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8.6 New features

Full support for SQL Server Express instances

SQL Diagnostic Manager 8.6 fully supports monitoring of SQL Server Express instances. The following editions are supported: SQL Server 2005 Express, 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, and 2014.

Reporting on Query Wait Statistics

You can now run the Query Wait Statistics report to quickly analyze different wait type categories on your SQL Server and identify where your biggest bottlenecks are occurring impacting your performance. For additional information about the new Query Waits Statistics report, see Query Waits Statistics report.

Query Waits information is now extended to the Top Servers and Top Databases reports

SQL Diagnostic Manager has extended Query Waits information to the Top Servers and Top Databases report, providing users insight into the queries on your SQL Server instance that exceed a specific wait threshold. Users can now view information on Top Servers by wait time and Top Databases by wait time. For additional information, see Top Servers and Top Databases.

New database alert for Availability Group Preferred Replica

SQL Diagnostic Manager triggers an Availability Group Preferred Replica whenever the primary role changes to a different replica and is unavailable for a defined amount of time in minutes.

8.6 Fixed Issues

Upgrade

• Users upgrading from SQL Diagnostic Manager 8.5 to 8.6 may encounter a message (see image below) that requests closing the Java framework application to proceed with the upgrade process. This framework is in use by the SQLdm WebUI Service of our web console feature. Clicking Ignore allows the upgrade installation process to complete successfully. You can also stop the SQLdm WebUI Service manually and click Retry to proceed with the Upgrade Wizard.

General

• This release fixes an issue where scheduled SQL Diagnostic Manager Repository grooming failed.
• This release fixes an issue that prevented data from being returned on a SQL 2012 instance when selecting the option Use Extended Events (SQL2012 + only) in the Wait Monitoring tab of the Monitored SQL Server Properties window.

Views

• An issue causing Data File Spaced Used and Log File Space Used values in the Overview > Details view to vary from the real server values no longer occurs.
• This release fixes an issue where the number of sessions displayed in the Sessions > Details view, after applying the Affecting Tempdb only filter, does not match the number of sessions in the Databases >Tempdb Summary view.
• An issue preventing disk drive statistics to return in the Disk view of the Resources tab no longer occurs.
• This release fixes an issue that caused the Query waits and Query History views to lag displaying data when the frequency of how often the console refreshes data was modified in the Tools > Console Options window.
• SQL Diagnostic Manager is designed to return the information that you want to view in the Signature Mode, Statement Mode, and Query History views through filters. However, the filter Exclude Currently Running Queries that excludes data returned with null values is not applicable to the Query History view and is now disabled by default.

Alerts

• An issue issue causing OS Disk Full (Percent) alerts to trigger for disk drives previously excluded from alerting in the Alert Filters tab of the Advanced Configuration window no longer occurs.
• This release fixes an issue impeding the Deadlock Sessions report with detailed deadlock information to display when right-clicking (Show Deadlock Details) or double-clicking over a deadlock alert in the Alerts view. Note that after upgrading to our latest version it is not possible to view deadlock details for alerts generated in SQL Diagnostic Manager 8.5 since this issue prevented deadlock information from being stored.
• This release fixes an issue impeding the Blocking Sessions report with detailed blocking and blocked sessions’ information to display when right-clicking (Show Block Details) in the Alerts view, double-clicking over a Block report in the Blocking view, or clicking the Show Block Details link in the Details section of the Alert view. Note that after upgrading to our latest version it is not possible to view block details for alerts generated in SQL Diagnostic Manager 8.5 since this issue prevented block information from being stored.
• An issue impeding new custom counters to be added in the Administration tab is solved.

Console

• This release fixes an issue present after upgrading to SQL Diagnostic Manager 8.5 with custom counters that had customized categories. This issue caused a .NET framework error and the SQL Diagnostic Manager Console to crash when clicking any monitored server.

Dashboard

• An issue preventing the Lock Waits and Tempdb panels from displaying in a customized Dashboard view no longer occurs.

Reports

• An issue preventing the Top Queries report to deploy correctly into a Microsoft Reporting Services Server no longer occurs.
• This release fixes an issue where a custom report was deployed into the Microsoft Reporting Services Server instead of the selected report in SQL Diagnostic Manager with a similar name.

8.5 New features

Full support for SQL Server 2014

SQL Diagnostic Manager 8.5 fully supports monitoring of SQL Server 2014 RTM. Users who implement the SQL Server 2014 In-Memory OLTP Engine functionality should note that SQL Diagnostic Manager does not support this feature at the moment.

