Get Started With dbwatch

Getting Started with dbWatch Control Center

dbWatch Control Center is your database’s newest database monitoring and management solution. Helping database administrators manage database farms and proactive monitoring helps you identify any issues before it becomes a severe threat to your system, helps tune your database infrastructure, and optimizes your database resource usage.

In this section, you will learn the basics of Control Center, from installation to adding database instances and essential monitoring with Control Center. This guide will show you how easy it is to operate Control Center to monitor and manage your database farm.

dbWatch Control Center Checklist

Full documentation wiki visit: wiki.dbwatch.com/ControlCenter/

Start monitoring your database farm with Control Center

Step By Step Installation Guide

Installing dbWatch Control Center on Windows

Run the dbWatch Control Center installer. You will be greeted by the start screen of the Installation Wizard.

An initial setup window will appear, click Next.

Specify your destination directory.

After choosing a directory for your dbWatch Control Center installation, click Next.

Tick Install Monitor as you would like to install the dbWatch Control Center monitor.

When do we untick this option?

We untick this option when we only want to install the dbWatch Control Center server without the Monitor because you already have installed the monitor on another remote computer that you will be using to connect to this server.

For the other options, we will leave it as it is and click on Next

Tick Install service if you wish to install the dbWatch Control Center server, if you only want to install the dbWatch Control Center monitor untick this checkbox.

Specify the service name, windows user account, and password. Configure the working directory on where dbWatch will save files and specify the dbWatch Control Center port and click Next.

In this window, you have the option to create a start menu folder and user shortcuts. Click Next.

Click Next to start the installation.

The installation should take less than a minute on a normal computer.

The installation has now been completed successfully, click Finish.

Lets open our dbWatch Control Center Monitor

Here you will leave the address as the default(localhost) as you want to connect to the local dbWatch server using port 7100. Click Connect

After clicking Connect, a new window will appear.

This is the initial setup of your dbWatch Control Center server.

You will set this as a demo server, as you are using an evaluation license.

You need to create an administrator user for this dbWatch server.

Specify your chosen admin user and password. Click Apply.

Verify if your newly created admin user works, by clicking Test.

On the right side, you can see the green check mark that shows the user is valid.

After testing it, click Close.

You can now start adding a database instance on your dbWatch Control Center monitor, by clicking on the “+” sign.

What To Do Next

If you did not start the Monitor directly, you need to manually start it. This is located under “All Programs”->”dbWatch Control Center”->”Monitor ” in the start menu on Windows.

When you start your new dbWatch installation, you will be prompted with the “Add database” wizard. For information about how to add a new database, see the “Add or Remove Database” chapter in this guide.

After installation

After installation you might like to have a look at [[Initial configuration of dbWatch|initial configuration]] of dbWatch for furter details.

Quick Fixes

If you’re encountering services problems that relates to credential errors, here’s a quick way to deal with that. Open “Services” in your computer. You can type “Services” in the search bar.

Start running the service. Highlight the equivalent of “Dbwatch Control Center”. This was defined earlier in your installation process.

Right click and click “Start.

If this error above appears, the credentials you inputted were incorrect. To fix this, right click on the highlighted services again and select properties. A window of properties will show up. Select tab “Log On” then select Log on as: Local System account. This only works if CC is installed in your local.

Click “Apply” and re-run the services. You should be able to start your Dbwatch services without a problem.

Learn how to add database instances on Control Center

In this section we will learn the basics such as adding database instances and basic configuration to get started with dbWatch.

Adding a SQL Server instance

PROMPT SCREEN FOR ADDING INSTANCE

There are two methods in opening the prompt.

First Method:

To add a SQLServer instance, click on the “Plus (+)” sign on the bottom left of the dbWatch dashboard.

This will bring up the “Add Instance” wizard, which will guide you through the following steps.

Second Method:

On the top left corner, hover to “Monitor” then click “Add Instance”

Select Instance Type and Input Connection Details

Specify the host and port number. Click “Detect” to identify the database platform of this instance.

Choose an authentication type whether Password Authentication or OS Authentication.

You need to specify a login with a sysadmin role that will be used during the installation.

Pro Tip:

OS Authentication		Detects locally running instances in your server or computer. When “OS Authentication” is selected, it grays out LOGIN and PASSWORD, since it is using the current credentials you are using.
Password Authentication		Authentication meant to connect to an existing SQL database engine. You need to provide the LOGIN and Password for that instance.

Click “Next”.

Define Monitoring

Next specify the group and connection details for this instance.

Specify the group this instance will belong under, the default groups are Development, Test and Production.

You can easily create and customize your own groups based on your requirements.

Choose the service level depending on how you would like to monitor an instance depending on your dbWatch license. The following options are:

Connector – doesn’t require you to install dbWatch schema within the monitored instances. Limited jobs available just to check for your instance uptime
Basic – doesn’t require you to install dbWatch schema within the monitored instances. Limited jobs available just to check if your instance is up and running
Standard – usual way to monitor instances will require you to install dbWatch schema within the monitored instance, all jobs are available for installation.

Here’s guide to help you with each section:

Specify the database which you want to install the dbWatch schema/objects in, the installed packages will be used to monitor different performance counters within your instance.

Tick the jobs which you wish to install in this monitored instance.

Click “Next”.

Define Module authentications

Within this window you have an option to choose which credential to use for each module within dbWatch. You can use the existing user or select a new user whether password or OS authentication.