Database Performance Analyzer

Transcription

1 GETTING STARTED GUIDE Database Performance Analyzer Version 11.1 Last Updated: Friday, December 1, 2017 Retrieve the latest version from:

2 2017 SolarWinds Worldwide, LLC. All rights reserved. This document may not be reproduced by any means nor modified, decompiled, disassembled, published or distributed, in whole or in part, or translated to any electronic medium or other means without the prior written consent of SolarWinds. All right, title, and interest in and to the software and documentation are and shall remain the exclusive property of SolarWinds and its respective licensors. SOLARWINDS DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, CONDITIONS OR OTHER TERMS, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, ON SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION FURNISHED HEREUNDER INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION THE WARRANTIES OF DESIGN, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL SOLARWINDS, ITS SUPPLIERS, NOR ITS LICENSORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, WHETHER ARISING IN TORT, CONTRACT OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY EVEN IF SOLARWINDS HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. The SolarWinds and other SolarWinds marks, identified on the SolarWinds website, as updated from SolarWinds from time to time and incorporated herein, are registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and may be registered or pending registration in other countries. All other SolarWinds trademarks may be common law marks or registered or pending registration in the United States or in other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks contained and/or mentioned herein are used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Version 11.1, revised 12/1/2017 page i

3 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER Table of Contents How do I get started with DPA? 1 Register database instances 3 Database instances DPA can monitor 3 Self-managed databases 3 Amazon RDS databases 4 Repoint database instances 7 Azure databases 7 Register a single SQL Server database instance 7 Before you start 7 Run the wizard 7 View performance data for the database instance 9 Register multiple database instances 10 Register a virtual machine and view performance data 11 Register a VM 12 Manually link a database instance to a VM 12 View VM performance data 12 Allocate licenses 14 License types 14 Individual licenses 14 All individual licenses are floating 15 Clustered environments 15 Subscription licensing 15 Learn more 16 Activate and allocate licenses 16 Activate licenses online 16 page ii

4 Allocate licenses to database instances 17 View current license allocation 17 Allocate Category 1, 2, or Azure licenses 17 Allocate VM licenses 17 Set up user accounts 18 DPA roles and privileges 18 Administrator role 18 Read Only on All Instances role 18 Custom Privileges role 19 Add user accounts and assign privileges 19 Add a read-only user 20 Add a user with custom privileges 20 Investigate performance issues 22 The DPA approach to investigating performance issues 22 Wait-based analysis 22 Additional context from resource metrics 23 Using DPA to investigate problems 24 Investigate an application performance problem 24 Identify blocking sessions and deadlocks 31 Identify blockers causing the longest waits 31 Find the last activity of an idle blocker 32 Investigate deadlocks on SQL Server instances 34 Name SQL statements 36 Add an annotation to document a change to the database 38 Alerts 41 Alert categories 41 Wait Time 41 Resources 41 page iii

5 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER Administrative 41 Custom 41 Create contacts and contact groups 42 Create a contact 42 Create a contact group 43 Create an alert to monitor SQL statement execution time 44 Create a custom alert to display the name of the active node in a SQL Server cluster 46 Task 1: Create an alert to get the physical machine name 47 Task 2: Create an alert to append the machine name to the cluster name 49 Create an alert group 53 Notification policy for DPA alerts 53 Notify when level not visited since normal 54 Notify when level changes and is not normal 54 Notify when level is not normal 55 Reports 56 Create a report to track wait types for a single SQL statement 56 Create a report group 60 Schedule a report for delivery 61 Integrate DPA with the Orion Platform and SolarWinds SAM 64 Benefits of integrating DPA with the Orion Platform 64 DPA and SAM integration 65 DPA and SRM integration 69 Get connected 73 Access the Customer Portal 73 Create your user profile 73 Explore the Customer Portal 74 Set up additional Customer Portal user accounts 75 Engage with the SolarWinds community 75 page iv

6 Create a THWACK account 75 Explore the THWACK site 76 page v

7 How do I get started with DPA? Welcome to the Database Performance Analyzer (DPA) Getting Started Guide Guide. To learn about performance monitoring with DPA, we recommend that you complete the following tasks: Install DPA and create the database repository. See the DPA Installation Guide for system requirements, planning checklists, gotchas, and installation instructions. To upgrade an existing installation, see the DPA Upgrade Guide. Register database instances. Learn what types of database instances DPA can monitor, and then register the instances you want to monitor. Allocate a license to each instance. Learn about license types. Then activate and allocate licenses. Set up user accounts. Set up user accounts to allow other users to access DPA, and assign each user's privileges. Investigate performance issues. Learn about the DPA approach to monitoring. Then walk-through an example of investigating an application performance issue, and learn to identify blocking sessions and deadlocks. Set up alerts to monitor database performance. Enable predefined alerts and walk through an example of creating a custom alert. Create alert groups to simplify alert configuration. Use reports to track the results of your tuning. Create reports, report groups, and schedules. Integrate DPA with the Orion Platform Understand the benefits of integration, and view the results of integrating with SolarWinds SAM and SolarWinds SRM. Existing customers: Access your licensed software from the SolarWinds Customer Portal. If you need any implementation help, contact our Support Reps. page 1

8 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER Evaluators: Download your free 14-day evaluation from If you need assistance with your evaluation, contact page 2

9 Register database instances The following topics explain how to register database instances for monitoring: Database instances DPA can monitor Register a single SQL Server database instance Register multiple database instances Register a virtual machine and view performance data Database instances DPA can monitor DPA can monitor database instances that you manage running on physical or virtual servers. It can also monitor Amazon RDS instances hosted in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). The DPA server must be able to connect to the server hosting the monitored instance. Self-managed databases When you register a self-managed database instance, you must provide the credentials of a privileged user. The required privileges are listed below. During registration, the privileged user either creates the monitoring user, or grants privileges as needed to an existing user designated as the monitoring user. DPA does not store the credentials of the privileged user. DATABASE PRIVILEGES REQUIRED FOR THE PRIVILEGED USER SUPPORTED VERSIONS Oracle SYS user 11.2.x 12.1.x (single and multitenant) 12.2.x (single and multitenant) Microsoft SQL Server SYSADMIN role 2008 SP R2 SP SP SP SP (Windows and Linux) page 3

