SQL Sentry
SQL Sentry, Inc. delivers database software products that enable database administrators to gain unprecedented visibility and control over their enterprise. Many of the world’s largest corporations find SQL Sentry products to be crucial for optimizing the performance of their database servers as well as their DBA teams.
Headquartered in the suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina, SQL Sentry products are sold and supported directly and through authorized resellers and partners around the globe.
SQL Sentry Performance Advisor for Analysis Services Overview:
Building on the success of Performance Advisor for SQL Server, SQL Sentry has developed the first commercial software for monitoring and optimizing Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services performance. Performance Advisor for SSAS provides unparalleled insight into Analysis Services performance, including bottlenecks related to memory and storage systems, aggregation usage, unoptimized queries, and query and processing tasks competing for the same resources.
Performance Advisor for Analysis Services is combined with Event Manager and Performance Advisor for SQL Server to provide the "SQL Sentry BI Suite". The suite provides the only performance monitoring solution in the market covering Microsoft’s entire BI stack, which includes the relational data warehouse (SQL Server), SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), Analysis Services (SSAS), and SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS).
Feature Highlights
SQL Sentry Performance Advisor for Analysis Service’s Key Features include:
- Performance Dashboard for SSAS with both Windows and SSAS performance metrics side-by-side, providing a full picture of how SSAS is utilizing available network, CPU, memory and disk resources for any interval or over any date range.
- Easily see how querying and processing tasks are utilizing and competing for the same resources, leading to reduced querying or processing performance.
- Innovative performance profiling highlights bottlenecks in the formula engine, storage engine, or elsewhere over any date range.
- Captures and aggregates all high impact SSAS commands (MDX, DMX and XMLA), showing top commands by CPU and IO usage.
- Pinpoint problem SSAS queries, and see exactly how much formula and storage engine time each query is using, as well as the most heavily used partitions and aggregations.
- Generate alerts for SSAS commands and runtime deviations.
- View SSAS internal cache activity, including hit ratios for all cache lookup types, as well as cache growth/shrinkage.
- View SSAS-related disk activity and system file cache usage, including file cache hit ratios.
- View SSAS commands on the Event Manager calendar, side-by-side with all other jobs and performance events on a server.
- Create custom calendars combining all SSAS, SQL Server, SSIS, and SSRS events for a data warehouse.
- Monitoring and alerting for SSIS data warehousing jobs.
- Monitoring and alerting for SSRS reports.
SQL Sentry Performance Advisor Overview:
SQL Sentry Performance Advisor is a revolutionary new performance monitoring and tuning tool for Microsoft SQL Server 2000, 2005 and 2008. The software lets you see, understand and manage the true sources of SQL Server performance issues. Performance Advisor is packed with many unique, ground-breaking features, all designed to simplify the process of optimizing SQL Server performance. It was built to provide real-time and historical SQL Server performance metrics without placing a noticeable demand on the watched server’s performance. Because what good is a performance monitoring tool that requires a significant performance overhead while running? Performance Advisor delivers easy to understand information on Top SQL Queries, Blocking, Deadlocks and other issues that rob performance from your servers. Using this tool you will be able to fine tune your SQL Server performance without investing hours to learn obscure commands or techniques. Try it and see why more and more SQL Server experts say it is a must-have tool.
Feature Highlights
SQL Sentry Performance Advisor’s Key Features include:
- Performance Dashboard with Relevant SQL Server and Windows Server Metrics.
- Easy Real-Time and Historical Analysis of Performance Metrics.
- Patent-pending Graphical Monitoring of Disk Activity, Latency and Capacity.
- Top SQL Analysis Highlights the Worst Performing Queries.
- Graphical Blocking and Deadlock Analysis.
- One-click and Automated Tracing with Quick Trace™.
- Integrates with SQL Sentry Event Manager through a Single Console, Enabling Display of Top SQL, Blocking, and Deadlock Events on the Calendar.
