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 databases (e.g. deadlocking 3rd party vendor databases)
• Have a "quick config" workflow that exludes the current lot of similar alerts without us having to write any regular expressions or other complicated config mechanisms
• When an alert configuration is applied, provide the option to close affected alerts.
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Tim Lenz commented
I agree being able to block certain objects or stored procedures from generating alerts that really are unnecessary like an alert when the duration is lower than expected? Only if I really want to see alerts like that to troubleshoot otherwise NEVER! Blocked or deadlock queries from third party vendors, how about letting me choose not to get alerts from certain users accounts and/or databases? A better maintenance window option that lets me tell you when I know certain servers get rebooted so I don't get 5-8 messages during the restart when I already know the system is off line.
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Morten Nilsen commented
We have a vendor system that generates a lot of deadlocks naturally and there is nothing I can do to mitigate that. As such, the ability to set deadlock alerts settings per database would be much appreciated.
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CONTEXT: We receive Long-running query, deadlock and blocked process alerts. We have to triage large numbers of these alerts.
PROBLEM: Since one alert is raised per process, the number of alerts can be quite large. We have to click into every single alert details report to identify patterns, and configuring them using regular expressions is a time sink.
EXAMPLE SOLUTIONS:
• Mention the stored procedure names for these alerts earlier on: In the alert emails or the Alert Inbox
• Group similar query-based alerts in the Alert inbox
• Have a "quick config" workflow that exludes the current query from the alert without us having to write any regular expressions
• Suppress query-based alerts for specific databases (e.g. deadlocking 3rd party vendor databases)What do you think about these solutions? Got another idea? Let us know in the comments!
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steve commented
It would be good If you could click a plus against an alert to view some brief details of the alert issue. Then you can click on if you want more details.
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Jan Bart Middelkoop commented
I think it would be good is this is part of the adding more functionality to the advanced filter.
What I also miss is that you can select the database in the advanced filter (if you do it via monitored servers it's showing all the alerts).
Also to filter on time taken would be a nice addition. -
James Chorlton commented
Defiantly helpful when you add a new server. I added an instance which has LS targets on it; getting a database unavailable message every 15 minutes for 36 databases was a bit much. 5 clicks per database (with a slow ui) took an age to disable the alerts!
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David Aleu commented
Would be good to disable the alerts from the list immediately without having to go through 3-4 clicks...
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Stefan LK commented
In the Alert Inbox > Advanced filter:
Add the possibility to filter on object name, ie search criteria.This will, for example, enable the ability to clear all alert for a specific object.
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Anonymous commented
I would like the ability to use the keyboard arrow keys and spacebar to select and check alerts.
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Chad Mountain commented
Definitely need this, in particular to ignore when 'Transact-SQL IntelliSense' is the blocked process - no-one ever needs to look into that.
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This was also raised as a separate suggestion, which I've merged in. The other suggestion was a scenario where a full transaction log caused the multiple alert emails, but the outcome was the same (too many alerts).
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I’d be interested to see if others have complex regex examples to share?
My assumption has been that the regex in LRQ configuration is typically a list of processes or commands to exclude, and so could be constructed using the two regex capabilities shown in the on-line demo (ie, escaping the '.' metacharacter, and combining multiple process names using the '|' alternation metacharacter).
Incidentally, the embedded help (blue question mark) has links to regex resources on the web (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/az24scfc(v=VS.100).aspx , http://regexlib.com/CheatSheet.aspx ).
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Anonymous commented
Ok fair point, that shows one simple example (SQBCoreService\.exe) Could you please expand to include 2-3 more complex excluded queries?
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srikant commented
want to have all configuration settings displayed and should have a initial findings on server report which can be tuned based on the reports we get.
it should be available for licensed once you register the server on it. like autogrowth would be suitable, what memory should be set, server and database level properties should be included in reports which can be alarmed and has recommended values. -
Thanks for the suggestion.
FYI, the configuration for Long Running Query alerts on the on-line demo shows some examples: jump to http://monitor.red-gate.com/Configuration/Alerts , drill down via the server hierarchy (LHS) to the "ins1" SQL Server Instance (via "All Servers -> SQLServerCentral -> 254914-ntclus.lon.intensive.int -> ins1"), and select "Long Running Query" to see the alert configuration.
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David Gray commented
Why not give a couple of Regex examples on the override laert settings page for the "Exclude queries with a SQL process name matching the following regular expressions:
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Anonymous commented
When viewing alerts it would be good if there was a [Clear & Next] button. At the moment you have to clear alert then click on older or newer.
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Anonymous commented
I need the feature to disable deadlockmessages for some 3rd-party-database, too. currently the alert is disabled because i can not even see the databasename on the alert-page.
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I think Nigel's comment should cover what you need here.
I also wanted to point out that you can configure alerts at lots of levels, but in my experience not everyone is aware of this: for eg, many people don't spot the ability to configure at the database or disk level, or aren't aware that you can configure for groups of servers (if you organise your servers into groups). I've put together a graphic of the different levels of configurability : https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10715620/RG/SQLMonitorAlertConfig.PNG -
Nigel Rowles commented
I might be missing something but I just customize the setting for that level, select an emeail recipient and don't put anything in the email address box. That way the alerts are recorded but it does not send email