10 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER DATABASE PRIVILEGES REQUIRED FOR THE PRIVILEGED USER SUPPORTED VERSIONS SAP Sybase ASE SA_ROLE IBM DB2 LUW SYSADM MySQL The privileged user requires the CREATE USER permission and must be able to grant the following permissions: PROCESS on *.* SELECT & UPDATE on performance_schema.* To enable the retrieval of query execution plans, this privileged user must be able to grant the following permissions: SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE on *.* Percona 5.6 and 5.7 Maria 10.0, 10.1, and 10.2 Amazon RDS databases DPA can monitor Amazon RDS Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, and MySQL instances. Some features that are available on self-managed database instances are not available for Amazon RDS instances, because of Amazon RDS access restrictions. page 4

11 AMAZON RDS SUPPORTED VERSIONS KEY DIFFERENCES Oracle 11.2.x 12.1.x 12.2.x Unavailable alerts: Oracle Alert Log Error uses V$DIAG_ALERT_EXT instead of X$DBGALERTEXT. Explain plans: Explain plans cannot be generated with a SYS account. You must specify a different account to generate the live plan. Workarounds for not having a SYS.UTL_CON package: To kill a real time session, use RDSADMIN.RDSADMIN_UTIL.KILL. Trace session permissions granted through START_TRACE_IN_ SESSION and STOP_TRACE_IN_SESSION. page 5

12 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER AMAZON RDS SUPPORTED VERSIONS KEY DIFFERENCES Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 SP SP SP Unavailable alerts: SQL Server Windows Service Not Running SQL Server Long Running Jobs SQL Server Log Has Many Virtual Logs SQL Server Job Failure SQL Server Error Log Alert Explain plans: The DPA monitoring user does not have a sysadmin role and may have limited access to objects. You can specify a different user to generate the live plan before you generate the plan. WMI-based statistics that are not available: CPU Queue Length CPU Utilization Disk Queue Length Memory Paging Rate Memory Utilization Physical I/O Rate Physical Read Rate Physical Write Rate Workaround for not having a SYSADMIN role: DPA user is a member of PROCESSADMIN role Deadlock polling: The monitoring user and database administrator (DBA) do not have permission to create a custom Extended Events Session. Only the default system_health Extended Events Session can be used for deadlock polling. MySQL No differences Aurora a+ page 6

13 Repoint database instances You cannot transfer a registered Oracle or SQL Server database instance between Amazon RDS and a selfmanaged database, and retain DPA historical data. An Oracle or SQL Server database instance transferred between Amazon RDS and a self-managed instance must be registered in DPA as a separate instance. After transferring a MySQL database instance between Amazon RDS and self-managed, you can repoint DPA to the new instance and continue monitoring where you left off. To repoint, use the Update Connection Info wizard in DPA to update the connection details of the registered database instance to point to the new location. Azure databases DATABASE REQUIRED PRIVILEGES SUPPORTED VERSION Azure SQL db_owner role V12 Repointing database instances is not possible between Azure SQL and SQL Server. Register a single SQL Server database instance You must register all of the database instances that you plan to monitor with DPA. You can register an individual instance using the Register Instance Wizard, or you can register multiple instances. DPA can monitor many database types. This example shows you how to register a SQL Server database. For information about registering a different type of database instance, see Register a database instance for monitoring in the DPA Administrator Guide. Before you start Before you run the Register Instance wizard, make sure: The database instance is a version that DPA can monitor. You have credentials to a login with SYSADMIN privileges for the SQL Server database instance. Run the wizard 1. Near the top-right of the DPA homepage, click Register DB Instance for Monitoring. 2. Complete the wizard panels as described in the following table. PANEL Select Database Instance Type INSTRUCTIONS Select Microsoft SQL Server. page 7

14 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER PANEL INSTRUCTIONS Enter Monitored Database Instance Connection Information 1. Enter connection information for the SQL Server instance: If the SQL Server Browser service is running, enter the server name or IP address and the instance name in this format: Server\Instance. If the SQL Server instance contains one or more Availability Groups, click Note for Availability Groups for instructions on how to register primary and secondary replicas. Otherwise, enter the server name or IP address and the port number. SolarWinds DPA monitors all databases within the instance. If more than one instance exists on the server, you must register each instance separately in DPA. 2. Select the type of authentication you want to use. If Mixed Mode was selected during the SQL Server installation, you can choose either option. 3. Enter a SYSADMIN login that DPA can use to register the instance. DPA does not use or store these credentials after you complete the wizard. For Windows authentication, enter <DOMAIN>\<username> in the SYSADMIN User field. For SQL Server authentication, enter the credentials that you enter on the Connect to Server dialog in SQL Server Management Studio (with Database Engine as the Server type). page 8

15 PANEL Enter the Monitoring User INSTRUCTIONS Create or specify the account that DPA will use to gather information. To ensure that the account has the required permissions, SolarWinds recommends creating a new account. To create a new account: 1. Click Yes. 2. Select SQL Server as the authentication method. (DPA cannot create a new Windows account.) 3. Enter a user name and password for the new account, or accept the default values. To specify an existing account: 1. Click No. 2. Select either authentication method. 3. Enter the user name and password of an existing account. For Windows authentication, enter <DOMAIN>\<username> in the Monitoring User field. Summary Database Instance Registration Complete Review the information and click Register Database Instance. Click Finish to return to the DPA homepage. View performance data for the database instance If you register a database instance within the 14-day trial period, DPA begins monitoring the instance immediately. After the trial period, you must allocate a license to monitor the database instance. When DPA is monitoring an instance, the homepage shows summary information about the instance. page 9

16 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER Click the instance name to view detailed information about that instance. For more information, see Investigate a SQL statement causing long waits. Register multiple database instances If you are monitoring a large number of database instances, use the DPA mass registration feature to quickly register multiple databases. You will enter registration information for all instances into a predefined template. page 10

17 You can also use a wizard to register a single database instance. 1. From the DPA home screen, click Options. 2. In the Database Instances column, click Mass Registration. 3. On the Load Registration File panel, select the database type. 4. You must edit a predefined template to add registration information for each database instance. Specify whether you want to edit the template on the DPA server or download it to your local computer. Based on your selections, instructions are displayed in the lower-right corner. 5. Follow the onscreen instructions for editing and saving the file. If you selected From DPA server, the file must be saved in the following location: <DPA_home>/iwc/tomcat/ignite_config/registration Depending on the database type, it must have one of the following file names: massreg_mysql_template.csv massreg_oracle_template.csv massreg_sql_server_template.csv 6. Click Load Registration File. If you register the database instance within the 14-day trial period, DPA begins monitoring the instances immediately. After the trial period, you must allocate a license to monitor the database instances. Register a virtual machine and view performance data When a database instance runs on a virtual machine, you can register the VM as well as the database instance. When you register a VM, you can view performance metrics from the VM, the physical host, and the storage system. DPA displays metrics from all these layers of infrastructure on a single screen. You can use this data to correlate events in the underlying layers with performance issues in the database instance. Monitoring a VM requires a VM license. page 11

