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.

Oracle User Experience Monitor

This SAM component monitor uses synthetic transactions to test the abilities of an Oracle database by connecting to the database, performing a query, and then retrieving the data. It is included in the following SAM templates

Note the following details about the Oracle User Experience Monitor:

  • It uses ports TCP/1521 and TCP/1526. The Oracle SQL*Net Listener allows Oracle client connections to the database over Oracle's SQL*Net protocol. You can configure it during installation. To reconfigure this port on target servers, use the Oracle Net Configuration Assistant.
  • This component monitor does not support polling on SolarWinds Platform Remote Collectors (ORCs).
  • The statistic for this component monitor is the first row and column of the data retrieved by the query. It must be a numerical value.
  • The SQL statement used for this query must return a numerical value, not a varchar.
  • This monitor can capture message text in the first row, second column of SQL query results. This string value is shown in the Messages field of the component monitor.
  • If a Table or view doesn't exist message appears after polling, examine SQL statements defined within application monitors that include the Oracle User Experience Monitors and verify that account have adequate permission to run those commands.

Requirements

Review Configure SAM to monitor Oracle database servers and then:

  • Install an Oracle driver on the SolarWinds Platform server and any Additional Polling Engines (APEs) in your environment.
  • Adjust Oracle User Experience Monitor settings to match the settings for Oracle databases on target servers.

To use this monitor with the SolarWinds Platform agent for Linux, you may need to install ODBC. See Linux configurations for component monitors.

To learn more about monitoring Oracle servers with SAM, see:

Field descriptions

Description

A default description of the monitor. To override the default description, add to or replace existing text. Changes are automatically saved. The variable to access this field is ${UserDescription}.

Customize descriptions to specify what will be monitored so related alerts and notifications are more meaningful later.

Enable Component

Determines whether the component is enabled. Disabling the component leaves it in the application in a deactivated state not influencing either SolarWinds SAM application availability or status.

Credential for Monitoring

Select a database credential that can access the database. Click a credential in the list, or use the <Inherit credential from node> option. If the credential you need is not in the credentials list, add it to the SAM Credentials Library.

Port Number

Specify the port number used to communicate with the Oracle database. The default value is 1521.

SQL Query

Specify the SQL query used to test the database. Retrieved data is then used as the component monitor statistic. You may enter up to 4000 characters.

Destination Point Type

Indicate how the database should be accessed.

  • SID: Use the Oracle System ID (SID).
  • Service_Name: Use the service name.

Destination Point Name

Specify either the service name or the SID to access the Oracle database over a network. To determine the name or SID of the database, refer to the tnsnames.ora Oracle configuration file or ask your database administrator.

Do not enter the net service name.

Example of a service name as a destination point name

Destination Point Name: sales.us.example.com
Destination Point Type: SERVICE_NAME

tnsnames.ora:

ORA11 = (DESCRIPTION = (ADDRESS_LIST = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = 127.0.0.1)(PORT = 1521))) (CONNECT_DATA = (SERVICE_NAME = sales.us.example.com)))

Example of a SID as a destination point name

Destination Point Name: ORA11DATABASE
Destination Point Type: SID

tnsnames.ora:

ORA11 = (DESCRIPTION = (ADDRESS_LIST = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = 127.0.0.1)(PORT = 1521)) (CONNECT_DATA = (SID = ORA11DATABASE)))

Oracle Driver Type

Select the Oracle driver type: Microsoft .NET Data Provider or Oracle Data Provider for .NET.

Count Statistic as Difference

Change the statistic to be the difference in query values between polling cycles.

Convert Value

Select the "Yes, convert returned value" option to display fields where you can select a common function or enter a custom formula. The Custom Conversion option provides basic arithmetic operators (+, -, *, /), plus built-in mathematical functions for more advanced conversions. See Convert values in data transformations for SAM component monitors.

Response Time Warning Threshold

Set the warning or critical threshold conditions based on the response time. The response time is the time in milliseconds it takes SAM to determine that a component is not Down and to retrieve any statistical data. See Application Monitor Thresholds.

Statistic Threshold

Specify when a threshold that indicates a warning or critical level was breached. Logical operators are available, followed by a blank field where you can enter a threshold value. For example: Less than 15 for warning, or Less than 5 for critical. See Application Monitor Thresholds.

User Notes

Add notes for easy reference. You can access this field by using the variable, ${UserNotes}.

Configure Oracle User Experience Monitor settings to match settings on the target server

Oracle User Experience Monitor settings must match the settings on the target Oracle server. Database administrators usually provide a file with connection details, tnsnames.ora, that database users can add to the Oracle Client directory.

To obtain settings from the target Oracle server:

  1. Log in to the Oracle server as an administrator.

  2. Navigate to the tnsnames.ora file. The default location is $ORACLE_HOME/network/admin/tnsnames.ora, where $ORACLE_HOME is the directory where the Oracle Server is installed.

  3. Open the tnsnames.ora file and follow these steps to extract the required information.
    1. Locate the section that describes options for the database instance you want to monitor, such as Protocol, Host, and Port, as shown in the examples below.
    2. Extract the following settings for use in the Oracle User Experience Monitor:
      • Protocol: Must be TCP so SAM can connect to the target Oracle server.
      • Host: Must match the IP address (or hostname that resolves to that IP) of the target node in SAM.
      • Port: Use this setting for the Port Number field of Oracle User Experience Monitor.
      • Service_Name: If this value exists, use it as the Service_Name for the Destination Point Type field of the Oracle User Experience Monitor.
      • SID: If this value exists, use it as the SID value for the Destination Point Type field of the Oracle User Experience Monitor.
      • Service_Name or SID settings in tnsnames.ora also defines a connection point name (after the "=" character), which needs to be used for the Destination Point Name field of the Oracle User Experience Monitor.

Example 1: Following is a sample tnsnames.ora file where key settings are highlighted:

Example 2:

Here is a sample configuration of the Oracle User Experience Monitor for Example 1: