Redgate · Database monitoring
SQL Server monitoring tools: what to check, and how Redgate Monitor covers it
A SQL Server monitoring tool should tell your DBAs three things before users notice: which server or database is in trouble, which query or wait is causing it, and whether backups, jobs and disk space are where they should be. Redgate Monitor does this across a whole estate from one web-based view. Interkey, a Redgate technology partner, implements Redgate Monitor for organisations in Saudi Arabia: installation, alert tuning, notifications and handover, from Riyadh.
Published 5 min read
In short
- What it watches: machines, SQL Server instances and databases, from one web-based view of the estate.
- What it collects: CPU, memory, disk and network counters, top queries with execution plans, wait statistics, blocking and deadlocks.
- What it alerts on: built-in alerts such as disk space, long-running queries, overdue backups, deadlocks and availability, plus custom metrics and alerts.
- Where it runs: self-hosted on your infrastructure, or as a fully managed SaaS edition.
- How it is licensed: per server, per year, on Redgate's terms.
- What Interkey does: sizing, installation, alert tuning, notification routing, reports and handover, with optional operation.
What a SQL Server monitoring tool should cover
Use this list to evaluate any tool, including the one you have now:
- Estate view. Every instance, availability group, cluster and virtual machine in one place, grouped the way your teams work.
- Query level. Which queries ran longest or used the most resources, with their execution plans, at the moment of the incident.
- Waits and blocking. What sessions were waiting on, and which process blocked the others.
- Deadlocks. The deadlock graph, not only a count.
- Scheduled health. Backups, agent jobs and disk space, checked against expectations, not only when someone looks.
- Alerts people act on. Thresholds you can tune per server, routed to the people who own the database.
- History. Enough retained data to compare tonight with last week.
- Access control. Who can see query text and server details, by role.
- Where the data lives. Monitoring data includes query text and server details. Decide where it may be stored.
What Redgate Monitor collects and alerts on
Redgate describes Redgate Monitor as a database monitoring and alerting tool designed to let teams supervise many instances from a single view. It supports SQL Server 2008 R2 and later, and Redgate also lists PostgreSQL among the platforms it monitors.
| Area | How Redgate documents it | Why DBAs use it |
|---|---|---|
| Machine | CPU, memory, disk and network counters collected over WMI; Linux machines polled over SSH | Separates a server problem from a database problem |
| Queries | Details of significant queries from the sys.dm_exec_* views, with execution plans and statistics, shown in Top queries | Finds the query behind a slowdown |
| Waits | Wait statistics from sys.dm_os_wait_stats | Shows what the server was waiting on |
| Blocking | Detects a process blocking others for longer than a set threshold; uses the blocked process report where available | Names the blocking session |
| Deadlocks | Deadlock graphs captured through Extended Events | Shows which statements collided |
| Estate | Configurations, access rights, installed versions and patches, licensing, disk usage and backups | Answers audit and capacity questions |
Built-in alerts include disk space, long-running query, overdue backup, deadlock and availability alerts. Custom metrics and alerts extend this to your own checks. Notifications can go by email or SNMP, to chat and ticketing tools, and to other systems through webhooks. Redgate notes there are currently no built-in alerts based on wait statistics, so waits are read on dashboards rather than paged.
Self-hosted or SaaS, and what that decides
Redgate Monitor is available self-hosted or as a fully managed SaaS edition. For many Saudi organisations the deciding question is where monitoring data may be stored: it includes query text, which can contain the values a query was run with, and details of every server in the estate. A self-hosted installation keeps that data on infrastructure you operate. Settle this with your security team before installation, not after.
Redgate Monitor licensing
Redgate prices the Standard edition per server, per year, in bands by number of servers (1–4, 5–9, 10–19 and 20 or more). A licence unit is a server, which can hold several instances, or a cluster node, a virtual machine or a cloud database instance, as Redgate defines on its pricing page. The Enterprise edition adds security monitoring and auditing, a high-availability architecture, a Data API and a sensitive action log, and is priced by Redgate on request. Redgate offers a 14-day free trial.
Interkey quotes the implementation, and any operation, as a fixed scope. Redgate licensing is quoted at the vendor's terms beside it, so you can see each part separately.
How Interkey implements Redgate Monitor
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Inventory the estate.
Servers, instances, availability groups and clusters, their owners, and which databases the business notices first.
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Decide the deployment.
Self-hosted or SaaS, where the monitoring data lives, and how many base monitors the network layout needs.
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Install and connect.
Install Redgate Monitor, open the network paths agreed with security, and add servers with least-privilege accounts.
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Tune the alerts.
Start from the built-in alerts, set thresholds per server group, and switch off alerts no one will act on.
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Route and report.
Send notifications to the people who own each database, and set up the reports your managers and auditors ask for.
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Hand over or operate.
Written runbooks and a walkthrough for your DBAs, or operation by Interkey under a written managed-services scope.
Redgate Monitor sits beside the rest of Redgate's SQL Server toolset that Interkey implements: schema comparison, source control and database delivery pipelines.
Redgate Monitor or Datadog Database Monitoring?
Interkey implements both, and they answer different needs. Redgate Monitor is built for DBAs who look after a SQL Server estate, with estate views of backups, jobs, versions and licensing. Datadog Database Monitoring also supports SQL Server, with query metrics, explain plans and host metrics, and fits where SQL Server is one part of a wider Datadog rollout covering applications and infrastructure. If your DBAs and your platform team want different views, settle who owns each alert before choosing the tool.
Questions buyers ask
Does Redgate Monitor need an agent on every SQL Server?
Redgate documents collecting machine counters over WMI, polling Linux machines over SSH, and reading SQL Server's dynamic management views and Extended Events. The accounts, ports and permissions it needs are agreed with your security team during set-up.
Which SQL Server versions are supported?
Redgate lists SQL Server 2008 R2 and later. The exact support for your editions and cloud services is confirmed during scoping, because it changes between releases.
Can monitoring data stay inside Saudi Arabia?
With the self-hosted edition, the monitoring data is stored on infrastructure you operate, so you decide where it lives.
We already have a monitoring tool. Why change?
You may not need to. Run the checklist above against your current tool. If the gaps are in alert design or ownership, fixing those comes before buying anything.
How long does an implementation take?
Installing and connecting the first servers is the short part. Tuning alerts across a large estate takes longer, and is done server group by server group.
Who operates it after go-live?
Your DBAs, after handover, or Interkey under a written managed-services scope.
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Discuss SQL Server monitoring
Tell us roughly how many SQL Server instances you run, how they are grouped, what you monitor them with today, and where monitoring data may be stored.
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+966-11-2180999 [email protected]Tawuniya Towers, North Tower, 7th Floor, King Fahad Highway, Olaya, P.O. Box 56835, Riyadh 11564, Saudi Arabia