQL Server Cluster Availability

SQL Server clustered SQL service availability

SQL Server Agent Availability

SQL Server Agent availability

Monitor failed SQL Server agent jobs

MSDTC

SQL Server MSDTC errors

Performance

Deadlocks and blocks

Excessive user connections

Pages writes and allocations

Active transactions

Average wait time

DBCC logical scan bytes per second

Full scans per second

Memory grants pending


7/48


8/48


The upgrade process replaces the existing SQL Server Management Pack. This updated

Management Pack includes significant changes to the structure of the existing Management Pack

hierarchy and relocates a large number of rules. Therefore, if you have made customizations toexisting rules in a previous version of the SQL Server Management Pack, it is recommended that

you copy these customized rules to a dedicated Management Pack for the upgrade process. You

should also perform a full database backup prior to upgrading this Management Pack.

The Import Management Pack wizard in MOM allows you to perform a backup of the previous

version of the SQL Server Management Pack. The best practice is to leave the Backup existing

Management Pack on upgrade check box selected. This allows you to revert to the previous

Management Pack, if required.

To upgrade the SQL Server Management Pack

1. In the MOM Administrator console, navigate to Rules, Processing Rule Groups.

2. Right-click Processing Rule Groups, and then click Import Management Pack.

3. Enter the path to the Microsoft SQL Server.akm file or browse to and select this file.

4. Verify that Replace Existing Management Pack is selected.

5. Verify that the Backup existing Management Pack on upgrade check box is selected.

6. Click Next.

7. Select the desired options for backing up the previous version of the SQL Server

Management Pack, and then click Next.

8. Click Finish.

To verify that the upgraded SQL Server Management Pack appears inthe MOM Administrator console

1. In the MOM Administrator console, navigate to Rules,and then clickMicrosoftSQL Server.

2. In the right pane, review the Purpose section of the knowledge base content, andthen verify that the last sentence in this section lists a build number of 1334 or later.

After upgrading the SQL Server Management Pack, commit the new configuration changes

manually to ensure that agents receive the new SQL Server Management Pack rules.

To commit configuration changes1. In the MOM Administrator console, navigate to Rules.

2. Right-clickRules, and then clickCommit Configuration Change.

Note

No changes are made to existing SQL Server Management Pack

reports. All reports continue to work as is.


9/48


Setting Up ReportingBy default, no data is collected for reporting. This prevents unnecessary database growth. To

enable reporting, the processing rules that collect the data for reports must be enabled. This

section lists the processing rules that need to be enabled and includes setup for the following

reporting scenarios:

Reporting for clustered databases

Reporting for named instances on SQL Server 2000

For a list of reports that are included in the SQL Server Management Pack Refresh, see the

Reports section later in this guide.

Enabling Dependent Rules

The processing rules that collect data for reporting are listed in the following locations.

SQL Server 2000 \SQL Server 2000\SQL Server 2000 Report Collection Rules\Event Processing Rules

\SQL Server 2000\SQL Server 2000 Report Collection Rules\Performance

Processing Rules

\SQL Server 2000\Server Performance Collection\Replication Performance

Collection\Event Processing Rules


Collection\Performance Processing Rules

SQL Server 7.0 \SQL Server 7.0\SQL Server 7.0 Report Collection Rules\Event Processing Rules

\SQL Server 7.0\SQL Server 7.0 Report Collection Rules\Performance Processing

Rules

To collect the data that is used by reports, you must enable the associated processing rules. The

following table lists the processing rules that must be enabled for each report.

Table 1 Processing Rules That Gather Data for Capacity Planning Reports

Report Processing Rule

Capacity Planning SQL ServerBackup Device CapacityPlanning by Day

Device Throughput Bytes/sec

Note

Not all reporting processing rules are available for both

SQL Server 7.0 and SQL Server 2000. Also, report names in

some processing rule groups are preceded by Report Collection

.


10/48


Capacity Planning SQL ServerUser Connections by Day

User Connections

Capacity Planning SQL ServerUser Connections by Peak Hours

User Connections

Operations SQL Server CriticalEvents

SQL Server Critical Events

Operations SQL Server CriticalEvents Trend by Day

SQL Server Critical Events

Performance Analysis SQL Server DistributionReplication PerformanceAnalysis

Replication Dist:Delivered Cmds/sec,

Replication Dist:Delivered Trans/sec

Replication Dist:Delivery Latency

Performance Analysis

SQL Server Lock PerformanceAnalysis

Lock Requests/sec

Lock Waits/sec

Number of Deadlocks/sec

Performance Analysis SQL Server Log PerformanceAnalysis

Log Flushes/sec

Log Flush Wait Time

Log Flush Waits/sec

Performance Analysis SQL Server LogreaderReplication PerformanceAnalysis

Logreader:Delivered Cmds/sec

Logreader:Delivered Trans/sec

Logreader:Delivery Latency

Performance Analysis SQL Server Memory Performance

Analysis

Page Faults/sec - sqlserv

Private Bytes - sqlserv

Total Server Memory

Buffer Cache Hit Ratio

Free Buffers (SQL Server 2000 only)

Lazy Writes/Sec

Readahead Pages/Sec

Performance Analysis SQL Server Merge ReplicationPerformance Analysis

Replication Merge-Conflicts/sec

Replication Merge-DownloadedChanges/sec

Replication Merge-UploadedChanges/sec

Performance Analysis SQL Server Overall ReplicationPerformance Analysis

Replication Database Pending Xacts

Replication Database Trans. Rate

Performance Analysis SQL Server Snapshot ReplicationPerformance Analysis

Replication Snapshot:Deliveredcmds/sec

Replication Snapshot:Delivered


11/48


Trans/sec


12/48


Reporting for Clustered Databases

The SQL Server Management Pack Refresh supports reporting against clustered servers. Toreport against clustered servers, the virtual server name must be added to the MS

SQL Server 2000 computer group.

