Item: SolarWinds SQL Sentry
Rating: 10
Author: Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with SQL Sentry Performance Advisor

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use SQL Sentry Performance Advisor almost on a daily basis, as does a few of my IT associates. Our original goal was to identify and correct inefficiencies when many of our servers were riddled with problems. SQL Sentry made it very easy to identify problems and patterns in a fraction of the time it would have taken to dig through a bunch of log files. The graphical representations within SQL Sentry and the way that the objects on screen are tied together make it easy to catch issues at a glance, and zoom in to a more narrow timeframe to see how one problem can affect different aspects of server performance. We monitor various production application and database servers with alerts setup for each of them. SQL Sentry has not only helped us identify issues to be corrected, but over time, has helped us redefine our approach to become a more proactive shop.

Pros and Cons

Pros

The best feature of Performance Advisor is its history view. In the history view I can easily see when the server is having a performance problem, how often a specific issues comes up, and how long it has been a problem. It allows me to see patterns of performance (disk io, cpu usage, system memory, ect), and I can always zoom in to areas of concern.
Performance Advisor can be in conjunction with application installations or changes, process/task changes ect. to get an idea on how these changes are affecting server performance.

Cons

Alerts in Event Manager can be about as granular as you might want to get, but are a bit lacking in Performance Advisor. In Performance Advisor I only use alerts for connection and task failures.

Alternatives Considered

none

Likelihood to Recommend

I use Performance Advisor all the time, but I rarely use it by itself. I believe that the best use of Performance Advisor is with SQL Sentry Event Manager on a database server. The history feature allows you to quickly see a pattern of how the server responds to jobs running in the databases (like when a looping database job eats up the temp db, and spills into the page file). It takes only a moment to see that some jobs need to be fixed while others only need to be rescheduled. At a glance, I can see how my daily and monthly schedules are affecting the server, and when I need to make an adjustment to avoid a failure on the server or the database. So much useful info to proactively address all of the issues that I have been used to reacting to for so long. There are many other cool benefits to SQL Sentry, but this is what I have found to be the most impactful use of SQL Sentry.

SolarWinds SQL Sentry Feature Ratings

SQL Sentry Performance Advisor Implementation

Implementation Rating

Was suggested that we install the process monitors on a dev or qa database server, but we found it more useful to create an IT db server and put it there (along with a few other apps that we use for monitoring).

Implementation Details / Implementation Partner

Implemented in-house

Implementation Phases

Yes - there were only a few phases. Implementation was pretty easy and went quick.

Change Management Lessons

Change management was minimal - Implementation took less than an hour for all of the servers that we wanted to monitor. Installation of the client was easy. The only recommendation I have is that one person should manage the client installs. Having everyone do their own install proved to be a bit frustrating.

Implementation Issues

Self install of client on pc's very frustrating. Some users enter the wrong info, and end up installing the process monitor on their local pc's.

SQL Sentry Performance Advisor Support

Support Rating

Their support team has gone out of their way to help me get past any issues that I am having. They genuinely see to care about my success.

SolarWinds SQL Sentry Customer Support Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed No escalation required Immediate help available Support understands my problem Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response	None

Premium Support

Exceptional Examples of SolarWinds SQL Sentry Support

I opened a case with SQL Sentry one evening right before leaving work. They contacted me quickly and stayed online even after I left the office and worked from my phone. I don't remember the issue I had, but it was not an emergency, yet they responded as if it were. They have consistently responded this way for all of my calls.

Comments

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Rachel Siragusa
(Vendor Representative) commented 8 years ago
Hello, Thank you for your detailed review of SQL Sentry. Here at SQL Sentry, we truly believe that our products not only help improve overall performance of monitored environments, but they can also help to improve the quality of life of our users. We feel that a little less stress, and a little extra time in the day, can go a long way. Whether that means someone can relax on a weekend knowing SQL Sentry will alert them on any issues, or having the extra time to catch an event their kid is involved in. We also believe our Support team does a great job of living by this belief. We understand time is valuable, and having the insight that SQL Sentry provides can be instrumental in ensuring the performance and quality of the environments we monitor. While our Performance Advisor certainly has fewer out of the box alerting capabilities than Event Manager, which has scheduling and alerting as part of its core functionality, Performance Advisor still gives you access to our Custom Condition. These Custom Conditions can be used to alert on just about anything that can ultimately be returned as a result set. This functionality also includes our Custom Condition library, which is regularly updated with conditions we feel could help a broad range of our users. We have actually recently released a new pack, so if you haven’t already, I would recommend downloading the latest pack (Tools > Download Latest Custom Conditions Pack). If you ever have any questions or require some additional resources regarding Custom Condition, please let our Support team know and they would be glad to help. Few words could be used to describe the feelings and validation reviews such as yours gives us. Thank you for being a valued member of the SQL Sentry family!

SQL Sentry is a great tool with a lot of good info