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Suggestions

Welcome to the Redgate Monitor feature suggestions list. Tell us how we can improve Redgate Monitor by voting on these suggestions or by submitting your own ideas.

This is the easiest way to make an impact on Redgate Monitor’s roadmap. Check out the completed suggestions to see how your ideas have influenced us in the past. Please note that this list is one of multiple sources that drive our development, meaning that we will not always implement the highest-ranking suggestions.

To give your idea the greatest possible impact, please follow these guidelines:

  • Describe the goal you’re trying to accomplish, rather than a specific solution to get there
  • If you have a favoured solution, add it as a comment to your suggestion
  • Give us as much context as possible
  • Only make one suggestion per post. If you have multiple ideas, submit them in separate posts
  • Comment and vote on existing posts to develop the ideas — the Redgate Monitor team will often stay quiet initially about new suggestions to see what you have to say!

If you have any questions visit the Redgate Monitor forum.


208 results found

  1. Triage and configure repeating alerts more efficiently

    CONTEXT: Some alert types such as Long-running queries, Job Failure or Error Log Entries can trigger very frequently under certain circumstances.

    PROBLEM: This causes a large number of alert emails to be sent, and the only way to ascetain that all these alerts are the same is to view the details screen for all of them.

    EXAMPLE SOLUTIONS
    • Group similar alerts in the alert inbox
    • Raise alerts not on individual events, but on these events happening a specified number of times
    • Mention identifying information sooner: e.g. directly in the alert inbox
    • Suppress query-based alerts for specific…

    462 votes
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    completed  ·  61 comments  ·  Admin →
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  2. Custom reports against alerts, queries and metrics

    CONTEXT: We want to see the bigger picture arising from the data presented in SQL Monitor.

    PROBLEM: Currently you can't pull together a report in the SQL Monitor UI, and the monitoring database is not particularly accessible. We need reports against:
    - The metrics shown in the analysis graph
    - The top queries and waits
    - The alerts raised over time
    - Server configuration and SLA

    EXAMPLE SOLUTIONS:
    - Provide reporting scripts against the monitoring database
    - Privide a BI interface against the monitoring database
    - Priovide richer data-export functionality in the UI
    - Provide a report designer in the…

    263 votes
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    completed  ·  56 comments  ·  Admin →
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  3. Only receive emails for the most important alerts

    CONTEXT: I review alerts raised by SQL Monitor in order to stay on top of my server activity, and I also have alert emails enabled in order to respond quickly to issues.

    PROBLEM: I only want to receive emails for issues that require immedate action or are otherwise noteworthy. I don't want to change the alert thresholds because for my triage, the "lower-priority" alerts are still interesting - but they shouldn't be sent as emails.

    EXAMPLE SOLUTIONS:
    • Send emails by alert priority - e.g. medium and high only
    • Alter the default alert behaviour to only send emails for…

    240 votes
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    completed  ·  Adam responded

    We have released version 9.0.10 of SQL Monitor which includes the ability to choose to receive notifications for only high level alerts, or only high and medium alerts (or the default of all severities) globally.
    https://documentation.red-gate.com/sm9/release-notes-and-other-versions/sql-monitor-9-0-release-notes

    We realise this is long overdue, as we’ve struggled to provide one solution to the different problems contained in this suggestion. As such, we’ve decided to break this down into different problems we can look to address.

    We believe this release delivers the solution to the problem originally suggested, to be able to send email notifications for alerts with a Medium or High priority, so will mark this as completed. However, please do raise new suggestions for anything you feel hasn’t been addressed by this release, so we are able to consider each one as we continue to improve SQL Monitor.

    Thank you for your patience,
    SQL Monitor Development Team

  4. Suppress performance-related alerts during maintenance periods

    CONTEXT: I expect my system to slow down during routine maintenance tasks, which often leads to false postitives for performance-related alerts (long-running queries, High CPU...) in SQL Monitor.

    PROBLEM: While I could configure a maintenance window where alerts don't get raised, this would also suppress operational alerts (e.g. Machine unreachable, Job failed) - these are still relevant while maintenance is in progress

    EXAMPLE SOLUTIONS:
    • Allow to configure maintenance times for individual alerts
    • Change maintenance window behaviour so that operational alerts are still active during maintenance

    What do you think about these solutions? Got another idea? Let us know…

    233 votes
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    completed  ·  Neil Turner responded

    Thanks for this suggestion. SQL Monitor 10 now allows teams to suppress alerts, or just their notifications, over certain periods using alert suppression windows. Please see What’s New in SQL Monitor 10 for more details (https://www.red-gate.com/hub/product-learning/sql-monitor/whats-new-in-sql-monitor-10).

    We hope this meets requirements and will mark it as completed. Please raise further suggestions for any improvements you would like to see.

