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Getting started.

OK.  I have my newly acquired NPM and SAM software installed.  I've learned that just using network sonar discovery gives me WAY too much data.

So, just from the SAM perspective, where should I start just to begin monitoring lets say, just if servers A through F are up or down and the email me if they are down. 

Just looking for some help to get started.

Thanks in Advance!

Pj

  • This can vary greatly, depending on your goals for monitoring. If you want up/down alerting, you don't have to go the SAM route at all - you can monitor those states and a bunch of other good stuff just leveraging NPM?

    What are you interested in - beside basic availability and mem/cpu/disk - about the servers in question?

  • Thank you for the quick response.

    Ultimately, NPM will handle up/down alerting.  SAM will really be for monitoring some server health attributes and then some services and application health attributes.

    But, I added a SQL server node and applied the generic SQL server template and got so muhh data back my head nearly exploded - as did the SQL server in question.  It was at this point that it was realized that the developers really needed to tell systems WHAT they needed to monitor.

    In the meantime, I need to learn how to get SAM to begin monitoring things in baby steps.  If I can add one server, then see if it's up or down and then figure out how to set it up to tell me if it's down, that's a win for one day.  The next day would be to then look at adding another sensor or two from the systems side and from there I should be off to the races (including I suppose figuring out how often is too often for polling rates but how long is too long, etc...)

    Pj

  • I like your slow roll strategy. With that said I would recommend manually assigning templates individually to nodes on an as-needed basis or once you are comfortable with the previous changes that were made. This may be an assign a template a day approach, or simply go at your own pace. Whatever works for you and your environment. You're in the drivers seat. This can be better option than the shotgun approach to monitoring, which typically is monitor everything all at once and then spend the next week/month triaging problems or fine tuning thresholds. 

  • Don't be afraid to investigate the building blocks of the application monitoring templates, either. There are many monitors I use today that are just smaller, more digestible subsets of the full-blown templates with only the pieces our users want/need to see in the finished product, which is usually a copy of the vanilla template with some things taken out.

  • OK,

    I’m ready to start monitoring one or two applications.

    So, I’ve let AppInsight for SQL monitor a server running SQL 2008 R2 Express.

    Now, there are several features in the template that are greyed out. Do I select them and hit “submit” to get rid of them when editing the template/application or do I select the ones I want and hit “submit”

    Either way, my browser freezes and the monitor errors out because it wants a credential and SQL is just running under the Local System Account.

    How do I fix this?

    Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    PJ

  • Even though the service is running under the local system account, SQL does have SQL authentication and users that are running within it for whatever application is tied to it.  This is the credential that it's looking for.

    Regards,

    Matthew Harvey

    Loop1 Systems

  • Anyone know what the VM vCenter credentials would be for WIM_SQLEXP? I’m so not a SQL guy

    Much thanks for the help averyone

    Pj

  • This would be dependent on the credentials used to setup your SQL Express installation.  This would have either been done on the initial install, or any subsequent installation. 

  • I would recommend trying Windows Authentication and using the local or domain administrators account. The SQL server is likely running in mixed mode so Windows authentication should work just fine.