SQL Monitoring

I use a variety of methods for monitoring my database systems. Some are home grown. Others are 3rd party tools. Some look at more than SQL Server, reaching out to services and network and beyond. Some are very specific; monitoring a collection of file to ensure that imports are occurring on a regular basis.

One of the tools that I love is RedGate's SQL Monitor. I consider it my junior DBA. It is always on and always watching my systems. It lets me know when things are going awry.

With the custom metrics, I have been able to create and monitor some things that are near and dear to my heart, but are not generic enough that an alert already exists. For example, I have one custom metric that collects data about replication. Its not perfect, but the goal is to let me know when we are experiencing a particularly heavy replication period, as i may need to stay on my feet and be vigilant. Most times these periods simply pass without incident, but on occasion, in retrospect, something has gone terribly awry and one of the early indicators was heavier than normal replication business. So, thus the custom alert.

All this is to share with you some valuable information before i share the funny that I found. I was tweeking one of the alerts, and went back in time a day to see the data it had collected in the Analysis portion of the SQL Monitor tool. And the graphic representation of the data seemed to be mimicking the icon of the application itself.

 

This made me giggle and i had to share it with you.