Applies to: SQL Sentry, Win Sentry, BI Sentry, V Sentry, DB Sentry, DW Sentry, and APS Sentry.
The SentryOne monitoring service is a Windows service installed on one or more servers in your enterprise. All settings are stored in the SentryOne database. The SentryOne monitoring service does the following for each watched instance:
- Collects event history
- Collects event status
- Collects event performance information
- Sends notifications
- Performs various other tasks related to event management
Note: The various event metadata and history information collected by the SentryOne monitoring service is stored in a SQL Server database. The number of instances that can be watched in your environment is controlled by the number of licenses you have purchased.
The SentryOne Monitoring Service Settings can be accessed by selecting Global Settings from the Navigator pane. By default, the monitoring service settings open to the SMTP Configuration tab.
The SentryOne monitoring service settings are global in nature, applying to the entire SentryOne installation. They control the behavior and function of all installed SentryOne monitoring services connected to the active SentryOne database.
Note: Make changes to any desired setting, and then select
from the toolbar to save your setting globally.
SentryOne Monitoring Service Settings Alerting
Email SMTP Configuration
For information about configuring an SMTP server, see the SMTP Configuration topic.
You have the option to have email alerts formatted as HTML instead of Plain Text.
SNMP Configuration
Configure SNMP settings by selecting SentryOne Monitoring Service Settings > Alerting tab > SNMP settings.
SNMP Settings
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Hostname | Determines where the SNMP trap is sent. The default setting (BROADCAST) sends the trap to all managers. Individual managers can be sent the traps using the individual hostname or IP address. Note: Managers included in the BROADCAST group and who are also listed individually receive two messages for each occurrence. |
| Port | The port used for transmission of the traps (Default 162). |
| SNMP MIBS | SNMP MIBS defaults are found in a folder called SNMP MIBs C:\Program Files\SentryOne\18.0\SNMP MIBs |
| SNMP Version | The version of SNMP to be used (1, 2C or 3) |
| Enabled | This checkbox determines whether or not the trap is enabled. |
SNMP v1/2C Configuration
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Community | Enter the community. |
SNMP v3 Configuration
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Engine ID | Enter the Engine ID. Note: You can also use Generate button to get this value. |
| Username | Enter the username |
| Privacy Algorithm | Select the appropriate privacy algorithm |
| Privacy Password | Enter the privacy password |
| Hash Algorithm | Select the appropriate hash algorithm (MD5,SHA, or None). |
| Hash Password | Enter the password. |
Note: You can configure SentryOne to send SNMP traps to Splunk. Splunk is an important tool that aggregates logs and events efficiently and allows you to aggregate disparate data sources into a comprehensive overview of your environment. SentryOne utilizes its Conditions and Actions system where Conditions represent the expert knowledge required to determine if something is actionable, and Actions provide the flexibility to act on that event. Set up SentryOne and Splunk to complement one another’s functionality within your enterprise.
Configure SentryOne to send SNMP traps to Splunk by completing the following:
1. Configure devices to send SNMP traps.
2. Write the traps to a file for Splunk to index.
3. Monitor the file with Splunk.
For more information about SentryOne's functionality with Splunk, see Enterprise Integration: SentryOne, Splunk, and SNMP.
Maintenance Window
Maintenance window settings allow you to specify a time frame where Failsafe notifications are disabled while daily maintenance activity takes place. This prevents excessive notifications that may occur if a watched instance is temporarily inaccessible during these activities. Log actions are still enabled during this window, but any execute or send actions won't fire inside the maintenance window. The maintenance window specified in this view, under the SentryOne monitoring service node, applies to activity on the SentryOne database itself.
Note: To specify a maintenance window for watched instances / target(s), select Settings tab from the Settings pane for that instance / target.
PowerShell
Configure PowerShell Execution settings by selecting SentryOne Monitoring Service Settings > Alerting tab > PowerShell.
PowerShell Execution Account
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Username | The global account that the Execute Powershell Command can be run with. |
| Password | The password for the Execute Powershell global account. |
For more information about PowerShell, see the PowerShell topic.
Additional Information: For information about setting up a PowerShell account, the benefits of PowerShell, and PowerShell Security, see the PowerShell MSDN article.
SentryOne Monitoring Service Settings Storage
There are monitoring service settings that control the retention of certain types of data within the SentryOne database. Access these settings by selecting SentryOne Monitoring Service Settings > Storage tab.
| Storage Setting | Description | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Keep Event History For | Controls the retention of Event Manager data (Event History data). Note: The default value is 30 days. |  |
| Keep Performance History For | Specifies how long Performance Advisor Top SQL, Blocking SQL, and Deadlock data is retained in the SentryOne database. This settings also applies to Event Manager General Performance Monitoring data. Note: The default value is 15 days. |  |
| Keep SentryOne Message History For | This setting determines how many days worth of Action Log information is stored. Note: The default value is 365 days. |  |
| Keep Index Usage History For | Controls the retention of Index Usage statistics counter data in Fragmentation Manager. Note: The default value is 365 days, the minimum permitted value is one, and the maximum permitted value is 396. |  |
Note: Top SQL, Blocking SQL, and Deadlocks data is also converted to the native Event Calendar format and then is retained according to the SentryOne Monitoring Service Settings > Storage tab> Keep Event History For setting.
