Press Release - 29 January 2019. Exmos Ltd, Grangemouth, UK.

SentiLAN SQL Server Monitor is now Cluster Aware

Many of our customers run factory based, production critical, SQL Server database servers. Because downtime is so expensive, these servers are often grouped to form a resilient cluster that acts as one. A cluster will contain two or more SQL Servers (nodes). When an individual server within the cluster fails, another server will automatically pickup the workload, resulting in zero downtime.

A common complaint from systems engineers and database administrators (DBAs) is being unaware when a failure has taken place and another node has assumed the workload. It is only on subsequent failures, ultimately resulting in downtime, that the true situation comes to light - something had broken and nobody knew it needed fixed because everything continued as normal. Sometimes these systems are configured to send out email alerts, which due to a deluge of emails are often filtered away or deleted via rules created by the recipients.

By upgrading our SQL Server Monitor we are now able to bring cluster fail-over events to the attention of our systems engineers and help desk. This in turn results in a much quicker remediation of any problems around these critical resources.

All of our customer sites running clustered SQL Server systems have already been upgraded.