The Microsoft SQL Application Dashboard

In order to ascertain how well an application is/has been performing, analysis of the performance of the System and Network layers of that application alone might not suffice. A closer look at the health of the Application Layers is also necessary, so as to promptly detect instantaneous operational issues with the target application, and also proactively identify persistent problems or a consistent performance degradation experienced by the application. To provide administrators with such in-depth insights into overall application performance and to enable them to accurately isolate the root-cause of any application-level slowdown, eG Enterprise offers the Application Dashboard. Each of the critical applications monitored by eG Enterprise is accompanied by an exclusive application dashboard. The contents of the dashboard will therefore primarily vary depending upon the application being monitored. You can find the detailed analysis of the Application Dashboard of a MS SQL application in the forthcoming paragraphs.

In addition, like the System and Network dashboards, the contents of the Application dashboard too are further governed by the Subsystem drop-down list. By default, the Overview option is chosen from the Subsystem list. If need be, you can change this default setting by picking a different option from the Subsystem list. The sections that follow will discuss each of the Subsystems offered by the sample MS SQL Application dashboard.

1. Overview

The Overview dashboard of a MS SQL application provides an all-round view of the health of the MS SQL application being monitored, and helps administrators pinpoint the problem areas. Using this dashboard therefore, you can determine the following quickly and easily:

• Has the application encountered any issue currently? If so, what is the issue and how critical is it?
• How problem-prone has the application been during the last 24 hours? Which application layer has been badly hit?
• Has the administrative staff been able to resolve all past issues? On an average, how long do the administrative personnel take to resolve an issue?
• Are all the key performance parameters of the application operating normally?
• What is the Application configuration of the MS SQL application?
• How many SQL Processes are running?
• What is the Database Usage? What is the Data space and how much Unused space is available in the MS SQL application with respect to each Database?
• How effective is the Database Transaction? What is the Transaction rate of each Database? Are the transactions for each Database behaving normally or is there any abnormal transactional behavior that has been reported during a particular time period?

The contents of the Overview Dashboard have been elaborated on hereunder:

1. The Current Application Alerts section of the MS SQL Application Dashboard reveals the number and type of issues currently affecting the performance of the MS SQL application that is being monitored. To know more about the current issues, click on any cell against Distribution that represents the problem priority of interest to you; the details of the current problems of that priority will then appear in a separate pop up window.

   If the pop-up window reveals too many problems, you can use the Search text boxes that have been provided at the end of the Description, Layer, and StartTime columns to run quick searches on the contents of these columns, so that the alarm of your interest can be easily located. For instance, to find the alarm with a specific description, you can provide the whole/part of the alarm description in the text box at the end of the Description column in the pop up window; this will result in the automatic display of all the alarms with descriptions that contain the specified search string.

2. To zoom into the exact layer, test, and measure that reported any of the listed problems, click on a particular alarm in the Alarms pop up window. Doing so will introduce an Alarm Details section into the Alarms window, which provides the complete information related to the problem clicked on. These details include the Site affected by the problem for which the alarm was raised, the test that reported the problem, and the last measure that was reported will be reported in the Last Measures.

3. While the list of current issues faced by the application serves as a good indicator of the current state of the application, to know how healthy/otherwise the application has been over time, a look at the problem history of the application is essential. Therefore, the dashboard provides the History of Events section; this section presents a bar chart, where every bar indicates the number of problems of a particular severity, which was experienced by the MS SQL application during the last 1 hour (by default). Clicking on a bar here will lead you to the History of Alarms which provides a detailed history of problems of that priority. Alongside the bar chart, you will also find a table displaying the average and maximum duration for problem resolution; this table helps you determine the efficiency of your administrative staff.

   If required, you can override the default time period of 1 hour of the event history, by following the steps below:

   • Click the button at the top of the dashboard to invoke the Dashboard Settings window.
   • Select the Event History option from the Default timeline for list.
   • Set a different default timeline by selecting an option from the Timeline list.
   • Finally, click the Update button.
4. Back in the dashboard, you will find that the History of Events section is followed by an At-A-Glance section; this section, using pie charts, digital displays and gauge charts, reveals, at a single glance, the current status of some of the critical metrics and key components of the MS SQL application. For instance, the Current Application Health pie chart indicates the current health of the application by representing the number of application-related metrics that are in various states. Clicking on a slice here will take you to the History of Alarms page that provides a detailed problem history.
5. The dial and digital graphs that follow provide you with quick updates on the status of a pre-configured set of resource usage-related metrics pertaining to the MS SQL application. If required, you can configure the dial graphs to display the threshold values of the corresponding measures along with their actual values, so that deviations can be easily detected. For this purpose, do the following:
   • Click the button at the top of the dashboard to invoke the Dashboard Settings window.
   • Set the Show Thresholds flag in the window to Yes.
   • Finally, click the Update button.

   You can customize the At-A-Glance tab page further by overriding the default measure list for which dial/digital graphs are being displayed in that tab. To achieve this, do the following:

   • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard. In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select Application from the Module list, and Overview from the Sub-System list.
   • To add measures for the dial graph, pick the Dial Graph option from the Add/Delete Measures for list. Upon selection of the Dial Graph option, the pre-configured measures for the dial graph will appear in the Existing Value(s) list. Similarly, to add a measure to the digital display, pick the Digital Graph option from the Add/Delete Measures for list. In this case, the Existing Value(s) list box will display all those measures for which digital displays pre-exist.
   • Next, select the Test that reports the said measure, pick the measure of interest from the Measures list, provide a Display name for the measure, and click the Add button to add the chosen measure to the Existing Value(s) list. Note that while configuring measures for a dial graph the 'Measures' list will display only those measures that report percentage values.
   • If you want to delete one/more measures from the dial/digital graphs, then, as soon as you choose the Dial Graph or Digital Graph option from the Add/Delete Measures for list, pick any of the displayed measures from the Existing Value(s) list, and click the Delete button.
   • Finally, click the Update button to register the changes.

   Note:

   Only users with Admin or Supermonitor privileges can enable/disable the system, network, and application dashboards, or can customize the contents of such dashboards using the Dashboard Settings window. Therefore, whenever a user without Admin or Supermonitor privileges logs into the monitoring console, the button will not appear.

6. Clicking on a dial/digital graph will lead you to the layer model page of the MS SQL application; this page will display the exact layer-test combination that reports the measure represented by the dial/digital graph.

   If your eG license enables the Configuration Management capability, then, an Application Configuration section will appear providing the basic configuration of the application. You can configure the type of configuration data that is to be displayed in this section by following the steps below:

   • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard. In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select Application from the Module list, and Overview from the Sub-System list.
   • To add more configuration information to this section, first, pick the Application Configuration option from the Add/Delete Measures for list. Upon selection of this option, all the configuration measures that pre-exist in the Configuration Management section will appear in the Existing Value(s) list.
   • Next, select the config Test that reports the said measure, pick the measure of interest from the Measures list, provide a Display name for the measure, and click the Add button to add the chosen measure to the Existing Value(s) list.
   • If you want to delete one/more measures from this section, then, as soon as you choose the Application Configuration option from the Add/Delete Measures for list, pick any of the displayed measures from the Existing Value(s) list, and click the Delete button.
   • Finally, click the Update button to register the changes.
7. Next to this section, you will find a pre-configured list of Key Performance Indicators of the MS SQL application. Besides indicating the current state of and current values reported by a default set of resource usage metrics, this section also reveals 'miniature' graphs of each measure, so that you can instantly study how that measure has behaved during the last 1 hour (by default) and thus determine whether the change in state of the measure was triggered by a sudden dip in performance or a consistent one. Clicking on a measure here will lead you to the layer and test that reports the measure.

