Introducing the Database Monitoring and Maintenance Snap-in

The Database Monitoring and Maintenance snap-in is a member of the MetaCommunications Services group of the MetaCommunications Management Console. It allows you to look into the Microsoft SQL Server database back-end of the DSM system and manage/monitor your DSM databases as well as the “helper” services operating on the databases.

Each DSM database you would like to manage/monitor must be at first attached (connected) to the Database Monitoring and Maintenance snap-in. For detailed instructions on how to attach DSM databases, refer to Attaching Databases to the Database Monitoring and Maintenance Snap-in.

For each DSM database attached to the Database Monitoring and Maintenance snap-in, you can perform the following administrative tasks:

Review general database information including the database name, database version, and the database size (it is particularly important to monitor this value for a MSDE database as its size cannot exceed 2 GB).

Configure Microsoft SQL Server, i.e. change user passwords and configure database server memory usage.

Manually back up and restore databases.

Set up a database maintenance plan. The maintenance plan consists of full database and transaction log backups performed at regular intervals and the procedure of updating statistics for query optimization.

Manage SQL Server Agent jobs. A SQL Server Agent job is a collection of SQL statements that is executed by a SQL Server Agent according to an assigned schedule.

Monitor current activity of logged-in processes. The Logged-In Processes listing of the Database Monitoring and Maintenance snap-in lists each process which has logged itself into the attached database.

Monitor current activity of the InterSync services. For an overview of the InterSync services, refer to the “Introducing the InterSync Technology” section of this guide.

Note: The subsequent instructions in this chapter assume that the MetaCommunications Management Console has already been opened and that the Database Monitoring and Maintenance snap-in is present. For an overview of the MetaCommunications Management Console, refer to the “The MetaCommunications Management Console” section of this guide.

To switch to the Database Monitoring and Maintenance snap-in for a particular attached database, expand the Databases group located under the Database Monitoring and Maintenance subtree of the Management Console and click the appropriate database.

After you switch to the Database Monitoring and Management snap-in, the right-hand portion of the Management Console will display the following tabs: “Current Activity”, “SQL Jobs”, “Management”, and “InterSync”.

Each of the tabs needs to be manually refreshed (by clicking the Refresh button located in the top right corner of the window) to ensure that accurate information is displayed.