Microsoft SQL Server - OpenTelemetry Collector

note

The information provided in this page will only support the Sumo Logic OpenTelemetry app for Microsoft SQL Server for Windows.

The SQL Server app is a unifies logs and metrics app to help you monitor the availability, performance, health, and resource utilization of your Microsoft SQL Server database clusters. Preconfigured dashboards provide insight into cluster status, performance, operations as well as backup and restore operations along with Performance metrics and metrics for transaction and transaction logs.

This app has been tested with following SQL Server versions:

• Microsoft SQL Server 2016

The diagram below illustrates the components of the SQL Server collection for each database server. OpenTelemetry collector runs on the same host as SQL Server, and uses the SQL Server receiver to obtain SQL Server metrics. This receiver grabs metrics about a Microsoft SQL Server instance using the Windows Performance Counters. Because of this, it is a Windows only receiver. Thus metrics for SQL Server can be collected only if its in a windows machine. SQL Server logs are sent to Sumo Logic through OpenTelemetry filelog receiver.

Fields creation in Sumo Logic for SQL Server

Following are the Fields which will be created as part of SQL Server App install if not already present.

• db.cluster.name. User configured. Enter a name to identify this SQL Server cluster. This cluster name will be shown in the Sumo Logic dashboards.
• db.system. Has a fixed value of sqlserver.
• deployment.environment. User configured. This is the deployment environment where the SQL Server cluster resides. For example dev, prod, or qa.
• sumo.datasource. Has a fixed value of sqlserver.

Prerequisites

For metrics collection

The SQL server receiver for OpenTelemetry grabs metrics about a Microsoft SQL Server instance using the Windows Performance Counters.

For logs collection

Make sure logging is turned on in SQL Server. Follow this documentation to enable it.

The Microsoft SQL Server App's queries and dashboards depend on logs from the SQL Server ERRORLOG, which is typically found in: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL<version>.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Log\ERRORLOG*.

The ERRORLOG is typically in UTF-16LE encoding, however, be sure to verify the file encoding used in your SQL Server configuration.

ACL Support

For Windows systems, log files which are collected should be accessible by the SYSTEM group. Use the following set of PowerShell commands if the SYSTEM group does not have access.

$NewAcl = Get-Acl -Path "<PATH_TO_LOG_FILE>"
# Set properties
$identity = "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM"
$fileSystemRights = "ReadAndExecute"
$type = "Allow"
# Create new rule
$fileSystemAccessRuleArgumentList = $identity, $fileSystemRights, $type
$fileSystemAccessRule = New-Object -TypeName System.Security.AccessControl.FileSystemAccessRule -ArgumentList $fileSystemAccessRuleArgumentList
# Apply new rule
$NewAcl.SetAccessRule($fileSystemAccessRule)
Set-Acl -Path "<PATH_TO_LOG_FILE>" -AclObject $NewAcl

Collection configuration and app installation

As part of data collection setup and app installation, you can select the App from App Catalog and click on Install App. Follow the steps below.

Step 1: Set up Collector

If you want to use an existing OTel Collector, then this step can be skipped by selecting the option of using an existing Collector.

If you want to create a new Collector, select the Add a new Collector option.

Select the platform for which you want to install the Sumo OpenTelemetry Collector.

This will generate a command you can execute on the machine that you need to monitor. Once executed, it will install the Sumo Logic OpenTelemetry Collector agent.

Step 2: Configure integration

1. The Microsoft SQL Server App's queries and dashboards depend on logs from the SQL Server ERRORLOG, which is typically found in: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL<version>.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Log\ERRORLOG*
2. To collect from a SQL Server with a named instance, both Computer Name and Instance Name are required. Toggle the Enable metric collection for SQL Server with a named instance. button. For a default SQL Server setup, these settings are optional.
   • Computer Name. The computer name identifies the SQL Server name or IP address of the computer being monitored.
   • Instance Name. The instance name identifies the specific SQL Server instance being monitored.
3. You can add any custom fields which you want to tag along with the data ingested in Sumo Logic.
4. Click on the Download YAML File button to get the yaml file.
   

Step 3: Send logs to Sumo Logic

Once you have downloaded the YAML file as described in the previous step, follow the below steps based on your platform.

Windows

1. Copy the YAML file to C:\ProgramData\Sumo Logic\OpenTelemetry Collector\config\conf.d folder in the machine which needs to be monitored.
2. Restart the collector using:

   Restart-Service -Name OtelcolSumo

Chef

1. Copy the yaml file into your Chef cookbook files directory files/<downloaded_yaml_file>.
2. Use a Chef file resource in a recipe to manage it. cookbook_file '/etc/otelcol-sumo/conf.d/<downloaded_yaml_file>' do mode 0644 notifies :restart, 'service[otelcol-sumo]', :delayed end
3. Add the recipe to your collector setup to start collecting the data. Every team typically has their established way of applying the Chef recipe. The resulting Chef recipe should look something like:

   cookbook_file '/etc/otelcol-sumo/conf.d/<downloaded_yaml_file>' do
       mode 0644
       notifies :restart, 'service[otelcol-sumo]', :delayed
   end

Ansible

1. Place the file into your Ansible playbook files directory.
2. Run the Ansible playbook.

   ansible-playbook -i inventory install_sumologic_otel_collector.yaml
   -e '{"installation_token": "<YOUR_TOKEN>", "collector_tags": {<YOUR_TAGS>}, "src_config_path": "files/conf.d"}'

Puppet

1. Place the file into your Puppet module files directory modules/install_otel_collector/files/<downloaded_yaml>.
2. Use a Puppet file resource to manage it.

