In the previous two blog posts we have discussed the installation procedures (link) and performance improvements (LINK) in the new version of MS SQL Management Pack (MP). The Datacenter View, the Dashboards home page, provides information about the datacenter health state in an aggregated way.
The Datacenter View is fully customizable; it is possible to add new groups (any, not only SQL Server groups, even custom groups created by the user).
Just select “Add group” from the “hamburger” menu:
Search for a group by typing its name, and the matches will be highlighted.
You can specify a custom name if you don’t like the default display name.
After you click “Add”, the new tile appears on the dashboard with a notification that the dashboard is in “read only” mode – you cannot change the configuration while it is saving the changes:
Expand the new tile – by default, there are only “State” and “Alerts” tiles.
Click the “hamburger” menu to add more aggregated tiles; there are two options available: “Add performance tile” and “Add monitor tile”:
The big difference compared to the previous release of the dashboards is that now you can add an aggregated performance tile on the Datacenter View for any child object in a group. Previously, I could add a DB Space monitor only; now I can add a DB file monitor or a performance counter:
Now all aggregated monitoring and performance data for child objects are visible on the Datacenter View:
The objects being edited are now displayed at the top of the tiles list; it is very convenient because there can be so many classes.
Another nice feature is that you can drag and drop the tiles to sort them in a way you like:
The same can be done for the Groups:
As for the Visual appearance of the dashboards, you can easily change the settings using the corresponding menu. Choose one of the preset themes (dark or light) and select an appropriate background color.
Dark theme:
Moreover, there is also a high-contrast mode available; it automatically detects your operating system contrast settings. This very important improvement creates a comfortable environment for visually impaired people.
Management Pack. SQL Management Pack is very well documented: all the details regarding the new features can be found in the Operations Guide.