Hyper-V support

SQL Diagnostic Manager 8.5 has extended virtual support to Hyper-V, providing users insight into the performance of their virtual system more effectively. Users can track and monitor Hyper-V specific performance metrics for a complete view of the virtualized server and the physical host. For additional information, see How SQLdm works with a virtual environment.

Tech Preview of the new SQL Diagnostic Manager web console

In SQL Diagnostic Manager 8.5 rapidly and easily identify problems. The SQL Diagnostic Manager web console is designed to provide quick access to the overall status of the SQL Server environment to help diagnose any issues.

• Quickly view status of a single instance or instance groups.
• Access from any connected browser. No SQL Diagnostic Manager Desktop Console required.
• Stand-alone web application with no need for IIS.
• Provide an easy to use web console to non-DBAs without giving access to entire management console so they can check on status of their SQL Server environment.

To provide feedback on the Tech Preview of the SQL Diagnostic Manager web console, access the IDERA community forum.

Monitoring and alerting enhancements

Enhanced alert response usability

Ability to set up Alert Response that is triggered only after multiple user defined metric thresholds have been breached. For additional information, see Configure automated responses to alerts.

Inclusion filters for Query monitors

Ability to do query monitoring on selected applications, databases, and SQL text. For additional information, see Configure advanced query monitor options.

New filter in the Signature Mode and Statement Mode views

Ability to exclude data returned with null values through the Exclude Currently Running Queries filter in the Signature Mode and Statement Mode views.

Improved Maintenance Mode flexibility

Additional monthly option for scheduling maintenance mode on monitored SQL server instances. For details, see Schedule Maintenance Mode.

Virtualization counters available for custom reports

Select both Hyper-V and VMware virtualization counters when creating a custom report. For additional information, see Select counter type and counters.

Run one-click System Diagnostics

Ability to run system diagnostics and collect service and desktop client logs in the System Diagnostics window. See System Diagnostics for details.

Deadlock victim details now available in the Deadlock Sessions Report

The Deadlock Sessions Report of the Sessions>Blocking view includes deadlock victim information by default. Users no longer have to manually add this option through the Column Chooser dialog. For additional information see, Analyze blocked sessions.

Configuration option added to control WMI timeouts

Configure the WMI timeout value in SQL Diagnostic Manager when suitable. For instructions, see Configure OS metrics monitoring.

8.5 Fixed Issues

General

• An issue causing settings in the Monitored SQL Server Properties window to revert no longer occurs.
• This release fixes an issue in deadlock data collection that caused discrepancies in the UTCCollectionDateTime.
• An issue causing SQL Diagnostic Manager to display an error on the monitored SQL Server 2014 instance when expanding the databases node, no longer occurs.
• Some users may experience Windows console crashes, applying the Microsoft update 2919355 solves this issue. For additional information on this solution, see the Microsoft knowledge base articles:
  • Out of memory when you load some image resources in a Windows application.
  • Platform update for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1.

Alerts

• An issue preventing cluster failover alerts to be triggered no longer occurs in SQL Diagnostic Manager 8.5.
• An issue preventing SQL Diagnostic Manager to update statistics for some monitored SQL servers that triggered a persistent alert ‘Unable To Monitor’ no longer occurs in version 8.5.

Reports

• This release fixes an issue impeding the VM Statistics report to display correctly.
• An issue preventing users from exporting the Blocking Sessions report in XML no longer occurs.
• An issue preventing the CPU Statistics report to display correctly when being deployed to the Microsoft Reporting Services no longer occurs.

8.0.1 New features

There are no new features in this release.

8.0.1 Fixed issues

General

• Users with large Repository databases no longer experience high CPU Usage by the sqlserv.exe process.
• An issue causing occasionally negative CPU Delta (ms) and Physical I/O Delta values in the Details view of the SQL Diagnostic Manager Sessions tab, when parallel usage of CPU is enabled, no longer occurs.

Management Service Log

• An issue causing exceptions in the SQLdm  Management Service logs when removing an availability group or replica from Availability Group Topology no longer occurs.
• The exceptions logged for ‘primary and foreign key duplication errors’ no longer occur.

AlwaysOn Availability Groups

• An issue causing deadlock errors after updates to the AlwaysOn Availability Group Topology tables in SQL Diagnostic Manager no longer occurs.

Mobile

• Users who remain logged in the IDERA Newsfeed account and upgrade to SQL Diagnostic Manager 8.0.1 no longer experience console crashes.