18 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER Register a VM 1. Near the top-right of the DPA homepage, click Register VMware for Monitoring. 2. Enter the connection credentials for a VMware ESX/ESXi Host or a vcenter Server. 3. Click Register. In most cases, DPA automatically detects the database instances running on the virtual machine. On the DPA homepage, the VM icon is displayed next to the each database instance name. Manually link a database instance to a VM If DPA does not automatically associate a database instance with the VM that it runs on, you can manually link it. 1. On the DPA homepage, click the Action menu to the right of the database instance name. 2. Select Link to Virtual Machine. 3. Select the virtual machine and click Link. 4. Click Yes at the confirmation message, and then click OK. The database instance is listed under Running in a VM, and the VM icon is displayed next to the name. View VM performance data After you register a VM, you can view recent performance data immediately. DPA must gather data for a few days before it shows performance trends and baselines. If the trial period is over, you must allocate a VM license to the database instance before you can view VM performance data. page 12

19 1. At the top of the DPA homepage, click Virtualization. 2. In the Database Instance list, click a database instance. DPA shows performance data from the database instance followed by metrics from the VM, the physical host, and the storage layer. Use these graphs to correlate waits in the database instance with events in the underlying layers. page 13

20 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER Allocate licenses To monitor a database instance, you must activate license keys and allocate licenses: License types Activate and allocate licenses License types SolarWinds DPA provides the following licensing options: Subscription licensing is used for DPA servers deployed in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace. For other DPA servers, an individual license is required for each monitored database instance. Individual licenses SolarWinds sells individual licenses by category according to the database edition they are authorized to monitor. You must buy an individual license for each database instance you monitor. In addition, you can buy virtual machine licenses to monitor the virtual infrastructure hosting a database instance. To purchase licenses, contact the SolarWinds sales team. LICENSE TYPE CAN MONITOR Category 1 licenses Oracle: all editions except Standard and Express Sybase: all editions except Express DB2: all editions except Express All Category 2 database types Category 2 licenses Oracle: Standard and Express editions (including Amazon RDS) SQL Server: all editions (including Amazon RDS) MySQL: all editions (including Amazon RDS and Aurora) Sybase: Express edition DB2: Express edition If you run out of Category 2 licenses, you can use Category 1 licenses instead. Category 1 licenses can monitor all database types. page 14

21 LICENSE TYPE Azure SQL Database license VM Option licenses CAN MONITOR Azure SQL Database: all editions, including databases in elastic pools If you run out of Azure SQL Database licenses, you can use Category 1 or Category 2 licenses instead. The VM option enables the DPA virtualization feature. This license is an add-on to a Category 1 or Category 2 license. Optional VM licenses provide information about the VMware infrastructure of database instances. DPA displays this information in the Virtualization view. You can use one license to see VM-related information for one database instance. A VM license can be applied only to a database instance for which you purchased a database instance license. All individual licenses are floating You can register more instances than you have licenses for. On the license allocation page, assign the licenses to the instances you want to monitor. DPA does not collect data from registered database instances that are not licensed. However, you can view previously collected data on those database instances. Clustered environments For information about registering SQL Server AGs and Oracle RACs, see Registration and licensing options for clustered environments. Subscription licensing When you deploy the DPA server from the AWS Marketplace, DPA uses subscription licensing. As you register databases and monitor them, DPA charges your Amazon Subscription through the AWS Metering Service. DPA charges are based on the number of database instances you monitor each hour. See the AWS Marketplace for details and pricing. With subscription licensing, you can monitor any supported database type (like the Category 1 license described in the following section). However, you cannot access the VM-related information that is available with a VM Option license. If you want to use individual DPA licenses in the Amazon cloud, you can deploy an EC2 instance, install DPA, and apply your licenses. You cannot use both individual DPA licenses and a subscription on a single DPA server. page 15

22 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER Learn more For more information about purchasing and allocating licenses, see: Activate and allocate licenses You must allocate a license to each database instance that you want to monitor. After the DPA trial period ends, DPA monitors only licensed instances. Make sure that you have the correct license types for the instances you want to monitor. Instances without a license allocated to them remain registered with DPA, and you can view performance data that was collected in the past. You can move a license from one registered instance to another if necessary. To allocate licenses, complete the following tasks: 1. Activate your licenses. 2. Allocate licenses to database instances. 3. Optionally, allocate VM licenses. Activate licenses online If your DPA server is connected to the Internet, you can activate licenses online. Create a user profile in the SolarWinds Customer Portal if you do note already have one. If your DPA server is not connected to the Internet, you can activate your licenses offline. If the DPA server is connected to the internet, you can activate licenses online. 1. Log in to the SolarWinds Customer Portal. 2. Choose Licenses > Manage Licenses. 3. Locate the license, and expand it. 4. Copy the activation key. 5. On the SolarWinds DPA homepage, click License Management. Then click License Manager. 6. Click Enter Activation Key. 7. Select Online Activation, and click Next. 8. On the Online Activation page, paste the activation key into the correct field. 9. In the Amount to Activate section, select All Available or Specify Amount. Unactivated licenses can be activated later. You can reuse an activation key on a different SolarWinds DPA server and activate remaining licenses there. 10. Enter the remaining information, and click Activate. page 16

23 Allocate licenses to database instances Allocate a Category 1 or 2 license to each database instance that you want to monitor. DPA starts monitoring new instances immediately after you allocate licenses. View current license allocation 1. On the DPA homepage, click License Management. 2. See the current license allocations in the summary boxes near the top of the License Allocation page. Allocate Category 1, 2, or Azure licenses 1. On the License Allocation page, find the database instance you want in the list of registered database instances. 2. Select the Cat 1, Cat 2, or Azure check box next to the instance. 3. Click Save. The license count is updated after you allocate a license. Allocate VM licenses If a database instance runs on a virtual machine (VM), you can allocate a VM license to it in addition to a Category 1 or 2 license. When you allocate a VM license, DPA collects performance metrics from the VM and the physical host on which the database instance runs. 1. On the License Allocation page, locate a VM-hosted database instance that has a Category 1 or 2 license allocated to it. 2. Select the VM check box next to the instance. 3. Click Save. page 17

