Smarter Technology for Better Business How to Build a Centralized Monitoring Solution: Never Miss a Backup

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution Agenda Introductions Today’s Goals The Traditional Method New Centralized Method The Approach Aspect Solution

Introductions and Qualifications: Presenting Today… John Abrams Senior DBA/Data Architect Mike McDonnell Senior DBA/Data Architect Over 20 years of solid project leadership and technical experience in Data Management, Data Integration, Database Administration. Extensive expertise with logical and physical DBA activities with both SQL Server and Oracle. Currently providing remote database administration and monitoring services for multiple clients across industries.

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution Today’s Goals Outline a Better Approach to Monitoring to Ensure: Databases Available Backups Occurring as Scheduled No Issues with Disk Space Usage/File Size And… Achieve All This in the Most Efficient Way Possible

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution Traditional Maintenance and Alerting Methods Utilize Maintenance Plans Utilize Third-Party Backup Agents Utilize Custom Scripts with Alert Notifications Or….no maintenance/monitoring at all

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution Typical Alert Generating Activities: Check Frequency DB Integrity  Daily (At least weekly) Reorganize Index Weekly (Daily if time) Rebuild Index  Weekly Update Statistics Execute Agent Job  Depends Backup DB (Full) Backup DB (Diff) Backup DB (Transaction)  Hourly Maintenance Cleanup Daily Clean Up History 1. 

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution Pitfalls with Traditional Methods: Missed Backups: Maintenance Plans are modified from All User to selected databases, potentially leaving new databases without backup. No Notice of Failed Jobs: SQL Agent does not restart, no jobs run-without your knowledge. Missed Alerts: Too many alerts: Multiple success/failure emails buried in inbox. Undetected Unavailable Database Instance: Monitoring not centralize; difficult to detect.

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution Pitfalls: Missed Backups Too Many Alerts No Notice of Failed Jobs Undetected offline DB instances Resolution: Proactive Centralized Monitoring …that pulls data out of the environment.

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution A Better Method: All Monitoring Components Run on a Centralized Server: Monitoring Jobs to collect and store critical info. Connection information used to link to monitored servers. Procedures to run jobs and generate notifications. What is Centralized Monitoring? 1. 

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution A Better Method: Scalable and Less Labor Intensive: Single set of monitoring jobs, rather than deploying the same set of jobs across 100 servers. Nothing Slips Through the Cracks: You do not miss when jobs do not run. One Single Email: Email displays results across entire environment-rather than multiple emails lost in your inbox. Historical Data Readily Available: Data can be used for trending and alerting. Why Centralized Monitoring is Better 1. 

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution A Better Method: Proactive, Not Reactive: Trend and forecast collected data so you can predict issues before they occur. Discover Opportunities for Consolidation: Easy to collect data that allows you to Retire inactive databases Consolidate servers Reclaim disk space Flexible Framework: The sky is the limit—you can easily expand & extend monitoring & trending. Why Centralized Monitoring is Better 1. 

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution Two Approaches: Single-Tier Single Tier Approach Components Running on One centralized DB Server: Meta Data to hold info about servers, connection strings, jobs to send alerts, results tables, etc. Linked servers to connect to all destination databases. Dynamic SQL Generating Procedure to run jobs, store results, and send alerts. 1. 

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution Two Approaches: Multi-Tier Multi-Tier Approach Adds App Server and Additional Components: Same Data Model: adds additional tables for scheduling jobs to run on instances. Utilizes Windows Service Agent to connect, execute SQL, and send alerts. Adds Front End to manage job maintenance, view alerts and reports. 1. 

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution Key Tables Included in Data Model Server Holds server configuration information. DB Instance Stores database connection string information for each instance. Jobs Stores job description and SQL. Job Schedule Stores scheduling information. Results Tables Multiple tables store results gathered from each job.

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution Centralized Monitoring Components: Sends Single Alert Email Create Multiple Data Gather Jobs Data Stored in Results Tables Stored Procedures Analyze Data Generates Trends Forecasts Consolidation Opportunities

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution Implement Key Queries to Detect: /. 

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution SQL Query: Gather Database Backup Info 1. 

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution SQL Query: Gather Database Failed Jobs

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution SQL Query: Gather Database File Size 1. 

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution SQL Procedure: Gather Disk Free Space Utilize SQL Hidden Procedure: EXEC master..xp_fixeddrives 1. 

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution SQL Procedure: Gather Access Information 1. 

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution Detect and Alert SP: Failed Backups/Jobs SELECT Last Set of Records from Data Results Table. Use MAX(LASTMOD) value to select records. IF detects SOME records (i.e., where backup date is older than 24 hours OR where job status indicates failure) THEN Generate alert email. Write records to an Alert table. Alerting Stored Procedure Detects failures, sends alert, and stores alert history 1. 

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution Detect and Alert SP: Disk Space/File Size SELECT Current Set of Records from Data Results Table AND Set of Records inserted X hours (e.g. 24 hours) ago. Use MAX(LASTMOD) value to select both sets of records. COMPARE file size/disk space against rolling average (specified time period, yesterday, per month) IF detects SOME records where size increased by X%... THEN Generate alert email. Write records to alert table. Alerting Stored Procedure Detects out of range conditions, sends alert, and stores alert history 1. 

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution Detect and Report Inactivity SELECT Current Set of Records from Data Results Table. COMPARE today’s date with last access date from current record. IF date is more than X days ago... THEN Add to report. Write records to history table. Reporting Stored Procedure Detects inactivity, sends report, and stores history 1. 

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution Trending and Forecasting SELECT Data Set (Time Period-Value) for analysis. Metric: Free Disk Space Data File Size Record Counts Table Size ANALYZE: Determine: # of Periods to Analyze Determine: # of Periods to Forecast CALCULATE & FORECAST: Calculate & apply historical slope to create forecast. Forecasting Stored Procedure Collects trending data, analyze over time, and forecasts to prevent issues from occurring 1. 

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution Flexible Framework Lets You Easily Extend Monitoring Add Jobs to Assist with Tuning For Example: Monitor Index Usage Monitor Memory Utilization Monitor Distribution of Data within Tables Monitor Fact Table Record Count Growth Utilize PowerShell to collect Server Metrics

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution The Aspect Solution: Prodative® WatchDog EMS WatchDog EMS Centralizes the Right Info & Alerts Across Platforms Capture Key Data for Trending & Forecasting Easy to Configure and Use Displays info and alerts (e.g. availability, backup, and file size)via a web portal; no need to go to the server for info. Enables you to analyze, predict, prepare, and address issues before users are impacted. Solution is simple to configure and use for immediate impact; no need for full-time staff for support.

Introducing Prodative® WatchDog EMS Features Monitor Critical Information and Alerts: Database Availability Missed Backups Critical Disk Space & File System Usage (at both the device and subdirectory level) Problematic Indexing and Queries Monitor Info & Alerts

Introducing Prodative® WatchDog EMS Features View Trending Data, Analyze and Generate Reports Track Server and Job Statistics Track Disk Space and Database Growth Over Time Analyze & Report

Introducing Prodative® WatchDog EMS Features Maintain and Extend Monitoring using Flexible Controls: Extend and Add Monitoring Jobs Set Alerting Parameters Add Reports Maintain Users Maintain & Extend

Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution Questions…