To add virtual server names to the MS SQL Server 2000 computergroup

1. In the MOM Administrator console, navigate to Rules, Computer Groups.

2. Right-click the MS SQL Server 2000 computer group, and then clickProperties.

3. Click the Included Computers tab, and then clickAdd.

4. On the Computer menu, select Equals, and then enter the virtual server name.

5. ClickOK, and then Apply.

Reporting for Named Instances on SQL Server 2000

The SQL Server Management Pack Refresh supports reporting against named instances of

SQL Server. A list of the installed SQL Server instances on each server is collected by a script

every 24 hours. By default, this script is disabled. To configure reporting for named instances,

enable the following processing rule:

\Microsoft SQL Server\SQL Server 2000\Report Collection Rules\Event Processing

Rules\Named Instance Discovery (24 hours)

Service Monitoring and Local ConnectivityThe SQL Server Management Pack Refresh monitors the availability of critical SQL Server

services such as the SQL Server service, the SQL Agent service, and optionally the Full TextSearch service. As part of the service check functionality, the SQL Server Management Pack also

monitors the availability of SQL Server for connections by querying the server for data. The

service check functionality is fully named instance and cluster aware, and it does not generate an

alert if a clustered node is passive (and the SQL Server services are not running). On a server

with multiple instances of SQL Server installed, each instance is queried to ensure that all

appropriate services are running and functional.

Service monitoring and local connectivity is checked every five minutes, by default.

Processing Rules

Service monitoring and local connectivity rules are listed in the following locations:

\SQL Server 2000\SQL Server 2000 Health and Availability Monitoring\Event

Processing Rules\SQL Server Service Availability \SQL Server 7.0\SQL Server 7.0 Health and Availability Monitoring\Event

Processing Rules\SQL Server Service Availability


13/48


The following table lists the service availability processing rules.

Table 2 SQL Server Service Availability Processing RulesProcessing Rule Default Value

SQL Server Service Availability Enabled

SQL Server Service Availability Connection Failure Enabled

SQL Server Service Availability SQL Server Agentservice not running

Enabled

SQL Server Service Availability SQL Server Full TextSearch not running

Enabled

SQL Server Service Availability SQL Server service notrunning

Enabled

Scripts

While there are five SQL Server service availability processing rules, the first of these rules

(SQL Server Service Availability) stores the script and executes the script parameters for service

availability monitoring.

The best practice for modifying these service availability monitoring settings is to adjust the

script parameters in the SQL Server Service Availability processing rule, rather than disabling

any of the remaining service availability processing rules. If you disable any of the remaining

service availability processing rules without disabling the script responses associated with those

rules, the scripts continues to run but the alerts are not generated.

The following table lists the script parameters, descriptions, and default states.

Table 3 SQL Server Service Availability Script ParametersScript Parameter Description Default Value

CheckSQLAgent Logs a warning event when the SQLAgent service is not running

Enabled

CheckSQLConnection

Logs an error event whenSQL Server local connectivitycannot be established

Enabled

CheckSQLServer Logs an error event when theSQL Server service is not running

Enabled

CheckSearch Logs a warning event when full textsearch is not available

Disabled

InformationEvent Logs an information event eachtime the script runs

Disabled


14/48


Customization

SQL Server service availability monitoring can be customized to modify the behavior to onlycheck some services and connectivity. However, the default configuration effectively monitors

the health of SQL Server. Therefore, the best practice is to not change the default configuration.

To customize SQL Server service monitoring

1. In the MOM Administrator console, navigate to the SQL Server ServiceAvailabilityprocessing rule.

2. Right-click the rule, and then click the Response tab.

3. Select the rule, and then clickEdit.

4. In the Script parameters box, modify the script responses by selecting a script, andthen clickEdit Script Parameters.

5. After modifying script responses, clickOK, and then Apply.After modifying the script responses, commit the configuration changes to apply the changes to

agent computers.

Database Space Analysis andThresholds

The SQL Server Management Pack monitors the space of all databases and transaction logs.

Granular thresholds can be defined based on the role of the databases.

Processing Rules

The database space analysis processing rules are listed in the following locations:


Processing Rules\SQL Server Database Space Analysis

\SQL Server 7.0\SQL Server 7.0 Health and Availability Monitoring\Event

Processing Rules\SQL Server Database Space Analysis

The following table lists the database space analysis processing rules.

Table 4 SQL Server Service Availability Processing Rules

Processing Rule Default Value

SQL Server Database Space Analysis Enabled

SQL Server Database Space Analysis Database spaceerror Enabled

SQL Server Database Space Analysis Database spacewarning

Enabled

SQL Server Database Space Analysis Log file space Enabled


15/48


error

SQL Server Database Space Analysis Log file spacewarning Enabled


16/48


Scripts

While there are five SQL Server database space processing rules, the first of these rules(SQL Server Database Space) stores the script responses for database space monitoring. The

following table lists the script parameters, the database to which they are applied, the threshold

settings, and the default states. If the indicated database is General, the script is applied to all

databases except those specifically called out in the table, such as the System Databases and the

TempDB databases. The Model database is excluded from space monitoring.

