Operations | Monitoring | ITSM | DevOps | Cloud

March 2021

SQL Server Problems? Try These Tips First

When SQL Server is having performance issues, giving you error messages, or just running slowly, you need to figure out the root cause of the problem before making any changes. Don’t jump to conclusions—make sure you get a big-picture view of the issue. Start with these five troubleshooting tips to optimize your SQL Server performance.

Q&A: Circonus Founder and CTO Reveals Key Decisions on Designing Circonus' Powerful Time-Series Database

Circonus’ time-series database, IRONdb, can ingest, compute, and analyze time-series data at greater volume and frequency than any other solution in the market. We realize that’s a bold statement, but we stand by it. In fact, IRONdb can ingest over a trillion measurements per second, giving companies the data granularity they need for better, more accurate monitoring. It also offers unlimited scalability and the highest data safety guarantees.

Using SQL Clone with Githooks & Branch Policies in Azure DevOps

Switching branches quickly and testing Pull Request code when working on database changes is no easy thing, but fear not! Join Chris Unwin in this video to find out how you can set up SQL Clone to allow developers to preserve changes when switching branches, and how teams can review code against a live DB, rather than relying on the raw code in version control.

How to Optimize Server Performance

Optimizing server performance is important in supporting end-user requirements. Using server optimization, actively monitor: Web server monitoring and optimization helps you to troubleshoot bottlenecks as they emerge and optimize server performance. In this post, we will discuss how to optimize performance and why it is important.

Key Challenges of Database Cloud Migration

As we shift enterprise computing to the cloud, the need for database migration increases—but with this comes the inherent challenges of migration and the need to plan. Moving to the cloud can come with more risks and obstacles than migrating a database within a data center or from one on-premises data center to another. If a business isn’t fully prepared to migrate, they’re almost certain to run into issues.

Why We Chose the M3DB Data Store for Logz.io Prometheus-as-a-Service

Logz.io is focused on creating the best observability service to manage the scale of monitoring, add value on top of AI/ML technologies, and enhance enterprise security. Metrics is one of the pillars of Logz.io, and our Prometheus-as-a-Service offering. It has been a crucial part of our platform goals, but if we turn the clocks back a year, our service only used the open-source Elasticsearch database (ES).

Creating Custom Event Views in SQL Sentry

If you’re using SQL Sentry regularly, there’s a great event management feature that provides a lot of value for our advanced users. I often find the SQL Sentry Event Calendar isn’t being used as often as it once was. The Event Calendar lets you view historical and future events, drill down into event failures, and reschedule jobs using drag and drop all from within the SQL Sentry desktop client. In addition, you can create custom views of events you need to reference frequently.

What is the difference between Database, Data Warehouse, and Data Lake?

Data is everywhere in the form of values, text, numbers, pictures and so on that can be stored and used anytime when required. The importance of data and data storage systems has gained recognition since businesses find the potential of big data and its use cases. The data was with us always, but the possibilities to use it effectively were an arduous task.

Modernizing database operations using Google Cloud Anthos and Robin Cloud Native Storage

For CTOs and Platform Engineers looking to modernize database operations using cloud-native technologies. In this webinar, we discuss how you can leverage Google Anthos and Robin Cloud Native Storage to deliver a “database-as-a-service” experience by automating provisioning, data protection, copy data management, and multi-cloud portability. Watch the webinar to learn about: Presenters: Andrew Haschka, APAC Head of App Modernization, Google Ankur Desai, Head of Product, Robin.io

DevOps As a Bludgeon

When I first started trying to figure out how to automate database deployments, over 15 years ago, I will freely admit, I was both skeptical and reluctant. I had to be dragged up to the notion that automating getting the database code out the door wasn’t just an excuse by the developers to find a way to bypass the DBA team. As per the traditional, biased, story, our favorite word was “No!”.