   You can, if required, override the default measure list in the Key Performance Indicators section by adding more critical measures to the list or by removing one/more existing ones from the list. For this, do the following:

   • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard. In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select Application from the Module list, and Overview from the Sub-System list.
   • To add more metrics to the Key Performance Indicators section, first, pick the Performance Indicator option from the Add/Delete Measures for list. Upon selection of this option, all the measures that pre-exist in the Key Performance Indicators section will appear in the Existing Value(s) list.
   • Next, select the Test that reports the said measure, pick the measure of interest from the Measures list, provide a Display name for the measure, and click the Add button to add the chosen measure to the Existing Value(s) list.
   • If you want to delete one/more measures from this section, then, as soon as you choose the Key Performance Indicators option from the Add/Delete Measures for list, pick any of the displayed measures from the Existing Value(s) list, and click the Delete button.
   • Finally, click the Update button to register the changes.
8. Clicking on a 'miniature' graph that corresponds to a key performance indicator will enlarge the graph, so that you can view and analyze the measure behavior more clearly, and can also alter the Timeline and dimension (3D/ 2D) of the graph, if need be.

   This way, the first few sections of the At-A-Glance tab page help understand what issues are currently affecting the application health, and when they actually originated. To diagnose the root-cause of these issues however, you would have to take help from the remaining sections of the At-A-Glance tab page. For instance, the Key Performance Indicators section may indicate a sudden/steady increase in the Log cache hit ratio of the MS SQL application. However, to determine whether the rise in the Log cache hit ratio was a result of one/more high SQL processes executing on the MS SQL application or a couple of resource-intensive SQL applications, you need to focus on the SQL Process - Summary section. This SQL Process - Summary section for starters reveals the number of Processes that are in varying states of activity. With the help of this section therefore, you can quickly figure out whether there are currently any:

   • Processes that are being processed in the background;
   • Processes that are being blocked by other processes;
   • Processes that are not utilized at present by the MS SQL application;
   • Processes that are currently running for the target MS SQL application, etc.

   Say, you notice that too many processes are currently running in a BACKGROUND state. Immediately, you might want to know whether this is a sudden occurrence, or has that problem occurred over a course of time. To enable you to determine this, every process that is displayed in the SQL Process - Summary section is accompanied by a 'miniature' graph, which tracks the changes in the corresponding process during the last 1 hour (by default). To enlarge the graph, click on the graph. The enlarged graph allows you to change the Timeline for analysis, and also the graph dimension.

9. The Database Usage Summary section reveals how well the databases are being managed by the target MS SQL application. For every database, this section reveals the space that is utilized by the data files, the space that is used for indexing the data, and the space that is currently unused in the database. From this information, you can infer which database is utilizing the maximum amount of allocated resources. By default, the Database list provided by this section is sorted in the alphabetical order of the names of the databases. If need be, you can change the sort order so that the databases are arranged in, say, the descending order of values displayed in the Data Space column - this column displays the space that is utilized by the data files. To achieve this, simply click on the column heading Data Space. Doing so tags the Data Space label with a down arrow icon - this icon indicates that the Database Usage Summary table is currently sorted in the descending order of the space used by the data files. To change the sort order to 'ascending', all you need to do is just click again on the Data Space label or the down arrow icon. Similarly, you can sort the table based on any column available in it.
10. The Database Transaction Summary section, on the other hand, provides the transaction details of each of the databases that are currently available in the MS SQL application. By default, the database list provided by this section is sorted in the alphabetical order of the process names. If need be, you can change the sort order so that the databases are arranged in, say, the descending order of values displayed in the Active transactions column - this column displays the number of active transactions made by each database that is available in the MS SQL application. To achieve this, simply click on the column heading - Active transactions. Doing so tags the Active transactions label with a down arrow icon - this icon indicates that the database list is currently sorted in the descending order of the active transaction count. To change the sort order to 'ascending', all you need to do is just click again on the Active transactions label or the down arrow icon. Similarly, you can sort the process list based on any column available in the Database Transaction Summary section.
11. While the At-A-Glance tab page reveals the current state of the databases and the overall resource usage of the MS SQL application, to perform additional diagnosis on problem conditions highlighted by the At-A-Glance tab page and to accurately pinpoint their root-cause, you need to switch to the Details tab page by clicking on it. For instance, the At-A-Glance tab page may indicate the number of processes that are currently blocked, but to know which process has been blocked for the longest time, you will have to use the Details tab page.
12. The Details tab page comprises of a default set of comparison bar graphs using which you can accurately determine the following:
    • The size of the databases.
    • The Log size of the databases.
    • How many Active transactions are made on each database?
    • What is the SQL Cache hit ratio of each database?

    If required, you can configure the Details tab page to include comparison graphs for more measures, or can even remove one/more existing graphs by removing the corresponding measures. To achieve this, do the following:

    • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard. In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select Application from the Module list, and Overview from the Sub-System list.
    • To add measures for comparison graphs, first, pick the Comparison Graph option from the Add/Delete Measures for list. Upon selection of this option, the pre-configured measures for comparison graphs will appear in the Existing Value(s) list.
    • Next, select the Test that reports the said measure, pick the measure of interest from the Measures list, provide a Display name for the measure, and click the Add button to add the chosen measure to the Existing Value(s) list.
    • If you want to delete one/more measures for which comparison graphs pre-exist in the Details tab page, then, as soon as you choose the Comparison Graph option from the Add/Delete Measures for list, pick any of the displayed measures from the Existing Value(s) list, and click the Delete button.
    • Finally, click the Update button to register the changes.

    Note:

    Only users with Admin or Supermonitor privileges can enable/disable the system, network, and application dashboards, or can customize the contents of such dashboards using the Dashboard Settings window. Therefore, whenever a user without Admin or Supermonitor privileges logs into the monitoring console, the button will not appear.

13. By default, the comparison bar graphs list the top-10 databases only. To view the complete list of databases, simply click on the corresponding graph in the Details tab page. Upon clicking the graph, you will find an enlarged graph.

    Though the enlarged graph lists all the databases in this case by default, you can customize the enlarged graph to display the details of only a few of the larger/smaller databases by picking a TOP-N or LAST-N option from the Show list provided in the window.

    Another default aspect of the enlarged graph is that it pertains to the current period only. Sometimes however, you might want to know what occurred during a point of time in the past; for instance, while trying to understand the reason behind a sudden increase or decrease in the size of the database usage on a particular day last week, you might want to first determine the database whose size has abnormally increased / decreased on the same day. To figure this out, the enlarged graph allows you to compare the historical performance of the databases. For this purpose, click on the Compare History link in the enlarged graph window and select the TimeLine of your choice.

    Where detailed diagnosis is applicable, you can quickly view the detailed measures that correspond to a comparison graph by clicking on the icon at the right, top corner of the enlarged graph. This will invoke a separate pop up window using which you can analyse the root-cause of a problem.