Table 5 SQL Server Service Availability Script Parameters

Script Parameter DatabaseEvent

SeverityThreshold

ValueDefaultValue

DBErrorLevel General databases Error 100 MB Enabled

DBWarningLevel General databases Warning 200 MB Enabled

LogErrorLevel General Transactionlogs

Error 75 MB Enabled

LogWarningLevel

General Transactionlogs

Warning 150 MB Enabled

SysDBErrorLevel System Databases(MSDB and Master)

Error 15 MB Enabled

SysDBWarningLevel

System Databases(MSDB and Master)


SysLogErrorLevel

System TransactionLogs (MSDB andMaster)

Error 15 MB Enabled

SysLogWarningLevel

System TransactionLogs (MSDB andMaster)


TempDBErrorLevel

TempDB Error 100 MB Enabled

TempDBWarningLevel

TempDB Warning 200 MB Enabled

TempLogErrorLevel

TempDB TransactionLogs

Error 75 MB Enabled

TempLogWarningLevel

TempDB TransactionLogs


Monitoring for Free Space

Database and transaction log space monitoring intelligently monitors free space and takes into

account database automatic growth, multiple file groups, and files. The free space check runs


17/48


every hour, by default, and checks each installed database on the server. When checking the

database, each database and transaction log file group and associated file is enumerated.

Reporting for Databases That Are Configured to AutomaticallyGrow

When checking the free space, each file is checked for the Automatically grow file option. If

this option is configured, the SQL Server Management Pack does not generate warnings or errors

for these databases.

Excluding Databases from Monitoring

Individual databases can be excluded from monitoring, if required. For more information, see the

Excluding Databases from Monitoring section later in this guide.

Combining Database Space Monitoring with Disk SpaceMonitoring

It is recommended that you use database and transaction log free space monitoring in

combination with disk space monitoring to ensure that databases that are set to automatically

grow have sufficient disk space as they grow. The SQL Server Management Pack includes two

public views that help monitor disk space. The public views are in the following location:

Monitor\Public Views\Microsoft SQL Server\SQL Server 2000\Server Resource

Utilization\Disk Capacity

The following disk space views are provided:

% Free Space

Free Megabytes

Both of these views assist in determining whether sufficient free space is available on the disk

subsystem.

Customizing Thresholds

The database and transaction log space monitoring thresholds can be customized. If you are

customizing thresholds, it is recommended that you work with database administrators to

determine the appropriate warning and error threshold levels. By default, the space thresholds do

not require any customization.

To customize database space analysis monitoring

1. In the MOM Administrator console, navigate to the SQL Server Database SpaceAnalysis processing rule.


3. Select the rule, and then click Edit.4. In the Script parameters box, modify the script responses by selecting a script, and

then click Edit Script Parameters.

5. After modifying script responses, click OK, and then Apply.


18/48


After modifying the script responses, commit the configuration changes to apply the changes to

agent computers.


19/48


Remote Connectivity MonitoringThe SQL Server Management Pack provides a simple way to verify remote connectivity toSQL Server and to verify that users can successful connect to remote SQL Server databases.

While other monitoring tools do not verify that the network stack of a server is functioning or

that other network devices between the server and the end user are functioning, the SQL Server

Management Pack Refresh provides client-side monitoring of remote SQL Server databases. This

feature monitors the availability of SQL Server by querying the server remotely from client

computers that you designate.

To check for remote connectivity, the SQL Server Management Pack runs a timed user-defined

Transact-SQL remote connectivity script on computers that are members of the following

computer groups:

MS SQL Server 2000 Client Side Monitoring

Microsoft SQL Server 7.x Client Side Monitoring

The script is run against servers listed in the SQL remote connectivity processing rule. If the

script fails to execute successfully or takes too long to execute, alerts are generated.

You can designate multiple remote client computers; however, each client computer checks for

connectivity on all servers that are listed in the SQL remote connectivity processing rule.

Specifying multiple remote client computers is useful for checking connectivity from different

locations across a network.

Remote connectivity checking requires that Structured Query Language-Distributed Management

Objects (SQL-DMO) components be installed on the designated remote client. You can meet this

requirement by either installing SQL Server or SQL Server client tools on designated remote

client computers.


20/48


The following figure highlights the two-step process for remote connectivity checking.

Figure 1 SQL Server remote connectivity check

Processing Rules

The client-side monitoring processing rules are listed in the following locations:

\SQL Server 2000\Client Side Monitoring\Event Processing Rules\SQL Server

Remote Connectivity

\SQL Server 7.0\Client Side Monitoring\Event Processing Rules\SQL Server Remote

Connectivity

The following table lists the client-side monitoring processing rules.

Table 6 SQL Server Client-Side Monitoring Processing Rules


SQL Server Remote Connectivity Enabled

SQL Server Remote Connectivity Execution Failure Enabled

SQL Server Remote Connectivity Execution TimeWarning

Enabled


21/48


22/48


Scripts

While there are several SQL Server remote connectivity processing rules, the first of these rules(SQL Server Remote Connectivity) stores the script parameters for remote connectivity

monitoring. The following table lists the script parameters, descriptions, and default states for the

SQL Server Remote Connectivity processing rule.

Table 7 SQL Server Service Availability Script Parameters

Script Parameter Description Default Value

CheckInstances A comma-separated list of remotedatabases to connect to. This listmight include only computer names(for a default instance) or a computerand instance name (for example,Server\Instance10).

