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NetIQ Corp. aims to make defragmenting tables in and general management of Microsoft Corp.s SQL Server database easier with an update to its SQL Management Suite of tools.
SQL Management Suite 2, which NetIQ will release this week, includes updates of three of its core applications: DiagnosticManager, ConfigurationManager and RecoveryManager. A fourth application, AppManager, was not upgraded.
The update overhauls DiagnosticManagers user interface, adding a to-do list that provides quick access to diagnostic data. With the update, database administrators can double-click on a diagnostics screen that displays tables suffering from reorganization problems, according to NetIQ officials, in Houston. The tool indicates how badly a table needs defragging and enables DBAs to defrag it immediately with a single click.
Tom Thurston, database administration manager for American Fidelity Assurance Co., a group insurance provider in Oklahoma City, has been using an earlier version of SQL Management Suite for about seven months. Thurston said the ability to defrag with a single click will save lots of time.
“[Previously,] it would have been a manual process to write queries and find out what data was there,” Thurston said. “Its the difference between pointing and clicking [versus] having to go out and research for a few days about how to find this information, then hitting each … table and window and finding how bad the [need to] defrag is.”
The DiagnosticManager update also adds a “Today” screen that lists the days priorities and a feature called DBACollaboration, which lets DBAs cover for one another by enabling them to view data available in local copies of DiagnosticManager. NetIQ officials said this will come in handy for customers that assign DBAs to certain sets of servers, such as those that run a Web site or those that power a customer relationship management application.
In response to customer requests, NetIQ has taken historical information available in DiagnosticManager and broken it down into 10-minute increments, as opposed to its original 1-hour buckets.
The enhanced ConfigurationManager doubles the number of configuration data points to about 400—including, for example, machine memory statistics or which processors in a multiprocessor server SQL Server is allowed to use. The tool includes new reports that address server properties, replication settings and database security.
RecoveryManager now launches in context, enabling DBAs to call on the tool from within DiagnosticManager in their efforts to back users out of data changes. AppManager provides automatic management of distributed SQL Server instances from a central console. ´
DiagnosticManager: To-do list gives one-click access to diagnostic data
ConfigurationManager: New reports address server properties, replication settings and database security
RecoveryManager: Upgrade provides faster routine monitoring
AppManager: Central console enables automatic management of distributed SQL Server instances