Appliance monitoring for Analytics Platform System

This appliance monitoring guide describes the tools and tasks for monitoring the Analytics Platform System appliance.

Monitoring Basics and Tools

The values and information that can be monitored on the SQL Server PDW appliance are extensive. For example, the following are typical monitoring tasks.

  • Check for any alert issued by SQL Server PDW.

  • Monitor for failed hardware.

  • Monitor for network connectivity problems.

  • Check for errors returned to users during query processing.

  • View the number of currently active sessions and queries.

  • Check the status of loads, backups, and restores.

Appliance Monitoring Tools

There are multiple tools available to monitor the appliance.

Admin Console
SQL Server PDW has an Admin Console. This is a web-based tool that displays information about queries, loads, backup and restore, locks, sessions, alerts, and appliance state. The Admin Console runs on the appliance; users connect to the Admin Console through Internet Explorer. For more information, see:

PDW Admin Console Alerts

System Views
SQL Server PDW includes comprehensive system views that enable you to obtain detailed information about the appliance health, state, and performance. For a list of system views for monitoring tasks, review:

System Center Operations Manager (SCOM)
SQL Server PDW has extensive integration with Systems Center Operations Manager. The management packs for SQL Server PDW are available as a free download. For more information about using System Center to monitor SQL Server PDW, review:

Custom Solutions
For situations when System Center is not available with your data center monitoring tools, you can monitor the appliance by using a third-party monitoring solution. Installation of external software agents is currently not supported in PDW, but most monitoring solutions support Transact-SQL integration, so the system administrator can implement direct Transact-SQL queries against your PDW appliance.

If your monitoring solution does not support direct Transact-SQL queries, or you do not have a monitoring tool, then you can use scripts to perform monitoring tasks, such as sending email when an alert occurs.

Related Monitoring Tasks

Monitoring Task Description
Monitor the appliance by using the Admin Console. Monitor the Appliance by Using the Admin Console (Analytics Platform System)
Monitor the appliance by using System Views. Monitor the Appliance by Using System Views (Analytics Platform System)
Monitor the appliance by using System Center Monitor the Appliance by Using System Center Operations Manager (Analytics Platform System)
Monitor the state of the appliance. Monitor Appliance Health State (Analytics Platform System)
Heartbeat Monitoring. Send Telemetry Feedback to Microsoft (SQL Server PDW)
Track appliance alerts. Track Appliance Alerts (Analytics Platform System)
Determine how much capacity is being used. View Capacity Utilization (Analytics Platform System)
Determine how often to poll the appliance. Determine Polling Frequency (Analytics Platform System)
When a cluster failure occurs, determine which cluster node failed. Determine Which Cluster Node Failed (Analytics Platform System)