Effective Technical Writing Is Essential for Your Organization's Success

"No one likes documentation", chirped the little blue birds. The bird quotes in the image above are all taken from real tweets and are listed below for accessibility: I can't argue with "liking to write documentation" being a rare skill, since so many people are vocal about disliking it. That tweet might prove to be true, in which case, technical writers should simply be more appreciated for the rare gems that they are. In this blog post, however, I’m going to explain.

Database Cloud Migration Done Right - SolarWinds Lab Episode #95

The global pandemic has accelerated corporate planning for cloud computing and digital transformation by 2-4 years on average. But database migration, the process of moving a database from one place to another, is no walk in the park. Obstacles abound. Setbacks are common.

Manually Add a Metadata Source in SentryOne Document

SentryOne Document supports multiple metadata sources, and we plan to expand available providers in the future. But what if you want to add a metadata source that isn’t currently supported? This is where SentryOne Document’s Custom Metadata Import, available in both the Software and Cloud edition, can help. Leveraging this provider, you can manually insert any metadata source—DB2, REST API, or others.

Three Steps To Get Started With Database DevOps

Once you’ve committed to changing your culture in order to automate your database deployments, what’s next? You’ve already done the hard part, making the decision to shift the culture. Now, what’s involved is just lots of labor. There are three things you can do to begin your Database DevOps journey: Let’s discus these in detail. It’s important to understand, not just why these are your first three steps, but why they should occur in this precise order.

Application-Centric and Database-Centric Monitoring: Why You Need Both

How would you like it if your application shut down or started running slow without any warning? Let’s say, for instance, users who like your application try to access it, but aren’t able to. How would you know whether low traffic to your site is because users weren’t satisfied or because they simply weren’t able to access it? Users definitely won’t be satisfied when your application starts crawling with long response times.

What if You Could Autonomously Monitor Across Your Databases?

When DevOps teams talk about monitoring a database, the primary motivation is to ensure that the database won’t suffer a performance hiccup. Long queries, timeouts and table scans are among the most popular causes behind lousy customer experience. However, in recent years, more data has been shifted to cloud databases.

Monitor VoltDB with Datadog

VoltDB is an ACID-compliant, in-memory relational database designed to support real-time analytics. VoltDB’s in-memory storage, stored procedures, and shared-nothing architecture make it specifically optimized for quickly processing massive streams of data. This means VoltDB is tailored for use cases like online gaming, telecommunication, and financial applications, which require fast data processing.

How to monitor your key process with Bleemeo?

This article explains how to monitor service process on your service with Bleemeo using MySQL as an example. This feature is what we called "Key Process Monitoring" and is described by our documentation. Currently, you can monitor any service process automatically discovered by Bleemeo. All metrics are detailed in our documentation, in a few words, metrics related to memory, cpu, network and i/o used by this process are gathered by the agent.

Further Tips on our Database Migration to the Azure Cloud Session at MS Ignite 2021

I was really stoked to deliver a session at Microsoft Ignite with my long-time friend and fellow Head Geek™, Tom LaRock, on the topic of migrating an on-premises SQL Server database to the Azure cloud. You can watch the session on demand here. In addition, Microsoft MVP and SQL Server expert David Klee provides an excellent recap on each of the major elements Tom and I discussed.

Powerful Caching with Redis for Node.js Applications

Regardless of the tech stack used, many developers have already used Redis or, at least, heard of it. Redis is specifically known for providing distributed caching mechanisms for cluster-based applications. While this is true, it’s not its only purpose. Redis is a powerful and versatile in-memory database. Powerful because it is incredibly super fast. Versatile because it can handle caching, database-like features, session management, real-time analytics, event streaming, etc.

5 Universal Steps to Cloud Database Migration

Chances are if you’re reading this, you are (or are thinking about) moving to cloud. While cloud migration isn’t a new term and many people are migrating, there are a few things you should know before taking the leap. Migrating your database to the cloud is worth the hours of planning, sorting through data and running tests because if it’s not done right, it may come with more bad than good.

