Have you ever wanted to be able to see a centralized view of Microsoft SQL Server instances and database applications? SQL Server 2008 R2 introduces a new way to view information about your SQL Server instances. At a glance, you can see a snapshot of your instances including utilization information using the SQL Server Utility. This information is available in a new view called the Utility Explorer that you access through SQL Server Management Studio.
When you open the Utility Explorer, you are presented with the screen shown below. In this screen, you are given the steps you need to do in order to use SQL Server Utility. Each of these topics links to steps to complete the activity.
In order to use SQL Server Utility, you must create a Utility Control Point. The other steps are optional. A Utility Control Point, or UCP, is configured on a SQL Server instance. After configuring a UCP, you can enroll other SQL Server instances on the same UCP. The Utility Explorer displays information about each instance such as CPU utilization, file space utilization and volume space utilization. The display will look similar to the image below. The columns displayed are configurable by right-clicking the title bar and selecting the information you wish to view.
Notice the red arrow under volume space. This is indicating the instance is overutilized. If the instance were underutilized, there would be a green down arrow. The green checkmarks indicate the instance is well utilized. You can configure the values that will alert you when the instance is overutilized or underutilized. This allows you to customize these values best for your organization.
In addition to view information about SQL Server instances, you can view information about data-tier applications. My next post will discuss data-tier applications.
Posted Thursday, March 25th, 2010 at 2:33 pm by peterl
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