Performance Dashboard
- Monitors and displays the most important Microsoft Windows and SQL Server 2000, 2005 and 2008 performance metrics side-by-side in a single view, so you have the full picture at a glance.
- Easily switch between real-time and historical modes to view performance metrics for any point in time. Go back days or even months to see exactly how your SQL Server performance has changed over time.
- SQL Server resource utilization is integrated into the Microsoft Windows network, CPU and memory charts, so you can monitor exactly how much of your server resources are being consumed by each Microsoft SQL Server instance.
- Wait Type analysis shows both high-level and detailed resource utilization, giving you an instant profile for the SQL Server so you can monitor exactly which resources or subsystems may be causing slowdowns. Wait types are grouped together into friendly categories, and meaningless wait types are eliminated.
- SQL Sentry’s Quick Trace™ provides an instant picture of exactly which processes and applications are consuming the most MS SQL Server resources, without having to open Profiler or Activity Monitor and manually correlate the results.
- The Windows Process Activity viewer shows CPU, paging, and other I/O metrics on a server with a single-click, showing you exactly which Windows processes are consuming the most resources, without having to fire up PerfMon or remote into a machine simply to open Task Manager.
- Network utilization is displayed by SQL Server instance and by network adapter.
- Disk latency charts show you exactly how long reads and writes are taking for each disk and each database file, quickly highlighting disk bottlenecks.
SQL Server Disk Activity
- Software provides a revolutionary, patent-pending graphical view of your server’s disk topology and activity.
- Shows you exactly how data is moving through your disk system, highlighting bottlenecks at the database file, physical disk, or controller level.
- View disk activity in real-time mode, or historical mode for any date range.
- Improve performance by easily identifying common configuration problems such as mixing busy data and transaction logs files on the same physical drive.
Top SQL Analysis
- Software captures all high impact stored procedures, batches and statements.
- Low-overhead tracing system can safely be run 24/7 without impacting MS SQL Server performance.
- Multiple executions of the same SQL are automatically normalized and aggregated, so you can easily determine which SQL is having the greatest overall impact on MS SQL Server performance.
- Drill into individual query executions to quickly isolate problems with particular parameter values.
- Runtime graphs show how a particular query has been trending over time.
- Improve tuning capabilities by viewing Top SQL on the SQL Sentry calendar, alongside jobs and other events. For the first time you can visualize complex scenarios involving resource contention between queries that simply can’t be ascertained with other software tools using only grid views.
- Generate email or pager alerts whenever a query exceeds a specific duration, or contains specific text.
SQL Server Blocking
- Hierarchical display of all blocking chains provides the most complete picture of blocks available for Microsoft SQL Server 2000, 2005, and 2008.
- Wait Resources are automatically resolved for you, so for the first time you can instantly see which tables or indexes are being contended for without any manual effort!
- Software displays blocks on the SQL Sentry calendar alongside other events.
- Generate email and pager alerts with full block chain details whenever a block occurs, when a block exceeds a specific duration, or when a blocking query contain specific text.
SQL Server Deadlocks
- Software provides a graphical display of all deadlock types, synchronized with an innovative grid-based display to provide the most complete picture of SQL Server deadlocks available.
- Grid display lists all nodes organized by resource, owners and waiters, and includes the full SQL for all nodes!
- Unlike other deadlock graphing tools, deadlock nodes contain the concise information you need to quickly visualize the deadlock and determine the root cause of MS SQL Server performance problems.
- Deadlocks are displayed on the SQL Sentry calendar alongside other events.
- Generate email and pager alerts including the deadlock victim SQL whenever a deadlock occurs, or when the victim query contains specific text.
Quick Trace™
- Tool provides a complete picture of exactly which processes are doing work on the server by automatically correlating trace and process activity data together for the first time.
- Totals are provided for CPU, I/O, network, batches, transactions, cache misses, recompiles, cursor operations, and many other valuable SQL Server performance metrics.
- Eliminates continual starting and stopping of Profiler and refreshing Activity Monitor, and tediously correlating and calculating aggregates.
