Manageability Alerts
Manageability alerts cover the general inability to access and manage a remote server. Figure 15
shows the default filtered selections, which include missing
components, unsupported operating systems, concerns with credentials,
connectivity concerns, and unknown errors. These filters can be configured differently for each monitored server group.
Figure 15. Filtering on Manageability Detail view.
Walnut Creek Servers (based on location and
security): The dashboard is configured only to capture Credentials Not
Valid status within Manageability. These servers are on a DMZ with
intentional safeguards that prevent elevated permissions. The accounts
used to manage the Walnut Creek Servers are used for specific
connectivity through homegrown apps, which
require user manual input. By monitoring the credentials, we can
confirm that 1) the servers are online and 2) that the accounts are
valid.
Clicking the word Manageability underneath
the Walnut Creek Servers widget, we have the option to filter on
specfic statuses, similar to what was shown in Figure 15. Also, the current alerts, if any, are listed at the bottom of the screen.
Looking at our SQL Servers 2012 Server Group,
we see a red 2 next to Manageability Alerts. Clicking that 2 brings us
to a detailed view explaining these alerts. It appears that we have
invalid credentials on one server and an unknown error on another.
Right-clicking an alert brings us to a menu of tools to address the
concerns. In our example, one alert is addressed by providing alternate
credentials using the Manage As option, shown in Figure 16; the other required a firewall change, which was configured remotely using the Windows PowerShell option.
Figure 16. Manage As option.
Services Alerts
As its name implies, this section provides a
look at the service status. This view can be filtered to show alerts
for any combination of specific services, specific servers, specific
startup types (automatic/delayed start, automatic, manual, restart,
system, disabled, unknown), and/or specific service status (resume
pending, start pending, stop pending, stopped, pause pending, or
paused). By default, the Dashboard alerts on automatic/delayed start
and automatic services only.
The Services Detail view also has the added
functionality of directly interacting with a service, to start, stop,
restart, pause or resume it, as desired, simply by right-clicking an
alert and choosing to do so (see Figure 17).
Figure 17. Filtering on Services Detail view.
