Documentation forSQL Sentry

SQL Sentry Custom Event Views

Introduction

CustomEvent Views are used to tailor views to display and monitor specific activity across the enterprise.

For example, to monitor all backup jobs across all your servers to determine if there's contention for a backup device, you can easily bring up that specific information to your Calendar view and drag-and-drop those jobs to level your backup schedule or view performance information. After you set up a Custom Event View, it operates like other views selected from the Navigator pane. Custom Event Views may also be set as the Default View when the SQL Sentry client starts by right-clicking the View node and selecting the appropriate context menu item.

Additional Information: See the Creating Custom Event Views in SQL Sentry blog post for more examples.

Viewing New Custom Event Views

To see new Custom Event Views created by other client users, right-click on the Shared sub-node, and then select Refresh.

SQL Sentry Navigator Pane with the Event Calendars folder expanded, and the Shared Refresh context menu option highlighted.

From the Navigator pane, expand the Event Calendar node. This provides the Local and Shared sub-nodes. Local Views are only available to the user that created them. Shared Views are available to any user on any SQL Sentry client. The setup of the view is the same for either option.

Navigator Pane highlighting the Event Calendars folder which is expanded to display the Local and Shared folders.

Adding New Custom Event Views

Add a new Custom Event View by double-clicking on the Local or Shared node or selecting New from the context menu. This brings up the Add a Custom Event View window in the workspace. The Creator field is already populated with your username and is non-editable.
Navigator Pane with the Local Event Calendar folder selected and the New context menu option highlighted.

Complete the Name and Description fields with information that's relevant to anyone who uses the view.
Add a Local Custom Event View displaying the event creator Jesse.Sindelar and prompting you to enter a name and description.

Adding Instances

Choose Select Instances to add objects that are included in the view. The top box allows you to select by individual instances. Additionally, it allows you to specify all instances of a specific type. The middle box allows you to select entire SQL Server groups. The bottom section allows you to filter for specific objects from those instances. This specifies which objects are monitored by performance counters in this view.

Select Instances window with Connections, SQL Server Groups, and options to apply Connection Text Filters.

Important:  Instance text filters directly control which event objects in the view will be available for monitoring when performance monitoring is enabled for a view, versus the General tab text filters which control only which objects are displayed on the active Calendar/List view. Instance text filters are always applied first, before General text filters. It's very important to ensure the Instance-level text filters are set properly to avoid monitoring other objects unnecessarily. For more information, see the Filtering Process topic.

Select OK to save your instances and to return to the View Configuration window. The box next to Select Instances verifies that instances are now assigned to this view.

Selecting Objects

Choose Select Individual Event Objects to select additional individual objects to view.

Add a Local Custom Event View tab with the Select Individual Event Objects button highlighted.

The Select Individual Events Objects window has three sections. Use the top section to search for objects by type, object name, or step text. Once the criteria are entered, select Search and the results are populated in the middle Search Results section. 

Add an object by selecting the object in the Search Results section. The Selected Objects section shows what objects are included in the view.

Select OK to save your selections and to return to the View Configuration window. The box next to Select Individual Event Objects verifies that objects are now assigned to this view.

Select Individual Event Objects window displaying selectable Event Sources, Search Results, and Search Objects.

Selecting Event Sources 

Choose Select Event Sources to open the Select Event Sources window and define which event sources will be associated with your custom view. For example, if you only wanted SQL agent Jobs in the view, ensure that the Show checkbox is checked next to SQL Server Agent Jobs and the remaining sources in the box are unchecked. You also have the option of selecting specific objects or categories when available.

Select Event Sources window displaying multiple selectable event sources.

Setting Filters

Select Set Filters to select specific filters to apply to the view. The filter tabs are restricted by the instance types selected previously and the event sources available on those instances. For example, if Reporting Services doesn't exist on any selected instances, the Reports tab doesn't display.

Set Filters window displaying options for what to show, run status, review status, text filters, duration filters and action.

Important:  General tab text filters are used only to control which event objects are displayed on the active Calendar/List view. They don't affect which objects are available for monitoring when performance monitoring is enabled for a view; this is directly controlled by the instance text filters that are always applied before the general text filters. For more information, see the Instances and Filtering Process topics.

After configuring your filter settings, select OK to save and return to the View Configuration window. The box next to Set Filters verifies that the filter is set for this view.

Saving Your View

Select Save on the toolbar to save your view.

SQL Sentry toolbar highlighting the Save button.

Your new view is added in the Navigator pane. Double-click on the view to open it, or expand the node to add Performance Counters. 

Adding a Performance Counter

Select the desired Sample View sub-node, and then double-click or right-click Performance Counters. The Add Performance Counters window appears. Set the following parameters, and then select Connect. The Performance Counter appears in the list.  

  Add Performance Counters displaying the object name, an option to connect to a server, and the option to select categories.

Saving View as a Menu Item

Another way to create a Custom Event View is by selecting Save View As under the File menu. Anytime a Calendar view is active that contains the instances and filter settings you'd like to save for a Custom Event View, go to File > Save View As. You'll be asked for a name and optional description for the view. You may also check the box to make it public. This places it under the Shared node in Custom Event Views for use in any SQL Sentry client.

Save View As window with an entered view name and description.

Note:  If a view has Performance Monitoring enabled, using Save View As doesn't transfer Performance Counter settings to the new view.

Creating a new shared Custom Event View triggers an Audit: Custom Event View: Created condition. Deleting and/or modifying existing shared Custom Event Views also triggers similar Audit: Custom Event View: Deleted or Audit: Custom Event View: Modifiedconditions in SQL Sentry.

Organizing Custom Event Views

Both Local and Shared Custom Event Views can be organized using custom folder names. Create a folder by selecting New Folder from the context menu on the Shared or Local nodes. Once folders are created, views can be moved between folders by dragging and dropping the view into the desired folder.

Navigator Pane with the Shared Event Calendar view select and the New Folder context menu option highlighted.