SQL Uptime Test

In most production environments, it is essential to monitor the uptime of critical database instances in the infrastructure. By tracking the uptime of each of the database instances, administrators can determine what percentage of time a database instance has been up. Comparing this value with service level targets, administrators can determine the most trouble-prone areas of the infrastructure.

In some environments, administrators may schedule periodic reboots of their database instance. By knowing that a specific database instance has been up for an unusually long time, an administrator may come to know that the scheduled reboot task is not working on a database instance.

This SQL Uptime test monitors the uptime of the target Microsoft SQL database instance.

Note:

This test is applicable only to Microsoft SQL Server version 2008 and above.

Target of the test : A Microsoft SQL server

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for every Microsoft SQL server being monitored

Configurable parameters for the test
TEST PERIOD - How often should the test be executed Host – The IP address of the Microsoft SQL server. Port - The port number through which the Microsoft SQL server communicates. The default port is 1433. ssl – If the Microsoft SQL server being monitored is an SSL-enabled server, then set the ssl flag to Yes. If not, then set the ssl flag to No. instance - In this text box, enter the name of a specific Microsoft SQL instance that is to be monitored. The default value of this parameter is “default”. To monitor a Microsoft SQL instance named “CFS”, enter this as the value of the INSTANCE parameter. USER – If a Microsoft SQL Server 7.0/2000 is monitored, then provide the name of a SQL user with the Sysadmin role in this text box. While monitoring a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 or above, provide the name of a SQL user with all of the privileges outlined in User Privileges Required for Monitoring Microsoft SQL server. password - The password of the specified user. confirm password - Confirm the password by retyping it. domain - By default, none is displayed in the DOMAIN text box. If the ‘SQL server and Windows’ authentication has been enabled for the server being monitored, then the DOMAIN can continue to be none. On the other hand, if ‘Windows only’ authentication has been enabled, then, in the DOMAIN text box, specify the Windows domain in which the managed Microsoft SQL server exists. Also, in such a case, the USER name and PASSWORD that you provide should be that of a user authorized to access the monitored SQL server. isntlmv2 - In some Windows networks, NTLM (NT LAN Manager) may be enabled. NTLM is a suite of Microsoft security protocols that provides authentication, integrity, and confidentiality to users. NTLM version 2 (“NTLMv2”) was concocted to address the security issues present in NTLM. By default, the isntlmv2 flag is set to No, indicating that NTLMv2 is not enabled by default on the target Microsoft SQL host. Set this flag to Yes if NTLMv2 is enabled on the target host. ISPASSIVE – If the value chosen is yes, then the Microsoft SQL server under consideration is a passive server in a SQL cluster. No alerts will be generated if the server is not running. Measures will be reported as “Not applicable" by the agent if the server is not up. REPORTMANAGERTIME – By default, this flag is set to Yes, indicating that, by default, the detailed diagnosis of this test, if enabled, will report the shutdown and reboot times of the device in the manager’s time zone. If this flag is set to No, then the shutdown and reboot times are shown in the time zone of the system where the agent is running(i.e., the system being managed for agent-based monitoring, and the system on which the remote agent is running - for agentless monitoring). DETAILED DIAGNOSIS – To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG Enterprise embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test for a particular server, choose the On option. To disable the capability, click on the Off option. The option to selectively enable/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled: The eG manager license should allow the detailed diagnosis capability Both the normal and abnormal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Has SQL server been restarted?:	Indicates whether the database instance has been rebooted during the last measurement period or not.	Boolean	If the value of this measure is Yes, it means that the database instance was rebooted during the last measurement period. By checking the time periods when this metric changes from No to Yes, an administrator can determine the times when this database instance was rebooted. The Detailed Diagnosis of this measure, if enabled, lists the TIME, SHUTDOWN DATE, RESTART DATE, SHUTDOWN DURATION, and IS MAINTENANCE.
Uptime since the last measurement:	Indicates the time period that the database instance has been up since the last time this test ran.	Secs	If the database instance has not been rebooted during the last measurement period and the agent has been running continuously, this value will be equal to the measurement period. If the database instance was rebooted during the last measurement period, this value will be less than the measurement period of the test. For example, if the measurement period is 300 secs, and if the database instance was rebooted 120 secs back, this metric will report a value of 120 seconds. The accuracy of this metric is dependent on the measurement period – the smaller the measurement period, greater the accuracy.
Uptime:	Indicates the total time that the database instance has been up since its last reboot.	Mins	This measure displays the number of years, months, days, hours, minutes and seconds since the last reboot. Administrators may wish to be alerted if the database instance has been running without a reboot for a very long period. Setting a threshold for this metric allows administrators to determine such conditions.