24 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER Set up user accounts See the following topics for information about setting up user accounts and assigning DPA privileges: DPA roles and privileges Add user accounts and assign privileges DPA roles and privileges When you add user accounts in DPA, you assign each user a role. The role determines the user's privileges. Administrator role Administrators have access to all DPA functionality, including all setup, administration, and support options. DPA requires at least one Administrator account, which is created during installation. Only administrators can perform certain actions, such as: Register and unregister database instances and VMs Allocate licenses Run advanced support utilities Edit system-wide Advanced Options Start and stop all monitors Create, edit, and delete report schedules Create, edit, and delete alert groups Configure the mail server Administer users, contacts, and contact groups Read Only on All Instances role Users with this role can perform the following actions for all database instances: View performance data and metrics Run reports and view existing report groups View existing alerts View logs page 18

25 Custom Privileges role The Custom Privileges role specifies which privileges a user has, and which database instances these privileges apply to. Use this role to: Prevent users from seeing data about certain database instances Give users privileges to manage monitoring options, alerts, and reports without granting them full administrative privileges When you assign this role to a user, you can grant any of the following privileges. Privileges can apply to all database instances or only selected instances. PRIVILEGE ACTIONS ALLOWED AGAINST SELECTED DATABASE INSTANCES View Data View performance data and metrics Run reports and view existing report groups View logs Manage Reports View Alerts Create, edit, and delete report groups View existing alerts Manage Alerts Create, edit, and delete alerts View existing alert groups Manage Monitoring Create, edit, and delete blackout periods for monitoring Manage I/O configuration Update Advanced Options for a specific database instance Add annotations Exclude SQL statements from trend charts Start and stop individual monitors Users with Manage Monitoring permissions cannot see the charts at the top of the DPA homepage. Add user accounts and assign privileges You must add a user account for each person who needs to log in to DPA. Each user is assigned a role, which determines the user's permissions. Before you add users, determine who needs access to DPA and which privileges each user needs. For more information about the available options, see DPA roles and privileges. page 19

26 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER Optionally, you can integrate DPA with your company's Active Directory (AD) or LDAP service. If you do this: Users can log in to DPA with their domain accounts. You can add AD or LDAP groups to DPA and assign privileges to each group. Add a read-only user The following example shows how to add a user with read-only privileges for all database instances. 1. In the upper-right corner of the DPA window, click Options. 2. Click the Administration tab, and select User Administration. 3. On the User Administration page, click Create User. 4. Enter a unique user name and a password. 5. Select the Read Only on All Instances role. 6. Click Save. Add a user with custom privileges The following example shows how to add a user with custom privileges. This user has access to only one database instance. 1. In the upper-right corner of the DPA window, click Options. 2. Click the Administration tab, and select User Administration. 3. On the User Administration page, click Create User. 4. Enter a unique user name and a password. 5. Select the Custom Privileges Specified Below role. page 20

27 6. To grant access to data from all database instances, select privileges in the top row. To limit access, select privileges for each database instance. The View Data privilege is automatically selected when you select any higher privilege. In the example below, the user can access data from only one database instance. This user can make changes to monitoring options, run reports, and view existing alerts for the selected instance. 7. Click Save. page 21

28 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER Investigate performance issues The following topics help you use DPA to investigate performance issues: The DPA approach to investigating performance issues Investigate an application performance problem Identify blocking sessions and deadlocks Name SQL statements Add an annotation to document a change to the database The DPA approach to investigating performance issues Check out this video (4:09) on navigating the DPA interface to diagnose performance issues. DPA provides a unique approach to investigating performance issues. Use the wait-based analysis approach in DPA to focus on issues that provide the greatest performance improvements. The agentless architecture in DPA uses less than one percent of database resources, so it can monitor production systems without affecting their performance. Wait-based analysis Traditional database monitoring tools focus on database health metrics to troubleshoot database performance problems. DBAs can spend hours tuning the database to improve these metrics, only to find that their changes had little or no effect on performance. Instead of database health metrics, DPA focuses on application and end-user wait times. DPA graphically shows you where the longest wait times are. You can drill in to find the root cause of a performance issue and get advice on how to fix it. When you use DPA to find and fix the issues that are directly responsible for long wait times, you can deliver performance improvements that get noticed. Use the DPA homepage to quickly identify database instances with high wait times, and then drill down for details. page 22

29 Additional context from resource metrics Storage administrators, network administrators, and DBAs often function within silos, using tools that give them an incomplete view of the factors that affect performance. In addition to database performance data, DPA also shows resource metrics such as disk usage, CPU usage, I/O latency and rates, and memory usage. These metrics show what was happening in the rest of your environment during database slow-downs. You can correlate waits in the database with other events such as disk I/O or CPU spikes. This information provides the context you need to identify the root cause of complex performance problems. page 23

30 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER Using DPA to investigate problems For more information about using DPA to find the root cause of performance problems, see: Investigate an application performance problem Identify blocking sessions and deadlocks Investigate an application performance problem The following example shows how DPA can be used to find the root cause of an application performance problem. In this scenario, users are complaining about the performance of an application developed inhouse. The performance problems occur around 2 p.m., during core business hours. page 24

31 1. From the DPA homepage, click the database instance that the application runs against. The Top SQL Statements trend chart shows the 15 SQL statements with the highest wait times for the past 31 days. 2. Click a bar that represents a day when users experienced slow performance. The chart shows the top SQL statements for each hour. During the 2 p.m. hour, one SQL statement caused significantly longer waits than all the others. page 25

32 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER 3. Point to that segment in the bar to display additional information about the SQL statement, such as the percentage of total wait time and the average execution time. page 26

33 4. To make this statement easier to identify, name the SQL statement. Legends and reports now identify the SQL statement by name instead of by hash value. 5. Click the bar to see what type of waits are causing delays. The chart shows that this SQL statement spends most of its time in Memory/CPU waits. page 27

34 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER 6. Click the name of the wait type in the legend to see more information about Memory/CPU waits. DPA provides detailed information about this wait type, including possible solutions. page 28

35 7. To investigate further, click the SQL statement name to view detailed information about this statement. The statistics show that this statement performed a high number of logical reads. page 29

