SQL Inventory Manager gathers information that allows you to determine your SQL Server licensing requirements. The Licensing view shows information like the instance version, edition, host computer´s name, CPU name, number of logical and physical processors, and if servers are virtual or not. To access this view, go to the Instances tab, and click SQL Licensing.
To find more information on how to determine Microsoft SQL Server licenses, refer to Microsoft Documentation.
Decommissioned instances do not count against your license. For more information about decommissioning, see Decommissioned instances.
Available options
On the SQL Licensing view there are two options available on the action items bar:
- Add SQL Server instances. Click this option to go to the respective wizard and add new SQL Server instances.
- Export. You can choose any of the following formats: PDF, XLS, or XML for exporting the information displayed on the SQL Licensing view.
You can type on the bottom section of this view the number of instances you want SQL Inventory Manager to display per page. Click Refresh to apply the changes.
What other options can you perform if you select instances?
On the SQL licensing view SQL Inventory Manager allows you to perform several actions on a single instance as well as bulk actions on several selected instances.
If you select one instance you can perform the following actions:
- View details
- Refresh data
- Edit instance properties (Owner, Location, Comments and Credentials)
- Edit Tags
- More actions: Decommission, Disable Monitoring, Remove, Add SQL Server instance.
You can also access most of these options from the gear icon next to the selected instance. To access the instance details view, you can click directly on the instance name.
Viewing instance details
You can access an instance details view by selecting the instance and clicking View Details on the action items bar or by clicking directly on the instance name. For more information about what information is available on the instance details view, refer to Viewing instance details.
Refresh Data
If you want to refresh the collected data for an instance, select the instance and click Refresh Data on the action items bar. You can also find this option by clicking the gear icon next to the respective instance. You can only perform this action for one instance at a time.
Edit instance properties
Select an instance and click Edit Properties on the action items bar. You can also find this option by clicking the gear icon next to the respective instance. On the properties dialog window you can change the owner, location, comments, and credentials. For more information go to Editing instances properties.
Edit Tags
By selecting an instance and clicking Edit Tags on the action items bar, SQL Inventory Manager opens a new dialog window where you can add new tags or change the currently assigned tags of the selected instance. You can also find this option by clicking the gear icon next to the respective instance. For more information about editing tags for a specific instance, go to Manage tags for a single instance.
More Actions
Under More Actions you can find additional options: Decommission, Disable Monitoring, Remove, and Add SQL Server instance.
Decommission
Select an instance and click Decommission on the action items bar to stop monitoring and alerting on that instance. You can also find this option by clicking the gear icon next to the respective instance. For more information about decommissioning an instance or database, see Decommissioned instances.
Disable Monitoring
If you want to disable the monitoring of an instance, select the instance, go to More Actions, and select Disable Monitoring. You can also find this option by clicking the gear icon next to the respective instance. For more information about disabling instances, click here.
Remove
If you no longer want to manage an instance, you can remove it by selecting the respective instance, going to More Actions on the action items bar, and selecting Remove. You can also find this option by clicking the gear icon next to the instance. SQL Inventory Manager displays all removed instances on the Ignored instances view. For more information about removing instances click here.
Add SQL Server instance
If you want to access the Add SQL Server instance wizard, go to More actions and select this option. The wizard opens and allows you to browse and register SQL Server instances.
If you select several instances SQL Inventory Manager allows you to perform the following bulk actions on the selected instances:
- Edit Owner
- Edit Location
- Edit Credentials
- Edit Tags
- More Actions (Decommission, Disable Monitoring, Enable Monitoring, Remove, Add SQL Server instances)
For example, if you have a new DBA, you can select all instances on this tab and click Edit Owner to change all instances owner at once.
To bulk edit several instances, select the instances you want to change and follow any of these paths:
- Click the option you want to perform on the action items bar: Edit Owner, Edit Location, Edit Credentials, Edit Tags, Disable Monitoring, Decommission, and Remove.
- Or click the gear icon next to one of the selected instances. SQL Inventory Manager opens a dialog window that shows you on how many instances you are performing the changes.
How do you export information available on the SQL Licensing view?
On the action items bar of the SQL Licensing view, you can find the Export option which allows you to choose your preferred format for exporting the information available on this view. You can export as a PDF, XLS, or XML file. The filters you choose on this view will be taken into account for your exported reports.
Filtering on the SQL Licensing view
On the left section of this view you can find options for filtering your instances by Tags, Owner, Location, and Version. Use these filters to quickly access specific instances that you want SQL Inventory Manager to display on this view. For example, you can choose to display the licensing information of instances that have a specific tag in your environment.
Creating a useful filter to "weed out" unnecessary information takes time but is important when managing large environments. As a result, you may want to save that filter for future use. SQL Inventory Manager now allows you to save filters for use in the Explorer and Instances views. Simply create the filter, and then click Save as Explorer favorite or click Save as Instances favorite, depending on which view you are in when creating the filter. To use that filter, click Load Explorer favorite or click Load Instances favorite.
You can enable or disable the option Apply filter as it changes depending if you want to see the changes as you apply the filter, or if you prefer to select your filters first and see the results when you finish.
Tip
Need more help? Search the Idera Customer Support Portal.