It’s a tale of workflow interrupt due to the time between the database alert to the fix time.
Every Database Administrator (DBA) has experienced it. You open the in-box on Monday morning and find an alert notice. Unfortunately, this isn’t one of the several systems you constantly need to log into, it’s a database you’ve monitored for years without issues. Until today.
For many DBAs there’s a delay between noting the issue and fixing it. And it’s not the troubleshooting that usually eats up the time, it’s the journey from seeing the problem to being in the right place to do something about it.
Challenges of Logging into Database Management
Often logging in involves a chain of steps: VPN => remote desktop jump station => server => start the management tool (if it’s installed.)
Then it’s time to hope that your password is still valid. An invalid password triggers another chain of steps.
If you’re an MSP, likely the chain is longer, starting with looking up credentials for the customer system.
By the time you’re finally ready to act, ten to thirty minutes may have passed. On a busy day, you might only have time to fix two to four issues, simply because each alert requires a long detour before fixing can start.
Workflow with dbWatch
In dbWatch Control Center, monitoring and management are in the same place making the database alert to fix time fast. From the monitoring view, you’ll see a warning on an instance. Click on the instance to enter management in that exact system. In the first menu you’ll see the alert, with the same warning you saw in monitoring.
From there you can:
- Fix the underlying issue directly on that instance
- Rerun the job to confirm that the warning is cleared
- Open a report if you need more statistics about the problem