Add a SQL Server database instance

Monitor your SQL Server database instance with SolarWinds Observability SaaS on a dedicated host, Amazon RDS, Google Cloud SQL, or Azure DB. Capture a robust assortment of SQL Server query metrics that give you insight into database performance and what consumes your database’s resources.

Get started

To monitor your SQL Server database instance with SolarWinds Observability SaaS, complete the following:

1. In SolarWinds Observability SaaS, click Add Data at the top.

2. On the Add Data dialog Intro, click Monitor my database performance.

3. Click SQL Server.

4. Choose an existing SolarWinds Observability Agent on a monitored host. Click Next to continue.

   For more information about installing the SolarWinds Observability Agent on your host, see Add a self-managed host or Run the SolarWinds Observability Agent as a Docker image or Kubernetes deployment.

   If the Agent you want to use is not displayed in the wizard, make sure it has host monitoring enabled. See Enable host monitoring on an Agent.

5. Enter your database credentials, enable SSL (optional), add any applicable tags (optional) and click Next:

   1. Enter the DBMS instance address, display name, target database on selected DBMS, database username, and database password for your database instance.

   2. Optional: To enable SSL, click the Enable SSL toggle and enter your credentials.

   3. Optional: Click Add Tags to add any tags to your database entity. Enter a tag key and value, and then click Add Tag. Repeat this step as necessary for any tags you want to add.

   4. Click Next to continue.

6. Copy and execute the installation scripts on your SQL Server database instance.
   1. Create a new Database User - Copy and execute the user script to create a new database user for the Agent to use. If you already have a user, you can skip this step.
   2. Grant Privileges - Copy and execute the GRANT CONNECT SQL script to grant database privileges for your user. Note that the Agent requires at least the listed privileges.

   3. The Advanced Configuration field is optional. The field provides a metric agent configuration path for you to indicate a different config file that can add to or override the dbo-global.conf file.

      This field should be used if you need to monitor multiple database instances from the same host Agent and you want to provide different configuration file paths to each DBO plugin on that same host Agent. Enter any parameters for metric collection in the Metric Agent field.

      See Database configuration files for information about configuration options.

      The /etc/solarwinds/dbo-global.conf configuration file is used for all database hosts. If you don't need to override configuration options in the dbo-global.conf file for this database instance, you do not need to provide a configuration file path for the Metric Agent field.

      The config files are JSON. When editing or creating a new configuration file, be sure to include the opening and closing brackets" { " and " }" . All options must be comma-separated.

      For example, a file might look like the following:

      {

      "disable-sampling":"false",

      "enable-explains":"false"

      }

   4. Click Observe Database to continue.

7. The database plugin status and the other information you entered in the wizard is displayed on the Review tab.

   1. If your plugin deployment was unsuccessful, check the Agent status you entered in the wizard, and verify your database credentials. Click Test Connection to refresh your plugin connection.

   2. If your plugin deployment was successful, your database instance is being monitored with SolarWinds Observability.

   3. Click Close to exit the wizard.

To view data collected for the newly configured entity in the Entity Explorer, click the name of the Database Instance in the confirmation dialog in the lower-left corner. It may take a few seconds for data to appear for the newly created entity. See Entity Explorer for details.

See Entities in SolarWinds Observability SaaS for an overview of Database Instance entities and how they work in SolarWinds Observability SaaS.