Docs » Available host and application monitors » Configure application receivers for databases » Microsoft SQL Server

Microsoft SQL Server 🔗

Description 🔗

The Splunk Distribution of OpenTelemetry Collector provides this integration as the Microsoft SQL Server monitor type for the Smart Agent Receiver. This monitor sends metrics from Microsoft SQL Server instances. The monitor is based on the sqlserver plugin.

To use the monitor, you need to create login credentials in the Microsoft SQL Server host. To create this login, follow these steps:

  1. Log in as an administrator.

  2. Start an SQL client.

  3. Enter the following commands:

USE master;
GO
CREATE LOGIN [signalfxagent] WITH PASSWORD = '<YOUR PASSWORD HERE>';
GO
GRANT VIEW SERVER STATE TO [signalfxagent];
GO
GRANT VIEW ANY DEFINITION TO [signalfxagent];
GO

Installation 🔗

This monitor is available in the Smart Agent Receiver, which is part of the Splunk Distribution of OpenTelemetry Collector.

To install this integration:

  1. Deploy the Splunk Distribution of OpenTelemetry Collector to your host or container platform.

  2. Configure the monitor, as described in the next section.

Configuration 🔗

The Splunk Distribution of OpenTelemetry Collector allows embedding a Smart Agent monitor configuration in an associated Smart Agent Receiver instance.

Note: Providing a Microsoft SQL Server monitor entry in your Collector or Smart Agent (deprecated) configuration is required for its use. Use the appropriate form for your agent type.

Splunk Distribution of OpenTelemetry Collector 🔗

To activate this monitor in the Splunk Distribution of OpenTelemetry Collector, add the following to your agent configuration:

receivers:
  smartagent/sqlserver:
    type: telegraf/sqlserver
    ...  # Additional config

To complete the monitor activation, you must also include the smartagent/sqlserver receiver item in a metrics pipeline. To do this, add the receiver item to the service > pipelines > metrics > receivers section of your configuration file.

See configuration examples for specific use cases that show how the Splunk Distribution of OpenTelemetry Collector can integrate and complement existing environments.

Smart Agent 🔗

To activate this monitor in the Smart Agent, add the following to your agent configuration:

monitors:  # All monitor config goes under this key
  - type: telegraf/sqlserver
    ...  # Additional config

See Smart Agent example configuration for an autogenerated example of a YAML configuration file, with default values where applicable.

Configuration settings 🔗

The following table shows the configuration options for the Microsoft SQL Server monitor:

Option

Required

Type

Description

host

yes

string

port

yes

integer

userID

no

string

UserID used to access the SQL Server instance.

password

no

string

Password used to access the SQL Server instance.

appName

no

string

The app name used by the monitor when connecting to the SQLServer. (default: signalfxagent)

queryVersion

no

integer

The version of queries to use when accessing the cluster. Refer to the documentation for the Microsoft SQL Server Telegraf Plugin, provided by Influxdata. (default: 2)

azureDB

no

bool

Whether the database is a Microsoft Azure database. (default: false)

excludedQueries

no

list of strings

Queries to exclude. Possible values are PerformanceCounters, WaitStatsCategorized, DatabaseIO, DatabaseProperties, CPUHistory, DatabaseSize, DatabaseStats, MemoryClerk VolumeSpace, and PerformanceMetrics.

log

no

unsigned integer

Log level to use when accessing the database (default: 1)

Examples 🔗

The following is an example of a Microsoft SQL Server receiver configuration:

receivers:
  smartagent/sqlserver:
     type: telegraf/sqlserver
     host: <host_name>
     port: 1433
     userID: <user_id>
     password: <password>
     appName: sqlserver

The following is an example of a Microsoft SQL Server monitor configuration:

monitors:
 - type: telegraf/sqlserver
   host: <host_name>
   port: 1433
   userID: <user_id>
   password: <password>
   appName: signalfxagent

Ensure that port and appName are always set to the values stated in this example.

Metrics 🔗

The following metrics are available for this integration:

Notes 🔗

  • Learn more about the available metric types in Observability Cloud.

  • Default metrics are those metrics included in host-based subscriptions in Observability Cloud, such as host, container, or bundled metrics. Custom metrics are not provided by default and might be subject to charges. See more about metric categories.

  • To add additional metrics, see how to configure extraMetrics using the Collector.

Troubleshooting 🔗

In some Windows-based SQL Server instances, TCP/IP has been deactivated by default. You might encounter this in a Microsoft Azure service instance. If you see error messages similar to Cannot read handshake packet: read tcp: wsarecv: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host., you need to explicitly activate TCP/IP for the instance.

  1. Verify agent configurations are correct.

  2. In your SQL Server instance, activate TCP/IP. To do this, select Start > Administrative Tools > Computer Management.

  3. In the Computer Management sidebar, select Services and Applications > SQL Server Configuration Manager > SQL Server Network Configuration.

  4. Select Protocols for <YOUR SQL SERVER NAME>.

  5. In the protocol list to the right, right-click the TCP/IP protocol and select Enable.

Get help 🔗

If you are not able to see your data in Splunk Observability Cloud, try these tips:

To learn about even more support options, see Splunk Customer Success.