- Quick Trace can be fired automatically in response to many different conditions such as "Job: Runtime Threshold Max", so if a problem occurs after hours you’ll always have the full details.
Calendar View of Top SQL and Blocking
- See Top SQL, Blocking, and Deadlocks on the Outlook-style SQL Sentry Event Manager calendar, alongside SQL Agent jobs and other events.
- Chronological display of these types of events provides unparalleled insight into how they can impact each other and SQL Server performance which simply can’t be ascertained from grids alone as used in other software tools.
- Quickly jump back and forth between Performance Advisor and Event Manager via context menus and toolbar buttons.
SQL Server Disk Space
- Software provides a graphical display of disk space utilization by database and file.
- Easily monitor and identify SQL Server disk capacity issues and understand where various database files reside on the disk system.
System Requirements:
SQL Sentry Console computer
- Windows version from supported list below
- Microsoft .NET v2.0 Framework
- Minimum Single 1.6 GHz CPU, 512 MB RAM recommended
- Oracle 10 client connection software (Only required if watching Oracle)
SQL Sentry Server service computer
- Windows version from supported list below
- Microsoft .NET v2.0 Framework
- Minimum Dual 1.6 GHz CPUs, 1 GB RAM recommended
- Oracle 10 client connection software (Only required if watching Oracle)
SQL Sentry Database
- SQL Server 2000, Standard and Enterprise
- SQL Server 2005, Standard and Enterprise
- Minimum Dual 1.6 GHz CPUs, 2 GB RAM (4 GB RAM when running both Event Manager and Performance Advisor)
- Disk Space: 2 GB (4GB when running both Event Manager and Performance Advisor) )
IMPORTANT: These system requirements are the minimum recommended requirements for a standard 5-server installation. When monitoring more than 5 servers with Event Manager and/or Performance Advisor, additional RAM and disk space may be needed for the database server. See the Performance Advisor Data Capacity Planning topic in the Quick Start Guide for more details.
NOTE: For performance reasons, it is not recommended that the SQL Sentry Console, Server service, or SQL Server (including the instance housing the SQL Sentry database) be run simultaneously on the same single CPU computer. However, the Server service may perform satisfactorily on one CPU if there are no other CPU intensive programs or services operating on the same system, such as SQL Server. Additional factors include the number of instances being monitored and the number of objects on those instances.
SQL Sentry Event Manager Overview:
SQL Sentry Event Manager is the ultimate scheduling, alerting and response system for optimizing schedule performance of database servers and related IT resources. Event Manager provides DBAs with unparalleled capabilities for managing SQL Agent jobs, Windows Tasks, and Oracle jobs in increasingly complex cross-platform environments. Event Manager has amassed an admirable collection of five star reviews and industry awards, including 2007 Editors’ Choice Platinum Award from SQL Server Magazine and 2006 Product of the Year from SearchSQLServer.com.
Detailed Info:
Enterprise Edition
SQL Sentry Event Manager is the ultimate scheduling, alerting and response system for optimizing schedule performance of database servers and related IT resources. Event Manager provides DBAs with "Outlook-style" visibility and functionality for managing SQL Agent jobs, Windows Tasks, and Oracle jobs in increasingly complex cross-platform environments.
Designed in response to the needs of high performance database environments, Enterprise Edition (EE) delivers the tools and productivity necessary to manage intricate and voluminous job streams, including support for geographically distributed deployments and configuration of complex cross-server event chains. Event Manager includes visual schedule management, performance monitoring, alerting and response actions, graphical reporting, and advanced chaining and queuing for SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2005, Oracle (8i, 9i, 10g) and Windows Task Scheduler.
The calendar view provides a clear picture of event schedules via an Outlook-style GUI, providing unprecedented visibility and control over scheduling issues that can impact server performance. The comprehensive and reliable notification system generates alerts for failures, long-running or hung events, schedule collisions and more, so DBAs can minimize the time spent on routine chores while maximizing the time devoted to more valuable, strategic efforts.