Disabled

DatabaseName The database to run the query against.By default, the database is set toMaster.

Enabled

ExecutionTimeAlert

The acceptable time for the specifiedquery to execute. If the query takeslonger than the specified time toexecute, an alert is raised. Thisnumber can be a decimal number, forexample 0.01. The default value is5 seconds.

Enabled

InformationEvent

Logs an information event each timethe script runs.

Disabled

Query The Transact-SQL query that is run onthe designated client computer tocheck connectivity to SQL Serverdatabases specified in theCheckInstances script parameter. Thedefault query is SELECT GETDATE.

Enabled

Configuring Client Monitoring of Remote Connectivity

Client monitoring of remote connectivity is configured by:

Installing either SQL Server or SQL Server client tools on the designated client

computers.

Installing a MOM agent on the designated client computers. Add the designatedclient computers to the same configuration group that you are using to monitor

remote connectivity.

Adding designated client computers to the appropriate computer group, according to

the SQL Server version:


23/48


MS SQL Server 2000 Client Side Monitoring

MS SQL Server 7.x Client Side Monitoring


24/48


Ensuring that the MOM service account on the designated client computer has the

appropriate permissions to connect to the SQL Server computers.

Adding SQL Server computers and instances to the SQL Server remote connectivity

processing rule.

To add computers to the MS SQL Server client-side monitoringcomputer groups

1. In the MOM Administrator console, navigate to Rules, Computer Groups.

2. Right-click the appropriate computer group, and then clickProperties.

3. Click the Included Computers tab.

4. ClickAdd to add computers, add computer criteria, and then clickOK.

5. ClickApply, and then OK.

Be sure to initiate a managed computer scan after modifying a computer group membership.To add computers to the SQL Server remote connectivity processingrule

1. In the MOM Administrator console, navigate to the Client Side Monitoringprocessing rule group, and then clickEvent Processing Rules.

2. Right-click the SQL Server Remote Connectivity processing rule, and then clickProperties.

3. Click the Responses tab, select SQL Server Remote Connectivity, and then clickEdit.

4. In the Script parameters box, select CheckInstances, and then clickEdit ScriptParameters.

5. In the Value field, enter a comma-separated list of instances to connect to, and thenclickOK. To check for connectivity to a default instance, enter only the server name.

To check for connectivity to a named instance, enter the server name and instance

name by using the following format:server_name\instance_name.

6. After modifying script responses, clickOK, and then Apply.

After modifying the computer group membership and script responses, commit the configuration

changes to apply the changes to agent computers.

Alerts

The results of the query determine the alerts that are generated:

Alert The query failed to execute.

Warning The query executed outside the acceptable time threshold.


25/48


Service Pack ComplianceThe SQL Server Management Pack can monitor servers running SQL Server to ensure that theyare running the most recent SQL Server service pack or hotfix version. This checking generates

an alert when a computer is running a service pack or hotfix version earlier than the specified

version. The checking can also optionally generate an informational alert for service pack

compliance that can be used for auditing purposes.

Service pack compliance monitoring is not configured by default. While the processing rules that

are associated with service pack compliance are enabled by default, the script responses must be

configured to monitor for service pack compliance.

Version compliance is performed by using the SQL Server version string, where the version

strings beginning with 7 are SQL Server 7.x and the version strings beginning with 8 are

SQL Server 2000. The following table lists SQL Server version strings and their service pack

levels.

Table 8 SQL Server Version Strings and Associated Releases

Version String Service Pack Level

7.00.163 SQL Server 7.x RTM

7.00.699 SQL Server 7.x Service Pack 1




8.00.194 SQL Server 2000 RTM

8.00.384 SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 1



For information about how to determine the SQL Server version, see article321185in the

Microsoft Knowledge Base.

Processing Rules

The service pack compliance processing rules are listed in the following locations:


Processing Rules\SQL Service Pack Compliance \SQL Server 7.0\SQL Server 7.0 Health and Availability Monitoring\Event

Processing Rules\SQL Service Pack Compliance
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;321185http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;321185http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;321185http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;321185


26/48


The following table lists the service pack compliance processing rules.

Table 9 SQL Service Pack Compliance Processing RulesProcessing Rule Default Value

SQL Service Pack Compliance Enabled

SQL Service Pack Compliance Version does comply Enabled

SQL Service Pack Compliance Version does not comply Enabled

Scripts

While there are several SQL Server service pack compliance processing rules, the first of these

rules (SQL Service Pack Compliance) stores the script parameters for service pack monitoring.

The following table lists the script parameters, descriptions, and default states for the SQL

Service Pack Compliance processing rule.

Table 10 SQL Service Pack Compliance Script Parameters


AlertOnAll Generates a success event if theversion complies.

False (Disabled)

InformationEvent

Logs an information event when thescript is run.

False (Disabled)

VersionString The SQL Server version string that isused to evaluate service packcompliance. The version string is theearliest version that is acceptable to

meet service pack compliance.

8.00.194

Configuring Service Pack Monitoring

By default, service pack compliance is enabled. However, you need to configure the version

string for your environment. Additionally, you can optionally configure the script to generate an

event for service pack compliance success.

To configure service pack monitoring

1. In the MOM Administrator console, navigate to the SQL Service Pack Complianceprocessing rule.



4. In the Script parameters box, select AlertOnAll, and then clickEdit ScriptParameters.

5. If you want to receive success version compliance alerts, type True in the Value box,and then clickOK.


27/48


1. In the Script parameters box, select VersionString, and then clickEdit ScriptParameters.

2. In the Value box, enter the SQL Server version number that applies to yourenvironment, and then clickOK.

3. After modifying script responses, clickOK.

4. Click the General tab, select Enabled, and then clickApply.


agent computers.