36 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER 8. In the upper-right corner, click Run Query Analysis. In the Analyze Query dialog, accept the default time frame and click Run Analysis. The Advice section of the analysis shows that a full table scan is being performed and suggests adding an index. Before you add the index, you decide to find out more about where this query comes from. 9. Scroll down to the Supporting Data section, which shows that the query is being run by Accounting. Rather than add an index immediately, you decide to share the analysis with the Accounting team and ask if they can tune the SQL statement. page 30

37 10. Click the mail icon in the upper-right corner and enter your message. Then click Send. In this scenario, the Accounting department replies that the SQL statement cannot be changed. With this information, you decide to add the index. 11. After adding the index, add an annotation to let the rest of the team know that a change was made and to help determine whether the change is effective. The new index improves the execution time of the SQL statement, and users no longer complain about slow performance when it runs. But to ensure that this SQL statement does not cause problems in the future, you can add an alert to notify you if the average wait time for this statement increases. Identify blocking sessions and deadlocks DPA provides information to help you determine if blocking sessions and deadlocks are affecting performance, and to investigate the root cause of these issues. See the following sections: Identify blockers causing the longest waits Find the last activity of an idle blocker Investigate deadlocks on SQL Server instances Identify blockers causing the longest waits Are blocking sessions causing performance problems in your environment? Use the Blocking tab to identify the root blockers, find out which SQL statements are being blocked, and determine which blocking sessions are responsible for the longest overall waits. DPA shows the aggregated wait time for each blocker, which helps you focus your tuning efforts on blockers with the largest impact. page 31

38 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER To view information about blocking sessions, click a database instance name on the DPA homepage to display the Trends charts. If necessary, click a bar on the chart to drill down to the time period you're interested in. Then click the Blocking tab below any Trends chart to view correlated information about blockers during that time period. The size of each segment in a bar provides a visual indicator of the waits that session caused. Find the last activity of an idle blocker Idle blockers can be difficult to diagnose because they are currently not performing any activity in the database. To help you find and fix the root problem, use DPA to determine what that session was doing before it became idle. From the DPA homepage, click the name of a database instance. Click a bar on the Top SQL Statements chart to drill into a day, and then click a bar to drill into an hour. DPA displays information about the type of waits experienced during that hour. page 32

39 Click the Blockers tab above the chart to see a list of the blockers for that time period. You can expand a blocker to see information about the waits it caused. Each idle blocker row has a Find Last Activity link on the right. To find out what a blocking session was doing before it went idle, click Find Last Activity. The Find Last Activity dialog tells you when the last activity occurred. page 33

40 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER Click a button to view the activity. The Timeslice tab shows a bar representing the last SQL statement executed by the idle blocker. You can drill in to investigate further. If you clicked Annotate and View Activity, the SQL statement is automatically annotated to make it easy to find in the future. Investigate deadlocks on SQL Server instances Deadlocks occur when two sessions have a lock on different resources, and each session needs the resource of the other to complete its task. One session (the victim) eventually releases its lock and does not complete its task. The transaction time that the victim spent in contention is a good measure of the impact that the deadlock had on performance. For monitored SQL Server database instances, DPA provides detailed information about deadlocks, including the Victim Impact (how long the deadlocked transactions ran). Click the Deadlocks tab below any Trends chart to see the latest deadlocks for that time period. page 34

41 Click the link in the Time column to open the Deadlock Details page, which includes the following sections: The Deadlock Summary section shows high-level information, including the Total Victim Impact. The Victims section shows details about the queries that were rolled back. The Survivor section shows details about the query that was completed. The Deadlocked Resources section shows the type of lock and the lock mode. Click the links for expert advice. page 35

42 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER Name SQL statements On the right side of each trend chart, a legend identifies each SQL statement. By default, SQL statements are identified by their hash values. page 36

43 When you are investigating a specific SQL statement, you can give it a name to make it easier to identify. The name appears in reports and chart legends. 1. In the chart legend, click the hash value that represents the SQL statement. 2. In the SQL Properties dialog, enter the name. page 37

44 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER 3. Click OK. The legend displays the name instead of the hash value. The colors representing the SQL statements on the chart might change after you name the SQL statement. Add an annotation to document a change to the database Check out this video (1:19) on using annotations. When you make a change that could affect performance (such as adding an index, tuning a query, or adding resources), you can add an annotation in DPA to show when that change was made. The annotations are displayed on all trend and timeslice charts. By comparing performance data before and after the change, you can see what effect the change had. page 38

45 1. From the DPA homepage, click the name of the database instance affected by the change. 2. Click Annotate in the upper-right corner of the trend chart. 3. Name the annotation, specify when it was added, and provide details about what change was made and why. If your DPA server is in a different time zone, enter the DPA server time. page 39

46 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER 4. Click Save. The annotation is displayed as a flag on the chart. Point to the flag to see a summary, or click it to see details. page 40

47 Alerts The following topics describe the alerting capabilities of DPA: Alert categories Create contacts and contact groups Create an alert to monitor SQL statement execution time Create a custom alert to display the name of the active node in a SQL Server cluster Create an alert group Notification policy for DPA alerts Alert categories You can use the out-of-the-box alerts in DPA, or customize them to meet your needs. There are four preconfigured DPA alert categories. Wait Time Wait Time alerts are based on the amount of time users or applications waited on the database. For example, the Average SQL Wait Time alert fires when a SQL statement causes wait time that exceeds a threshold. These alerts are critical because they ensure that you are only alerted when users and applications are affected. Resources These alerts are based on the alarm thresholds of resource metrics, such as CPU utilization and memory usage. For example, the Single Resource Metric alert notifies you when the values of the specified resource metric exceed the thresholds. Administrative Administrative alerts are typical alerts surrounding the health of the database system. For example, the Database Parameter Changes alert notifies you when any database parameter has changed. The Database Availability alert notifies you when the database instance is no longer accessible. Custom Custom alerts are user-specified queries that are run against the monitored database or the DPA repository. The query returns a number (or set of numbers) that may trigger an alert depending on userdefined threshold settings. For example, you can enter a query to detect the number of canceled orders in the last 10 minutes: page 41