    Thanks,

    SQL Monitor product team

  5. Forecast and plan disk/database capacity

    CONTEXT: When looking after a large number of databases, we have to make sure that none of them run out of space or I/O capacity.

    PROBLEM: SQL Monitor needs to show us:
    • The current size of Database files (and which disks they are on) and how full they are, ideally with a forecast
    • Autogrowth configuration
    • Space remaining on disk, ideally with a forecast
    • File and disk-level IO metrics, ideally with a forecast

    EXAMPLE SOLUTIONS:
    • Provide this data as metrics in the Analysis Graph
    • Create a Disk Overview report with this data
    • Enhance the…

    217 votes
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    completed  ·  Adam responded

    Thank you for this suggestion. Version 8.0.10 released July 10th, 2018 includes a new Estate tab containing the new “Disk Capacity Planning” feature.

    We hope this meets the requirements and will close this suggestion, but please do raise another suggestion if you have specific improvements you’d like to see.

    Kind regards,
    Adam
    SQL Monitor Development Team

  6. Add more information to alert email

    It would be nice to have more information sent into the alert email, instead of having to login into the monitor to check details. I am not sure if there is a way to do this already. If there isn't - this would be nice to have.

    For e.g: This doesn't divulge which query. If the query was mentioned, it would help.

    ID: 59

    SQL Server: (local)
    Machine: (Machine Name)
    Alert type: Long-running query
    Level: None
    Time raised: 8 Mar 2012 12:44 PM (UTC-05)
    Time ended: 8 Mar 2012 12:50 PM (UTC-05)
    View full alert detail

    147 votes
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    completed  ·  Priya Sinha responded

    SQL Monitor V 3.3. has now released. This release contains improved subject lines and message bodies of alert emails to help you quickly understand problems before logging in to SQL Monitor.

    Thanks,
    SQL Monitor Development Team

  7. add LDAP/NTLM authentication so that Windows domain users can log in as themselves

    That's it, really - configure read-only/read-write access via Active Directory group memberships or user lists built into SQL Monitor, and allow individual users to log in using their own AD credentials.

    142 votes
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    completed  ·  Daniel Rothig responded

    SQL Monitor 5.0 lets you log in with your AD credentails. Admins can configure individuals or AD groups to have access to SQL Monitor, and have granular access control over which servers users can see.

  8. Use extended events for deadlock "tracing" instead of a trace flag

    If the SQL Server version is high enough, using extended events to capture deadlock information would be preferred to using a trace flag.

    138 votes
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  9. Identifiy the failed job steps when a job has failed

    CONTEXT: When looking at a job failed alert, we would like to pinpoint why it has failed.

    PROBLEM: SQL Monitor doesn't indentify the failed steps - we have to go to SSIS to get that information.

    EXAMPLE SOLUTIONS:
    • Add this information to the "Job failed" alert
    • Provide a query to make retrieving this data more convenient

    136 votes
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    completed  ·  Adam responded

    Thanks for this suggestion. Failed job steps are now listed in failed job alerts – this feature was completed in Version 7.1.6, released October 4th 2017 (apologies for not updating sooner).

    We have marked this as completed – please let us know if you believe this needs to be reopened, or add a new suggestion if you would like to see a particular improvement.

    Thanks,
    SQL Monitor Development Team

  10. Integrate SQL Monitor notifications with devices, ticketing systems and and other monitoring tools

    CONTEXT: SQL Monitor is one of multiple tools I use to monitor my estate, such as SCOM, Tivoli, and OpenView. I would like to consoldate notifications from all of these tools

    PROBLEM: SQL Monitor only sends human-readable email notifications, but other integration points like SNMP traps are not provided out of the box

    EXAMPLE SOLUTIONS:
    • Provide an SNMP demon against SQL Monitor's alerting data
    • Make SQL Monitor send SNMP notifications out of the box
    • Ability to send SMS or other push notifications
    • Ability to "forward" an alert into a ticketing system

    127 votes
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    completed  ·  22 comments  ·  Admin →
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  11. Make SQL Monitor scale to more machines and networks

    CONTEXT: We want to monitor many different servers in different domains and locations

    PROBLEM: Network configuration for cross-domain monitoring can be challenging, and SQL Monior can slow down if many servers are being mointored

    EXAMPLE SOLUTIONS:
    • Create a central web interface that can access multiple Base monitors
    • Provide an optional agent that can be deployed for easier network configuration
    • Make a single installation of SQL Monitor scale to a larger number of servers, and make network configuration easier

    126 votes
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    completed  ·  21 comments  ·  Admin →
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  12. Ability to store a baseline

    After attending SQL in the city and listening to Grant Fritchey talk about the need to create baselines (and demo sql monitor) a feature I would like is the ability to create a baseline over 24 hours and have it stored. This could be then added to the analysis page as a Versus. ie last hour vs baseline, last day vs baseline.

