Database Monitoring Tools

An SQL server monitoring tool was desperately needed at a newspaper in a middle sized city in a northeastern state. SQL stands for structured query language, and it offers its users the opportunity to give commands to the database such as select, update, delete, insert and where. Data pools that reporters used to cross check names, stories and leads were becoming more and more difficult to obtain because of bottlenecks in the information stream. Too much information and too much demand were placing the data pools in a precarious state. Grumbling and complaining among the staff was becoming more and more of a daily occurrence, and the editor needed to make some changes fast. Reporters trying to dig for new information on old stories, confidential sources, witnesses and other facts from dated material are paramount to doing journalistic excellence and the result was that the creative process was being bogged down by slow and sometimes even unresponsive database servers.

Database monitoring tools to help in alleviating large database bottlenecks and slow responses are available from a vast array of vendors. But trying to pinpoint exact causes of slowdowns in data pool performance can be very difficult to do, because of the vast amount of information that is stored. It would not be rare to find millions of events stored on an SQL database and so an SQL server monitoring tool must be able to work at very high speeds and find the data hang up. Typically a DBA or database developer would not be allowed to look at the actual data pool information simply because looking at thousands or tens of thousands of almost identical lines of information would be of no value. In many cases, the software can perform a quick analysis of data pool use over a specific span of time, identify what kinds of searches were performed, and the user of the SQL, and then begin to identify where specific problems are occurring.

Database monitoring tools offers users to do a vast array of functionality in keeping databases running smoothly. Some tools offer the ability to observe the connectivity of networks, including database and email performance along with printer function, the performance of network devices and detecting upcoming problems before they occur. Some have the ability to restore a damaged database program, but of course, the software is often limited by how much damage has occurred and may only be effective with certain software databases. Other software is helpful in debugging relational databases such as vendors, customers, witnesses and similar information while other software is more adept in the numerical database arena, and of course even others can handle both genres quite efficiently. These observing tools will let network administrators know of upcoming problems by email or pager. Other tools enable users to interface with multiple databases, making users even more productive and powerful.

A useful SQL server monitoring tool will enable the DBA to make the standard ANSI code for the SQL format into a more synthesized and streamlined code for the particular business application. In addition, a helpful SQL tool will also allow different clients access to certain SQL databases without possessing the software on their own networks. In addition, helpful SQL monitoring software will detect areas of locks and deadlocks, indentify SQL code that is offending the data stream process, have a non impact on the integrity of the system, accelerate response time, inspect values of all objects in the program including simple variables, temporary tables, and permanent tables. In addition, database monitoring tools will observe and record the length of time spent waiting on data returns, observe simple input and output actions and check cache hits ratios.

The SGL server at the newspaper had not been serviced in several years. Just like an aging physical body, changes in database performance were slow and barely perceptible until all bottlenecks seemed to converge almost all at once. An emergency meeting of the executive committee of the newspaper approved the hiring of a full time DBA/IT to come on staff and begin monitoring the almost seventy work stations and keep the SQL database as well as other essential network functions running smoothly. One of the first things the DBA did was to install an SQL server monitoring tool that enabled her to look back at past episodes of deadlock or lockdown. Many of SQL monitoring tools only allowed real time observance of problems occurring. "The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver." (Psalm 119:72)

Database monitoring tools is not one of the more glamorous subjects unless a person is an IT administrator or a Database Developer. In those cases, it's a pretty sure thing that there would be a whole lot more data the reader would like to add to this blog. Monitoring is a buzzword for Snoozeville for a lot of people. Talking to teachers about going out and monitoring recess will get a person a whole lot of comments about how slow the time goes, and if a person doesn't like fishing, one can go almost stir crazy monitoring the line in the water. Parents are big on watching school progress and financial advisors watch the stock market like a hawk, and avid sports fans can tell an outsider every injury of every player on his/her favorite team. But how many of us monitor the slow, insidious creep of amoral values that have entered our society in recent years? Perhaps there has been so little monitoring of its affect on all of us that now it's almost impossible to tell the difference between right and wrong in many cases.

Add to: File Insurance Business article Teen Photo Images