48 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER select count(*) from orders where status='cancelled' and date > sysdate 10/1440; You can write a SQL query to set alerts on SQL Server health metrics. You can see which type of orders have high cancellation rates: select order_type, count(*) from orders where status='cancelled' and date > sysdate 10/1440 group by order_type; You may want to use complex logic to determine if an order has truly been canceled. In this case, you can write a function or procedure on the monitored database instance. Oracle: select mycustomfunction(param1) from dual SQL Server: select mycustomfunction(param1) Sybase: mycustomprocedure(param1) DB2: select dbo.mycustomfunction(param1) from SYSIBM.SYSDUMMY1 MySQL: mycustomprocedure(param1) Azure SQL: select mycustomfunction(param1) These functions or procedures are written in the native programming language of the database. Create contacts and contact groups Before you enable or create DPA alerts or schedule reports, define the contacts and contact groups who can receive the alerts and reports. Create a contact Contacts are people who can receive notifications when an alert is triggered, or who can receive scheduled reports through . When you define an alert or schedule a report, you can select the recipient from the list of available contacts. 1. Click Options on the DPA menu bar. 2. Click the Administration tab, and choose Contacts and Contact Groups. 3. In the Contacts section, click Create Contact. page 42

49 4. Enter the contact's name and address. Optionally, add the contact to an existing group. 5. Click Save. Create a contact group Contact groups are used to send s to multiple people when an alert is triggered or when a scheduled report runs. DPA provides several default contact groups, but you can create other groups. 1. Click Options on the DPA menu bar. 2. Click the Administration tab, and choose Contacts and Contact Groups. 3. In the Groups section, click Create Group. 4. Enter a group name and description. Optionally, add existing contacts to the group. 5. Click Save. page 43

50 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER Create an alert to monitor SQL statement execution time Use DPA alerts to send notifications about potential problems so that your team can take steps to resolve the issue before it affects end users. A previous example showed how to use DPA to resolve performance problems that were caused by a longrunning SQL statement. This example adds an alert to notify the DBA group if the average execution time of that SQL statement is above a threshold during the alert execution interval. If this alert is triggered, the team can stop the query before end users notice a performance problem. 1. On the DPA menu, click Alerts. 2. Click the Manage Alerts tab. 3. Select the alert category and the alert type. For this example, select Wait Time as the category and Average Wait Time for a Single SQL as the type. 4. Click Create Alert. 5. Enter a unique name, select the execution interval, and enter the notification text. SolarWinds recommends an execution interval of at least 10 minutes. This allows time for valid samples and prevents unnecessary alerts from a single slow execution. page 44

51 6. Select the database instance that the SQL statement runs against. 7. Select the SQL statement the alert monitors. a. Click Search next to the SQL Hash field. b. Because this SQL statement has a name, leave Name and Hash selected as the SQL Search Type. c. Select the name of the SQL statement from the list. d. Click OK. The hash value of the SQL statement is displayed in the SQL Hash field. page 45

52 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER 8. Specify the thresholds for each alert level you want to enable. In this example, a High alert is triggered if the average wait time of the SQL statement during an execution interval is 30 seconds or more. 9. Select the person or group who gets notified when an alert level is triggered and when the alert is broken. (The alert status is set to Broken if an error occurs during execution.) If you have not added the person or group as a contact in DPA, click Add Contact or Add Contact Group. See Create contacts and contact groups. 10. Verify that the correct Notification Policy is selected. 11. Click Test Alert and verify that the recipients receive the Click Save. Create a custom alert to display the name of the active node in a SQL Server cluster Custom alerts in DPA are user-defined SQL statements or stored procedures that run against a monitored database or the DPA repository. Each SQL statement or procedure returns a number (or set of numbers) that can trigger an alert depending on user-defined thresholds. Custom alerts can be used to alert against a wide variety of conditions. page 46

53 This example shows how to configure two alerts that work together to cause DPA to display the physical machine name of the active node in a SQL Server failover cluster. By default, DPA shows only the cluster name. The first alert gets the name of the active node. The second alert appends this name to the name of the cluster that DPA displays. If the active node changes, it updates the name and also notifies recipients that a failover has occurred. Task 1: Create an alert to get the physical machine name This alert runs against a monitored database instance and retrieves the name of the physical machine that the instance is currently running on. 1. On the DPA menu, click Alerts. 2. Click the Manage Alerts tab. 3. Choose Custom as the category and Custom SQL Alert - Multiple Numeric Return as the type. 4. Click Create Alert. 5. Enter a unique name and select the execution interval. Set the execution interval based on the average frequency of failovers in your clustered environment. The execution frequency affects the accuracy of the machine names that DPA displays. In this example, the alert interval is 10 minutes. But if failovers occur infrequently, you might want to choose a longer interval. page 47

54 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER 6. In the Notification Text box, provide a description of the alert. This alert does not send notifications, but the description provides information for other users. 7. Under Database Instances, select the SQL Server cluster. 8. Enter the following SQL in the SQL Statement box: select coalesce(serverproperty('computernamephysicalnetbios'), SERVERPROPERTY('MachineName')) HOST, 0 9. Verify that Monitored Database is selected from the Execute Against drop-down menu. 10. Enter Machine Name 0 in the Units box. page 48

55 11. Under Configure Alert Levels and Recipients: a. Enter 1 as the Min value for the High level. The query returns a numeric value of 0. Entering 1 as the threshold ensures that the status is always Normal. Because this alert only retrieves the machine name, it should not be triggered. b. Do not select a contact because no one needs to receive notifications. 12. Click Save. Task 2: Create an alert to append the machine name to the cluster name This alert runs against the DPA Repository database. It appends ' to the database instance name that DPA displays. Each time it runs, it determines whether the node name has changed. If so, it updates the display name and sends a notification so that you can investigate why the failover occurred. This alert can also determine why the name has changed with different error levels. The error levels are: 0=no change, 1=node change, 2=initial update. 1. From the Manage Alerts tab, choose Custom as the category and Custom SQL Alert - Multiple Numeric Return as the type. 2. Click Create Alert. page 49

56 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER 3. Enter a unique name and select the execution interval. This execution interval must be larger than the interval for the Get Physical Machine Name alert. The execution intervals for both alerts affect the accuracy of the name that DPA displays. In this example, the execution intervals are 10 minutes and 12 minutes, but you should determine what intervals are appropriate for your environment. 4. Enter the notification text. 5. Under Database Instances, select the SQL Server cluster. You must select the SQL Server cluster for both alerts. If you do not select it for this alert, the instance name is not updated in DPA. If you do not select it for the Get Physical Machine Name alert, that alert does not run and has a status of Broken. page 50