14. For detailed time-of-day / trend analysis of the historical performance of a MS SQL application, use the History tab page. By default, this tab page provides time-of-day graphs of critical measures extracted from the target MS SQL application, using which you can understand how performance has varied during the default period of 24 hours. In the event of a problem, these graphs will help you determine whether the problem occurred suddenly or grew with time. To alter the timeline of all the graphs simultaneously, click on the Timeline link at the right, top corner of the History tab page.

    You can even override the default timeline (of 24 hours) of the measure graphs, by following the steps below:

    • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard.
    • In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select History Graph from the Default Timeline for list.
    • Then, choose a Timeline for the graph.
    • Finally, click the Update button.

    You can click on any of the graphs to enlarge it, and can change the Timeline of that graph in the enlarged mode.

    In case of tests that support descriptors, the enlarged graph will, by default, plot the values for the TOP-10 descriptors alone. To configure the graph to plot the values of more or less number of descriptors, select a different TOP-N / LAST-N option from the Show list.

    If you want to quickly perform service level audits on the MS SQL application, then summary graphs may be more appropriate than the default measure graphs. For instance, a summary graph might come in handy if you want to determine the variation of Total size of a database with respect to the percentage of time during the last 24 hours. Using such a graph, you can determine whether the database size has been constant or varied, and if not, how frequently the application faltered in this regard. To invoke such summary graphs, click on the icon at the right, top corner of the History tab page.

15. You can alter the timeline of all the summary graphs at one shot by clicking the Timeline link at the right, top corner of the History tab page. You can even alter the default timeline (of 24 hours) for these graphs, by following the steps given below:
    • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard.
    • In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select Summary Graph from the Default Timeline for list.
    • Then, choose a Timeline for the graph.
    • Finally, click the Update button.

    To change the timeline of a particular graph, click on it; this will enlarge the graph. In the enlarged mode, you can alter the Timeline of the graph. Also, though the graph plots hourly summary values by default, you can pick a different Duration for the graph in the enlarged mode, so that daily/monthly performance summaries can be analyzed.

    To perform effective analysis of the past trends in performance, and to accurately predict future measure behavior, click on the icon at the right, top corner of the History tab page. These trend graphs typically show how well and how badly a measure has performed every hour during the last 24 hours (by default). For instance, the Total size trend graph of each database of a MS SQL application will help you figure out the total size of the database that was available in the application every hour during the last 24 hours. If the gap between the minimum and maximum values is marginal, you can conclude that the size of the database has been more or less constant during the designated period; this implies that the size of the database has neither increased nor decreased steeply during the said timeline. On the other hand, a wide gap between the maximum and minimum values is indicative of an erratic change in the size of the database, and may necessitate further investigation.

    To analyze trends over a broader time scale, click on the Timeline link at the right, top corner of the History tab page, and edit the Timeline of the trend graphs. Clicking on any of the miniature graphs in this tab page will enlarge that graph, so that you can view the plotted data more clearly and even change its Timeline.

    To override the default timeline (of 24 hours) of the trend graphs, do the following:

    • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard.
    • In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select Trend Graph from the Default Timeline for list.
    • Then, choose a Timeline for the graph.
    • Finally, click the Update button.

    Besides the timeline, you can even change the Duration of the trend graph in the enlarged mode. By default, Hourly trends are plotted in the trend graph. By picking a different option from the Duration list, you can ensure that Daily or Monthly trends are plotted in the graph instead.

    Also, by default, the trend graph only plots the minimum and maximum values registered by a measure. Accordingly, the Graph type is set to Min/Max in the enlarged mode. If need be, you can change the Graph type to Avg, so that the average trend values of a measure are plotted for the given Timeline. For instance, if an average trend graph is plotted for the Total size measure, then the resulting graph will enable administrators to ascertain whether the size of a particular database has been constant during a specified timeline.

16. Likewise, you can also choose Sum as the Graph type to view a trend graph that plots the sum of the values of a chosen measure for a specified timeline. For instance, if you plot a ‘sum of trends’ graph for the measure that reports the Total size of a database available in the MS SQL application, then, the resulting graph will enable you to analyze, on an hourly/daily/monthly basis (depending upon the Duration chosen), whether there was any change in the size of the database.

    Note:

    In case of descriptor-based tests, the Summary and Trend graphs displayed in the History tab page typically plot the values for a single descriptor alone. To view the graph for another descriptor, pick a descriptor from the drop-down list made available above the corresponding summary/trend graph.

    At any point in time, you can switch to the measure graphs by clicking on the button.

    Typically, the History tab page displays measure, summary, and trend graphs for a default set of measures. If you want to add graphs for more measures to this tab page or remove one/more measures for which graphs pre-exist in this tab page, then, do the following:

    • Click the button at the top of the dashboard.
    • The Dashboard Settings window then appears. From the Module list, pick Application, choose Overview as the Sub-System, and then, select History Graph from the Add/Delete Measures for list.
    • The measures for which graphs pre-exist in the History tab page will be automatically displayed in the Existing Value(s) list. To delete a measure, and in effect, its corresponding graph as well, select the measure from the Existing Value(s) list, click the Delete button, and then click the Update button.
    • To add a new graph, first, pick the Test that reports the measure for which a graph is to be generated.
    • Next, select the Measure of interest.
    • Provide a Display name for the measure. Then, click the Add button to add the measure to the Existing Values(s) list. Finally, click the Update button.
    • This will add a new measure, summary, and trend graph for the chosen measure, to the History tab page.

    Note:

    Only users with Admin or Supermonitor privileges can enable/disable the system, network, and application dashboards, or can customize the contents of such dashboards using the Dashboard Settings window. Therefore, whenever a user without Admin or Supermonitor privileges logs into the monitoring console, the button will not appear.

2. SQLServer

   If you want to assess how efficiently the SQL server manages the databases available on it, and thus promptly detect the server related discrepancies, select the SQLServer option from the Subsystem list.

   The contents of the SQLServer dashboard are elaborated as follows:

   1. The dashboard begins with a dial and digital graphs section, which enables you to visually track the changes that are happening in the measures related to the SQL server of the MS SQL application. For instance, the CPU usage of the SQL server can be viewed at a single glance. Clicking on a dial/digital graph will lead you to the layer model page of the MS SQL Application; this page will display the exact layer-test combination that reports the measure represented by the dial/digital graph.
   2. The History tab page displays measure graphs that depict how the server related measures such as CPU usage has been varying over time. In the event of any retaliation in the measures, this time-bound analysis will help you to easily differentiate between a sudden spike in the CPU usage and a consistent rise in the same.

      By default, these historical graphs track the time-of-day variations in memory usage during the last 24 hours. You can override this default timeline by following the steps discussed below:

      • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard.
      • In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select History Graph from the Default Timeline for list.
      • Then, choose a Timeline for the graph.
      • Finally, click the Update button.
   3. To change the timeline of all the measure graphs at one shot, just click on the Timeline link at the right, top corner of the History tab page. To alter the timeline for a single graph, just click on that graph - this will enlarge the graph. You can change the Timeline of the graph in the enlarged mode.
   4. Instead of these measure graphs, you can, if required, view summary graphs of the memory-related measures in the History tab page. For this, click on the icon at the right, top corner of the History tab page. Summary graphs help you figure out the percentage of time during the last 24 hours (by default) the MS SQL application was hogged by the server-related issues. While monitoring mission-critical applications that are governed by rigid service level agreements, summary graphs will help you determine whether the guaranteed CPU usage levels were fulfilled or not, and if not, how often did the usage levels slip.

