Documentation forDatabase Performance Analyzer

DPA 11.0 System Requirements

See the following sections for minimum supported system requirements:

Port requirements

Port Protocol Service or Process Direction Encryption Description
8123 HTTP

Windows: Ignite PI Service

Linux: java/tomcat

Inbound

Outbound

 Default HTTP port for web server
8124 HTTPS

Windows: Ignite PI Service

Linux: java/tomcat

Inbound

Outbound

TLS 1.0

TLS 1.1

TLS 1.2

 Default HTTPS port for web server
8127 TCP

Windows: Ignite PI Service

Linux: java/tomcat

 Internal Internal Tomcat shutdown port
80 HTTP

Windows: Ignite PI Service

Linux: java/tomcat

Inbound

Outbound

 Default HTTP port for web server (Amazon Machine Images only)
443 HTTPS

Windows: Ignite PI Service

Linux: java/tomcat

Inbound

Outbound

TLS 1.0

TLS 1.1

TLS 1.2

 Default HTTPS port for web server (Amazon Machine Images only)

DPA server requirements

You can install SolarWinds DPA on any physical or virtual Windows, Linux, or Solaris server that supports the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version 1.8.

You can also launch DPA in the cloud:

  • In the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace from an Amazon Machine Image (AMI).
  • In the Azure Marketplace.
    • The DPA virtual machine contains a DPA server on Windows and a built-in Microsoft SQL Server database instance configured as the DPA repository.
    • Individual licenses must be purchased.

Self-managed DPA server requirements

The CPU and RAM requirements depend on the number of database instances you plan to monitor.

If you register VMware, increase the CPU and RAM requirements by 50%.

Hardware / Software 1 - 20 Monitored DB Instances 21 - 50 Monitored DB Instances 51 - 100 Monitored DB Instances 101 - 250 Monitored DB Instances*
CPUs 1 2 4 4
RAM dedicated to DPA 1 GB 2 GB 4 GB 8 GB
Disk space

2 GB minimum
4 GB recommended
Operating System
  • Windows Server 2016
  • Windows Server 2012 R2
  • Windows Server 2008 R2
  • Windows 10
  • Windows 8.1
  • Linux
    You must install JRE 1.8 on Linux.
  • Solaris
    If you install SolarWinds DPA on the Solaris operating system, Solaris 10 Update 9 (or Oracle 11) or later is required.
Operating System Architecture 64-bit
Character sets To support a multibyte language, the DPA server, repository, and monitored instances must be configured with the same character set.

* If you plan to monitor more than 250 database instances, consider using more than one DPA server and linking the servers together.

Requirements for an AWS DPA server

The minimum required AWS instance type for the DPA server AMI is t2.medium. Smaller instance types are not supported.

A t2.medium size instance is typically powerful enough to monitor 20 database instances. You might need a larger instance type to reliably monitor more than 20 database instances.

Requirements for an Azure DPA server

SolarWinds recommends two or more database throughput units (DTU) per monitored database instance. For more information, see the Azure SQL Database DTU Calculator (© 2017 Microsoft, available at http://dtucalculator.azurewebsites.net, obtained on October 26, 2017).

The minimum required Azure tier is standard s0.

Repository database requirements

The repository database stores the data collected by SolarWinds DPA. A supported database instance must be installed on the database server.

Do not host the repository on a database instance that you plan to monitor, because this affects the performance of that instance.