   file { '/etc/otelcol-sumo/conf.d/<downloaded_yaml_file>':
       ensure => present,
       source => 'puppet:///modules/install_otel_collector/<downloaded_yaml_file>',
       mode => '0644',
       notify => Service[otelcol-sumo],
     }
3. Apply the Puppet manifest. Every team typically has their established way of applying the Puppet manifest. The resulting Puppet manifest should look something like:

   node 'default' {
       class { 'install_otel_collector'
         installation_token => '<YOUR_TOKEN>',
         collector_tags => { <YOUR_TAGS> },
       }
   
       service { 'otelcol-sumo':
         provider => 'systemd',
         ensure => running,
         enable => true,
         require => Class['install_otel_collector'],
       }
   
       file { '/etc/otelcol-sumo/conf.d/<downloaded_yaml_file>':
         ensure => present,
         source => 'puppet:///modules/install_otel_collector/<downloaded_yaml_file>',
         mode => '0644',
         notify => Service[otelcol-sumo],
       }
     }

After successfully executing the above command, Sumo Logic will start receiving data from your host machine.

Click Next. This will install the app (dashboards and monitors) to your Sumo Logic Org.

Dashboard panels will start to fill automatically. It's important to note that each panel fills with data matching the time range query and received since the panel was created. Results won't immediately be available, but within 20 minutes, you'll see full graphs and maps.

Sample log messages

2023-01-09 13:23:31.276 Logon Login succeeded for user 'NT SERVICE\SQLSERVERAGENT'. Connection made using Windows authentication. [CLIENT: ]

Sample Metrics

{
  "queryId":"A",
  "_source":"EC2AMAZ-T30T53R-13b7b3fc-cc2f-4eb0-accb-2aa33e6fa01b",
  "_metricId":"K4oGmX1LMJ_iMZ4EeqGjJg",
  "_sourceName":"OTC Metric Input",
  "os.type":"windows",
  "sumo.datasource":"sqlserver",
  "db.system":"sqlserver",
  "_sourceCategory":"OTC Metric Input",
  "deployment.environment":"ec2WinDev",
  "host.name":"EC2AMAZ-T30T53R.ec2.internal",
  "metric":"sqlserver.transaction_log.flush.rate",
  "_collectorId":"00005AF3107A445C",
  "_sourceId":"0000000000000000",
  "unit":"{flushes}/s",
  "db.cluster.name":"sqlserverCluster",
  "_sourceHost":"EC2AMAZ-T30T53R",
  "sqlserver.database.name":"master",
  "_collector":"EC2AMAZ-T30T53R-13b7b3fc-cc2f-4eb0-accb-2aa33e6fa01b",
  "max":0.001388,
  "min":0,
  "avg":0.0007219,
  "sum":0.00361,
  "latest":0,
  "count":5
  }

Sample queries

Following is the query from Error and warning count panel from the SQL Server App - Overview dashboard:

 %"db.cluster.name"=* %"deployment.environment"=*  %"sumo.datasource"=sqlserver ("Error:" or "Warning:") | json "log" as _rawlog nodrop
| if (isEmpty(_rawlog), _raw, _rawlog) as _raw
| parse regex "\s+(?<Logtype>Error|Warning):\s+(?<message>.*)$"
| count by LogType

Sample Metrics Query

The following query is from the SQL Server - Performance Counters dashboard > Page Buffer hit ratio % panel:

sumo.datasource=sqlserver deployment.environment=* db.cluster.name=* metric=sqlserver.page.buffer_cache.hit_ratio

Viewing Microsoft SQL Server dashboards

Overview

The SQL Server - Overview dashboard provides a snapshot overview of your SQL Server instance. Use this dashboard to understand CPU, Memory, and Disk utilization of your SQL Server(s) deployed in your cluster. This dashboard also provides information on login activities and methods by users.

Use this dashboard to:

• Keep track of Deadlock, Error, Backup failure, mirroring errors, and insufficient space issue counts.
• Examine Login activities, failures, and failure reasons.

General Health

The SQL Server - General Health dashboard gives you the overall health of SQL Server. Use this dashboard to analyze server events including stopped/up servers, and corresponding down/uptime, monitor disk space percentage utilization, wait time trend, app-domain issues by SQL server.

Use this dashboard to:

• Analyze server events including stopped/up servers, and corresponding down/uptime.
• Monitor server events trends including SQL Server wait time.
• Get insight into app domain and percentage disk utilization issues by SQL Server.

Backup Restore Mirroring

The SQL Server - Backup Restore Mirroring dashboard provides information about:

• Transaction log backup events
• Database backup events
• Restore activities
• Backup failures and reasons
• Mirroring errors

Operations

The SQL Server - Operations displays recent server configuration changes, number and type of configuration updates, error and warnings, high severity error, and warning trends.

Use this dashboard to:

• Get insights into configuration changes and updates to SQL Server instances.
• Monitor any errors and warnings.

Transaction and Transaction Logs

The SQL Server - Transaction and Transaction Logs dashboard shows performance counters related metric for Transaction and Transaction Logs.

Use this dashboard to:

• Get info with respect to time for Transaction and write Transaction per sec.
• Insight into Transaction log related metrics like flush rate, flush data rate, and flush wait rate along with Transaction log % usage.

Performance Counters

The SQL Server - Performance Counters dashboard shows performance counters related to database activities, SQL statistics, and buffer cache.

Use this dashboard to:

• Get info for page buffer hit % and page split rate.
• Insight into lock waits rate, page read and write rate along with patch request rate and SQL compilation, and recompilation per sec.