      You can override the default timeline (of 24 hours) of the summary graphs by following the steps discussed below:

      • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard.
      • In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select Summary Graph from the Default Timeline for list.
      • Then, choose a Timeline for the graph.
      • Finally, click the Update button.
   5. Here again, you can change the Timeline of all the summary graphs by clicking on the Timeline link in the History tab page, or click on a graph, enlarge it, and change its Timeline in the enlarged mode. Also, though the graph plots hourly summary values by default, you can pick a different Duration for the graph in the enlarged mode, so that daily/monthly performance summaries can be analyzed.
   6. You can click on the icon at the right, top corner of the History tab page to view trend graphs of the memory usage-related measures. By default, these trend graphs plot the maximum and minimum memory usage values for every hour of the last 24 hours (by default). The default timeline of 24 hours can be overridden by following the steps discussed below:
      • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard.
      • In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select Trend Graph from the Default Timeline for list.
      • Then, choose a Timeline for the graph.
      • Finally, click the Update button.

      Using these trend graphs, you can understand the variations in the CPU usage of the SQL server during the last 24 hours (by default), deduce the future usage trends, and accordingly recommend changes to the server size.

      Here again, you can change the Timeline of all the trend graphs by clicking on the Timeline link in the History tab page, or click on a graph, enlarge it, and change its Timeline in the enlarged mode. Also, though the graph plots hourly trend values by default, you can pick a different Duration for the graph in the enlarged mode, so that daily/monthly performance trends can be analyzed.

      Also, by default, the trend graph only plots the minimum and maximum values registered by a measure. Accordingly, the Graph type is set to Min/Max in the enlarged mode. If need be, you can change the Graph type to Avg, so that the average trend values of a measure are plotted for the given Timeline. Such a graph will enable you to assess whether the memory resources were utilized effectively or not, over time.

      Likewise, you can also choose Sum as the Graph type to view a trend graph that plots the sum of the values of a chosen measure for a specified timeline. For instance, a 'sum of trends' CPU usage will enable you to analyze, on an hourly/daily/monthly basis (depending upon the Duration chosen), how the CPU usage of a server has varied during the specified timeline.

      Note:

      In case of descriptor-based tests, the Summary and Trend graphs displayed in the History tab page typically plot the values for a single descriptor alone. To view the graph for another descriptor, pick a descriptor from the drop-down list made available above the corresponding summary/trend graph.

      At any point in time, you can switch to the measure graphs by clicking on the button. Typically, the History tab page displays measure, summary, and trend graphs for a default set of measures. If you want to add graphs for more measures to this tab page or remove one/more measures for which graphs pre-exist in this tab page, then, do the following:

      • Click the button at the top of the dashboard.
      • The Dashboard Settings window then appears. From the Module list, pick Application, choose SQL Server as the Sub-System, and then, select History Graph from the Add/Delete Measures for list.
      • The measures for which graphs pre-exist in the History tab page will be automatically displayed in the Existing Value(s) list. To delete a measure, and in effect, its corresponding graph as well, select the measure from the Existing Value(s) list, click the Delete button, and then click the Update button.
      • To add a new graph, first, pick the Test that reports the measure for which a graph is to be generated.
      • Next, select the Measure of interest.
      • Provide a Display name for the measure. Then, click the Add button to add the measure to the Existing Values(s) list. Finally, click the Update button.
      • This will add a new measure, summary, and trend graph for the chosen measure to the History tab page.

      Note:

      Only users with Admin or Supermonitor privileges can enable/disable the system, network, and application dashboards, or can customize the contents of such dashboards using the Dashboard Settings window. Therefore, whenever a user without Admin or Supermonitor privileges logs into the monitoring console, the button will not appear.

3. SQLMemory

   If you want to assess how efficiently the MS SQL application uses the memory resources available to it, and thus promptly detect issues related to the memory-intensive measures, select the SQLMemory option from the Subsystem list.

   The contents of this dashboard are discussed hereunder:

   1. The dashboard begins with a dial and digital graphs section, which enables you to visually track the changes that are happening in the measures related to the memory related measures that are available in the MS SQL application. For instance, the Buffer cache hit ratio pertaining to the SQL Memory can be viewed at a single glance. Clicking on a dial/digital graph will lead you to the layer model page of the MS SQL Application; this page will display the exact layer-test combination that reports the measure represented by the dial/digital graph.
   2. The History tab page displays time-of-day graphs for all the memory-related measures for a default time duration of 24 hours. You can override this default timeline (of 24 hours) by following the steps below:
   • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard.
   • In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select History Graph from the Default Timeline for list.
   • Then, choose a Timeline for the graph.
   • Finally, click the Update button.
   3. Say, you suddenly notice that the Page reads measure has increased; in such a case, you can use these measure graphs to figure out when during the last 24 hours there was an increase in the number of pages that was read per second. If required, you can even look beyond the last 24 hours - i.e., you can find out whether the anomaly originated much earlier. For this, you just need to click on the graph of interest to you. This will enlarge the graph; in the enlarged mode, you can alter the graph Timeline, so that the performance of that measure can be analyzed over a broader time window. In this mode, you can even change the graph dimension from 3D to 2D, or vice-versa.
   4. To view summary graphs of these memory-related measures instead of the default measure graphs, just click on the icon at the right, top corner of the History tab page. The summary graphs thus appearing will reveal the percentage of time during the last 24 hours (by default) the MS SQL application has been affected by memory-related issues, and the type of issues (whether critical/major/minor) the application was experiencing. These graphs help determine whether the assured service levels were delivered or not.

      The default duration (of 24 hours) of the summary graphs can be overridden by following the procedure discussed below:

      • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard.
      • In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select Summary Graph from the Default Timeline for list.
      • Then, choose a Timeline for the graph.
      • Finally, click the Update button.
   5. Use the Timeline link at the right, top corner of the tab page to change the timeline of all the summary graphs at one shot. For altering the timeline of a single graph, click on it; this will enlarge the graph. In the enlarged mode, you can change the Timeline of the summary graph and modify the dimension (3D/2D) of the graph. Also, by default, hourly summaries are plotted in the summary graph; you can configure these graphs to plot daily/monthly summaries instead by picking the relevant option from the Duration list in the enlarged mode.
   6. If you want to view the past trends in the memory performance, click on the icon at the right, top corner of the History tab page. Using the trend graphs that appears, you can better assess the current capacity of your application and can accordingly plan its future capacity. By default, these trend graphs plot the maximum and minimum values registered by every memory-related measure during every hour of the last 24 hours. From this data, you can clearly figure out when during the last 24 hours the application performance has peaked and when it has been below-normal.

      The default duration (of 24 hours) of the trend graphs can be overridden by following the procedure discussed below:

      • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard.
      • In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select Trend Graph from the Default Timeline for list.
      • Then, choose a Timeline for the graph.
      • Finally, click the Update button.
   7. Use the Timeline link at the right, top corner of the tab page to change the timeline of all the trend graphs at one shot. For altering the timeline of a single graph, click on it; this will enlarge the graph. In the enlarged mode, you can change the Timeline of the trend graph and modify the dimension (3D/2D) of the graph. Also, by default, hourly trends are plotted in the trend graph; you can configure these graphs to plot daily/monthly trend values instead by picking the relevant option from the Duration list in the enlarged mode. Moreover, by default, the trend graphs plot only the minimum and maximum values registered by a measure during the specified timeline - this graph will enable you to isolate those times at which performance of that measure had peaked and the times it had fared poorly. If need be, you can select the Avg option from the Graph type list in the enlarged mode to make sure that the trend graph plots the average trend values for the specified timeline. Alternatively, you can select the Sum option from the Graph type list to have the trend graph plot the sum of trends for the specified timeline.