Supported database versions

Database Edition Version
Microsoft SQL Server
  • Standard
  • Enterprise
  • 2016 SP1
  • 2014 SP2
  • 2012 SP3
  • 2008 R2 SP3
Azure SQL Standard Service Tier or higher V12
MySQL
  • Community
  • Enterprise
  • 5.7.9
  • 5.6.10
  • Amazon RDS for MySQL 5.7.9
  • Amazon RDS for MySQL 5.6.10
  • Aurora 5.6.10a


Note: MySQL 8.0 is not supported for use as a DPA repository.
Oracle
  • Standard
  • Enterprise
  • 12.1 (single tenant and multitenant)
  • 11.2
  • Although DPA will work with the Express editions of Oracle and SQL Server, SolarWinds does not officially support these editions for the repository because of the database size limits. If you need a free database for an evaluation, SolarWinds recommends using a MySQL database.
  • You can use an Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) for MySQL instance as a repository.
  • You can host a self-managed Oracle or SQL Server database on Amazon EC2 to use as your repository.
  • If you choose Azure SQL as your repository, SolarWinds recommends two or more database throughput units (DTU) per monitored database instance. For more information, see the Azure SQL Database DTU Calculator (© 2017 Microsoft, available at http://dtucalculator.azurewebsites.net, obtained on October 26, 2017).

Repository database server

If you install DPA on the same server as the repository database, you need these requirements in addition to the DPA server requirements. If you register VMware, increase the CPU and RAM requirements by 50%.

Hardware / Software 1 - 20 Monitored DB Instances 21 - 50 Monitored DB Instances 51 - 100 Monitored DB Instances 101 - 250 Monitored DB Instances
CPUs 2 2 4 4
Database cache available for DPA 4 GB 8 GB 8 GB 16 GB
Disk space

The amount of disk space your repository uses is determined by the number of database instances you are monitoring and the activity level of each instance:

  • Low: 1 GB
  • Medium: 3 GB
  • High: 5 GB

Example: You are monitoring five low, three medium, and two high activity database instances.

(5 × 1 GB) + (3 × 3 GB) + (2 × 5 GB) = 24 GB

Reserve at least 24 GB to provide adequate disk space for this repository database.

Repository scalability depends on many things, including the database vendor and configuration, the specifications of the repository server, other activity on the repository server, and the activity levels of the monitored database instances.

Required administrator credentials

You must know the following credentials for the database instance hosting your repository.

Repository database type Credentials
SQL Server SYSADMIN
Oracle database administrator (DBA)
MySQL

repository administrator
Azure SQL Database

repository administrator

Database versions you can monitor

SolarWinds DPA can monitor database instances you manage on both physical and virtual servers or Amazon RDS instances hosted in the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). You can monitor Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, Azure SQL, MySQL, SAP ASE, and IBM DB2 database instances. The server hosting DPA must be able to connect to the monitored server.

Self-managed databases

Database Required Privileges Supported Versions
Oracle SYS user
  • 12.1.x (single and multitenant)
  • 11.2.x
Microsoft SQL Server SYSADMIN role
  • 2016 SP1
  • 2014 SP2
  • 2012 SP3
  • 2008 R2 SP4
  • 2008 SP4

SAP Sybase ASE

SA_ROLE
  • 16
  • 15.7
  • 15.5
IBM DB2 LUW SYSADM
  • 10.5
  • 10.1
  • 9.7
  • 9.5
MySQL

The privileged user requires the CREATE USER permission and must be able to grant the following permissions:

PROCESS on *.* SELECT & UPDATE on performance_schema.*

To enable the retrieval of query execution plans, this privileged user must be able to grant the following permissions:

SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE on *.*

  • 5.7.9
  • 5.6.10
  • Percona 5.7 and 5.6

Note: DPA cannot monitor MySQL 8.0 database instances.

Amazon RDS databases

SolarWinds DPA can monitor Amazon RDS Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, and MySQL instances. Some features that are available on self-managed database instances are not available for Amazon RDS instances, because of Amazon RDS access restrictions.

Amazon RDS Supported Versions Key Differences
Oracle
  • 12.1.x
  • 11.2.x

Unavailable alerts:

  • Oracle Alert Log Error uses V$DIAG_ALERT_EXT instead of X$DBGALERTEXT.

Explain plans:

  • Explain plans cannot be generated with a SYS account. You must specify a different account to generate the live plan.