Database Health MonitoringThe SQL Server Management Pack Refresh monitors database health. In the event that a

database enters an unhealthy state (such as Suspect), the Management Pack generates an alert.However, the Management Pack does not generate an alert if a database enters an intentional

states such as Offline or Read Only.

Database health monitoring checking occurs every 15 minutes by default and requires no

configuration changes to work.

An unhealthy database generates a critical error alert. The checking script allows high-impact

databases to be defined, without which SQL Server or a particular application cannot function.

High-severity databases that are entering an unhealthy state generate a service unavailable alert.

These databases are defined as high-severity databases. By default, the following databases are

defined as high severity:

Master

TempDB

Model

msdb

Distribution

OnePoint

Individual databases can be excluded from monitoring, if required. For more information, see the

Excluding Databases from Monitoring section later in this guide.

Processing Rules

The database health monitoring processing rules are listed in the following locations:


Processing Rules\SQL Server Database Health


Processing Rules\SQL Server Database Health


28/48


The following table lists the database health monitoring processing rules.

Table 11 SQL Server Database Health Processing RulesProcessing Rule Default Value

SQL Service Database Health Enabled

SQL Service Database Health Database is unhealthy Enabled

SQL Service Database Health High impact database isunhealthy

Enabled

Scripts

While there are several SQL Server database health processing rules, the first of these rules

(SQL Server Database Health) stores the script parameters for database health monitoring. The

following table lists the script parameters, descriptions, and default states for this processing rule.

Table 12 SQL Server Database Health Script Parameters


HighSevDatabases

A comma-separated list of databasesthat are of high importance andrequire extra health checks

master, tempdb,model, msdb,distribution,onepoint

InformationEvent

Generates an information event whenthe script is run

False (Disabled)

Customizing Database Health Monitoring

You can customize database health monitoring by adding databases to the list of high-severitydatabases.

To add databases to the high-severity list

1. In the MOM Administrator console, navigate to the SQL Server Database Health

processing rule.



4. In the Script parameters box, select HighSevDatabases, and then clickEdit ScriptParameters.

5. In the Value box, enter the database names, and then clickOK.



agent computers.


29/48


Database Configuration MonitoringDatabase configuration monitoring allows you to audit your environment for databaseconfiguration settings that you establish as a standard for your organization. By default, this

monitoring feature is disabled. You must enable the processing rule associated with this

monitoring feature and configure the script responses to check for the database configuration

settings that apply to your environment.

Processing Rules

The database configuration monitoring processing rules are listed in the following locations:


Processing Rules\SQL Server Database Configuration Monitoring


Processing Rules\SQL Server Database Configuration Monitoring

The following table lists the database configuration monitoring processing rules.

Table 13 SQL Server Database Health Processing Rules


SQL Server Database Configuration Monitoring Disabled

SQL Server Database Configuration Monitoring Database is not configured correctly

Enabled

Scripts

The SQL Server Database Configuration Monitoring processing rule stores the script parametersfor database configuration auditing. The following table lists the script parameters, descriptions,

and default states for this processing rule.


30/48


Table 14 SQL Server Database Health Script Parameters


AutoClose Checks for the state of the Auto closeconfiguration setting

False

AutoCreateStatistics Checks for the state of the Autocreate statistics configurationsetting

True

AutoShrink Checks for the state of the Autoshrinkconfiguration setting

False

AutoUpdatesStatistics

Checks for the state of the Autoupdates statistics configurationsetting

True

CrossDBChaining

Checks for the state of the Cross-database ownership chainingconfiguration setting

False

InformationEven

t

Logs an event when this script is run False (Disabled)

TornPageDetection

Checks for the state of the Torn pagedetection configuration setting

True

To customize SQL Server database configuration monitoring

1. In the MOM Administrator console, navigate to the SQL Server DatabaseConfiguration Monitoringprocessing rule.



4. In the Script parameters box, modify the script responses by selecting a script, andthen clickEdit Script Parameters.



agent computers.

Important

The default state for database configuration monitoring scriptparameters indicates whether an event is generated for a

configuration setting that is either enabled or disabled. For

example, if the default state of the AutoClose parameter is set

to False, an event is generated if the AutoClose configurationsetting on a database is enabled.


31/48


Excluding Databases fromMonitoring

The SQL Server Management Pack allows administrators to exclude individual databases from

script-based monitoring. By adding databases to an exclusion file, alerts are not generated for the

following monitoring scenarios:

Database space monitoring

Transaction log space monitoring

Database health


32/48


Exclusions are implemented by using a text file on the monitored server that lists database

names. If databases that are to be excluded are in named instances, the database name should be

preceded with the instance name. All databases are assumed to be in the default instance unlessan instance is specified.

Save the file as SQLExclude.txt and place it in the c:\ folder.

The exclusions file is parsed when read. An invalid entry results in the reading being terminated

for the invalid line. Reading continues at the next line until the end of the file is reached. An

exclusion file can contain any number of databases; however, an exclusions list places an

overhead on monitoring and should not be overused.

The following example shows a typical exclusion file.

Northwind

Master

Pubs

Instance1\NorthwindInstance1\Pubs

Instance2\Northwind

SQL Server Performance MonitoringThe SQL Server Management Pack collects performance data for sampling purposes. The

collected data is displayed in public views that can be used to monitor the health of SQL Server.