      Note:

      In case of descriptor-based tests, the Summary and Trend graphs displayed in the History tab page typically plot the values for a single descriptor alone. To view the graph for another descriptor, pick a descriptor from the drop-down list made available above the corresponding summary/trend graph.

      At any point in time, you can switch to the measure graphs by clicking on the button.

      Typically, the History tab page displays measure, summary, and trend graphs for a default set of measures. If you want to add graphs for more measures to this tab page or remove one/more measures for which graphs pre-exist in this tab page, then, do the following:

      • Click the button at the top of the dashboard.
      • The Dashboard Settings window then appears. From the Module list, pick Application, choose SQLMemory as the Sub-System, and then, select History Graph from the Add/Delete Measures for list.
      • The measures for which graphs pre-exist in the History tab page will be automatically displayed in the Existing Value(s) list. To delete a measure, and in effect, its corresponding graph as well, select the measure from the Existing Value(s) list, click the Delete button, and then click the Update button.
      • To add a new graph, first, pick the Test that reports the measure for which a graph is to be generated.
      • Next, select the Measure of interest.
      • Provide a Display name for the measure. Then, click the Add button to add the measure to the Existing Values(s) list. Finally, click the Update button.
      • This will add a new measure, summary, and trend graph for the chosen measure to the History tab page.

      Note:

      Only users with Admin or Supermonitor privileges can enable/disable the system, network, and application dashboards, or can customize the contents of such dashboards using the Dashboard Settings window. Therefore, whenever a user without Admin or Supermonitor privileges logs into the monitoring console, the button will not appear.

4. SQLProcesses

   Select the SQLProcesses option from the Subsystem list to know how efficiently the processes are running for each database user.

   The contents of this dashboard are as follows:

   1. The Comparison tab page provides a series of top 10 charts, using which you can isolate the top Database Users for various resource-intensive processes. This default list of measures for top-n chart generation can be overridden by following the steps discussed below:
      • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard. In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select Application from the Module list, and SQLProcesses from the Sub-System list.
      • To add new measures for which top-n graphs are to be displayed in the Comparison tab page, first, pick the Comparison Graph option from the Add/Delete Measures for list. Upon selection of this option, the pre-configured measures for comparison graphs will appear in the Existing Value(s) list.
      • Next, select the Test that reports the said measure, pick the measure of interest from the Measures list, provide a Display name for the measure, and click the Add button to add the chosen measure to the Existing Value(s) list.
      • If you want to delete one/more measures for which comparison graphs pre-exist in the Comparison tab page, then, as soon as you choose the Comparison Graph option from the Add/Delete Measures for list, pick any of the displayed measures from the Existing Value(s) list, and click the Delete button.
      • Finally, click the Update button to register the changes.

      Note:

      Only users with Admin or Supermonitor privileges can enable/disable the system, network, and application dashboards, or can customize the contents of such dashboards using the Dashboard Settings window. Therefore, whenever a user without Admin or Supermonitor privileges logs into the monitoring console, the button will not appear.

   2. To view the complete list of database users for each process, simply click on the corresponding graph which will enlarge the graph.
   3. Though the enlarged graph lists the database users, by default, you can customize the enlarged graph to display the details of only a few of the best/worst-performing processes by picking a TOP-N or LAST-N option from the Show list.
   4. Another default aspect of the enlarged graph is that it pertains to the current period only. Sometimes however, you might want to know what occurred during a point of time in the past; for instance, while trying to understand the reason behind a sudden slowdown in a particular process on a particular day last week, you might want to first determine which process has behaved abnormally on the same day. To figure this out, the enlarged graph allows you to compare the historical performance of the processes. For this purpose, click on the Compare History link in the Graph and select the TimeLine of your choice.
   5. The History tab page below, by default, provides a series of measure graphs that reveal how the process has been performing over the default duration of the last 24 hours. If there is a sudden slowdown in the process, it could indicate that the server is experiencing issues with the concerned process. In such a case, a look at these measure graphs will help you figure out when exactly the bottleneck surfaced - did it happen suddenly or is it a condition that has become worse with time?

      The default duration of 24 hours can be overridden using the procedure discussed below:

      • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard.
      • In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select History Graph from the Default Timeline for list.
      • Then, choose a Timeline for the graph.
      • Finally, click the Update button.
   6. If need be, you can even alter the timeline of all these measure graphs so that you can analyze performance across days and weeks; for this, simply click the Timeline link at the right, top corner of the History tab page and change the timeline for the graphs using the calendar that pops out. To change the timeline of a single graph alone, simply click on that graph to enlarge it, and then modify the Timeline of the graph in the enlarged mode. In the enlarged mode, you can even change the dimension of the measure graph (3D / 2D).
   7. To determine the service level achievements / slippages of the process, you need to view summary graphs of the measures and not the default measure graphs. For this, just click on the icon at the right, top corner of the History tab page.
   8. The summary graphs reveal the percentage of time the process experienced problems in the database. Besides revealing the efficiency of your administrative staff in recognizing bottlenecks and mitigating them, these summary graphs also indicate whether the class loader has been able to maintain the assured performance levels during the default duration of 24 hours.

      To override this default duration, follow the steps below:

      • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard.
      • In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select Summary Graph from the Default Timeline for list.
      • Then, choose a Timeline for the graph.
      • Finally, click the Update button.

      In case of the summary graphs too, you can change the Timeline of all graphs by clicking on the Timeline link at the right, top corner of the History tab page. To alter the timeline of a single graph, here again, you will have to click on that graph, enlarge it, and modify the timeline. Also, by default, hourly summaries are plotted in the summary graph; you can configure these graphs to plot daily/monthly summaries instead by picking the relevant option from the Duration list in the enlarged mode.

      To analyze past trends in the behavior of the processes, click on the icon at the right, top corner of the History tab page. These trend graphs, by default, plot the minimum and maximum values that every measure registered during each hour of the last 24 hours (by default). By carefully observing these past trends, you can effectively analyze the workload of the process, predict future workloads accordingly, and suggest measures to enhance the efficiency of the process. Here again, you can change the timeline of all graphs using the Timeline link, or just a particular graph by clicking on it and enlarging it.

      For changing the default duration (of 24 hours) of the trend graphs, do the following:

      • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard.
      • In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select Trend Graph from the Default Timeline for list.
      • Then, choose a Timeline for the graph.
      • Finally, click the Update button.

      In addition, when a trend graph is enlarged, it is not just the Timeline that you can modify. The Duration of the graph can also be altered. By default, trend graphs reveal only the hourly trends in performance. By picking the relevant option from the Duration list, you can ensure that the trend graph in question plots daily/monthly trend values instead. Also, in the enlarged mode, the Graph type can also be modified. Since the default Graph type is Min/Max, the trend graph, by default, reveals the minimum and maximum values registered by a measure. If need be, you can select the Avg or Sum option from the Graph type list to plot average trend values of a measure or sum of trends (as the case may be) in the graph.

