Configuring User-defined Collections for SQL Server agents (4311115)

The User-defined Collections view in the Databases Administration dashboard allows adding user-defined collections to all of the currently selected agents, to provide for queries not included in Foglight for SQL Server.

IMPORTANT: Agents must be enabled for user-defined collections. If one or more of the selected agents is not enabled for such collections, this view allows enabling them. To disable or modify the credentials of a currently enabled agent, go to the Connection Details view and click the agent to edit it.

After collections are added, this view displays all of the user-defined collections for all of the agents; for example, if a collection was added to 12 agents during its addition, the view will display 12 rows, showing the collection for each agent. 

This view can also be used for configuring the sampling frequency for each collection. 

The available sampling frequencies are as follows: 

• Real-Time - When a user is currently focusing on a screen, the sampling frequency for all of the collections associated with this screen switches to Real-Time. 
• Online - When at least one user is connected, the sampling frequency for all of the collections that are not currently running at Real-Time frequency switches to Online. 
• Offline - when no user is currently connected to the application

Please refer to KB 4301981 for a video on adding user defined collections to database agents.

To add user-defined collections:

1. Select a database agent from the Database Dashboard
2. Click the Settings button, then Administration
3. Click the User-defined collections menu item
4. Click Add.
   The User-defined Collections screen appears.
   IMPORTANT: If one or more of the selected agents is not enabled for user-defined collections, a dialog box appears to notify this issue, displaying a table of the currently disabled collections. Use this dialog box to enable all agents for user-defined collections. To enable only part of these agents, exit the Databases Administration dashboard and select only these agents that are currently enabled or need to be enabled for user-defined collections before entering again the Databases Administration dashboard.
5. Type a name in the Collection Name field.
6. Enter a brief description of the collection in the Collection description field (optional).
7. Paste the query’s SQL text in the Query Text field. This field can hold up to 4096 characters.
8. Type a value, in seconds, in the Query Timeout field.
9. Click Verify.
   The collection is verified by running the query on each of the currently selected agents.
   After the verification process is complete, the Verification Results pop-up appears, indicating whether the collection was verified successfully. In case the collection verification failed, the error message is displayed.
   If the verification succeeded on at least one agent, the collection details are displayed as below.
   
   
   Except for the Column Name and Column Type fields, whose values are retrieved by the query and cannot be changed, all other fields can be edited by clicking any of them.
   The Edit Collection Properties dialog box appears, allowing you to edit the values of the following parameters:
   • Display name
   • Type
   • Unit of Measurement/Indicator
   • Aggregation
   In addition, the collection’s sampling frequencies are displayed on the table at the bottom of the view, and can be edited by clicking any of them
10. Ensure that all settings are appropriate, and click OK to finish the collection creation process.
    The newly created collection now appears on the table.

IMPORTANT: After adding the requested user-defined collections, they can only be deleted or cloned to other agents. If one or more queries need to be modified, delete them and create new ones.