This section provides an overview of the performance monitoring that is provided in the

SQL Server Management Pack Refresh. Review the monitoring rules, default states, and

thresholds and configure these appropriately for your environment.

Performance Counters Collected by Default

The following performance counters are collected by default:

Active Transactions A count of the current active transactions for the database.

Average Wait Time (ms) The average amount of time (in milliseconds) for each

lock request that resulted in a wait.

DBCC Logical Scan Bytes/second The number of logical read scan bytes per

second for database consistency checker (DBCC) statements.

Full Scans/second The number of unrestricted full scans per second. These can be

either base-table or full-index scans.

Lock Blocks Individual resources, such as rows or tables, that are locked by a user

or process. This counter represents the number of lock blocks currently in use on the

server. This counter is refreshed periodically.

Lock Timeouts/second The number of lock requests per second that timed out. This

includes internal requests for NOWAIT locks.

Log Cache Reads/second The count per second of reads performed through the log

manager cache.


33/48


Log Truncations The total number of times the database's transaction log has been

truncated.

Logins/second The total number of logins started per second.

Memory Grants Pending The count per second of processes waiting for a

workspace memory grant.

Mixed Page Allocations/second The count per second of pages allocated from

mixed extents. An extent is the smallest amount of space (eight contiguous pages or

16 KB) allocated for a table or index.

Page Writes/second The count per second of issued database page writes. Page

writes are generally expensive. One method for reducing page-write activity is to

ensure that the free buffer pool does not run out of free buffers. If it does, page writes

occur while waiting for an unused cache buffer to flush.

Pages Allocated/second The count per second of pages allocated to database objects

that are used for storing index or data records.

SQL Server Performance Threshold Defaults

The SQL Server Management Pack samples performance counters for threshold breaches on a

regular basis. Breaches in these thresholds generate an alert. The following default thresholds are

monitored by the SQL Server Management Pack:

Access Methods Full scans > two for 15 minutes (disabled by default)

Buffer Manager Page life expectancy < 300 second (disabled by default)

Cache Hit Ratio < 90% for 15 minutes

Locks The number of deadlocks > 1 for 15 minutes

SQL Server User Connections > 500

It might be necessary to adjust thresholds based on the acceptable performance of your servers

running SQL Server.

SQL Replication Performance Collection Defaults

This Management Pack collects counters that monitor the health of SQL Server replication. All

data that is collected by these counters is displayed in public views. By default, all replication

performance collection rules are disabled. Each performance collection rule must be enabled to

collect data.

Processing rule groupAll replication performance rules are located in the following processing rule group:


Collection


34/48


Default performance counters

The following replication performance counters are collected by default: Replication Distributor Delivered Commands/second

Replication Distributor Delivered Transactions/second

Replication Logreader Delivered Commands/second

Replication Logreader Delivered Transactions /second

Replication Merge Conflicts/second

Replication Merge Downloaded Changes/second

Replication Merge Uploaded Changes/second

Replication Snapshot Delivered Commands/second

Replication Snapshot Delivered Transactions/second Replication Total Agents Running

Named Instance Performance Collection

This Management Pack can collect performance data from named and clustered instances of

SQL Server. This performance collection is script based and disabled by default. When enabled,

performance collection occurs for all named instances (and not default instances) using each

script. Default instance performance collection uses standard MOM rules. The following named

instance performance collection rules are included in the Management Pack.

Named instance base performance collection (15 minutes) Location SQL Server 2000\Server Performance Collection\Event Processing Rules

Purpose This rule collects all default performance data every 15 minutes for named

instances of SQL Server.

Default State Disabled

Named instance replication performance collection (15 minutes) Location SQL Server 2000\Server Performance Collection\Replication

Performance Collection\Event Processing Rule

Purpose This rule collects all replication performance data every 15 minutes for

named instances of SQL Server.


Named instance reporting performance collection (15 minutes) Location SQL Server 2000\SQL Server 2000 Report Collection Rules\Event

Processing Rules

Purpose This rule collects all named instance performance counters that are

required for reports to work every 15 minutes.



35/48


Each named instance performance collection script can be toggled to adjust the individual

performance counters that it collects. Each collected performance counter can be enabled and

disabled by adjusting the script parameter.

To adjust the performance data that is collected

1. In the MOM Administrator console, navigate to the desired performance rule.



4. In the Script parameters box, select the desired script parameter, and then clickEditScript Parameters. The name of the parameter is the name of the performance

counter.



agent computers.

Base Operating System Performance Monitoring

The SQL Server Management Pack monitors the underlying health of the base operating system,

which might affect SQL Server health. All performance counters are collected every 15 minutes.

Administrators should compare this list with the counters that were collected by other

Management Packs to ensure that there is no duplicate collection of performance counters on

SQL Servers.

The Management Pack monitors the following base operating system areas:

CPU Context Switches/Second

Processor Queue Length

Total CPU Usage

CPU Usage SQLAGENT process (threshold and collection)

CPU Usage SQLSERVR process (threshold and collection)

CPU Usage SQLMANGR process (threshold and collection)

CPU Usage and Processor Queue Length (threshold)

Note

By default all scripts are disabled, but all counters are enabled.

When enabling a script, all performance counters are collected.


