The Alert Template Configuration window allows you to set up the alerts templates for multiple or all SQL Server instances.
Be sure to review a list of the default alert IDs, their descriptions, and associated events before configuring your alerts.
You can set the acceptable thresholds using the following alert types:
Alert Type | Color | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
OK | Green | Acceptable threshold where SQL Diagnostic Manager does not generate an alert. |
Informational | Blue | Informational threshold where SQL Diagnostic Manager generates an informational alert. |
Warning | Yellow | Warning threshold where SQL Diagnostic Manager generates a warning alert. |
Critical | Red | Critical threshold where SQL Diagnostic Manager generates a critical alert. |
In addition to setting the thresholds for specific alerts, you can customize your alerts by adding comments to each alert, and customize the alert rank based on the users environment and preferences . Comments allow you to include instructions to users when a level reaches a particular threshold or to provide additional information about the alert. You can also customize the levels at which SQL Diagnostic Manager provides alert notifications by changing the informational, warning, and critical values either on the Configuration tab of the Alert Configuration window or, for database- and disk-level alerts, on the Database Threshold Configuration window available by selecting the database or disk.
Also, you can base your alerts on the past performance of the metrics collected by SQL Diagnostic Manager. This is a powerful and effective way to make sure that the alerts you receive are outside of your typical metric ranges.
For each alert metric, you can enter the specific criteria by double-clicking the values on the Configuration tab.
You can add or import custom metrics to your alert configuration by using the Add Custom Counter wizard or the Import Custom Counter Wizard on the Administration window. This dialog allows you to use custom counters to track metrics that SQL Diagnostic Manager begins to monitor. You can select metrics in PerfMon, SQL Server, and even metrics monitored via custom T-SQL script.
To configure the settings for an alert template:
- Select the metric you want to edit from the list in the Alert Template Configuration window.
- Check the boxes next to Informational, Warning, and Critical to include alerts for these states.
- Change the alert thresholds by moving the arrows to the appropriate levels or by double-clicking the value and typing a new threshold level.
- Select the Comments tab and enter information you want displayed in the alert message for this metric.
Edit the Rank value if needed.
The Rank value is a global setting, editing this value affects all instances, and not just one template.
- Click Apply.
- Click OK to accept your changes.
Use alert templates in individual databases or disks within an instance
SQL Diagnostic Manager includes the ability to apply some alert thresholds on a per-database or per-disk basis within an instance. When you create an alert template and include one of these alerts, you cannot select which database or disk to apply the alert to because that is unknown in a template. For that reason, these alerts apply to all databases and disks within the instance to which it is applied. For additional information, see Configure database thresholds or Configure disk thresholds.
About informational alerts
Informational alerts allow you to set a threshold that, when generated, triggers a status that does not affect the overall status of the server within SQL Diagnostic Manager. You can use informational alerts to notify an administrator of the state of a particular metric for a server or trigger secondary processes that could take action to prevent issue escalation.
Note that for certain metrics, using the informational alert means that you no longer receive a warning or critical alert for events generated by that metric. Please review the situation before setting up an informational alert.