Configure the Playback Database
The playback database stores data recently collected by the Spotlight Diagnostic Server. Storing playback data allows Spotlight to show both current and recent data and lets you replay the behavior of a Spotlight connection.
Note: Each Spotlight Diagnostic Server requires its own playback database.
To store playback data
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Click Configure | Diagnostic Server.
- Select Configure the playback database.
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Complete the following:
Option Description Instance
Type or select the name of a SQL Server to host the playback database. Clicking the down arrow displays a list of available instances.
Note: The playback database cannot be installed on SQL Server 2000.
Store playback data for n days Specify the number of days you want Spotlight to store playback data.
The number of days specified corresponds to the number of days of history available to view in the History Browser. The default is seven days. The minimum is two days.
Windows authentication
Select this option to connect to the playback database using the Spotlight Diagnostic Server credentials, that is the credentials of the user logged in to the Spotlight client. SQL Server authentication
Select this option to connect to the playback database using SQL Server credentials and then complete the User and Password fields.
- User – A valid user that enables Spotlight to connect to the instance hosting the playback database.
- Password – The password required to connect the specified user to the instance hosting the playback database.
Database
The name of the playback database. The default database is SpotlightPlaybackDatabase. Create
If you want your playback database to have a different name to the default, type a new name in the Database field before you click the Create button.
To create a new playback database, click Create and enter the authentication details required to create the playback database. The authentication details must have permissions to create databases.
Requirements
| Database sizing | By default, the size of the playback database is set to 500MB (data size) and 125MB (log size). |
| Hard Disk Space |
Requires approximately 270 MB for each monitored SQL Server instance and the corresponding monitored Windows host on which the SQL Server instance resides. Retains 7 days of historical data for each connection in the playback database by default. This is configurable. This estimate assumes default configuration in an average environment. Actual space used will depend on your environment and any data collection/storage configuration changes that are made. |
| SQL Server |
The playback database can be installed on:
Note: The playback database cannot be installed on SQL Server 2000. |
| Other Requirements |
The SQL Browser service must be running on the machine where the playback database is installed. Alternatively you can use the host and port number of the (named) SQL Server instance you want to connect to, when creating a connection and connecting to the playback database. Use the following syntax: HOST,PORT Where HOST is the machine name and PORT is the port for the (named) SQL Server instance. The TCP protocol must be enabled on the instance where the playback database resides. |
| Maintenance |
The Diagnostic Server runs maintenance procedures daily at 3am for the playback database. |
Playback
Playback data is collected at scheduled intervals, in response to some alarms, and also while viewing a drilldown using the Spotlight client. This means that history data may not be available for a drilldown in Playback mode. You can change the rate at which data is collected.