Ignite for SQL Server
Ignite solves database performance problems. For DBAs and developers, Ignite goes further than any tool to find the source of SQL Server bottlenecks.
Conventional tools measure server health; Ignite measures wait time. Conventional tools show just current statistics; Ignite uses Performance Intelligence to analyze historical trends and uncover the root cause of slow queries.
Ignite Highlights
- Identify key offenders – queries using excess SQL Server resources
- Identify development changes causing SQL Server to slow down
- Achieve faster problem resolution by finding true source of hidden bottlenecks
- Communicate across developers, DBAs to demonstrate why apps are slowing down
- Always on, with no load on production servers, to see all the problems
Ignite is the only tool that captures and graphically analyzes all the SQL Server wait type data, showing exactly which queries are waiting on critical resources and what can be done to fix them. The result is that DBAs find SQL performance problems and fix them fast.
SQL Server Performance Intelligence
SQL Server Performance Intelligence in Confio Ignite applies business intelligence analysis techniques to IT performance. It captures detailed data in the Ignite Performance Data Warehouse, then mines the data for historical trends, correlates problems, and exposes anomalies. Performance Intelligence ensures that the DBA and development teams can get quick answers to the key questions – what is my biggest database problem, and why? Which SQLs are slow and why? Which code changes caused problems?
Ignite Performance Data Warehouse
SQL Server Performance Intelligence analyzes millions of granular data points, captured over weeks or months, in the Performance Data Warehouse. It then charts the collected data and quantifies issues that most impact the IT end user. The Data Warehouse tracks performance along multiple dimensions, then lets the DBA “slice and dice” the data to see relationships across SQL queries, programs, databases, time of day, user, session and more.
Common monitoring systems capture only broad statistics across the entire database, which is useful for determining “health” but not sufficiently detailed to find root cause. Ignite measures wait time for each SQL at the most granular level. Performance Intelligence gives the performance answers based on what matters most to end users – how long their application has to wait on the SQL Server.
In the past, SQL Server™ performance management has been reactive and server health focused. Database Administrators (DBAs) could only respond to trouble, not avoid it. And their visibility was largely restricted to watching the database server rather than understanding how SQL Server was directly affecting their application users. This whitepaper discusses Performance Intelligence (PI) as a method of improving the service and performance of SQL Server databases. PI is Confio Software's way of applying Business Intelligence principles to database performance management. PI applies proven principles of business intelligence, historical data mining and trend analysis. Rather than monitoring system health, it focuses on application Wait Time in the SQL Server database.
Wait Time Analysis
Ignite for SQL Server Performance brings best practice Wait Time analysis techniques to SQL Server performance management. Wait Time techniques focus on the most important performance question – why is an application waiting on the SQL Server database, and what can be done? Ignite measures wait time associated with each tiny operation database operation and uses it to expose delays in end user service.
SQL Wait Types
Typical systems focus on counting server operations, which shows server health but is not a good indicator of IT service. Measuring the time taken for each step a query takes in SQL Server translates directly into how well the application performs. In SQL Server, each step is called a “wait type”, and Ignite tracks the time spent by each query on each wait type. For developers trying to optimize their code, and for DBAs needing to identify the most important bottleneck in the database, Ignite tells clearly which problem steps are most important to the end user system response.
Agentless Monitoring
Ignite for SQL Server performance monitors SQL Server databases without installing any software on the production systems or user desktops. The Igniter Suite is built on the three tier architecture shown. DBAs, developers and managers access the solution from any browser. The Ignite Performance Data Warehouse is installed on a SQL Server test or development system. And the Ignite agentless probes reach across the network to the monitored servers – SQL Server as well as other vendor databases – and pull performance statistics back to the data warehouse.
No Load on Production Systems
Using the agentless architecture, Ignite for SQL Server performance places less than 1% load on the monitored servers. For production use in the most sensitive environments, Ignite gives continuous Performance Intelligence without impacting the target system. And when it is time to upgrade Ignite to access new features, all the change takes place on the Performance Data Warehouse, with nothing to change on the Client or Monitored servers. Ignite is self contained with its own captive web server, so all you need is a non-dedicated SQL Server instance to house the Performance Data Warehouse.
Ignite for SQL Server Pricing
Ignite for SQL Server is priced per monitored SQL Server instance. A single instance license accommodates a server of any size, and an unlimited number of databases and users.
Ignite for SQL Server perpetual license: $1800 per monitored instance
Annual Maintenance and Support: 20%
(Prices listed are for US/Canadian licenses only. For other countries, please contact Confio).
Confio's Support and Maintenance program includes
- Technical assistance, usually within 2 business hours
- All software and feature enhancements to Ignite for SQL Server
- Right to transfer license to new instance when a server is replaced
- Web based training and performance consultation session
Multiple SQL Server instances, plus Oracle, DB2 or Sybase instances can be monitored from the same Ignite PI Server.
For pricing on Ignite for Oracle, E-Business Suite, DB2 or Sybase, please contact Confio directly.
Ignite for SQL Server Overview
Demo: How to Get the Most Out of your Trial
This 5 minute video gives a quick orientation to Ignite for SQL Server, so you know what to expect and where to look for quick performance gains with Ignite.
See it in Action: SQL Server Advanced Features
These 2 minute videos illustrate how Ignite for SQL Server advanced features can help you.
Demo: Detecting Query Bottlenecks in SQL Server Stored Procedures
Rather than just reporting the bottleneck for the entire procedure, Ignite identifies the specific response time for each query inside a stored procedure, so you know exactly where the problem lies. The video shows how to get this information.
Demo: View Historical Blocking in SQL Server
Blocking occurs when a lock on one session causes other sessions to wait. Ignite exposes the blocker sessions and identifies how much response time impact each lock has on other applications and users. The video shows how to make the most of this information.
