SQL Agent Insights:Documentation:Insight Configuration

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Configuration of an Insight

General

The Insight configuration window showing the options on the General tab.

Polling Interval

The frequency at which data will be refreshed from the SQL instance.

Set the polling interval to a value indicating the frequency in which the metrics should be updated. The dropdown has the following options:

• Every 15 seconds
• Every 30 seconds
• Every 60 seconds
• Every 5 minutes
• Every 10 minutes
• Every 15 minutes
• Every 30 minutes
• Every 1 hour
• Manual

For a more in-depth understanding of how this option functions, please visit Polling Frequency & Recent Timeframe.

Recent Timeframe

The number of days prior to today when gathering recent metrics.

The purpose of the recent timeframe selection allows the manipulation of some metrics that are best measured over a time period. This dropdown has the following options:

• Every 3 days
• Every 5 days
• Every 7 days
• Every 14 days
• Every 30 days

For a more in-depth understanding of how this option functions, please visit Polling Frequency & Recent Timeframe.

Log Running Jobs

• List running jobs to the Insight log once every polling interval. When enabled, the logging of running jobs indicator in the Insight toolbar will appear green in color.

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination This must be enabled to receive long running job notification emails.

Verify SQL Instance Connectivity

• Each Insight does a background check to see if the monitored instance is still available, typically called a heartbeat. This setting allows the Insight to check every 10, 30, or 60 seconds. Optionally toggling this off does not check for connectivity.
• It is suggested to leave this on if you are actively doing actions with your SQL agent which can alert you ahead of time of any errors.

Log Heartbeat Messages

• Toggles the ability to log heartbeat messages to the Insight log. Disabling this option can reduce the amount written to the Insight log.

Long Running Job Interval

• The number of seconds that need to elapse before a job is classified as long running for notification purposes.

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination It is recommended to have an overall Insight polling interval less than this value so that long running jobs will be captured appropriately to the Insight log and to potentially receive email notifications.

Extended Pause Notification Interval

The frequency at which paused notifications are logged and or emailed.

Notifications

The Insight configuration window showing the options on the Notifications tab.

Enable Email Notifications

Toggle this on to receive notifications for this Insight. The megaphone icon on the Insight toolbar will appear green when this in on. This must be toggled on for long running job notifications. Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination Global email notifications must be enabled in Preferences for individual Insight notifications to work correctly. This is the one single option to enable if you wish to receive notifications for the monitored SQL instance.

Enable Long Running Job Email

• A distinct email will be sent indicating jobs that run longer than the configured Long running job interval on the General tab.

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination The option Enable email notifications must be toggled on for this instance. Log running jobs on the General tab must also be enabled for this instance.

Enable Extended Pause Notifications Email

• A distinct email will be sent every Extended Pause Notification Interval notifying that the monitored instance has been paused. This interval is configured on the General tab.
• This can be useful in situations whereby a loss of communication with the instance occurs.

Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination The option Enable email notifications must be toggled on for this instance.

Category Polling

Use the toggles on this tab to enable/disable metric collection for an entire Insight category. Metrics that are not collected are not reported on and do not factor into the metric counts for the monitored instance. Error creating thumbnail: Unable to save thumbnail to destination If you wish to continue to see a group of metrics collected but not alerted on, consider enabling them on this tab but instead putting that category into maintenance mode directly on the Insight.

The Insight configuration window showing the options on the Category Polling tab.

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