About Registering and Grouping Servers
The following information describes registering SQL server instances as it relates to existing instance registration, and centralized instance management.
SQL Server Instances
You must register server instances before you can manage them in the LiteSpeed UI Console. You can register them one at a time, or import registrations from a CSV file, LiteSpeed central repository, your native SQL Server tool (for example, Management Studio) or a previous version of LiteSpeed.
NOTE: You can group server instances in the navigation pane tree based on their category or server group. Categories are similar to server groups, but they offer different features. For more information, see Change Server Instance Grouping Methods.
Before registering instances, review the following information on existing instance registration and centralized instance management.
Existing instance registration
LiteSpeed has the following capabilities for existing instance registration:
- Keeps everything in sync if you are not using a central repository.
- Preserves grouping in the export file.
- The import shows all instances in the import file (like is done for manual imports from the central) and automatically deselects instances that are already registered in the console.
- Grouping information is used in the export file to put the instances where they need to be. Groups are created automatically as needed when importing. If there are duplicate names, they are handled accordingly.
Centralized instance management
LiteSpeed has the following capabilities for centralized instance management:
- Shares a common set of instance registrations and maintain grouping across all consoles.
- The Backup Manager View tab is used to switch between local and central repository views (if a central is used).
- The central does not store passwords for SQL Server Authentication. Passwords are still stored locally for the user.
- In the central repository view, all instances are read from the central, including their proper grouping.
- In the central view, any instances that are added, removed, or sorted, automatically get persisted into the central.
- You can change from Windows Authentication to SQL Authentication, or change the account used for SQL Authentication without affecting the central repository.
- Login credentials are not persisted in the central. The actual password, if SQL Authentication is used, is stored locally. The only thing stored centrally is the type of authentication (Windows or SQL).
- Changes to the central, trigger a version change. This helps you know when the central data has changed.
- When LiteSpeed starts, if the central repository view is selected, LiteSpeed checks a timestamp against the central (which is automatically updated each time a change is made to a registration). If the timestamps do not match, LiteSpeed automatically refreshes the view from the central repository. If the timestamp matched, the local central registration cache is loaded.
- When importing or refreshing, any local login information is persisted while the central repository cache is saved locally. You can then import while preserving login information.
Related Topics
Register Server Instances
About Managing Server Groups
About Categorizing Server Instances
