Data Collection

SQL Server 2008 provides a data collector that you can use to obtain and save data that is gathered from several sources. The data collector enables you to use data collection containers, which enable you to determine the scope and frequency of data collection on a computer that is running SQL Server 2008.

The following table describes the topics in this section.

In This Section

Topic	Description
Introducing the Data Collector	Describes the data collector in general.
Getting Started with the Data Collector	Describes the installation requirements for this release of the data collector.
Data Collection Terminology	Describes the terminology used for data collection and the data collector.
Data Collector Architecture and Processing	Describes the data collector architecture and processing during data collection.
System Data Collection Sets	Describes the predefined system data collection sets that are provided with the data collector.
Collector Types	Describes the generic collector types that are provided with the data collector.
Data Collector Security	Describes security for the various data collector components, as well as the data retained in the management data warehouse.
Data Collector Logging	Describes the data collector run-time logging mechanism and the information that is provided by the logs that it creates.
Data Collector Error Handling	Describes data collector error handling and error recovery.
The Management Data Warehouse	Describes the management data warehouse that the data collector uses for storing collected data.
Managing Data Collection How-to Topics	Describes using SQL Server Management Studio and Transact-SQL to configure and manage data collection.