If you’re familiar with Foglight Performance Analysis for SQL Server (PA SQL), you know how useful it can be to spend a couple of hours with a product expert.  Whether you have questions about preparing the installation environment, or about how to make the most of your investment in PA SQL, having someone show you the way instead of reading through the manuals is always a welcome alternative. Well, Quest has just initiated a program in conjunction with LeadThem Consulting to offer 2 fully remote, 2 hour engagements with a seasoned PA SQL expert to cover product scoping and sizing, and product usage training.  The cost for each of the workshops is $350, and you can sign up for these at http://www.quest.com/sql-training-leadthem/.

Following the initial rollout of this program, we will be implementing equivalent offerings for Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise and Foglight for SQL Server.  Stay tuned for updates!

When I got my first production DBA job, we were given pagers for on-call issues.  And in managing a multi-regional backend database system, that pager went off – alot. Eventually the pager became a cell phone and a laptop, and finally a smartphone (the mythical Blackberry was reserved for executives at that time, and the iPhone wasn’t even a twinkle in Steve Jobs’s eye).  The worst part about being an on-call production DBA was always that you simply couldn’t do much without driving into work (and boy could that pose a challenge sometimes).  Today, with the advances in mobile devices, and with internet/WiFi becoming standard and reasonably fast most anywhere you travel, DBAs are expected to respond to problems faster, so tools that make that possible are fast becoming mission critical.  The problem is, most web-enabled SQL Server performance managment products are simply not good enough.  They offer too small a subset of information, are not responsive enough, or are cripplingly limited in the functionality they provide.

Full web-enablement – from alert, to diagnosis, to root cause analysis. What can you do with Foglight for SQL Server?  If you’re an operational DBA, everything necessary to get to the root of what went bump in the night to wake you. Full alarm resolution workflow; enterprise-level and cross-platform health checks; diagnostic drill-downs to guide you toward the root cause of a problem; customizable interfaces with drag & drop capabilities; full administrative control.

Foglight for SQL Server Mobile Web Support

I have previously posted that Foglight for SQL Server is a reality, and while we count down to the GA on November 5th, this series of posts will take a closer look at our newest addition to the SQL Server portfolio.

Global View: Everyone wants it. The big picture on infrastructure health; the cross-platform solution for your database environment; the central location for administration; the quick and easy way to deploy additional monitoring; the quickly sortable, groupable head’s up display. Here it is, the Foglight for SQL Server Global View dashboard. Quickly understand instance health. Determine if your host or your database needs attention. Discover more databases to monitor and instantly deploy monitoring. Administer your full SQL Server monitoring environment. Log in, have a look, and in one click launch an investigation into SQL Server health in a single, fluid interface.

Foglight for SQL Server Global View Dashboard