®

Solution Brief

GETTING
STARTED WITH
SQL DM FOR
SQL SERVER
HOW TO QUICKLY DEPLOY, CONFIGURE, AND BENEFIT FROM SQL DIAGNOSTIC MANAGER

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PURPOSE OF THIS DOCUMENT
Due to the depth and potential for customization of SQL Diagnostic Manager,
it is possible to overlook features during the initial trial period. This text
highlights often-missed and modifiable areas that give more complete control
over management and reporting in SQL Server environments. For additional
product information, visit the SQL Diagnostic Manager wiki page.

INTRODUCTION
SQL Diagnostic Manager is a powerful performance monitoring and diagnostics
solution that proactively alerts administrators to health, performance, and
availability problems within SQL Server environments.

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WHY USE SQL DIAGNOSTIC
MANAGER?
• Easily manage and organize monitored instances of SQL Server.
• Identify the impact of slow-running queries and analyze query performance.
• View in-depth analysis of sessions running on monitored instances of
SQL Server.
• Alert predictively, automate alert actions and responses, set up server
baselines, and analyze alert patterns.
• Analyze prescriptively with expert recommendations and executable scripts.
• View past performance and plan future capacity.
• Monitor tempdb to identify and resolve contention and performance issues.
• Connect to other tools by sending alerts to other systems and integrating
with SCOM.
• Access the mobile console to see the entire SQL Server environment on
mobile devices from anywhere.
• Deploy Web-Based Reports via SSRS for comprehensive auditing.
• Adapt to specific needs with custom counters, dashboards, and reports.
• Audit activity by viewing the main actions performed in the SQL Diagnostic
Manager environment.
• Manage large environments by accessing multiple repositories and
publishing reports from multiple data sources.

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ARCHITECTURE
SQL Diagnostic Manager consists of a light,
unobtrusive architecture that easily runs in
SQL Server environments with minimal
configuration. All components of SQL
Diagnostic Manager run outside and
separate from SQL Server processes. Refer
also to the documentation SQL
Diagnostic Manager components and
architecture, IDERA Dashboard components
and architecture, and SQLDM Mobile
components and architecture including
IDERA Newsfeed.

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Desktop Console
Use the desktop console to view real-time
status, configure alert notifications on
specific metric thresholds at the server and
database levels, view historical reports, and
perform administrative functions. The
desktop console retrieves historical
information directly from the repository. All
real-time requests use the product services
to poll the monitored SQL Server.

Product Services
SQL Diagnostic Manager has three
centralized services that reside on the same
computer:
1. The management service provides
real-time data to the desktop console,
receives historical data from the
collection service for storage in the
repository, and raises alerts and sends
alert notifications.
2. The collection service performs on-
demand and scheduled collection from
the monitored SQL Servers.
3. The predictive service calculates the alert
forecast every hour and builds a
forecasting model once per day.

Plug-In
When registering SQL Diagnostic Manager
with the IDERA Dashboard, this
deploys the product plug-in module. The
plug-in consists of web views and
widgets and a .NET Framework based add-in
module. This plug-in deploys the web views
and widgets in the web application service of
the IDERA Dashboard, and the add-in in the
core service of the same. The web
application service dynamically loads in the

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views and widgets and makes them available
to web console users. The views and wid-
gets use the representational state transfer
(REST) application programming interfaces
(APIs) of the add-in to retrieve data. Likewise,
the add-in retries data from the product ser-
vices and repository. Refer also to the docu-
mentation.

Web Console in IDERA Dashboard

The IDERA Dashboard and the web console
install automatically upon upgrade or during
installation of version 9.0 higher of SQL
Diagnostic Manager.

To access the web console:

• Open a web browser that is compatible
with the web console requirements.
• Enter the product uniform resource
locator (URL)
http://<machinename>:<port>. Here,
<machinename> is the name of the host
or machine, and <port> is the port
specified during installation. The default
URL is http://<localhost>:9290.
• When the web console launches on the
web browser, use the Windows
user account <domain\user> with the
corresponding password to log into
the product.

The web application service of IDERA

Dashboard comes with secure socket layer
(SSL) already set up. Refer also to the
documentation Run IDERA Dashboard over
SSL (HTTPS).

