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In order to manage an instance, access its details, and add it to your monitored environment, you need to register it with SQL Elements. This section helps you register one or more instances with SQL Elements. 

You can find the Add SQL Servers Instances option on the following views:

  • Dashboard - top right section of the instances table.
  • Instances - top right section of the Managed, Discovered, and Ignored sections respectively.
  • Administration - instances section.

Below you can see the tabs and sections where you can find Add SQL Server instances. Click the image to view full size.

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The Add Instance Wizard contains the following four sections:

1. Instance

  • Type the name of instance or instances you want to register in the SQL Server Instance box.  Use a semicolon to separate instances.
Tip
titleTip

When you select instances on the Instances view (Managed, Discovered, Ignored), the wizard already adds them to this box.

  • You can use the Browse button to access a list of discovered instances that have not been registered yet with SQL Elements. Check the box next to the instances you want to add, and click Apply.

  • Click Next in order to go to the next section.

2. Credentials

SQL Elements connects to registered SQL Server instances and their host computers to collect information. The collection service requires permissions to connect and gather information using the following types of connections:

  • SQL connection credentials to perform queries against registered instances.
  • WMI connection credentials to gather data from the host computers.
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titleTip

For more information on what are the minimum required permissions for these accounts, click

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urlRequired accounts and permissions

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titleAuthorize WMI users and set permissions

If you want to know how to authorize WMI users and set permissions, click

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urlhttp://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc787533%28v=ws.10%29.aspx
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By default, SQL Elements connects using the SQL Elements Service Account. However, if you need to provide alternative credentials for any of these two connections, you can choose from the respective options on each section.

SQL Connection Credentials 
  • Specify the type of account that you want to use to access your SQL Server instance and collect its information. If you do not want to use the SQL Elements service account, you can choose to use a Windows user account or a SQL Server login account from the Account Type list. 

  • If you select a Windows user account or SQL Server login account, type the respective user name and password.  SQL Elements uses this account for SQL queries to gather availability and configuration data.

  • You can test the accuracy of your credentials by clicking Test Credentials.
WMI Connection Credentials
  • On this section, you can choose to use the SQL Elements service account or a Windows user account by selecting any of them from the Account Type list.

  • If you choose to use a Windows user account, type the respective user name and password. This account allows you to access Windows configuration data of the computer that hosts the registered instance. 
Tip
titleTip

Idera recommends that you use the Test Credentials option to verify that SQL Elements can successfully monitor the newly registered instances.

3. Information

On this section you can specify additional information for your instances like OwnerLocation, Comments and Tags.

Although none of these fields is required, Owner, Location, Comments and Tags provide a powerful method for grouping instances and help you organize your managed instances. You can use this information to view information such as database counts, size, or activity, grouped by these fields. 

Use the Owner and Location lists to access all available options.

To add tags, you can do one of the following:

  • Click any of the suggested Popular Tags on the right side of the window. The tag appears now on Current Tags on the left.
  • You can click See All Tags on the top right section to display all available tags.
  • If you want to Add a New Tag, type the name on the bottom box, and click ADD. Your new tag will be added to the Current Tags list

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titleWarning
  • The tag name must begin with an upper or lowercase alphanumerical character.
  • Your tag name must have a maximum length of 20 characters.
Warning
titleValid Characters

Take into account the following valid characters for any information that you type (Owner, Location, Comments, Tags):

  • Upper and lowercase alphanumeric characters, embedded spaces, and the following special characters: ! # @ ( ) ' . : - _ .
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titleTip

Refer to the Managing Tags section for more guidance on how to add, view, edit, or delete tags.

4. Finish

On this section, you can review your Instance Registration Details such as: instance name, SQL Connection Credentials, WMI Connection Credentials, Owner, Location, Comments, and Tags.

To change any of these registration details you can do one of the following options:

  • You can click any of the title sections (INSTANCE, CREDENTIALS or INFORMATION) and go directly to the place where you need to do the changes. 
  • You can click PREV to go back to the previous sections until you find the place where you need to make changes.

After you review your registration details click FINISH. SQL Elements begins to collect instances information after a few minutes of their registration and will continuously collect availability, performance, and configuration information from them and their host computers.

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titleTip

After registration, you can still change credentials, tags, and information settings on the Edit Properties option Refer to Editing instance properties for more information.

About collection intervals

Collection intervals are predefined. You can see more information about collection frequency on the What Health Checks are available in SQL Elements? section.

You can also force data collection for an instance by selecting Refresh Data on the Instance details view. For more information, refer to Viewing instance details.