<%NUMBERING1%>.<%NUMBERING2%>.<%NUMBERING3%> PRTG Manual: WMI Microsoft SQL Server 2017 Sensor
The WMI Microsoft SQL Server 2017 sensor monitors the performance of a Microsoft SQL Server via Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI).
WMI Microsoft SQL Server 2017 Sensor
For a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.
Sensor in Other Languages
Dutch: WMI Microsoft SQL Server 2017
French: Microsoft SQL serveur 2017 (WMI)
German: WMI Microsoft SQL Server 2017
Japanese: WMI Microsoft SQL Server 2017
Portuguese: Microsoft SQL Server 2017 (WMI)
Russian: WMI Microsoft SQL Server 2017
Simplified Chinese: WMI Microsoft SQL Server 2017
Spanish: Microsoft SQL Server 2017 (WMI)
Remarks
This sensor has a high performance impact. Stay below 200 WMI sensors per probe. Above this number, consider using multiple remote probes for load balancing.
This sensor requires WoW64 (Windows 32-bit on Windows 64-bit) for target systems that run Windows Server 2016.
This sensor requires credentials for Windows systems in the settings of the parent device.
You can only add this sensor to a target system that runs a Microsoft SQL database.
This sensor supports IPv6.
You cannot add this sensor to the hosted probe of a PRTG Hosted Monitor instance. If you want to use this sensor, add it to a remote probe device.
If the name contains angle brackets (<>), PRTG replaces them with braces ({}) for security reasons. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: What security features does PRTG include?
This setting is for your information only. You cannot change it.
Tags
Enter one or more tags. Confirm each tag with the Spacebar key, a comma, or the Enter key. You can use tags to group objects and use tag-filtered views later on. Tags are not case-sensitive. Tags are automatically inherited.
It is not possible to enter tags with a leading plus (+) or minus (-) sign, nor tags with parentheses (()) or angle brackets (<>).
For performance reasons, it can take some minutes until you can filter for new tags that you added.
The sensor has the following default tags that are automatically predefined in the sensor's settings when you add the sensor:
wmisqlserversensor
wmisqlserversensor2017
Priority
Select a priority for the sensor. This setting determines the position of the sensor in lists. The highest priority is at the top of a list. Choose from the lowest priority () to the highest priority ().
SQL Server Settings
SQL Server Settings
Setting
Description
Service
The service that this sensor monitors.
The service name is provided as returned by the SQL server.
Name
The name of the server instance that this sensor monitors.
The display name is provided as returned by the SQL server.
Naming Method
Select whether PRTG automatically selects the name of the WMI class used for monitoring:
Automatically determine the WMI class name: Automatically select WMI class. We recommend this setting.
Manually enter the WMI class name: Manually enter a WMI class name. Select this option if your server instance returns an error code in automatic mode.
WMI Class
This setting is only visible if you select Manually enter the WMI class name above.
Enter the WMI class name that the sensor uses to monitor the server instance.
Result Handling
Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:
Discard result: Do not store the sensor result.
Store result: Store the last sensor result in the \Logs\sensors subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file names are Result of Sensor [ID].txt and Result of Sensor [ID].Data.txt. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites these files with each scanning interval.
In a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node.
SQL Counter Specific
SQL Counter Specific
Setting
Description
Performance Counters
You see a list of different groups of performance counters that the sensor can monitor for the instances that you selected above. Every sensor that PRTG creates for the server instances monitors the performance counters you select here.
General Statistics: Read general performance counters. This shows the number of user connections and the number of logins and logouts per second.
Access Methods: Read access method counters. This shows the number of full scans, page splits, and table lock escalations (per second).
Buffer Manager: Read buffer manager counters. This shows the buffer cache hit ratio in percent and the number of database pages and stolen pages.
Memory Manager: Read memory manager counters. This shows the connection memory, optimizer memory, total server memory, target server memory, and SQL cache memory (in kb).
Locks: Read locks counters. This shows the number of lock requests and deadlocks (per second), and the average wait time.