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Repository
The repository is a centralized SQL Server
database that stores collected metrics on a
scheduled basis, historical data, and alerts
information. The repository also stores
configuration information, such as the
credentials used to monitor a registered
SQL Server instance. Refer also to the
documentation Connect to the SQL
Diagnostic Manager Repository.

Authentication
SQL Diagnostic Manager uses the same
types of authentication that are
available in the SQL Server security model.
Use Windows Authentication or SQL Server
Authentication when specifying account
credentials for the product services. SQL
Server Authentication is required when no
domain trust exists between the product
services computer and the computers
hosting the monitored SQL Server instances.
For example, if the monitored SQL Server
instances are located in an untrusted domain
or behind a firewall, use SQL Server
Authentication to deploy SQL Diagnostic
Manager successfully. In this case, use the
system administrator (SA) account or a SQL
Server login that has system administrator
permissions.

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CAPABILITIES
Manage SQL Server Instances
To add an instance to SQL Diagnostic
Manager, select File > Manage Servers and
follow the instructions in the Manage Server
window. This window displays all of the SQL
Server instances monitored by SQL
Diagnostic Manager. After adding an
instance, SQL Diagnostic Manager polls
key performance metrics to start identifying
which areas of the SQL Server environment
need attention the soonest. Within seconds,
identify areas of the environment that cause
pain. These areas include areas that were
not known to have a connection to
experienced issues. Refer also to the
documentation Manage your SQL
Server instances and Add your SQL
Server instances.

Organize Instances
Apply one or more text-based labels to
instances to ensure ease of management for
reporting and user management, and
creating an additional dashboard for each
department, geographical location, and
hosted customer. After tagging an instance,
the instance belongs to a group. Selecting
that group displays all members in a
dashboard style view used to monitor and
segment departments, locations, and
versions for each thumbnail in the list.
Change the display to show an overall view
or details specific to any of the key
performance indicators. Refer also to the
documentation Work with tags.

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Identify Impact of Slow-Running
Queries
Identify slow-running code that is one of the
main reasons for performance bottlenecks in
SQL Server. The Query Monitor is a
standard SQL Server trace that collects all of
the events that occur on SQL Server
instances over a period. Enable this option
when experiencing query timeouts or other
performance issues. Manually enable and
disable the Query Monitor. Enable the Query
Monitor automatically by using an alert action
so that the Query Monitor does not have to
be utilized all of the time but only for the
periods that the Query Monitor is needed.
Refer also to the documentation Set query
monitor options.

Analyze Query Performance

Analyze all queries or selected queries
several different ways.

Signature Mode View (General

Performance)
View individual SQL statements or to view
query signatures. Query signatures are
groupings of SQL Statements that match
after stripping their literals. A query
signature broadly defines queries and trends
with a less overwhelming amount of data to
diagnose a query in a general sense. After
identifying a potential problem signature, drill
into individual queries that make up the
signature. Monitor average CPU, average
reads, average writes, average duration, and
number of occurrences. Refer also to the
documentation View the query monitor
signature mode and Advanced query
signature view.

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Statement Mode View (Specific
Performance)
View individual SQL statements or view
query signatures. Query statements are
presented exactly as the query monitor trace
collects them. Query statements provide all
of the detail needed to diagnose a specific
problem with a query. After identifying a
potential problem statement, drill into the
Query Details view. Monitor individual CPU
time, individual reads, individual writes, and
individual execution duration, as well as user
database and application. Refer also to the
documentation View the query monitor
statement mode and Advanced query
statement view.

Query History View

Measure the daily historical performance
impact based on number of occurrences
throughout the day for every day. The history
includes the durations, amount of CPU time
each day, and the level of reads and writes.
Understand historical trends for the selected
query performance and how code changes
may have improved performance into the
future. Refer also to the documentation View
the query history.

Query Waits View

Analyze waits over time and by duration to
locate the top bottlenecks and what changes
may potentially have the biggest
performance boost on the SQL Server
instance. Display a graphical dual view of
query wait statistics to see an impact analysis
of waits historically and to perform a real-time
assessment of existing query activity and
associated waits. Use the history browser in

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conjunction with wait stats for a very granular
level of root-cause analysis when identifying
performance bottlenecks in the past. Refer
also to the documentation
View query waits and View your SQL Server
query waits information.