Workarounds for not having a SYS.UTL_CON package:

  • To kill a real time session, use RDSADMIN_UTIL.KILL.
  • Trace session permissions granted through START_TRACE_IN_SESSION and STOP_TRACE_IN_SESSION.
Microsoft SQL Server
  • 2014 SP1
  • 2012 SP2
  • 2008 R2 SP3

Unavailable alerts:

  • SQL Server Windows Service Not Running
  • SQL Server Long Running Jobs
  • SQL Server Log Has Many Virtual Logs
  • SQL Server Job Failure
  • SQL Server Error Log Alert

Explain plans:

  • The DPA monitoring user does not have a sysadmin role and may have limited access to objects. You can specify a different user to generate the live plan before you generate the plan.

WMI-based statistics are not available:

  • CPU Queue Length
  • CPU Utilization
  • Disk Queue Length
  • Memory Paging Rate
  • Memory Utilization
  • Physical I/O Rate
  • Physical Read Rate
  • Physical Write Rate

Workaround for not having a sysadmin role:

  • DPA user is a member of processadmin role

Deadlock polling:

  • The monitoring user and database administrator (DBA) do not have permission to create a custom Extended Events Session. Only the default system_health Extended Events Session can be used for deadlock polling.
MySQL
  • 5.7.9
  • 5.6.10
  • Aurora 5.6.10a
 No differences

Repoint database instances

You cannot transfer a registered Oracle or SQL Server database instance between Amazon RDS and a self-managed database, and retain DPA historical data. An Oracle or SQL Server database instance transferred between Amazon RDS and a self-managed instance opens as a separate instance.

MySQL database instances can be repointed. You can continue monitoring where you left off after transferring a database instance between Amazon RDS and self-managed. To repoint, update the connection details of the registered database to point to the new location.

Azure databases

Database Required Privileges Supported Version
Azure SQL db_owner role
  • V12

Repointing database instances is not possible between Azure SQL and SQL Server.

Web browsers

You can use the following browsers to access the SolarWinds DPA web interface:

  • Microsoft Edge
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 11

    Do not use IE compatibility view. It may cause SolarWinds DPA to function incorrectly.

  • Mozilla Firefox: latest stable version
  • Google Chrome: latest stable version

MySQL requirements

SolarWinds recommends the following settings to optimize reporting capabilities for a MySQL database instance.

MySQL Performance Schema

The Performance Schema monitors server events and collects performance data. If the Performance Schema is not enabled, SolarWinds DPA provides limited data. Monitoring with the Performance Schema disabled excludes the following data:

  • All instrumented wait events
  • All wait operations
  • All file wait time, broken out by file
  • All object wait time, broken out by index and table
  • SQL statistics
  • Performance-schema dependent alerts

The Performance Schema must be enabled at server startup. In MySQL versions 5.6.6 and later, the Performance Schema is enabled by default.

Global and Thread Instrumentation

Global Instrumentation and Thread Instrumentation must be enabled in the Performance Schema configuration. Disabling these instruments has the same effect as disabling the Performance Schema.

By default, SolarWinds DPA enables these instruments in the configuration. However, if you select the Leave As Is option for Performance Schema setup, you must verify that Global Instrumentation and Thread Instrumentation are enabled in the existing Performance Schema configuration.

show_compatibility_56 system variable

If the monitored database instance is MySQL 5.7.6 or later, SolarWinds recommends turning on the show_compatibility_56 system variable. If this variable is on, SolarWinds DPA can collect data for all metrics.

If this variable is off and the Performance Schema is enabled, SolarWinds DPA cannot collect data for the following metrics:

  • Selects
  • Inserts
  • Updates
  • Deletes

Java requirements

SolarWinds DPA requires Java 1.8 on a Linux DPA server. For certain operating systems, like JRE, HP-UX, and Intel-Solaris, you may need to upgrade Java manually.

  1. Download and install JRE 1.8.
  2. Remove old Java information by deleting the cat.txt and cat.end files from the following directory:

    <DPA_Home>/iwc/tomcat/ignite_config/

  3. At a command line, go to the DPA installation directory.
  4. Enter the following command:

    ./startup.sh