      Note:

      In case of descriptor-based tests, the Summary and Trend graphs displayed in the History tab page typically plot the values for a single descriptor alone. To view the graph for another descriptor, pick a descriptor from the drop-down list made available above the corresponding summary/trend graph.

      At any point in time, you can switch to the measure graphs by clicking on the button.

      Typically, the History tab page displays measure, summary, and trend graphs for a default set of measures. If you want to add graphs for more measures to this tab page or remove one/more measures for which graphs pre-exist in this tab page, then, do the following:

      • Click the button at the top of the dashboard.
      • The Dashboard Settings window then appears. From the Module list, pick Application, choose SQLProcesses as the Sub-System, and then, select History Graph from the Add/Delete Measures for list.
      • The measures for which graphs pre-exist in the History tab page will be automatically displayed in the Existing Value(s) list. To delete a measure, and in effect, its corresponding graph as well, select the measure from the Existing Value(s) list, click the Delete button, and then click the Update button.
      • To add a new graph, first, pick the Test that reports the measure for which a graph is to be generated.
      • Next, select the Measure of interest.
      • Provide a Display name for the measure. Then, click the Add button to add the measure to the Existing Values(s) list. Finally, click the Update button.
      • This will add a new measure, summary, and trend graph for the chosen measure to the History tab page.

      Note:

      Only users with Admin or Supermonitor privileges can enable/disable the system, network, and application dashboards, or can customize the contents of such dashboards using the Dashboard Settings window. Therefore, whenever a user without Admin or Supermonitor privileges logs into the monitoring console, the button will not appear.

5. SQLDatabases

   Select the SQLDatabases option from the Subsystem list to know how efficiently the databases are used by the MS SQL application and how well the database has been responding to the queries from other applications.

   The contents of this dashboard are as follows:

   1. The At-A-Glance tab page lists the databases that are available at present in the MS SQL application, in the Databases section. Upon selecting a database, the detailed measures corresponding to that particular database is available in a context-sensitive right panel. For instance, if master database is selected, then in the right panel, the Database Usage section will provide the usage details like Total size, etc. Also the Database Transactions section provides the relevant transaction measures The Background processes section will list out all the background process available for the users who are accessing that particular database. By default, the background process list provided by this section is sorted in the alphabetical order of the User. If need be, you can change the sort order so that the processes are arranged in, say, the descending order of values displayed in the Physical_io column - this column displays the physical io location of each user connected to the database. To achieve this, simply click on the column heading - Physical_io. Doing so tags the Physical_io label with a down arrow icon - this icon indicates that the background process list is currently sorted in the descending order of physical io location. To change the sort order to 'ascending', all you need to do is just click again on the Physical_io label or the down arrow icon. Similarly, you can sort the process list based on any column available in the Background processes section. Likewise the right panel may consist of Running processes and Sleeping processes sections, if those particular processes are available for execution in the selected database. Similarly CPU cycles rate section may also be available for the databases. This section reveals the number of CPU cycles taken by the server for each host available in the target MS SQL application. The columns available in this section can also be sorted in the same manner as that of the Background processes section.
   2. The Comparison tab page that follows the At-A-Glance tab page provides a series of top-10 charts, using which you can isolate the databases that are leading the lot in the following fields: Size, Log Size and Active transactions. This default list of fields (i.e., measures) for top-n chart generation can be overridden by following the steps discussed below:
      • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard. In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select Application from the Module list, and SQLDatabases from the Sub-System list.
      • To add new measures for which top-n graphs are to be displayed in the Comparison tab page, first, pick the Comparison Graph option from the Add/Delete Measures for list. Upon selection of this option, the pre-configured measures for comparison graphs will appear in the Existing Value(s) list.
      • Next, select the Test that reports the said measure, pick the measure of interest from the Measures list, provide a Display name for the measure, and click the Add button to add the chosen measure to the Existing Value(s) list.
      • If you want to delete one/more measures for which comparison graphs pre-exist in the Comparison tab page, then, as soon as you choose the Comparison Graph option from the Add/Delete Measures for list, pick any of the displayed measures from the Existing Value(s) list, and click the Delete button.
      • Finally, click the Update button to register the changes.

      Note:

      Only users with Admin or Supermonitor privileges can enable/disable the system, network, and application dashboards, or can customize the contents of such dashboards using the Dashboard Settings window. Therefore, whenever a user without Admin or Supermonitor privileges logs into the monitoring console, the button will not appear.

   3. To view the complete list of databases, simply click on the corresponding graph to view the enlarged version of the graph.
   4. Though the enlarged graph lists all the databases by default, you can customize the enlarged graph to display the details of only a few of the best/worst-performing databases by picking a TOP-N or LAST-N option from the Show list.
   5. Another default aspect of the enlarged graph is that it pertains to the current period only. Sometimes however, you might want to know what occurred during a point of time in the past; for instance, while trying to understand the reason behind a sudden increase in the Size of the databases on a particular day last week, you might want to first determine which database has behaved abnormally on the same day. To figure this out, the enlarged graph allows you to compare the historical performance of databases. For this purpose, click on the Compare History link in the enlarged Graph and select the TimeLine of your choice.
   6. The History tab page below, by default, provides a series of measure graphs that reveal how well the databases have been performing over the default duration of the last 24 hours. If the performance of the databases dramatically decreases, it could indicate that the databases are experiencing performance issues. In such a case, a look at these measure graphs will help you figure out when exactly the bottleneck surfaced - did it happen suddenly or is it a condition that has become worse with time?

      The default duration of 24 hours can be overridden using the procedure discussed below:

      • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard.
      • In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select History Graph from the Default Timeline for list.
      • Then, choose a Timeline for the graph.
      • Finally, click the Update button.

      Note:

      Only users with Admin or Supermonitor privileges can enable/disable the system, network, and application dashboards, or can customize the contents of such dashboards using the Dashboard Settings window. Therefore, whenever a user without Admin or Supermonitor privileges logs into the monitoring console, the button will not appear.

      If need be, you can even alter the timeline of all these measure graphs so that you can analyze performance across days and weeks; for this, simply click the Timeline link at the right, top corner of the History tab page and change the timeline for the graphs using the calendar that pops out. To change the timeline of a single graph alone, simply click on that graph to enlarge it, and then modify the Timeline of the graph in the enlarged mode. Though the enlarged graph lists all the databases by default, you can customize the enlarged graph to display the details of only a few of the best/worst-performing databases by picking a TOP-N or LAST-N option from the Show list. In the enlarged mode, you can even change the dimension of the measure graph (3D / 2D).

   7. To determine the service level achievements of the databases, you need to view summary graphs of the measures and not the default measure graphs. For this, just click on the icon at the right, top corner of the History tab page.

      The summary graphs displayed once clicked, will reveal the percentage of time the MS SQL application experienced problems in one of its databases. Besides revealing the efficiency of your administrative staff in recognizing bottlenecks and mitigating them, these summary graphs also indicate whether the databases has been able to maintain the assured performance levels during the default duration of 24 hours.

      To override this default duration, follow the steps below:

      .

      • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard.
      • In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select Summary Graph from the Default Timeline for list.
      • Then, choose a Timeline for the graph.
      • Finally, click the Update button.