36/48


Disk

Disk Free Space Capacity Disk Queue Length

Disk Read Latency (threshold)

Disk Write Latency (threshold)

Memory Page Read/Sec

Page Writes/Sec

Pages/Sec

Page Nonpaged Bytes

Pool Paged Bytes

Network Bytes Received/Sec

Bytes Sent/Sec

Bytes Total/Sec

Operations TasksThe best practice is to review and prioritize all alerts on a daily basis. In addition, perform other

tasks on a regular basis, depending on your environment. Many important problems do not cause

alerts, but they still require periodic attention. The SQL Server Management Pack generates

reports that display data over time and present patterns that indicate problems. Review the reports

to resolve issues before they generate alerts.

You can perform the daily, weekly, and monthly tasks as specified in this guide. However, adjust

the frequency of these tasks to meet the needs of your particular environment.

Daily TasksOn a daily basis, perform the following tasks:

Review all open alerts.

Verify that all servers running SQL Server are communicating with the MOM

Administrator console. Review warnings (optional).


37/48


38/48


39/48


Recommendations for theNetwork Operations Desk

It is recommended that network operations staff monitor servers running SQL Server for high-

impact alert scenarios. These scenarios include:

SQL Server database and transaction log space warnings and errors.

SQL Server failed backups.

SQL Server failed agent jobs.

SQL Server connection errors.

Configuring notification groups.

The best practice is to review public views in the SQL Server Health Monitoring group and use

these views to monitor the previous scenarios.

Troubleshooting

WMI Performance CollectionThe SQL Server Management Pack can collect performance counters from named instances of

SQL Server. This collection of performance data uses Windows Management Instrumentation

(WMI) and requires access to WMI performance objects.

Due to known issues with SQL Server 2000 and Microsoft Windows Server 2003, WMI

performance objects might not be available. The SQL Server Management Pack checks for this

condition every 24 hours and notifies operators with an alert, with steps to resolve this issue.

Information EventsInformation events can be enabled to trace the behavior of the Management Pack. Information

events can be enabled for any script-determined health check in the Management Pack, such as

Service Availability or Database Free Space Checking. When enabled, an information event is

logged when the associated script is run. The event lists the servers or instances excluded during

monitoring, such as passive nodes.

To enable information events, set the InformationEvent parameter to True on any script-determined health check.


40/48


ReferenceProcessing Rules That Generate

Critical Events and AlertsThis section lists the processing rule groups and event processing rules in the SQL Server

Management Pack. These are found in the MOM Administrator console at the following

locations:

Processing Rule Groups\Microsoft SQL Server\SQL Server 2000

Processing Rule Groups\Microsoft SQL Server\SQL Server 7.0

Processing Rule Group: SQL Server Health Monitoring

The SQL Server Health Monitoring group contains rules that monitor the health of key

SQL Server components.

Table 15 Processing Rules in the SQL Server Health Monitoring Group

RuleDefault Alert

Severity

SQL Server Database Health - Database is unhealthy Critical Error

SQL Server Database Health High-impact databaseis unhealthy Service Unavailable

SQL Server Database Space Analysis - Databasespace error Critical Error

SQL Server Database Space Analysis - Log file spaceerror Critical Error

SQL Server Service Availability - Connection failure Service Unavailable

SQL Server Service Availability - SQL Server Agentservice is not running Service Unavailable

SQL Server Service Availability - SQL Server serviceis not running Service Unavailable

ReportsThis section lists the reports that are included in the SQL Server Management Pack.


41/48


SQL Server Capacity Planning Reports

SQL Server Backup Device Capacity Planning by DayThis report provides a graph of the daily use of the SQL Server backup device. The graph

indicates the minimum, maximum, and average backup device capacity based on the backup

device/device throughput bytes per second performance counter. This report provides one graph

for each specified server.


42/48


SQL Server User Connections by Day

This report provides a graph of the daily SQL Server user connections for the specified serverduring the specified time period, displayed by day. The graph indicates the minimum, maximum,

and average user connections capacity based on the SQL Server/general statistics - user

connections performance counter. This report provides one graph for each specified server.

SQL Server User Connections by Peak HoursThis report provides a graph of the daily SQL Server user connections for the specified server

during the specified time period, displayed by day or by peak hours. The graph indicates the

minimum, maximum, and average user connections capacity based on the SQL Server/general

statistics - user connections performance counter. This report provides one graph for each

specified server.

SQL Server Operations Reports

SQL Server Critical EventsThis report lists critical events, which are events with a severity of 1, that have occurred on thespecified server in the specified time period. This report is sorted alphabetically by server and by

event time.

SQL Server Critical Events Trend by DayThis report provides a daily graph of all critical events, which are events with a severity of 1, that

have occurred on the specified server in the specified time period.

SQL Server Performance Analysis Reports

SQL Server Distribution Replication Performance AnalysisThis report provides a graph of several SQL Server distribution replication performance counters

for the specified server during the specified time period. Performance counter data is averaged by

the hour.SQL Server Lock Performance AnalysisThis report provides a graph of several SQL Server lock performance counters for the specified

server during the specified time period. Performance counter data is averaged by the hour.

SQL Server Log Performance AnalysisThis report provides a graph of several SQL Server transaction log performance counters for the

specified server during the specified time period, where the database instance is not Total,

master, msdb, model, Northwind, or pubs. Performance counter data is averaged by the hour.

This report provides one graph for each database instance.

SQL Server Logreader Replication Performance AnalysisThis report provides a graph of several SQL Server logreader replication performance counters

for the specified server during the specified time period. Performance counter data is averaged bythe hour.