Execution Plan
The execution plan assesses how queries
perform and where to improve the code. The
execution plan diagram displays the query
execution plan (actual or estimated). The
diagram shows the tree of operations that
make up a query. This tree shows individual
operation nodes and the pertaining graphical
execution plan icon, along with basic
information such as operator name and
operation percentage of total cost. The
execution plan also shows the referenced
tables and columns to understand where a
potential index adjustment may improve
performance. Refer also to the
documentation Query Details view.

Top Queries Report

The Top Queries report compiles a list of
queries based on call frequency, duration of
execution, CPU usage, and the number of
reads and writes performed on the
databases hosted by the specified SQL
Server instance. Define minimum thresholds
for each of these performance metrics and
then see which queries match or exceed the
selected values. Report on the worst queries
within the report interface. Apply some report
filters such as filtering by user, database,
application, host name, and by different
performance criteria (such as CPU, memory,
reads, and writes). Refer also to the
documentation Top Queries server
analysis report.

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Queries Tab Filtering
On each Query tab, the filtering capabilities
provide an option for focus on specific
queries relevant to the performance. Include
and exclude specific applications, databases,
users, clients, SQL text, and more via
advanced filters. Refer also to the
documentation View your SQL Server
queries information.

Prescriptive Workload Analysis

Run a prescriptive analysis on a specific SQL
Server instance to identify and resolve SQL
Server performance problems. The analysis
engine scans the SQL Server configuration for
potential problems and the health of the
databases, resulting in a useful set of
recommendations for improving performance.
Prescriptive analysis targets some of the most
common areas of SQL Server performance
problems. Instead, workload analysis targets
the performance categories for index opti-
mization and query optimization. Workload
analysis provides recommendations for these
two categories that use a high amount of
performance resources when running. Refer
also to the documentation Run a workload
analysis on your SQL Server.

SQL Workload Analysis Add-On

The SQL Workload Analysis add-on provides
granular wait state monitoring, continuous
SQL sampling, intuitive drill down to view top
activity, query plan tuning and
recommendations, lock and latch resolutions,
and storage visibility and contention
resolution. Identify, isolate, and resolve tough
performance issues with specific SQL
transactions or workloads in just a few mouse
clicks. Refer also to the documentation
Launch SQL Workload Analysis and Welcome
to SQL Workload Analysis.

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View Session Detail Analytics
The Sessions Details view provides an
in-depth analysis of sessions running on
monitored SQL Server instances. View a
broad range of information from
performance details to open transactions
and configured options. Track process
activity at the statement level. Individual
sessions appear in the top portion of the
window. Right-click any session in the list to
view locks, show the query history, trace the
session, kill the session, print the
associated statistics, and export statistics to
Excel. Cross-reference information gathered
from the Query Waits view to build a full and
forensic picture of root cause analysis. Refer
also to the documentation Get sessions
performance details.

Alert Predictively
Configure alerts to inform and warn about
approaching issues with SQL Server
instances. See the alerts using the desktop
and web consoles, the IDERA
Newsfeed, and the mobile console. After
correcting the situation triggering the alert,
send alerts again if the situation recurs.
Highlight columns containing associated
alerts with their status color based on
configurable thresholds. Identify trends in
past alert activity and recognize the
likelihood of the events happening going
forward. Discover past trends in alert
behavior and determine the percentage of
likelihood that these same events may pop
up at particular times later in time. Be better
prepared to respond instead of reacting with
surprise to alerts. Refer also to the
documentation Alert on SQL Server Metrics.

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Automate Alert Actions and Responses
When reaching an alert threshold,
automatically send an email notification,
display an alert message in the Windows
taskbar, write an event to the Windows Event
Log, generate an event on the timeline, and
execute a SQL or PowerShell script. Be
informed very quickly to issues of health and
performance, and implement steps to
minimize and resolve issues and problems
SQL Diagnostic Manager finds automatically.
View a list of current rules used to assist in
managing the SQL Server environment. Add
new rules and modify existing rules. Generate
multiple alerts for different levels of severity,
metric, and time frame. Alert and report on
custom counters. The breadth of alerting and
management capabilities is vast. Refer also to
the documentation Configure how SQL
Diagnostic Manager responds to alerts.

Set Up Server Baselines

Adjust metric thresholds based on the
baseline fluctuations throughout the day.
Calculate each baseline out of a pool of
collected data based on the selected period
and collection interval. Use each baseline to
provide alert recommendations to set
effective alert thresholds. Visualize times of
high and low activity to establish effective
baseline periods. Enable alerting and
recommendations based on baseline
violations. Define and schedule multiple
baselines per server. Quickly apply baselines
to more than one instance. View the relevant
baseline in effect in various metric graphs.