      In case of the summary graphs too, you can change the Timeline of all graphs by clicking on the Timeline link at the right, top corner of the History tab page. To alter the timeline of a single graph, here again, you will have to click on that graph, enlarge it, and modify the timeline. Also, by default, hourly summaries are plotted in the summary graph; you can configure these graphs to plot daily/monthly summaries instead by picking the relevant option from the Duration list in the enlarged mode.

      To analyze past trends in the performance of the databases, click on the icon at the right, top corner of the History tab page.

      These trend graphs, by default, plot the minimum and maximum values that every measure registered during each hour of the last 24 hours (by default). Using such graphs, you can accurately point to the time windows during which there was a lull in the transaction of the selected database. Here again, you can change the timeline of all graphs using the Timeline link in the History tab page, or just a particular graph by clicking on it and enlarging it.

      For changing the default duration (of 24 hours) of the trend graphs, do the following:

      • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard.
      • In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select Trend Graph from the Default Timeline for list.
      • Then, choose a Timeline for the graph.
      • Finally, click the Update button.
      In addition, when a trend graph is enlarged, it is not just the Timeline that you can modify. The Duration of the graph can also be altered. By default, trend graphs reveal only the hourly trends in performance. By picking the relevant option from the Duration list, you can ensure that the trend graph in question plots daily/monthly trend values instead. Also, in the enlarged mode, the Graph type can also be modified. Since the default Graph type is Min/Max, the trend graph, by default, reveals the minimum and maximum values registered by a measure. If need be, you can select the Avg or Sum option from the Graph type list to plot average trend values of a measure or sum of trends (as the case may be) in the graph.

      Note:

      In case of descriptor-based tests, the Summary and Trend graphs displayed in the History tab page typically plot the values for a single descriptor alone. To view the graph for another descriptor, pick a descriptor from the drop-down list made available above the corresponding summary/trend graph.

      At any point in time, you can switch to the measure graphs by clicking on the button.

      Typically, the History tab page displays measure, summary, and trend graphs for a default set of measures. If you want to add graphs for more measures to this tab page or remove one/more measures for which graphs pre-exist in this tab page, then, do the following:

      • Click the button at the top of the dashboard.
      • The Dashboard Settings window then appears. From the Module list, pick Application, choose SQLDatabases as the Sub-System, and then, select History Graph from the Add/Delete Measures for list.
      • The measures for which graphs pre-exist in the History tab page will be automatically displayed in the Existing Value(s) list. To delete a measure, and in effect, its corresponding graph as well, select the measure from the Existing Value(s) list, click the Delete button, and then click the Update button.
      • To add a new graph, first, pick the Test that reports the measure for which a graph is to be generated.
      • Next, select the Measure of interest.
      • Provide a Display name for the measure. Then, click the Add button to add the measure to the Existing Values(s) list. Finally, click the Update button.
      • This will add a new measure, summary, and trend graph for the chosen measure to the History tab page.

      Note:

      Only users with Admin or Supermonitor privileges can enable/disable the system, network, and application dashboards, or can customize the contents of such dashboards using the Dashboard Settings window. Therefore, whenever a user without Admin or Supermonitor privileges logs into the monitoring console, the button will not appear.

6. SQLApplications
Select the SQLApplications option from the Subsystem list to know how well the applications are being used by the MS SQL application.

The contents of the SQLApplications dashboard are as follows:

1. For an easy and single glance view of certain measures like Number of processes, CPU cycle rate and Avg CPU cycles rate, a digital graph section is included. When a digital graph is clicked, the corresponding layer-test combination which reports that particular measure will be displayed from the layer model page of the MS SQL application.
2. From the Top Queries tab page, you can infer the queries that have been made to the databases from the client application. By default, the queries listed in this tab page are sorted in alphabetical order of the Database. If need be, you can change the sort order so that the databases are arranged in, say, the descending order of values displayed in the CPUCycles column. To achieve this, simply click on the column heading - CPUCycles. Doing so tags the CPUCycles label with a down arrow icon - this icon indicates that this tab page is currently sorted in the descending order of the CPU cycles. To change the sort order to 'ascending', all you need to do is just click again on the CPUCycles label or the down arrow icon. Similarly, you can sort the process list based on any column available in this tab page.
3. The History tab page, by default, displays time-of-day graphs revealing how well the application has been performing over a default period of 24 hours. If the eG agent reports any abnormal behavior of the MS SQL application, these graphs will help determine when exactly in the last 24 hours the abnormality occurred. This default duration of 24 hours can be overridden using the following steps:
   • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard.
   • In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select History Graph from the Default Timeline for list.
   • Then, choose a Timeline for the graph.
   • Finally, click the Update button.

   Note:

   Only users with Admin or Supermonitor privileges can enable/disable the system, network, and application dashboards, or can customize the contents of such dashboards using the Dashboard Settings window. Therefore, whenever a user without Admin or Supermonitor privileges logs into the monitoring console, the button will not appear.

4. A careful study of this graph over time periods longer than 24 hours, can reveal intermittent breaks (if any) in the number of processes and the CPU cycle rate of the databases. To ensure that all graphs plot values for longer time periods, click on the Timeline link at the right, top corner of the History tab page, and then change the timeline using the calendar that pops out. To modify the timeline for a particular graph alone, click on the graph to enlarge it, and alter the timeline in the enlarged mode. Besides the timeline, you can even change the graph dimension (3D / 2D) in the enlarged mode.
5. Sometimes, you might have to periodically determine the percentage of time for which the MS SQL application experienced problems relating to the databases. To determine such problems, summary graphs of the SQL applications measures are useful. To view summary graphs in the History tab page, click on the icon at the right, top corner of the History tab page. These summary graphs reveal the percentage of time during the last 24 hours (by default) the MS SQL application has experienced issues related to the SQLapplications. To override this default timeline, do the following:
   • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard.
   • In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select Summary Graph from the Default Timeline for list.
   • Then, choose a Timeline for the graph.
   • Finally, click the Update button.

   To perform the summary analysis over a broader time window, click on the Timeline link at the right, top corner of the History tab page and change the timeline; this will alter the timeline for all the graphs. To change the timeline of a particular graph alone, click on the graph to enlarge it, and then alter its timeline. Also, by default, hourly summaries are plotted in the summary graph; you can configure these graphs to plot daily/monthly summaries instead by picking the relevant option from the Duration list in the enlarged mode. Here again, the graph dimension (3D / 2D) can be altered.

   Similarly, you can analyze uptime trends by viewing trend graphs in the History tab page. For this, click on the icon at the right, top corner of the tab page. These trend graphs, by default, plot the minimum and maximum values registered by every SQL application-related measure during every hour for the last 24 hours. The default duration of 24 hours can be overridden using the procedure discussed below:

   • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard.
   • In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select Summary Graph from the Default Timeline for list.
   • Then, choose a Timeline for the graph.
   • Finally, click the Update button.

   To perform trend analysis over a longer time span, click on the Timeline link at the right, top corner of the History tab page and change the timeline; this will alter the timeline for all the graphs. To change the timeline of a particular graph alone, click on the graph to enlarge it, and then alter its timeline. In addition to the timeline, the graph dimension (3D / 2D), the graph Duration, and the Graph type can also be changed in the enlarged mode. By default, the graph Duration is Hourly, indicating that trend graphs plot hourly trend values by default. To ensure that these graphs plot the daily/monthly trend values instead, select the relevant option from the Duration list. Similarly, as already mentioned, trend graphs plot only the minimum and maximum values registered by a measure during the specified timeline. Accordingly, the Graph type is set to Min/Max by default in the enlarged mode. If you want the trend graph to plot the average trend values instead, set the Graph type to Avg. On the other hand, to configure the trend graph to plot the sum of trends set the Graph type to Sum.