8.0 New features

SQL Diagnostic Manager now fully supports the AlwaysOn Availability Groups feature of SQL Server 2012

SQL Diagnostic Manager 8.0 now allows DBAs to monitor their availability groups, availability replicas, and availability databases. Support for this feature comes with:

• An Availability Group Statistics report that allows you view the historical health of your availability groups, availability replicas, and availability databases.
• An Availability Group Topology report that allows you to view the current topology of your availability groups configuration.
• Monitoring of key metrics specific to the AlwaysOn Availability Groups feature.
• Queue Size and Transfer Rates charts.

For additional information on SQL Diagnostic Manager and the AlwaysOn Availability Groups feature, see Monitor AlwaysOn Availability Groups.

SQL Diagnostic Manager now offers integration with Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM)

SQL Diagnostic Manager 8.0 now includes the SQLdm Management Pack (SQLdm MP) to enhance the SQL Server monitoring capabilities of Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM). Detailed alert and status information tracked by SQL Diagnostic Manager provides SCOM with a wealth of knowledge not previously available including:

• Seamless integration between SQL Diagnostic Manager and the SCOM health model and console.
• More robust overview of your server health and performance through the addition of SQL Diagnostic Manager metrics to the current SCOM ability to use availability to determine SQL Agent health.
• Detailed record of state changes and events that might impact the availability and performance of your server.
• Instant access to the SQL Diagnostic Manager Console from SCOM, providing access to vital insights not readily available using SCOM alone.

For additional information about using SQL Diagnostic Manager with System Center Operations Manager, see Integrate SQL Diagnostic Manager with SCOM.

Change Log Summary report

The Change Log Summary report allows users to view a list of all actions and configuration changes performed in their SQL Diagnostic Manager environment over a specified period of time. For additional information on this report, see Change Log Summary.

Improved collection of query and non-query activities

SQL Diagnostic Manager 8.0 now allows users to collect solely queries’ performance data through the Query Monitor tab in the Monitored SQL Server Properties window. Configure collection of non-query activities such as deadlocks and autogrow events through an independent window, the Activity Monitor tab.

Blocked Process report available in SQL Diagnostic Manager

SQL Diagnostic Manager users are now able to view the captured Blocked Process report directly in their SQL Diagnostic Manager Console. In the Activity Monitor tab, users can configure the Blocked Process Threshold (in seconds) that results in the Blocking Process and Blocked Process details report. To access this report, users can go to Sessions>Blocking and double click under Block Reports. For more information on this feature, see Set activity monitor options.

Improved Maintenance Mode and Snooze Alerts features

In the SQL Diagnostic Manager 8.0 version, applying maintenance mode modifications to a large number of servers at once is possible through the Maintenance Mode command. Review Schedule Maintenance Mode for details. Also users that want to tackle several alerts, can mass snooze/resume alert generation through the Snooze Alerts/Resume Alerts commands. For additional information, see Snooze Alerts.

SQL Diagnostic Manager Console supports Operating Systems where FIPS compliance is required

The SQL Diagnostic Manager 8.0 console supports operating systems with enabled system cryptography that use FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standard) complaint algorithms. For more information about FIPS compliance, see the Microsoft document,

SQL Server 2014 experimental support

SQL Diagnostic Manager 8.0 is SQL Server 2014 compatible. This version of SQL Diagnostic Manager is not certified against newer builds of SQL Server and should not be used with these builds in a production environment. IDERA provides experimental support while you use your installation in a testing environment to ensure the features you rely on most are working as or better than expected.

Users who implement the SQL Server 2014 In-Memory OLTP Engine functionality should note that SQL Diagnostic Manager does not support this feature at the moment.

8.0 Fixed Issues

General

• An arithmetic overflow error that converts expression to data type integer in the Query Waits and Session Details views no longer occurs.
• An issue causing errors related to data retention or data visibility in the History Browser no longer occurs. Note that some views in SQL Diagnostic Manager only collect data on demand in the repository after configuration.
• In SQL Diagnostic Manager 8.0 users are now able to limit the amount of memory used by the desktop client.

Servers

This release fixes an issue that occurred while refreshing the Server Summary view.

Databases

An issue causing errors related to fragmentation collector timeouts or fragmentation statistics collection in the Tables & Indexes view no longer occurs.

Services

This release fixes an issue caused when the collector for the SQL Agent Jobs View could not interpret null values, resulting in job and job steps collection errors.

Alerts

• The transactions (Per Second) metric now displays correctly in the History Browser when user selects a historical snapshot.
• This release fixes an issue where after modifying the advanced configuration settings of the SQL Server Status alert, the Lowered to OK status still showed.

Resources

An issue causing an unknown value in the User/Schema column of the Procedure Cache view no longer occurs.

Reports

An issue preventing users from running the Alert History Report after deployment to Reporting Services no longer occurs.