43/48


44/48


ScriptsThe following scripts are included in the SQL Server Management Pack Refresh: SQL Server 2000 Base Performance Collection (15 minutes)

SQL Server 2000 Long Running Agent Jobs

SQL Server 2000 Replication Performance Collection (15 minutes)

SQL Server 2000 Report Performance Collection (15 minutes)

SQL Server 2000 WMI Performance Object Check

SQL Server 7.0 Instance Process ID

SQL Server CPU Overload

SQL Server Database Health Monitoring

SQL Server Named Instance Detection

SQL Server Remote Connectivity

SQL Server Service Monitoring

SQL Server Service Pack Compliance

SQL Server Space Analysis

Default Public ViewsThis section lists the public views that are included in the SQL Server Management Pack

Refresh.

SQL Server 2000

Microsoft SQL Server 2000

All alerts generated in the last 2 hours


SQL Server 2000 computer groups

SQL Server 2000 servers

Unresolved alerts


45/48


Microsoft SQL Server 2000\Server Resource Utilization

CPU Usage\% CPU - MOM OnePoint Process

CPU Usage\% CPU - SQLAGENT Process

CPU Usage\% CPU - SQLMANGR Process

CPU Usage\% CPU - SQLSERVR Process

CPU Usage\Context Switches / second

CPU Usage\Processor Queue Length

CPU Usage\Total % CPU Usage

Disk Capacity\% Free Space

Disk Capacity\Free Megabytes

Disk Performance\Average Disk Queue Length

Disk Performance\Current Disk Queue Length

Disk Performance\Disk Read and Write Latency

Disk Performance\Disk Reads and Writes / second

Memory Usage\Memory: Page Reads/sec

Memory Usage\Memory: Page Writes/sec

Memory Usage\Memory: Pages / second

Memory Usage\Memory: Pool Nonpaged Bytes

Memory Usage\Memory: Pool Paged Bytes

Network Usage\Bytes Received/second

Network Usage\Bytes Sent/second

Network Usage\Bytes Total/second

Microsoft SQL Server 2000\SQL Server Health Monitoring

SQL Agent\Failed SQL Agent Jobs

SQL Server Backups\Failed SQL Backups

SQL Server Replication\Distributor\Delivered Commands/second

SQL Server Replication\Distributor\Delivered Transaction/second

SQL Server Replication\Log Reader\Delivered Commands/second

SQL Server Replication\Log Reader\Delivered Transactions/second

SQL Server Replication\Merge\Conflicts/second

SQL Server Replication\Merge\Downloaded Changes/second

SQL Server Replication\Merge\Uploaded Changes/second


46/48


SQL Server Replication\Replication Agents Running

SQL Server Replication\Snapshot\Delivered Commands/second

SQL Server Replication\Snapshot\Delivered Transactions/second

SQL Server Replication\SQL Server 2000 Replication Servers

Microsoft SQL Server 2000\SQL Server Utilization andPerformance

Active Transactions

Average Wait Time/ms

DBCC Logical Scan Bytes/second

Full Scans/second

Lock Blocks

Lock Timeouts/second

Log Cache Reads/second

Log Truncations

Logins/second

Memory Grants Pending

Mixed page allocations/second

Page Writes/second

Pages Allocated/second

SQL Server 7.0Microsoft SQL Server 7.0



SQL Server 7.x Servers

Unresolved alerts

Microsoft SQL Server 7.0\SQL Server Utilization and Performance

Active Transactions

Average Wait Time/ms Full Scans/second

Lock Blocks

Lock Timeouts/second


47/48


Log Cache Reads/second

Log Truncations

Logins/second

Memory Grants Pending

Mixed page allocations/second

Page Writes/second

Pages Allocated/second

Processing Rule GroupsThe following processing rule group hierarchy is used by the SQL Server Management Pack

Refresh. If a specific monitoring scenario is not being used, the best practice is to disable the

processing rule group associated with the monitoring scenario.

SQL Server 2000

Microsoft SQL Server

SQL Server 2000

Client Side Monitoring

Server Performance Collection

Replication Performance Collection

Server Resource Utilization

CPU Performance Collection

Disk Performance Collection

Disk Space Usage

Memory Performance Collection

Network Performance Collection

Server Performance Thresholds

SQL Server 2000 Event Collection

MSDTC

OLE DB

SQL Server Active Directory Helper Service

SQL Server Agent

SQL Server Backup

SQL Server Databases

SQL Server DBCC


48/48


SQL Server Full Text Search

SQL Server General

SQL Server Log Shipping

SQL Server Mail

SQL Server Performance

SQL Server Query Processor

SQL Server Replication

SQL Server Security

SQL Server Security Audit Collection

SQL Server Tables

SQL Server Web Assistant

SQL Server XML

SQL Server 2000 Health and Availability Monitoring

SQL Server 2000 Report Collection Rules

SQL Server 7.x

Microsoft SQL Server

SQL Server 7.0

Client Side Monitoring

Server Performance Collection

Server Performance ThresholdsSQL Server 7.0 Event Collection

SQL Server 7.0 Agent

SQL Server 7.0 Events

SQL Server 7.0 Report Collection Rules

SQL Server 7.0 Profiler

SQL Server 7.0 Security Events

SQL Server 7.0 Health and Availability Monitoring

SQL Server 7.0 Report Collection Rules

State Monitoring and Service Discovery

Date post:	09-Apr-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	mnohar
View:	224 times
Download:	0 times

SQL Server MP Guide

Documents