    118 votes
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    completed  ·  Daniel Rothig responded

    With SQL Monitor v.3.5 introducing a powerful baselining feature, we consider this suggestion as completed.

    One thing our implementation doesn’t do (though it was mentioned in a couple of comments) is to be able to “freeze” a data range so as to retain a static baseline. We’ve created a suggestion for this additional functionality – so if you are interested in that aspect please vote on the following suggestion: http://sqlmonitor.uservoice.com/forums/91743-suggestions/suggestions/11122092-select-and-store-a-static-baseline-for-future-refe

    Thanks
    Daniel

  13. Job duration taking too long - triggering WHILE job is still running

    CONTEXT: If a job is taking a long time (outside of some predefined threshold), we want to be alerted about it. That’s often an actionable alert – we could decide to stop the job, we could let the users know that report XY will be late as a consequence etc. One step further is being alerted on the job STEP level as well.

    PROBLEM: Current alert “Job duration unusual” is triggered AFTER the job completes, if it meets the alert's criteria. We need an alert to trigger WHILE the job (or job step) is still running, but the criteria is…

    118 votes
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  14. Save 'Analysis' filters as favourite

    It would be very helpful if I could save 'Analysis' graph after I select multiple counters. So the next time I could just click the Name and bring back the multi-counter analysis. In fact redgate can have some pre-canned favorites for Memory/IO counters etc. and others can contribute to different combinations of counters.

    115 votes
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    completed  ·  Daniel Rothig responded

    In SQL Monitor 5.0.2 we have added the navigational state of the Alert inbox to the URL string, meaning that Analysis filters can now be bookmarked and even shared. If you use the “As above” function, reapplying the same set of metrics to a different server is a single-click operation.

  15. Notifications support for Microsoft Teams

    Just like Slack (Webhook) notification support, it would be great if SQL Monitor could send notifications to Microsoft Teams.

    106 votes
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  16. Monitor SQL instances running in AWS RDS

    Enable SQL Monitor to add AWS RDS instances as monitored servers

    101 votes
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  17. Identify if virtualization hosts are congested

    CONTEXT: We are monitoring virtual servers that share a VM host.

    PROBLEM: If host resources are overallocated, the physical resources can be contended even if the virtual resources aren't. This is not easy to spot in SQL Monitor.

    EXAMPLE SOLUTIONS
    • Add virutal host counters for VMware and Hyper-V to the analysis graph: CPU, Memory, disk...
    • Integrate with a Virtualisation monitoring solution to connect the dots more easily

    100 votes
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    completed  ·  Adam responded

    We have now released version 7.1.0. The collection of VMware metrics is out of beta.

    https://documentation.red-gate.com/display/SM7/Adding+a+VMWare+host

    If you have suggestions for any improvements you would like to see, please begin a new suggestion with as much detail as possible, so we can consider where best to focus our efforts.

    Thanks,
    SQL Monitor Development Team

  18. Multiple Maintenance Windows

    I would like to be able to set two maintenace windows every day.

    98 votes
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    completed  ·  Neil Turner responded

    Thanks for this suggestion. SQL Monitor 10 now allows teams to suppress alerts, or just their notifications, over certain periods using alert suppression windows. Multiple windows can be set-up. Please see What’s New in SQL Monitor 10 for more details (https://www.red-gate.com/hub/product-learning/sql-monitor/whats-new-in-sql-monitor-10).

    We hope this meets requirements and will mark it as completed. Please raise further suggestions for any improvements you would like to see.

    Thanks,

    SQL Monitor product team

  19. Do other tasks than send email on new alert

    It would be nice if it was possible to allow other tasks when a alert is raised. Other tasks which could be called: Script file, url, exe file.

    96 votes
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    completed  ·  19 comments  ·  Admin →
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  20. Reduce the number of false-positive status alerts (e.g. Machine unreachable)

    CONTEXT: Many status alerts (eg. Machine unreachable) have a simple configuration model, meaning that these alerts will trigger as soon as a ping to the Machine fails.

    PROBLEM: VPN connection resets, scheduled restarts, etc. all may be acceptable causes for a ping to fail in our system, but these currently lead to a lot of false positives... provided they are brief, and the system recovers in time.

    EXAMPLE SOLUTIONS:
    • Add configuration to the machine unreachable alerts to set a time threshold
    • Require two consecutive pings to fail before raising the alert

    92 votes
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    completed  ·  Adam responded

    Version 5.0.5 introduced the ability to configure machine unreachable, and SQL Server instance unreachable, by multiple time thresholds. We left this open for a while to see if there were any further requests. Thanks for the suggestion.

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