Create multiple baselines for multiple activity

windows (such as logins, SSRS report
executions, and job activities) for the best
baseline accuracy. Metric thresholds change
dynamically based on the baseline

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fluctuations throughout the day, to alert only
when current performance jumps excessively
outside of normal. The baseline visualizer
displays metrics to determine the hot spots
during the day, to understand what may
be the appropriate time windows to create
within the multiple baseline functionality.

Refer also to the documentation Configure

server baseline options and Baseline
Statistics server analysis report.

Aalyze Alert Patterns

Locate alerts generated over a period. Group
and filter the results. Quickly identify and
triage alerts and issues before they escalate.
Pinpoint groups of alerts that happen over a
period. Refer also to the documentation
Organize alerts.

Analyze Prescriptively with Expert

Recommendations
Run a prescriptive analysis on a particular
instance to identify and resolve potential SQL
Server performance problems. The
prescriptive analysis provides quick and
minimally invasive analytics of SQL Server
instances. The analysis results in a useful set
of expert recommendations for improving
performance including executable scripts.
Prescriptive analysis targets some of the
most common areas of SQL Server
performance problems, such as workloads,
missing indexes, redundant indexes, poor
queries, wait states, server configuration,
security, database objects, memory, and

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more. Execute the prescriptive analysis
manually, scheduled to run, or launched in
response to an alert. Refer also to the
documentation Run a prescriptive analysis
on your SQL Server.

View Past Performance

The history browser provides information
about the state of SQL Server instances at
the time of a standard snapshot. Use this
information to diagnose and resolve issues
to keep the issue from happening again.
Select a historical snapshot collected by the
standard refresh and view the collected data
using almost all of the real-time views. After
choosing a snapshot, replay the data as of
that time in the console to select other tabs
and view data from all over the tool to
correlate issues and fully diagnose problems
that have passed. Refer also to the
documentation View past performance.

Monitor Tempdb
Identify and resolve contention and
performance issues with the tempdb
system database. Monitor and view the
tempdb space and performance related
information, including tempdb file space,
tempdb version store, tempdb sessions
space usage, and waits related to tempdb.
See the current capacity usage and recent
trends of the files over time. Display a list of
sessions currently using tempdb along with
their cumulative usage and tempdb space.
Refer also to the documentation Tempdb
panel, Get the tempdb status summary, and
Tempdb Statistics database analysis report.

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Plan Future Capacity
The Capacity Usage chart in the Summary
view of the Database tab displays the usage
of data and logs in the databases. This chart
provides information on the text, tables, and
indexes space, as well as the unused space
of the databases. Refer also to the
documentation View your SQL Server
databases information.

The Baseline Statistics report analyzes and

compares baselines within a single SQL
Server instance and across two instances.
When viewing baseline statistics for a
monitored SQL Server instance, compare
the baseline metric values at two different
times or two different metrics at the same
time. Include another instance and compare
baselines values occurring at the same time
or different times. View trends in the average
value of a metric for a SQL Server instance
and how this value changes over time for
capacity planning.

Plan reports to forecast for future needs

based on historical growth trends. The Disk
Space Usage Forecast report forecasts disk
space needs. The Database Growth
Forecast report forecasts future database
growth. The Table Growth Forecast report
forecasts future table growth.

Refer also to the documentation Baseline

Statistics server analysis report and Plan
reports.

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Connect to Other Tools
Connect SQL Diagnostic Manager to other
tools. For example, provide in-depth granular
diagnostic information to generic
management tools currently on the market.

Send Alerts to Other Systems

Set up simple network management protocol
(SNMP) to send out alert events to other
network management systems. SQL
Diagnostic Manager includes a
management information base (MIB) to use
in another network management system to
format the events sent by SQL Diagnostic
Manager. Add, modify, import, export, and
configure alert responses via the Alert
Actions and Responses window to send out
alert notifications using the email server
available on the network with simple mail
transfer protocol (SMTP) to issue tracking
applications and workflow engines for
intelligent routing and automated interaction.
Refer also to the documentation Configure
network management settings, Understand-
ing the IDERA MIB, and Configure how SQL
Diagnostic Manager responds to alerts.

