Configuring Azure SQL Alerts for Resource Governance
By Tom Nonmacher
When it comes to managing your SQL Server instances, whether they reside on SQL Server 2016, SQL Server 2017 or even MySQL 5.7 and DB2 11.1, resource governance is crucial. However, when these instances are hosted on Azure SQL, you gain a host of cloud-based tools to assist with resource monitoring and alerting. In today's post, we will walk you through the process of configuring Azure SQL Alerts for resource governance.
Azure SQL Alerts provide a powerful and flexible tool for tracking a wide range of metrics, including DTU consumption, data space used, CPU percentage, and more. By setting up alerts, you can ensure that you're promptly notified when usage patterns deviate from the norm, allowing you to take immediate action to prevent potential issues.
To get started, you'll need to navigate to the Azure portal and select the SQL Server instance you'd like to monitor. From there, click on 'Alerts' under the 'Monitoring' section. Click on 'New alert rule' to begin setting up your alert.
You'll then need to specify the metric you'd like to monitor, the threshold that will trigger the alert, and the email addresses that should receive the alert. For example, if you'd like to be notified when CPU usage exceeds 80%, you might set up an alert like the following:
Alert name: High CPU Usage
Description: Alert when CPU usage exceeds 80%
Resource: Your SQL Server instance
Condition: CPU percentage > 80%
Alert details: Email owners, contributors, and readers
Email addresses: your-email@example.com
Once you've set up your alert, Azure will monitor your SQL Server instance and send an email to the specified addresses if the condition is met. You can also set up multiple alerts for different metrics or conditions, allowing you to comprehensively monitor your resources.
It's important to note that Azure SQL Alerts are designed to monitor real-time conditions and are not intended as a tool for historical analysis. For historical analysis of SQL Server performance, you'll need to use the Query Store feature available in SQL Server 2016 and later.
In conclusion, Azure SQL Alerts provide a powerful and flexible tool for resource governance. By setting up alerts, you can ensure that you're promptly notified of potential issues, allowing you to take immediate action to prevent resource overuse or underuse. Whether you're managing SQL Server 2016, SQL Server 2017, MySQL 5.7, or DB2 11.1 instances on Azure SQL, these alerts can help you keep your resources running smoothly.