57 6. Enter the following SQL in the SQL Statement box: smallint begin from con_alert_db a, con_alert b, con_alert_db_results c where b.id = a.alertid and b.alertname = 'Get Physical Machine Name' and a.alertid = c.alertid and a.dbid = c.dbid and a.dbid = #DBID# is not null = CHARINDEX(' Node',NAME) from COND where ID = #DBID# 0 begin = substring(name, CHARINDEX(' Node',NAME) +7, 100) from cond where ID = #DBID# if ltrim(rtrim(@current_name))!= ltrim(rtrim(@mach_name)) begin update COND set NAME = substring(name, 1,CHARINDEX(' Node',NAME)-1 ) where ID = #DBID# update COND set NAME = NAME + ' Node: ' where ID = #DBID# end end page 51

58 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER else begin update COND set NAME = NAME + ' Node: ' where ID = #DBID# end; 0 end; 7. Select Repository from the Execute Against drop-down menu. 8. Enter :Node Error Level in the Units box. 9. Under Configure Alert Levels and Recipients: a. Enter 1 as the Min value for the High level. When the name of the active node changes, this alert is triggered at the High level. b. Select a contact to receive the when this alert is triggered. If you have not added the person or group as a contact in DPA, click Add Contact or Add Contact Group. See Create contacts and contact groups. 10. Click Save. page 52

59 Create an alert group An alert group defines a set of alerts to be run against a set of database instances. Alert groups simplify alert configuration and help make alerting more consistent across the monitored database instances. When you add alerts to an alert group, you do not have to select database instances within each alert definition. Instead, you select the database instances just once for the entire group. If the list of instances changes, you can update it in only one place. 1. On the DPA menu, click Alerts. 2. Click the Alert Groups tab. 3. Click Create Alert Group. 4. Enter a unique name and a brief description. 5. Select the alerts to include in this group. 6. Select the database instances on which to execute these alerts. 7. Click Save. Notification policy for DPA alerts When you create an alert in DPA, you can accept the default notification policy or apply a different policy to that alert. The notification policy determines when the alert is triggered. The following sections describe each policy. page 53

60 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER Notify when level not visited since normal A notification is sent if the alert status is not Normal and the alert has not been in this status since the last time the status was Normal. If the alert returns the same status for multiple polling periods without returning to Normal, you are notified only once for each status. For example: EXECUTION INTERVAL ALERT LEVEL NOTIFICATION SENT? 1 Normal No 2 Medium Yes 3 High Yes 4 High No (this alert level was returned previously) 5 Medium No (this alert level was returned previously) 6 Low Yes 7 Normal No 8 Low Yes This is the default policy, but a DPA administrator can change the default policy in Advanced Options. Notify when level changes and is not normal A notification is sent if the alert status is not Normal and has changed since the previous execution interval. You are notified each time the level changes, but only once for each change. For example: EXECUTION INTERVAL ALERT LEVEL NOTIFICATION SENT? 1 Normal No 2 Medium Yes 3 High Yes 4 High No (the alert status has not changed) 5 Medium Yes 6 Low Yes 7 Normal No 8 Low Yes page 54

61 Notify when level is not normal A notification is sent if the alert status is not Normal, regardless of the alert's previous status. For example: EXECUTION INTERVAL ALERT LEVEL NOTIFICATION SENT? 1 Normal No 2 Medium Yes 3 High Yes 4 High Yes 5 Medium Yes 6 Low Yes 7 Normal No 8 Low Yes page 55

62 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER Reports Use DPA reports to identify trends, track the results of your database tuning, and communicate progress and issues to people without access to DPA: Create a report to track wait types for a single SQL statement Create a report group Schedule a report for delivery Create a report to track wait types for a single SQL statement Use DPA reports to identify database trends and track the results of your performance tuning. The following example creates a report to track wait types for a specific SQL statement. If you made changes to reduce a specific type of wait for a SQL statement, you can use this report to determine if your tuning efforts were effective. 1. Click Reports in the menu bar. 2. Select the database instance and the report type. For this example, choose Top Waits for single SQL. page 56

63 3. Click Search and locate the SQL statement. If you named the statement, enter part of the name and make sure Name and Hash is selected. Then click Search. The Search Results lists all SQL statements run against the selected database instance that match your criteria. 4. Select the SQL statement and click OK. 5. Click Report Options. This report can show the top waits or it can show specific wait types (regardless of their wait times). 6. For this example, specify the wait types that were targeted by the tuning efforts. These were db_ file_scattered read waits and Memory/CPU waits. a. Under Waits to Display, select User-Defined Waits. b. Click Add. page 57

64 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER c. Enter part of the wait name and click Search. The Search Results lists all waits that match your search criteria. d. Select db file scattered read and click OK. e. Repeat steps c and d to add Memory/CPU waits, and click OK. page 58

65 7. Under Dates to Display, review the dates that the report should include. In this example, the date range is the current month, and the report includes only weekdays. The Data Range at the bottom of this section shows the date range for which data is available. 8. Under General, enter a unique name to identify this report in the report list. Optionally, enter and a title and description. The title is shown at the top of the report. By default, it is the report type, database instance, and time period. page 59

66 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER 9. In the New Report section at the top of the window, click Display Report. The report opens. In this example, it shows that the tuning efforts were effective. 10. Click Save and then OK to save the report. 11. To return to the list of reports, click Reports in the breadcrumb trail at the top of the window. You can view the report from the Reports tab at any time, or schedule the report to run automatically and be ed to a group of recipients. Create a report group Use report groups to display data from related reports on the same page. With report groups, you can quickly run or schedule multiple reports. 1. Click Reports on the menu bar. 2. Click the Report Groups tab. 3. Click Create Report Group. page 60

67 4. Give the group a name and (optionally) a description. 5. Select the reports to include in this group and click Add. 6. Click OK. This group is added to the list of report groups. Schedule a report for delivery Report schedules automatically reports (or report groups) at regular intervals. You can send reports to managers, team members, and customers. Use report schedules to communicate database trends to people who do not have direct access to DPA, and to and highlight performance improvements across your organization. Only DPA administrators can create report schedules. The report recipients must be added as DPA contacts. 1. Click Reports on the DPA menu bar. 2. Click the Report Schedules tab. 3. Click Create Schedule. page 61

68 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER 4. Name the schedule and enter an subject and body text. 5. Specify when you want the report delivered and click Add. You can specify multiple delivery times. 6. Under Available Reports, select the reports or report groups and click Add. page 62

