Collection: Database List
Collection Configurable: Yes
Query: QS_Databases.sql
Query Location:
C:\Program Files\Quest Software\Diagnostic Server\Agent\conf\Package\sqlserver_spotlight\2005
C:\Program Files\Quest Software\Diagnostic Server\Agent\conf\Package\sqlserver_spotlight\2012
C:\Program Files\Quest Software\Diagnostic Server\Agent\conf\Package\sqlserver_spotlight\2000
What does the alarm do?The Databases - Unavailable alarm becomes active when Spotlight on SQL Server detects that a SQL Server database is not available for reading. Users attempting to access an unavailable database will receive an error message.
This alarm detects unusual database statuses, including Suspect, Offline, Recovering, Loading, Restoring, Emergency Mode, and others.
How does the alarm work?"Database - Unavailable Alarm" does not alert with the actual time that a database is offline. Instead it alerts with the time Spotlight detects that a database is down. For example, assuming the default collection time of 30 minutes with the start time being 10:00, if a database is taken offline at 10:15, at 10:30 when Spotlight does its collection, it will report that the database went offline at 10:30 and not 10:15. This is because SQL Server does not keep the date when a database is taken offline so the best Spotlight can do is to use the time of the collection.
Also with the Spotlight client running, despite the refresh time of 15 seconds, Spotlight will still go with the background collection time for this alarm. Only collections that provide data to the home page get re-scheduled (i.e. 15 seconds) when the homepage is visited. The Database List collection is not one of those that provide info to the home page. So it will continue to run with the background schedule. However, when the databases drilldown is visited, it will be re-scheduled to run faster (i.e. 15 seconds).