Does Solarwinds recommend any best practices for monitoring SQL servers?

Please clarify the suggested or possible use of AppInsight for SQL & other Application Templates for monitoring Solarwinds SQL Server without risking database corruption due to monitoring software locking itself out.

I am looking for a way to get some alerts and insight into the SQL Server used by the SolarWinds Orion platform Main Polling Engine.

I have read through and implemented the settings as described in this document: SQL Server configuration best practices for SolarWinds Platform products

Any comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated and thank you in advance.

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Accepted answers

marcrobinson

Its a windows event log component that you would create and add to a template. I have a template with just this and one other event monitored. This event is located in the App and Services logs, not the windows logs. Seeing a LOT of these is an indicator that communication to the sql server is not happening. You may see one or two after a reboot of the polling server or the sql server. The reasons may vary slightly, but point out where to look next. I included a sample below.

All comments

marcrobinson

I have had no issues with AppInsight for SQL applied to the SolarWinds Orion/Netflow/LogAnalyzer databases. However, this is all dependent on your environment. But generally - treat the solarwinds databases like any other. One application template that I have found useful is tracking windows events where servers could not connect to SQL. Its the SWService log in windows event viewer source. Id = 4001. That one is great for validating when data is not coming or going to sql. IF you have a sql cluster, monitor the VIP or DNS pointer with appinsight - no reason to monitor each cluster member with appinsight.

itengineer

Hi @marcrobinson, thank you for the reply.

May I know if monitoring the SQL Server DB for Orion platform using the AppInsight or any Application template can cause database lockup or corruption?

marcrobinson

No corruption that I have experienced, same with lockups. If SQL is having issues, this monitor will most likely indicate it or even experience it - letting you know that SQL wants some love and attention. To be fair, appinsight is not a full blown sql monitor, but it does a great job overall. Especially as it comes with your SAM licensing. Other factors that will show up as concerns - polling problems. The polling server is having issues itself or writing data back to the database. If its the former, you will most likely see other polling problems. If its the latter, other polling servers may show issues too. That event id I mentioned can help a lot. As can looking at the logs on the orion servers.

itengineer

Hi @marcrobinson,
Cool, thank you, so which AppInsight or Application template I can use to monitor Event ID 4001?

is it this one: Event 4001 is logged during SQL Server 2012 monitoring - Operations Manager | Microsoft Learn or KB: Event 4001 in the Operations Manager log during SQL Server 2012 monitoring - Microsoft Community Hub ?

marcrobinson

itengineer

Hi @marcrobinson,

If the SolarWinds Orion Platform is not able to connect to the SQL Database, then how can the alert be triggered by Solarwinds?

marcrobinson

These are momentary disconnects. The system will often be able to eek out an alert even if it gets worse. Too much worse, then you are correct, solarwinds will be effectively stopped. If you need immediate notification - then alert on one event per polling period. I suspect that it could be chatty, but if every solarwinds server alerts within a minute or two - you might want to take a quick peek.