69 7. Under Available Contacts, select the recipients of the report and click Add. If you have not added the recipients as contacts in DPA, click Add Contact or Add Contact Group. See Create contacts and contact groups. 8. Click Create Schedule. Your schedule is added to the list of report schedules. page 63

70 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER Integrate DPA with the Orion Platform and SolarWinds SAM The following topics describe the benefits of integrating DPA with the Orion Platform: Benefits of integrating DPA with the Orion Platform DPA and SAM integration DPA and SRM integration Benefits of integrating DPA with the Orion Platform Integrating DPA with the Orion Platform expands the information available in the Orion Web Console, making it easier to determine the root cause of performance problems. You can view database instance information alongside other environmental factors to get a more comprehensive view of issues affecting users and your IT infrastructure. After integration, the Orion Platform displays DPA-specific resources that poll information directly from DPA. Integration also expands the information available in other Orion Platform resources. Information from DPA, such as database wait time, improves your ability to troubleshoot slow response times or pinpoint database instances that need additional resources. After integration with the Orion Platform, you can: View information from multiple DPA servers If you integrate multiple DPA servers with the Orion Platform, the Databases Summary view displays aggregated data from all servers. You can drill down to see information from a specific server. Integrate with SolarWinds SAM If you have SAM, integration with DPA adds views and resources that are available only with integration. This information gives you an application-centric perspective of database performance and helps you determine if the root cause of performance problems is in the application or the database. In addition, a Database Instance category is added to the Application Stack (AppStack) provided by SAM. Use the Database Instance category to assess the overall health of your database instances and to troubleshoot performance and availability problems. Integrate with SRM If you have SRM, integration with DPA adds views and resources that are available only with integration. This information gives you a storage-centric perspective of database performance and helps you determine if the root cause of performance problems is in the storage object or the database. page 64

71 Build Orion alerts and reports using information from DPA You can create alerts in the Orion Web Console that are triggered by data collected from database instances. You can also select DPA resources when you create reports in the Orion Web Console. Include DPA data in Performance Analysis (PerfStack ) dashboards When you include DPA metrics with metrics from other Orion Platform products, PerfStack dashboards can show how queries and database wait times relate to application and infrastructure performance. Both DBAs and non-dbas can use DPA data in PerfStack to answer the question "Is it the database or the application?" For integration instructions and information about using these features, see the DPA Integration Module Administrator Guide. DPA and SAM integration Check out this video (3:44) on integrating DPA and SAM. When you integrate DPA with the Orion Platform, information from DPA is added to SolarWinds SAM resources to provide an application-centric perspective of database performance. Database administrators and system administrators can use the DPA and SAM integration to: Analyze database performance within the context of a specific application. Monitor applications, databases, and server performance from a single interface, and drill down to find the root cause of slow application performance. Understand the relationships and dependencies among the layers of infrastructure from the perspective of an application. Integrating DPA with SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (SAM) provides specific features only available when DPA and SAM are integrated. You can create two types of relationships between applications monitored by SAM and database instances monitored by DPA: A SAM application and a DPA database instance are monitoring the same application. A SAM application queries a DPA database instance. The first relationship type adds a DB Performance tab to the Application Details view for quick access to DPA resources. page 65

72 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER The second relationship type populates data to the following resources: Applications Using All My Databases This resource displays all applications monitored by SAM that query database instances monitored by all your DPA servers. Applications Using My Databases This resource displays the applications monitored by SAM that query database instances monitored by the selected DPA server. page 66

73 Applications Using This Database This resource is on the Database Instances view. It tells you which applications are querying this database instance. Database Response Time (Client) This resource is on the Application views for applications that query databases monitored by DPA. Click a client application in the "Applications Using..." resources to access these views. For example, in the image above, click Microsoft IIS. The Database Response Time (Client) resource tells you how long your application is waiting on the database and why. The histogram breaks down the amount of time your application waited into discreet wait types, which identify what the database was doing. It often identifies resource contention. The icon next to each wait type provides a description of what this wait type means, common solutions, and the role within your organization most capable of this work. page 67

74 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER For more information about integration, see the DPA Integration Module Administrator Guide. page 68

75 DPA and SRM integration Integrating DPA 11.0 and later with SolarWinds Storage Resource Monitor (SRM) 6.4 and later provides specific features only available when DPA and SRM are integrated. You can see contextually relevant information on storage objects related to databases monitored by DPA, and correlate storage health and performance with the databases mapped to the storage objects. After you define relationships between database instances and storage objects, click My Dashboards > Databases > DB Storage Summary. DPA and SRM integration populates data to the following resources: Storage Used By All Databases This resource displays all storage objects monitored by SRM related to database instances monitored by all your DPA servers. Storage Objects By Performance Risk This resource displays storage objects monitored by SRM where the related database instances contain one or more warnings or critical issues that may affect performance. page 69

76 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER Storage Objects By Capacity Risk This resource displays storage objects monitored by SRM where the related database instances contain one or more warnings or critical issues that may affect capacity. page 70

77 Storage Used By This Database This resource is on the DB Storage tab of the Database Instance view. It tells you which storage objects are mapped to this database instance. page 71

78 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER page 72

79 Get connected This section contains information on accessing the SolarWinds Customer Portal and engaging with THWACK, the SolarWinds community of IT pros: Access the Customer Portal Set up additional Customer Portal user accounts Engage with the SolarWinds community Access the Customer Portal The SolarWinds Customer Portal provides access to license and maintenance information, support cases, and product downloads, as well as live and instructor-led virtual classroom training. Create your user profile To create a user profile, you must know the SolarWinds customer ID (SWID) issued to your company. If you are a SolarWinds customer but do not have a SWID, contact SolarWinds Customer Support. Users with multiple SWIDs require only one user profile. Your user profile can be linked to multiple SWIDs. 1. Go to customerportal.solarwinds.com. 2. Click the Register tab. 3. Enter your organization's SWID and your address. If you have multiple SWIDs, enter any SWID to create your profile. Later, use the User Profile menu to link the other SWIDs to your profile. The account administrator will review the request, and you will receive an when it is approved. For more information about creating an account, see this FAQ page. page 73

80 GETTING STARTED GUIDE: DATABASE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER Explore the Customer Portal Manage licenses and access license keys. Download purchased products. Open a new support case and monitor existing cases. Download free trials of integrated products. Sign up for training. page 74