Foglight ships with a rich set of pre-configured rules to alert you when issues arise with your databases.
The default action is to put an alarm message on the dashboards within Foglight. Email notifications aren't enabled by default - but it's an easy…
With the release of Foglight version 6, alarm management has been simplified with the use of alarm templates.
You can access Alarm Templates directly from the left-hand panel in the new UI. However, if you've upgraded from a previous version, it helps…
I was reviewing the article 13 SQL Server Best Practices recently and it occurred to me that 3 of the tips could be put in Foglight to continually check that your SQL Server instances are compliant. Tip #3 in the article suggests that you should reduce…
In this post, some tips for working with User-Defined Queries (UDC's) were introduced.
We left off with the idea of creating a custom dashboard showing UDC results from multiple instances.
The Foglight data model is organized with a controlling root…
The ability to enter your own queries into Foglight for SQL Server, Oracle and DB2 opens up a world of additional data that you can use with Foglight. These are called User-Defined Collections, or UDC's for short.
There are some nuances to using them…
While Foglight for SQL Server offers capabilities that go above and beyond most SQL Server monitoring products in the industry, Query Performance Monitoring is certainly a strength of the product that customers get significant of value out of. I recorded…
In this post, I alluded to 2 ways to capture VMware metrics with Foglight for SQL Server.
The steps below apply to SQL Server running on Windows only. Since VMware Tools pulls metrics into the VM, we can access those by querying the WMI Performance Counters…
There are a couple easy, free ways to get VMware metrics collected by Foglight for SQL Server. This first part shows the easier way.
When setting up the monitor for SQL Server, you can select (or not) to provide VMware credentials.
Foglight will connect…
In the first part of this series, we will learn how to export SQL statements from Foglight SQL Performance Investigator, and import them into SQL Optimizer.
Start by opening SQL PI, and selecting a database from the Databases dimension. This simplifies…
Think of a UI Query as a shortcut to data that you can use in a report, dashboard, service definition, etc. This post will show how to get started building queries.
The example today will be to get a list of all SQL Server Agent Jobs, regardless of the…
Foglight for SQL Server Business Intelligence (BI) provides analysis monitoring for SQL Server BI services: Integration services, Reporting services, and Analysis services.
In this (Part 3) blog, the focus is SQL Server Analysis Services or ‘SSAS’.…
Foglight for SQL Server Business Intelligence (BI) provides analysis monitoring for SQL Server BI services: Integration services, Reporting services, and Analysis services.
In this (Part 2) blog, the focus is SQL Server Reporting Services or ‘SSRS’.…
Foglight for SQL Server Business Intelligence (BI) provides analysis monitoring for SQL Server BI services: Integration services, Reporting services, and Analysis services.
In this (Part 1) blog, the focus is SQL Server Integration Services or ‘SSIS’…
Database performance monitoring can be a real circus! And with an ever-growing amount of technology platforms to manage, we’ve become the ultimate jugglers.
Didn’t sign up to be a clown?
Hey, I know. I didn’t, either. But, listen, sometimes…
Understand that this is a general, high-level guide outlining the steps you should expect to take during a Foglight for SQL Server upgrade. Since environments and upgrade circumstances are often different, it is important to review and familiarize yourself…
As the old saying goes, “the one constant in life is change”, and this is especially true in database environments. There are many reasons why database environments experience change whether it be through typical maintenance efforts such…
As a DBA, you are responsible for many things, not to mention the ever changing landscape that is your database environment. Documenting the server inventory is essential as it will come in good use when it comes to planning for a migration/upgrade,…
I had a customer ask how they could use Foglight to find out when "dbcc checkdb" last ran against their SQL Server databases.
This is a great use case for User-Defined Collections!
As a refresher, my colleague Trent Mera wrote a great blog on…
Friends. Change is here. All of us DBAs are dealing with it. Look at the number of new database platforms. It’s relentless. They just keep coming. And we’re expected to take on any or all of them that’ll save our companies money. But it’s hard, right…
Many customers ask how they might integrate Foglight Alarms into other 3rd party monitoring tools. One way to accomplish this is to send SNMP traps in response to a Foglight alarm.
To configure Foglight for this capability, you need to first download…
Understanding the processes and configurations causing your bottlenecks
IO is the single most important metric to know for creating optimal performance of your database systems. To understand it, you’ll need to know the processes, resources and configurations…
Foglight for Databases had an amazing year, with several releases for the various Database Cartridges. Here are some of the highlights of what we’ve done in 2017:
I've done a number of posts recently that touch on Foglight administration, customization, or some of the more advanced capabilities of the product. I felt it was a good time to circle back on some of the more basic use cases that Foglight can help…
We've all been there, the dreaded ticket that comes across our inbox. Always light on detail, just a single sentence: "The database server is slow." No five words bring as much fear, uncertainty and doubt to a DBA than those (well, maybe…