Note: All other performance data, including data displayed on the performance analysis Dashboard, isn't affected by Monitoring Service settings. This data is subject to a high performance storage scheme and internal rollup structure. For more information, see the Dashboard Resolutions/Retention and Data Capacity Planning topics.
SentryOne Monitoring Service Settings Forecasts
You have the option to select either Advanced or Standard mode. Advanced Disk Forecasting requires the SentryOne database to have SQL Server 2016 or above with R/ML services installed and enabled. Standard mode utilizes a custom linear regression model; however, it doesn't require R/ML services or a SQL Server requirement.
- Blog on accessing and customizing forecasts: Introducing Storage Forecasting with SQL Server Machine Learning Services
- Blog on the conceptual details of the development: Storage Forecasting and Machine Learning with SentryOne
- Articles related to Forecasting in SentryOne Docs
Important: Review System Requirements before enabling Advanced Disk Forecasting.
Adding a Forecast Schedule
- Select Global Settings in the Navigator pane, and then select Forecasts.
- Select either Standard or Advanced from the drop-down menu.
- Select the ellipses icon, and then select New to add a new Forecast Schedule.
- Select the desired parameters from the Schedule Properties window, and then select OK.
- Select the number of days desired for the Days Forward to Forecast. The default is 180 days.
- Select the Save icon
to save the Disk Forecast.
to save the Disk Forecast.Editing or Deleting a Forecast Schedule
To edit a Forecast Schedule, select the ellipses icon, and then select Edit to change the Schedule Properties parameters.
Select OK to save the changes, select the Save icon
, and then select Regenerate Global Forecasts to refresh the Disk Forecast.
To delete a Forecast Schedule, select the ellipses icon, choose the desired Forecast Schedule from the list, and then select Delete.
The following message appears; either select Yes to remove the Forecast Schedule from the list, or select No to keep the Forecast Schedule in the list. Select OK in the Select a Schedule window to save your changes.
Note: A Disk Forecast runs automatically each day even if there is no schedule selected. A Forecast Schedule is applied to better control when the forecast runs.
SentryOne Monitoring Service Settings Privacy
The following settings are available in SentryOne Monitoring Service Settings > Privacy tab:
 | Displays the End User License Agreement. |
 | Allows SentryOne to collect anonymous information about how you use our software. Un-check the box to stop telemetry. For more information about telemetry, see the telemetry topic. |
SentryOne Monitoring Service Settings Advanced
SentryOne Monitoring Service Settings > Advanced tab is where you configure settings for the process that polls watched instances for an active event status.
| Setting | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Live Event Polling Monitor Interval | Controls how often the SentryOne monitoring service polls each watched instance for event status information. The polling operations used are lightweight; however, the value can be increased to reduce network activity associated with the SentryOne monitoring service. Note: The default Polling Interval is 15 seconds. |  |
| History Polling Interval | Controls how often the SentryOne Monitoring Service polls each watched instance for event history information. Note: The default value is 30 seconds. |  |
| SentryOne Message Polling Interval | Controls how often the SentryOne Monitoring Service’s internal message queue is checked and messages are processed. Increasing this setting effectively lengthens the time between when a condition is met and any associated actions are triggered. Important: Adjusting the setting up or down affects overhead on the SentryOne Monitoring Service only, and won’t affect network or monitoring overhead for watched instances. Note: The default value is five seconds. |  |
| Event Chains are Only Affected by History Within | Tells chaining how far back in the history to look when determining whether history entries should affect chain status. This setting is used as a fail safe measure if for some reason you were unable to synchronize with a server for a specified period of time. Whenever the server comes back online and SentryOne is able to re-synchronize history information, any history that's older than the time specified by this setting won’t be used to impact chain execution status. Note: The default value is one day and the minimum value is ten minutes. Note: It's recommended to contact support.sentryone.com before changing the default value. |  |
| Do Not Fire Actions for History Older Than | If messages were unable to be collected for some time this setting keeps actions from being fired for these older message. Note: The default value is two hours. |  |
| Trigger Run Missed Condition When Scheduling Agent is Offline | Used to specify whether or not to execute the Run Missed Condition when the instance is offline. Note: This setting is enabled by default. |  |
| Minimum Block Duration Required to Trigger SQL Server Agent Job: Block Condition | Used to specify the minimum time a SQL Agent Job must be part of a blocking chain before triggering the SQL Server Agent Job: Block Condition. Note: The default value is 15 seconds. |  |
| Enable AlwaysOn Health Collection | Used to enable AlwaysOn health collection. Note: This setting is disabled by default. |  |
| Query Collection Maximum Text Length | Change the maximum length of textdata captured for Top SQL and Top Command events. Note: The default value is 10,000 characters. |  |
| Normalization Engine | With the release of version 8.2, there have been improvements made to the Normalization Engine. Users upgrading from a prior build will need to select the Advanced option to see the enhancements. Note: The default value is Advanced, and the default value for Basic (Legacy) is 4000 characters. |  |