SQL Statistics: Read SQL statistics. This shows the number of batch requests, SQL compilations, and SQL re-compilations (per second).
Depending on your selection, PRTG creates a sensor with the specified channels.
To monitor more than one of the listed groups of performance counters, add the sensor several times for the respective instances.
After sensor creation, this setting shows the performance counter that this sensor monitors.
Sensor Display
Sensor Display
Setting
Description
Primary Channel
Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, the last value of the primary channel is always displayed below the sensor's name. The available options depend on what channels are available for this sensor.
You can set a different primary channel later by clicking below a channel gauge on the sensor's Overview tab.
Graph Type
Define how different channels are shown for this sensor:
Show channels independently (default): Show a graph for each channel.
Stack channels on top of each other: Stack channels on top of each other to create a multi-channel graph. This generates a graph that visualizes the different components of your total traffic. You cannot use this option in combination with manual Vertical Axis Scaling (available in the channel settings).
Stack Unit
This setting is only visible if you select Stack channels on top of each other above.
Select a unit from the list. All channels with this unit are stacked on top of each other. By default, you cannot exclude single channels from stacking if they use the selected unit. However, there is an advanced procedure to do so.
Inherited Settings
By default, all of these settings are inherited from objects that are higher in the hierarchy. We recommend that you change them centrally in the root group settings if necessary. To change a setting for this object only, click under the corresponding setting name to disable the inheritance and to display its options.
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Scanning Interval.
Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window
You cannot interrupt the inheritance for schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. The corresponding settings from the parent objects are always active. However, you can define additional schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. They are active at the same time as the parent objects' settings.
Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window.
Access Rights
Access Rights
For more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Access Rights.
Channel List
Which channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the target device, the available components, and the sensor setup.
Channel
Description
Average Wait Time
The average amount of wait time for each lock request that resulted in a wait
Batch Requests/Sec
The number of Transact-SQL command batches received. This statistic is affected by all constraints (such as input/output, number of users, cache size, or complexity of requests). High batch requests mean good throughput.
Buffer Cache Hit Ratio
The percentage of pages found in the buffer cache without having to read from disk. The ratio is the total number of cache hits divided by the total number of cache lookups since an instance of SQL Server was started. After a long period of time, the ratio moves very little.
Because reading from the cache is much less expensive than reading from disk, you want this ratio to be high. Generally, you can increase the buffer cache hit ratio by increasing the amount of memory available to SQL Server.
Connection Memory (KB)
The total amount of dynamic memory the server is using for maintaining connections
Database Pages
The number of pages in the buffer pool with database content
Number of Deadlocks/Sec
The number of lock requests that resulted in a deadlock
Full Scans/Sec
The number of unrestricted full scans. These can be either base-table or full-index scans.
Lock Requests/Sec
The number of new locks and lock conversions requested from the lock manager
Logins/Sec
The total number of logins started
Logouts/Sec
The total number of logout operations started
Optimizer Memory (KB)
The total amount of dynamic memory the server is using for query optimization
Page Life Expectancy
The number of seconds a page stays in the buffer pool without references
Page Splits/Sec
The number of page splits that occur as the result of overflowing index pages
SQL Cache Memory (KB)
The total amount of dynamic memory the server is using for the dynamic SQL cache
SQL Compilations/Sec
The number of SQL compilations per second. Indicates the number of times the compile code path is entered. Includes compiles because of recompiles. After the SQL Server user activity is stable, this value reaches a steady state.
SQL Recompilations/Sec
The number of SQL recompiles per second. Counts the number of times recompiles are triggered. In general, you want the recompiles to be low.
Stolen Pages
The number of pages used for miscellaneous server purposes (including procedure cache)
Table Lock Escalations/Sec
The number of times that locks on a table were escalated
Target Server Memory (KB)
The total amount of dynamic memory the server can consume
Total Server Memory (KB)
The total amount of dynamic memory that the server is using
User Connections
The number of user connections. Because each user connection consumes some memory, configuring overly high numbers of user connections could affect throughput. Set user connections to the maximum expected number of concurrent users.