Are NoSQL Databases Relevant For Data Engineering?

SQL is great, but sometimes you may need something else. By and large, the prevalent type of data that data engineers deal with on a regular basis is relational. Tables in a data warehouse, transactional data in Online Transactional Processing (OLTP) databases — they can all be queried and accessed using SQL. But does it mean that NoSQL is irrelevant for data engineering?

Efficiently Monitor the State of Redis Database Clusters

Monitoring Redis, the open source in-memory data platform, is complicated enough when you are hosting your Redis instance on just a single server. It gets even more complex when you build a Redis cluster that consists of multiple nodes and distribute your data across them. But as long as you know which metrics to prioritize and how to collect them, Redis monitoring is feasible enough. This article offers an overview of how to monitor the state of Redis database clusters.

How to deploy an open source database in 10 minutes | Aiven

A short demo showing how to create managed data infrastructure in 10 minutes with Aiven. ABOUT AIVEN We help organizations fuel the continuous innovation needed to create awesome, data-intensive applications by using the leading open source technologies. After building expertise managing mission-critical data infrastructure for companies like F-Secure and Nokia, Aiven’s founders noticed that cloud adoption was increasing but infrastructure solutions were either proprietary or difficult to translate into business results.

SQL Sentry Tips and Tricks: Monitoring Targets Across Multiple Domains

A frequently asked question when I’m speaking with SQL Sentry customers is, “Can I monitor targets across multiple domains?” The answer to this question is yes. Although there might be specific scenarios in which you’ll want to have multiple SQL Sentry installs, it’s possible to monitor targets across multiple domains through one install (i.e., one centralized SQL Sentry database). There are a couple of different options available to do so.

What's the state of Database DevOps in 2021?

In 2017, Redgate published the first State of Database DevOps report, based on a survey of IT and database professionals from around the world. Every year since then, it has provided insights into the adoption, usage, challenges and benefits of DevOps and database DevOps. We’ve just launched the fifth edition of the report, which has had over 8,000 responses to date.

SQL Sentry Events Log Updates Provide a Centralized View of Events

The SQL Sentry Environment Health Overview (EHO), which is part of the dashboard shown on the Start page, enables you to see all the conditions that have fired alongside the overall health of your database environment. We understand how useful it is to be able to quickly review the health information without having to dig deep into performance data, and we’re excited to announce a few enhancements to the EHO, Events Log, and Actions Log available in the SQL Sentry 2021.1 release.

Your Performance Data, Your Way With Custom Charts in SentryOne Portal

Our product and engineering teams have spent a significant amount of time over the past year working on a new dashboard experience in SentryOne® Portal to give you the upper hand in monitoring your servers and diagnosing performance issues. Providing control over the way data is displayed is one of our most requested features, and we’re excited to satisfy this request with custom charts.

5 Reasons You Don't Need a Management Title to Be a Leader

Leaders can be categorized, somewhat, by their motivation. I recall an offsite meeting a few years ago that began with everyone contemplating the question, "Why do you lead?" There were about 15 people in the room, and each attendee could be grouped in one of the following categories: Nothing is wrong with any of these categories necessarily. They’re all concepts that can drive either positive or negative outcomes.

Expert Guide to Redis Monitoring

Redis is an open source. in-memory data structure store with blazing performance that’s used as a database, cache, and message broker. Redis is licensed under BSD (Berkeley Source Distribution), which means it can be used for free with some minimum use restrictions. It supports a good number of abstract data structures, such as strings, maps, lists, and so on. Redis, which is used as a database to store data, is fast in performance.

Gain Visibility into Performance Across Your Data Estate with SQL Sentry Premium Edition

Earlier this year, we announced our plan to release new SQL Sentry editions that would help data professionals not only get started easily with SQL Sentry but also gain visibility across their data estate. We ended up making some tweaks to our SQL Sentry editions following that announcement, and we are excited to introduce both a brand-new edition and an updated edition of our flagship database performance monitoring solution.