If one finds they do not require the advanced features of Event Manager EE, then the Standard Edition is an excellent starting point. The Standard Edition can be easily upgraded to the Enterprise Edition if the needs of the organization change. For more detail, view the comparison matrix.
Feature Highlights
Visual Schedule Management: See your complex event schedules in a whole new light with Event Manager’s robust, Outlook-style visual calendar with drag-and-drop rescheduling. The flexible interface allows simultaneous display of multiple calendars and graphs, and supports both full and split screen modes. Slice and dice schedules across servers with the Global Calendar, Group Calendars, and Custom Event Views. Easily assess contention levels across "shared resources" such as file storage areas, tape libraries, network segments, etc.
Alerting and Response System: Event Manager EE employs the most comprehensive and reliable notification system available today for SQL Server and Oracle, providing a wide variety of response actions to any event status, runtime or performance condition. You can even generate notifications for Windows Task Scheduler, Reporting Services, and other event sources.
SSIS and DTS Support: Enable detailed logging for both SSIS and DTS packages with a few clicks, and view the results on the SQL Sentry calendar and history list views alongside any other events on a server. Accessing error details for failed package steps has never been simpler!
Cross-platform Support: Using a plug-in architecture, Event Manager EE seamlessly integrates event data from SQL Server, Oracle, Windows Scheduler and others together in one console, so you get the full picture. Event Manager doesn’t replace your existing schedulers, it makes them work better.
Chaining and Queuing: Easily enforce dependencies between SQL Server, Oracle and Windows Scheduler across your environment. Event Manager is the first system enabling automation and integration across different scheduling systems, ensuring precise control over which events run and when.
Performance Monitoring: Link any Windows performance counter directly to an event or custom view and see the impact any combination of events is having on Windows servers or shared resources. Counters are instantiated as needed for minimal server and network overhead.
Graphical Reporting: Event runtime graphs enable quick trend analysis, and Gantt-style performance graphs highlight the events competing for resources and causing end user performance problems. Event history and other list views can be easily exported to .HTML, .XML, or .CSV format.
Benefits
Easy to install and use.
SQL Sentry Event Manager mirrors your existing SQL Server Enterprise Manager or Management Studio configuration, so you don’t have to redefine all of your servers and groups -- just open Event Manager and you are ready to go.
Distributed "Agent-less" deployment.
New agents are not needed on each server! SQL Sentry Event Manager communicates with your existing scheduling agents and organizes the data gathered in an easy to understand manner. In addition, the Event Manager Server service, Console and Database can all be installed on the same server or on unique servers.
100% .NET based application.
Built from the ground up using .NET technologies, SQL Sentry uses a lightweight, multi-threaded architecture which incurs minimal overhead on monitored servers.
Lower database administration costs.
By using SQL Sentry Event Manager the amount of manual labor typically required to perform mundane schedule management and troubleshooting tasks is greatly reduced, allowing DBA’s to spend more time proactively managing their servers.
Reduce down time.
Delivering better information about event performance and runtime statistics and enabling the DBA to easily "level" event schedules eliminates costly failures, and minimizes resource contention and downtime caused by schedule conflicts and overruns.
Improve application performance.
Make smarter scheduling decisions by seeing and understanding the impact that events have on production resources, and easily eliminate schedule contention via drag-and-drop to ensure applications run at optimal levels.
Awards and User Testimonials:
SQL Sentry Event Manager has amassed an admirable collection of industry awards and five star reviews. These include:
2007 Editors’ Choice Platinum Award for Database Management Tool - SQL Server Magazine
2006 Product of the Year - Performance and Tuning category – SearchSQLServer.com
Editor’s Choice Gold Award - Database Management - Tool SQL Server Magazine
Reader’s Choice - Best Alerting/Notification Software - SQL Server Magazine
Reader’s Choice - Best Job Automation Software - SQL Server Magazine
Media reviews:
Five Star Review - SQLServerCentral
Five Star Review - SQL-Server-Performance.com
Click here to download the trial version of SQL Sentry software
Click here to go back to the Product List