   Note:

   In case of descriptor-based tests, the Summary and Trend graphs displayed in the History tab page typically plot the values for a single descriptor alone. To view the graph for another descriptor, pick a descriptor from the drop-down list made available above the corresponding summary/trend graph.

   At any point in time, you can switch to the measure graphs by clicking on the button.

   Typically, the History tab page displays measure, summary, and trend graphs for a default set of measures. If you want to add graphs for more measures to this tab page or remove one/more measures for which graphs pre-exist in this tab page, then, do the following:

   • Click the button at the top of the dashboard.
   • The Dashboard Settings window then appears. From the Module list, pick Application, choose SQLApplication as the Sub-System, and then, select History Graph from the Add/Delete Measures for list.
   • The measures for which graphs pre-exist in the History tab page will be automatically displayed in the Existing Value(s) list. To delete a measure, and in effect, its corresponding graph as well, select the measure from the Existing Value(s) list, click the Delete button, and then click the Update button.
   • To add a new graph, first, pick the Test that reports the measure for which a graph is to be generated.
   • Next, select the Measure of interest.
   • Provide a Display name for the measure. Then, click the Add button to add the measure to the Existing Values(s) list. Finally, click the Update button.
   • This will add a new measure, summary, and trend graph for the chosen measure to the History tab page.

   Note:

   Only users with Admin or Supermonitor privileges can enable/disable the system, network, and application dashboards, or can customize the contents of such dashboards using the Dashboard Settings window. Therefore, whenever a user without Admin or Supermonitor privileges logs into the monitoring console, the button will not appear.

7. SQLService

   The SQLService option is picked from the Subsystem list to know about the overall performance of the MS SQL application such as server health, session activity, access capacity of the server etc, in detail.

   The contents of the SQLService dashboard are as follows:

   1. A digital display section for some critical session activity and access capability measures is included for an easy and single glance view. When a digital display is clicked, the corresponding layer-test combination which reports that particular measure will be displayed from the layer model page of the MS SQL application.
   2. The History tab page, by default, displays time-of-day graphs revealing how well the application has been performing over a default period of 24 hours. If the eG agent reports any abnormal behavior of the MS SQL application, these graphs will help determine when exactly in the last 24 hours the abnormality occurred. This default duration of 24 hours can be overridden using the following steps:
      • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard.
      • In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select History Graph from the Default Timeline for list.
      • Then, choose a Timeline for the graph.
      • Finally, click the Update button.

      Note:

      Only users with Admin or Supermonitor privileges can enable/disable the system, network, and application dashboards, or can customize the contents of such dashboards using the Dashboard Settings window. Therefore, whenever a user without Admin or Supermonitor privileges logs into the monitoring console, the button will not appear.

   3. A careful study of this graph over time periods longer than 24 hours, can reveal intermittent breaks (if any) in the session activity and access capability measures of this MS SQL application. To ensure that all graphs plot values for longer time periods, click on the Timeline link at the right, top corner of the History tab page, and then change the timeline using the calendar that pops out. To modify the timeline for a particular graph alone, click on the graph to enlarge it, and alter the timeline in the enlarged mode. Besides the timeline, you can even change the graph dimension (3D / 2D) in the enlarged mode.
   4. Sometimes, you might have to periodically determine the percentage of time for which the MS SQL application experienced problems relating to the databases. To determine such problems, summary graphs are useful. To view summary graphs in the History tab page, click on the icon at the right, top corner of the History tab page. These summary graphs reveal the percentage of time during the last 24 hours (by default) the MS SQL application has experienced issues related to the SQL service. To override this default timeline, do the following:
      • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard.
      • In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select Summary Graph from the Default Timeline for list.
      • Then, choose a Timeline for the graph.
      • Finally, click the Update button.

      To perform the summary analysis over a broader time window, click on the Timeline link at the right, top corner of the History tab page and change the timeline; this will alter the timeline for all the graphs. To change the timeline of a particular graph alone, click on the graph to enlarge it, and then alter its timeline. Also, by default, hourly summaries are plotted in the summary graph; you can configure these graphs to plot daily/monthly summaries instead by picking the relevant option from the Duration list in the enlarged mode. Here again, the graph dimension (3D / 2D) can be altered.

      Similarly, you can analyze uptime trends by viewing trend graphs in the History tab page. For this, click on the icon at the right, top corner of the tab page. These trend graphs, by default, plot the minimum and maximum values registered by every SQL application-related measure during every hour for the last 24 hours. The default duration of 24 hours can be overridden using the procedure discussed below:

      • Click on the icon at the top of the Application Dashboard.
      • In the Dashboard Settings window that appears, select Summary Graph from the Default Timeline for list.
      • Then, choose a Timeline for the graph.
      • Finally, click the Update button.

      To perform trend analysis over a longer time span, click on the Timeline link at the right, top corner of the History tab page and change the timeline; this will alter the timeline for all the graphs. To change the timeline of a particular graph alone, click on the graph to enlarge it, and then alter its timeline. In addition to the timeline, the graph dimension (3D / 2D), the graph Duration, and the Graph type can also be changed in the enlarged mode. By default, the graph Duration is Hourly, indicating that trend graphs plot hourly trend values by default. To ensure that these graphs plot the daily/monthly trend values instead, select the relevant option from the Duration list. Similarly, as already mentioned, trend graphs plot only the minimum and maximum values registered by a measure during the specified timeline. Accordingly, the Graph type is set to Min/Max by default in the enlarged mode. If you want the trend graph to plot the average trend values instead, set the Graph type to Avg. On the other hand, to configure the trend graph to plot the sum of trends set the Graph type to Sum.

      Note:

      In case of descriptor-based tests, the Summary and Trend graphs displayed in the History tab page typically plot the values for a single descriptor alone. To view the graph for another descriptor, pick a descriptor from the drop-down list made available above the corresponding summary/trend graph.

      At any point in time, you can switch to the measure graphs by clicking on the button.

      Typically, the History tab page displays measure, summary, and trend graphs for a default set of measures. If you want to add graphs for more measures to this tab page or remove one/more measures for which graphs pre-exist in this tab page, then, do the following:

      • Click the button at the top of the dashboard.
      • The Dashboard Settings window then appears. From the Module list, pick Application, choose SQLService as the Sub-System, and then, select History Graph from the Add/Delete Measures for list.
      • The measures for which graphs pre-exist in the History tab page will be automatically displayed in the Existing Value(s) list. To delete a measure, and in effect, its corresponding graph as well, select the measure from the Existing Value(s) list, click the Delete button, and then click the Update button.
      • To add a new graph, first, pick the Test that reports the measure for which a graph is to be generated.
      • Next, select the Measure of interest.
      • Provide a Display name for the measure. Then, click the Add button to add the measure to the Existing Values(s) list. Finally, click the Update button.
      • This will add a new measure, summary, and trend graph for the chosen measure to the History tab page.

      Note:

      Only users with Admin or Supermonitor privileges can enable/disable the system, network, and application dashboards, or can customize the contents of such dashboards using the Dashboard Settings window. Therefore, whenever a user without Admin or Supermonitor privileges logs into the monitoring console, the button will not appear.