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

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

3. 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.

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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
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7. 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 s buried in inbox.
Undetected Unavailable Database Instance:
Monitoring not centralize; difficult to detect.

8. 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.

9. 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?
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10. 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 displays results across entire environment-rather than multiple s lost in your inbox.
Historical Data Readily Available: Data can be used for trending and alerting.
Why Centralized Monitoring is Better
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11. 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
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12. 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.
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13. 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.
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14. 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.

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

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

17. Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution
SQL Query: Gather Database Backup Info
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18. Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution SQL Query: Gather Database Failed Jobs

19. Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution
SQL Query: Gather Database File Size
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20. Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution
SQL Procedure: Gather Disk Free Space
Utilize SQL Hidden Procedure:
EXEC master..xp_fixeddrives
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21. Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution
SQL Procedure: Gather Access Information
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22. 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 .
Write records to an Alert table.
Alerting
Stored
Procedure
Detects failures, sends alert, and stores alert history
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23. 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 .
Write records to alert table.
Alerting
Stored
Procedure
Detects out of range conditions, sends alert, and stores alert history
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24. 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
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25. 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
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26. 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

27. 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.

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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

31. Building a Centralized Monitoring Solution
Questions…