Documentation forServer & Application Monitor
Monitoring your applications and environment is a key capability of SolarWinds Observability Self-Hosted (formerly Hybrid Cloud Observability) and is available in the Essentials edition. Server & Application Monitor (SAM) is also available in a standalone module.

Use AppInsight for SQL to monitor an active SQL Server cluster

If your SAM environment includes clustered SQL servers, perhaps for High Availability purposes, you can use AppInsight for SQL to monitor active cluster nodes via the Virtual IP address (VIP) that is used to make a connection to SQL Server databases from client applications instead of using the physical server name or physical IP address of the server.

  • Standard servers are added as nodes in the SolarWinds Platform with a specific IP address. For a SQL Server cluster, add each server in the cluster as a node in the SolarWinds Platform, not just the cluster object. Then assign AppInsight for SQL to the node that represents the Virtual IP address (VIP) for the cluster, not the individual cluster members. After AppInsight is assigned, the cluster is monitored by either WMI in legacy SAM or with WinRM in SAM.

    • Before you begin, review AppInsight for SQL requirements and note these details:

    • The SolarWinds Platform agent for Windows is not supported for AppInsight for SQL for SQL Server clusters. SQL clusters cannot be polled with domain credentials.
    • If using Discovery to detect clusters, SAM needs to communicate with the VIP, not the cluster member IP address. During Discovery, SAM uses DNS resolving to verify the IP address for the cluster. If the DNS process fails or times, AppInsight for SQL is not assigned to the node even if the provided IP is the VIP. If that occurs, manually assign the AppInsight for SQL template to the node instead.

    To add AppInsight to an active SQL Server cluster, start by identifying the VIP for the cluster.

    1. Use SQL Management Studio to connect to the instance that you want monitor .
    2. Execute the following query to verify the target node and instance name:

      SELECT SERVERPROPERTY('ServerName')

    3. To determine the IP address of the target node, open a command prompt and ping the server.

    Next, add nodes to the SolarWinds Platform and assign AppInsight for SQL.

    1. Click Settings > All Settings > Add Node.

    2. Enter the IP address for the SQL cluster for the Polling Hostname or IP Address.

      If the IP address represents a cluster, the node name of the active cluster member populates.

      Tip: Edit the node name to be descriptive. For example, the name for this node could be P111SQLV23 (cluster).

    3. Select a polling method, then select the polling engine for that node.

    4. In the Choose Resources step, select the AppInsight Application for the SQL server to monitor.

    5. Complete the wizard to add the node for monitoring. The instance is enabled after the first poll, which may take a few minutes.

    6. Navigate to the All Applications widget and click your AppInsight for SQL application to display the Enter Credentials page.

    7. Enter your SQL credentials and select a port (or use default port).
    8. Click Test to verify the credentials and configured permissions.
    9. Click Assign Credential to save and complete configuration.

    SAM begins polling for metrics automatically. To learn how to view monitored data, see Display AppInsight for SQL data in the SolarWinds Platform Web Console.