Using SentryOne Monitor

Overview

Overview & Navigation

SentryOne Monitor is accessed through a browser.

When you first log into SentryOne Monitor Preview, the home view displays the overall health of the monitored environment. At the top (noted by the 1) is the navigation bar, the sidebar is on the left (noted by the 2), and the default health view area is noted by the 3.

Navigation Bar

This is the default view for the navigation bar:

Option	Description
1. Hamburger button	The hamburger button toggles the visibility of the sidebar.
2. SentryOne logo	Selecting the SentryOne logo returns you to the home view.
3. Product drop-down	The SentryOne product drop-down allows you to switch between Monitor, Test, and Document. Each product has their own licensing requirements.
4. Health	Select Health to display the health view which includes a summary of events by severity and tag.
5. Dashboard	Select Dashboard to display the performance data charts. A target must first be selected for this view.
6. Top SQL	Select Top SQL to display information about resources, text data, SQL statements, plan diagrams, parameters, and query history.
7. Feedback	Select the feedback button (smiley face) to submit ideas about any issues, features you'd like to see, or suggested changes.
8. Notifications	Select notifications to view details for any alerts. A number will appear on the notifications badge if any are present. Note:  Select an individual notification from the list to view the associated health dashboard and list of events for that target.
9. Profile	Select profile to sign out of SentryOne Monitor Preview.

Sidebar

The sidebar has four main areas:

Option Description 1. Health Score Health score shows a summary of overall health scores for the monitored environment. Selecting critical, at risk, or healthy in the sidebar will filter the listed groups and targets in the navigation drawers below. 2. Recent Recent provides a list of recently viewed groups, sites, or targets. 3. Groups Groups provides a list of all groups in your monitored environment. You can filter the list by clicking into the GROUPS textbox to the left of the filter icon and then start typing to filter the listed results. 4. Targets Targets provides a list of all targets in your monitored environment. You can filter the list by clicking into the TARGETS textbox to the left of the filter icon and then start typing to filter the listed results. Note:  Use the chevron button on the right to collapse any of the sidebar options.

Health Score Filter Example

Selecting critical, at risk, or healthy within the health score navigation drawer, filters the listed groups and targets to show only applicable items in those drawers.

There are no critical groups or targets to list for this filter.

At risk (2) filters to a group and a target meeting this criteria.

Healthy (1) filters to only a target meeting this criteria.

Health

Health

The Health view is the default view when opening SentryOne Monitor Preview. This screen displays wedgets for Events by Severity and Events by Tag on the default view for All Servers.

All Servers View

In the example below, the Events by Severity wedget is displaying 98 low severity events. In the Events grid, you can see 2 events with a severity of low, and to the right there is a count totaling 98.

Selecting the name on the left will provide an option to switch to the Dashboard or Top SQL view for that target name.

Select the horizontal chevron icon to the right of the count to display the individual details about each event:

All Groups View

Select All Groups from the Groups section of the sidebar to view the overall health view for each group in your monitored environment.

Site View

Selecting a site shows the health score wedgets for the site and associated targets and instances. In this example, the Default Site is used, and the Targets and Instances cards have been collapsed. See the All Instances view below for an example of what the expanded view displays.

All Targets and All Instances Views

Select All Targets or All Instances from the Targets section of the sidebar to view the health scores and events for those groups.

The following is an example from All Instances:

The Events grid for All Instances will be shown below the health score wedgets.

Target View

Select a group or target from the sidebar to filter the health view:

Dashboard

Dashboard

The Dashboard view displays the performance charts (similar to the Dashboard tab found in Performance Analysis) for a monitored target or instance.

Performance Analysis Dashboard

The Performance Analysis option from the dashboard drop-down menu is the default dashboard view.

Dashboard Navigation

Within the dashboard view, the navigation bar displays a play/pause button and a date selector.

Use the date selector to use an available range or define a custom range of time for data to view on the Dashboard:

Hover over a point in a chart to view additional details:

Use the filter dots (Disk, Other, Memory, CPU, and Network in the image below) to customize what appears on the chart from the available options:

The same chart with Disk filtered out:

Highlight an area on the chart for options to Zoom or Jump to Top SQL for that time period:

Custom Dashboards

SentryOne Monitor offers the ability to create custom dashboards. With custom dashboards, you can include the performance metric widgets that you want, and you can have performance charts for different targets on the same dashboard.

Create a Custom Dashboard

1. To create a custom dashboard, select Add New from the bottom of the dashboard drop-down menu:

2. After selecting Add New, the Create Dashboard dialog appears where you will enter the name of the custom dashboard. You have the option to start with a Blank Dashboard or Clone Existing. If you select Clone Existing, you must then select from an existing dashboard to clone. When you are done, select Create Dashboard.

3. Once the dashboard appears, use the Edit button in the upper right to customize the dashboard:

4. Select the performance charts from the list of Available Widgets to add them to your custom dashboard:

5. Once you've added the desired widgets, select Save Dashboard:

Multiple Targets per Dashboard

1. If you would like to have different targets on the same dashboard, use the Configure option on a widget in the custom dashboard to open the Configure Widget options. Under Configure Widget options, toggle Use Dashboard Target to off, then click Select Target.

2. Use Select Target to open the target selection window and choose a target to associate with the performance chart widget. You can type into the filter area or select a target from the list of devices.

3. Once you've selected a device, you'll see it populated under Custom Target. Select Done to set the chart widget to the Custom Target:

3. Configure the widgets until you have the performance chart and target combination desired for your custom dashboard and save your changes using Save Dashboard. The example below shows a custom dashboard with SQL Server Activity for one target and Disk I/O for another:

The example below shows a custom dashboard with three SQL Server Activity chart widgets, all configured to display the values for a different target:

Clone Dashboard

Once you have a custom dashboard created, you may be able to save time by using it as a template for additional custom dashboards. 

To clone a dashboard: 

1. Select Add New from the Dashboards menu.

2. Enter a Dashboard Name.

3. Select Clone Existing from the radio button options.

4. Use the Select Existing drop-down to select the name of the dashboard you want to clone.

5. Select Create Dashboard.

6. The cloned dashboard appears and you can use the edit button in the upper right to configure the options for your cloned dashboard.

Delete Dashboard

While viewing a custom dashboard, select the edit button from the upper right to open Edit Dashboard options and select Delete Dashboard at the bottom to delete the dashboard.

Top SQL

Top SQL

The Top SQL view displays a unified view of collected SQL statements (similar to the Top SQL tab found in Performance Analysis).

Resources Card

The first card in Top SQL defaults to a Resources view. The full viewing options for this card's charts are:

• Resources
• Queries ›
• Waits
• By App ›
• By DB ›
• By Host ›
• By Login ›

Select the kebab button in the upper right corner for additional options such as reset, show/hide axis labels, and show/hide axes.

Show/hide axes has the following options:

• Avg Duration (ms)
• CPU Time (ms)
• Exec Count
• Reads Logical
• Writes Logical
• Reads Physical

On the options with the horizontal right chevron, additional options similar to the above are available by selecting the '›' symbol. For example, "By App - Duration (ms)" and "Queries - Reads (P)" are available chart options.

Totals Card

Totals displays the text data and associated information such as database, duration, count, and CPU.

Clicking on the horizontal chevron under events will display any collected trace events such as RPC:Completed.

Statements Card

The Statements card displays additional information about Totals where applicable, including plan diagrams, text data, and parameters.

Query History Card