Configure monitor inputs and Windows Performance Monitoring inputs for the Splunk Add-on for Microsoft SQL Server

The Splunk Add-on for Microsoft SQL Server allows you to collect a variety of log and performance data from your Microsoft SQL Server instances. The default\inputs.conf file has a complete set of input stanzas that you can use as a basis for your local configurations.

The following configuration instructions assume that you have installed the Splunk Add-on for Microsoft SQL Server on forwarders installed directly on your machines running Microsoft SQL Server.

Prepare your local\inputs.conf file

1. Open %SPLUNK_HOME%\etc\apps\Splunk_TA_microsoft-sqlserver\default\inputs.conf.
2. Copy the contents to %SPLUNK_HOME%\etc\apps\Splunk_TA_microsoft-sqlserver\local\inputs.conf

Configure error and agent log file monitoring

Configure monitoring of error and agent logs using Splunk File Monitoring.

Prerequisite: The server agent log file may not exist if the SQL Server Agent Service has never started. Be sure to start the agent first before attempting to configure a monitor input.

1. If necessary, edit the file path of the inputs to match the actual location of the log files in your environment.
2. Enable the inputs by changing disabled = 1 to disabled = 0.

It is also possible to configure these inputs via Splunk Web on your heavy forwarder. For more information about configuring file monitoring on Splunk Web, see Monitor files and directories with Splunk Web in the Getting Data In manual, part of the Splunk Enterprise documentation.

Configure performance monitoring

Configure monitoring of your Microsoft SQL Server instances and the Windows systems running them using Windows Performance Monitoring.

1. Open %SPLUNK_HOME%\etc\apps\Splunk_TA_microsoft-sqlserver\local\inputs.conf.
2. Enable performance monitoring for the tasks you are interested in by changing disabled = 1 to disabled = 0 for those stanzas.

For more details about each performance monitoring task, refer to the Windows and SQL Server performance data section of the source types reference page.