Integrate with SCOM

Integrate the detailed alert and status
information gathered by SQL Diagnostic
Manager into the Microsoft System Center
Operations Manager (SCOM) environment.
Provide a stream of live updates to IT
operators on the status of SQL Server
instances being monitored by SQL
Diagnostic Manager. Extend management
information from SQL Diagnostic Manager to
a new custom node within SCOM. Automatic
discovery of installations of SQL Diagnostic
Manager and of the managed instances from

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those installations. Once discovered,
propagate the status, health, and events of
these instances up to SCOM. Refer also to
the documentation Integrate SQL Diagnostic
Manager with SCOM.

Access Mobile Console

The mobile console is a web-based
application that displays SQL Server
performance on a variety of mobile devices
(including iPhone, iPad, Android, and
Blackberry). The mobile console includes
the IDERA Newsfeed that is an effective way
for database administrators and managers
to collaborate, share knowledge, and keep
close tabs on the most critical SQL Server
issues as they unfold. View real-time
dashboards to identify problem areas and
get current server health. Drill down into the
details of the main performance metrics and
alerts. See the entire SQL Server
environment, and stay productive and
connected from anywhere. Refer also to
the documentation Navigate the
IDERA Newsfeed and SQLDM Mobile.

Deploy Web-Based Reports via SSRS

In addition to the included reports, deploy
web-based custom reports using
SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) for
a comprehensive auditing solution. Access
these web-based reports to analyze current
and historical performance and statistical
data. Refer also to the documentation
Deploy SQL Diagnostic Manager reports
to Reporting Services.

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Adapt to Specific Needs
Setup Custom Counters
In addition to monitoring a wide variety of
the most common SQL Server and operating
system performance metrics, add additional
performance metrics via custom counters.
Add any Windows system counters
including any Performance Monitor and
Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
counters. Also, add any SQL Server system
counter stored in the sysperfinfo system
table, and any numerical value that custom
SQL scripts return. Also, add and any
performance counters accessible through
the virtual machine and host server. Refer
also to the documentation Use custom
counters to track metrics.

Create Custom Dashboards

Customize the dashboard per monitored
SQL Server instance by selecting the panels
that are the most important to display in each
instance. Define and save multiple
dashboards to compare metrics across
monitored SQL Server instances. Customize
the dashboard for the selected SQL Server
instance or as the default for all added SQL
Server instances. Refer also to the
documentation Create custom dashboards.

Build Custom Reports

Create or edit custom reports. Include in
custom reports any collected metric,
including custom counters. Choose the
counters to include in a report, order the way
the metrics appear, and specify the
aggregation method used on each of the
metrics. Refer also to the documentation
Custom reports.

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Audit Activity
Given the number and different types of users
in SQL Server production environments,
keeping track of changes to the configuration
of SQL Diagnostic Manager is critical. View a
list of the main actions performed in the SQL
Diagnostic Manager environment (such as
when adding a server for monitoring, and
changing an alert configuration or grooming
configuration). View a thorough and instant list
of information on modifications. Refer also to
the documentation Use the Change Log to
review changes in your SQL Diagnostic
Manager configuration.

Manage Large Environments

Scale per each deployment whether
monitoring 50, 150, 250, or 350 instances.

Access Multiple Repositories with

Desktop Console
The desktop console is also flexible in its
connectivity options. Open the desktop
console more than a single time to view data
from multiple repository deployments. For
example, view two different consoles open
together. Refer also to the documentation
Monitor instances.

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Access Multiple Repositories with
Web Console
The web console provides additional
product scalability and federation of many
IDERA products, viewable in a single web
browser interface. Attach to multiple
deployments to view them as a single
enterprise unit. The web console provides
much of the same useful data as the desktop
console including alerts, heat map, sessions,
query activity, query waits over time, query
waits by duration, database health, alert
timelines, top instances, and custom
dashboards. The web console manages
selected individual deployments or all
instances. Refer also to the documentation
Navigate the web console dashboard.

Publish Reports from Multiple Data

Sources with SSRS
Deploy and publish the provided reports
via the publishing wizard. The publishing
wizard creates a data source automatically
for whichever repository the console is
connected. Through SQL Server Reporting
Services (SSRS) folder-based management,
generate reports from a single browser
interface to span multiple repository data
sources. Refer also to the documentation
Report on SQL Server Performance.

IDER A . c o m

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