IDERA SQL Compliance Manager 5.5 and later allows you to take advantage of the SQL Server Audit Logs feature to track specific events occurring in your monitored environment. SQL Server Audit Logs is an event handling system that helps you reduce the size of data gathered and deliver performance gains over the default SQL trace method. In SQL Compliance Manager 5.5, only SELECT and DML events for SQL Server 2017 and later versions are supported by this feature.

There are two ways to enable Audit Logs capture:

• Through the Manage Instance Properties - Audited Activities tab in the Web Console.
• Through the Registered SQL Server Properties window - Audited Activities tab in the Windows Management Console.

Prerequisites and conditions for enabling auditing using Audit Logs

IDERA SQL Compliance Manager supports Audit Logs based auditing for SQL Server 2017 and above. The following prerequisites and conditions are required to switch auditing based on Audit Logs. 

• While enabling Audit Logs from Web or Windows Management console. 
  • SQL Compliance Manager checks for the following conditions, which all must be met to successfully enable Audit Logs:
    • The Agent is reachable.
    • SQL Server 2017 or above.
    • SQL Compliance Agent 5.5 or above.

Enable Audit Logs mode using the Web Console

Users wanting to take advantage of SQL Server Audit Logs auditing capabilities can do so by completing the following steps:

1. In your IDERA SQL Compliance Manager Dashboard menu, Select the Instances tab.
2. Click the gear icon in the Options column for the instance you want to audit and select Properties (instance).
3. Select the Audited Activities tab. 
4. Under the Capture DML and Select activities options, select the Via SQL Server Audit Specifications option. 
5. Click OK.

For more information about enabling this feature using the Web Console, see Manage Instance Properties - Audited Activities tab. 

Enable Audit Logs mode using the Windows Management Console

Users wanting to take advantage of SQL Server Audit Logs auditing capabilities can do so by completing the following steps:

1. Right-click the instance you want to audit and select Properties. 
2. In the Registered SQL Server Properties window, select the Audited Activities tab. 
3. Under the Capture DML and Select activities options, select the Via SQL Server Audit Specifications option.
4. Click OK. 

For more information about enabling this feature using the Windows Management Console, see Registered SQL Server Properties window - Audited Activities tab.