App-V Database Test

The App-V Management Server relies on the Microsoft SQL Server to host the App-V database, which contains configuration and settings for virtual applications. The App-V Management Server is the communication conduit between the App-V Web Management Console and the SQL Server data store. Whenever a virtual application request is received from the App-V client, the APP-V Management server queries the APP-V database and sends the configuration settings to the APP-V Publishing server which hosts the virtual application package for streaming. From an end user perspective, the whole process of loading the virtual application should be just like how a real application is loaded on the user’s environment. Therefore, the configuration and settings of the virtual application package should be transferred without any time delay from the APP-V database, once the request is received. A higher time delay to process the requests will eventually lead to a delay in the loading of the virtual application which would terribly affect the end user experience. Therefore it is imperative to monitor the App-V database. This test exactly does the same! This test monitors the availability and response time from clients by the APP-V database from an external perspective.

Target of the test : An App-V Management Server

Agent deploying the test : An external agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for the APP-V Management server that is to be monitored.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter	Description
Test period	How often should the test be executed
Host	The IP address of the host for which this test is to be configured.
Port	The port at which the specified host listens. By default, this is 8080.
Database IP	The IP address of the Microsoft SQL server connected to the target APP-V Management server.
Database Port	The port number through which the Microsoft SQL server communicates with the target APP – V Management server. By default, none is displayed here.
SSL	If the App-V Management 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 " MSSQLSERVER". To monitor a Microsoft SQL instance named "CFS", enter this as the value of the Instance parameter.
User	By default, the App-V Management server needs to be configured with the Microsoft SQL server 2008 and above. Therefore, while monitoring the Microsoft SQL server 2008, provide the name of a SQL user with the CONNECT SQL, VIEW ANY DATABASE, and VIEW SERVER STATE roles.
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.
Database	The name of the database to connect to. The default is “AppVManagement”. To monitor multiple databases, ensure that the database names are provided as a colon-separated list. Alternatively, you can use the semi-colon as the separator for the database names.
Query	The select query to execute. The default is “select * from AppVManagement.dbo.Applications”. If the target Microsoft SQL database server is installed as case sensitive, then the value of query parameter must be case sensitive. If multiple databases are specified in the Database text box, then you will have to provide multiple queries here separated by a semi-colon (;) - for eg., select * from AppVManagement.dbo.Applications;select * from alarm. Every Database being monitored, should have a corresponding Query specification.
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 MS 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.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
SQL server availability	Indicates the availability of the database server.	Percent	A value of 100 indicates that the database server is currently available and a value 0 indicates that the database server is currently unavailable. A database server may be unavailable either when the server has not been started or due to misconfiguration/malfunctioning of the database server.
Total response time	Indicates the time taken by the database server to respond to a user query.	Secs	This measure is the sum total of the Connection time to database server and Query execution time measures. A low value is desired for this measure. A gradual/sudden increase in response time is indicative of a bottleneck at the database server.
Connection time to database server	Indicates the time taken by this server to connect to the database server.	Secs	A low value is desired for this measure. A high value could indicate a connection bottleneck. Whenever the Total response time measure soars, you may want to check the value of this measure to determine whether a connection latency is causing the poor responsiveness of the server.
Query processor availability	Indicates whether the database query is executed successfully or not.	Percent	A value of 100 for this measure indicates that the query was executed successfully. The value 0 on the other hand indicates that the query failed. In the event that the SQL server availability measure reports the value 0, check the value of this measure to figure out whether the failed query is the reason why that measure reported server unavailability.
Query execution time	Indicates the time taken by the database server to execute a query.	Secs	A high value could indicate that one/more queries to the database are taking too long to execute. Inefficient/badly designed queries to the database often run for long periods. If the value of this measure is higher than that of the Database connection availability measure, you can be rest assured that long running queries are the ones causing the responsiveness of the server to suffer.
Records fetched	Indicates the number of records that were fetched from the database.	Number	If the value of this measure is 0, then it indicates that no records have been fetched from the database.
Database connection availability	Indicates whether the database connection is currently available or not.	Percent	A value of 100 for this measure indicates that the database connection is available. The value 0 on the other hand indicates that the database connection is unavailable. A connection to the database may be unavailable if the database is down or if the database is listening on a port other than the one configured for it in the eG manager or owing to a poor network link. If the SQL server availability measure reports the value 0, then, you can check the value of this measure to determine whether/not it is due to the unavailability of a connection to the server.