ApexSQL Monitor 2014 R2
ApexSQL Monitor 2014 R2 will be the next upcoming release. It will be more reliable, and easier to use than the current version, but the major improvements are query execution time analysis, additional metrics, email alerts, reports, and customizable layout. Our customers have been asking for query execution time and email alerting in ApexSQL Monitor on multiple occasions, and we’re very excited to announce both in the upcoming release expected in September 2014.
Server and database state
ApexSQL Monitor 2014 R2 will show server and database state and availability. This feature will allow server and database availability monitoring, which will help users to notice and resolve issues encountered if a local or remote server is disconnected or a database is not available.
Query monitoring
Monitoring and optimizing expensive queries is important because SQL Server performance can be affected by a slow or unresponsive query. For each database and SQL Server instance, ApexSQL Monitor will detect queries that use the most resources. In the next release, we will support query execution time analysis.
Dashboard improvements
The current ApexSQL Monitor dashboard provides a quick insight into all monitored servers. However, its layout can be optimized to provide more useful details. A new and improved dashboard, which will be included in ApexSQL Monitor 2014 R2, will have more details about alerts, data will be easier to read, and the overall layout will be more user friendly.
Chart layout improvements
Our customers have reported that sometimes it is difficult to analyze all charts easily. As charts are the main way of representing data in ApexSQL Monitor, the new chart layout will allow users to quickly and easily access the chart they want.
Configuration improvements
In order to provide simplicity for configuring one or multiple servers, we will include additional configuration options such as improved validation, enabling/disabling server functionality, etc.
Layout saving
ApexSQL Monitor 2014 R2 will save the previously customized GUI layout (the chart size, hidden and shown info panels, etc.). This way, a user won’t have to set these options every time the application is started.
Automatic data purging
The ApexSQL Monitor repository database can be very large depending on the number of monitored SQL Server instances and data collected. The current data purging option allows only manual data purging. However, with an automatic data purging feature, ApexSQL Monitor will regularly check and delete the oldest data in the repository. This ensures that the repository database does not grow uncontrollably and consume too much disk space.
Maintenance periods
In order to avoid a large number of alerts during SQL Server maintenance, adding maintenance periods will allow disabling monitoring of specified SQL Server instances during specific time intervals. User will be able to define daily, weekly, and monthly recurring and one-time periods that will be ignored.
Alert period threshold
ApexSQL Monitor 2014 R1 raises alerts within seconds after a threshold value is reached. In ApexSQL Monitor 2014 R2, setting the alert period threshold will significantly reduce the number of alerts created. Alerts will be created only when all values measured during the period exceed the threshold value for a specified metric. This way, peaks can be ignored.
Metrics split per disk/network card
In ApexSQL Monitor 2014 R2, all disk and network metrics will be monitored per disk and network card. Initially, data will be collected and displayed for all the drives discovered on monitored SQL Server. However, a user will be able to exclude the disk which he/she does not want to monitor.
Performance improvements
Even though performance has been significantly improved in the current version compared to the alpha version, it can be improved even further. The next release will have multiple performance issues fixed. The application will perform faster, without unnecessary delays.
We want your feedback
Customer feedback is more than welcome. We want to improve the application quality based on your feedback. We want to hear how you use ApexSQL Monitor, what features you find helpful, what you would like to have in a monitoring tool.
Help us make ApexSQL Monitor better. Please email us at support@apexsql.com or post on our support forum any issues, problems, feature requests, or comments you may have.
May 27, 2014
