Microsoft SQL monitoring integration

Our Microsoft SQL Server integration collects and sends metric and inventory data from your Microsoft SQL Server environment to our platform to equip you to monitor the health of your Microsoft SQL Server environment. We collect both database and instance-level metrics so you can troubleshoot and resolve performance problems.

Image of the dashboard available through the Microsoft SQL Server quickstart

Dashboard installed through the New Relic Microsoft SQL Server monitoring integration.

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Configure the Microsoft SQL Server integration

You can edit the mssql-config.yml file to include the necessary login credentials and configure data collection according to your setup and preferences. This configuration file contains common settings applicable to all integrations, such as interval, timeout, and inventory_source.

For more information on these common settings, refer to configuration format standards.

If you are using our legacy configuration and definition files, refer to this document.

mssql-config.yml sample files

This is the basic configuration used to collect metrics and inventory from your localhost. It uses default connection on port 1433:

integrations:
- name: nri-mssql
  env:
    HOSTNAME: localhost
    PORT: 1433
    USERNAME: USERNAME
    PASSWORD: PASSWORD
    ENABLE_SSL: true
    TRUST_SERVER_CERTIFICATE: true
    # Enable collection of detailed query-level metrics.
    ENABLE_QUERY_MONITORING: false
    # Threshold in milliseconds for query response time. If response time exceeds this threshold, the query will be considered slow.
    QUERY_MONITORING_RESPONSE_TIME_THRESHOLD: 500
    # Maximum number of queries returned in query analysis results.
    QUERY_MONITORING_COUNT_THRESHOLD: 20
    # Interval in seconds for fetching grouped slow queries; Should always be same as mysql-config interval.
    QUERY_MONITORING_FETCH_INTERVAL: 15
  interval: 15s
  labels:
    environment: production
  inventory_source: config/mssql

This configuration collects metrics and inventory from your localhost using the default connection on port 1433, with database performance monitoring enabled::

integrations:
- name: nri-mssql
  env:
    HOSTNAME: localhost
    PORT: 1433
    USERNAME: USERNAME
    PASSWORD: PASSWORD
    ENABLE_SSL: true
    TRUST_SERVER_CERTIFICATE: true
    # Enable collection of detailed query-level metrics.
    ENABLE_QUERY_MONITORING: true
    # Threshold in milliseconds for query response time. If response time exceeds this threshold, the query will be considered slow.
    QUERY_MONITORING_RESPONSE_TIME_THRESHOLD: 500
    # Maximum number of queries returned in query analysis results.
    QUERY_MONITORING_COUNT_THRESHOLD: 20
    # Interval in seconds for fetching grouped slow queries; Should always be same as mysql-config interval.
    QUERY_MONITORING_FETCH_INTERVAL: 15
  interval: 15s
  labels:
    environment: production
  inventory_source: config/mssql

This is the basic configuration used to collect metrics and inventory from your localhost. In this case we use a domain user for authentication:

integrations:
    - name: nri-mssql
      env:
        HOSTNAME: localhost
        PORT: 1433
        USERNAME: domain_name\domain_user
        PASSWORD: domain_user_password
      interval: 15s
      labels:
        environment: production
        inventory_source: config/mssql

This is the basic configuration used to collect metrics and inventory from your localhost. In this case we use a gMSA for authentication, which requires a blank username and password:

integrations:
    - name: nri-mssql
      env:
        HOSTNAME: localhost
        PORT: 1433
        USERNAME: 
        PASSWORD: 
      interval: 15s
      labels:
        environment: production
      inventory_source: config/mssql

This is the basic configuration used to collect metrics and inventory from your localhost. In this case we use a user from Microsoft Entra ID service principal for authentication:

integrations:
  - name: nri-mssql
    env:
      HOSTNAME: localhost
      PORT: 1433
      CLIENT_ID: client_id
      TENANT_ID: tenant_id
      CLIENT_SECRET: client_secret
      # Enable collection of detailed query-level metrics.
      # ENABLE_QUERY_MONITORING: false
    interval: 15s
    labels:
      environment: production
      inventory_source: config/mssql

This configuration collects metrics every 15 seconds and inventory every 60 seconds:

integrations:
    - name: nri-mssql
      env:
        METRICS: true
        HOSTNAME: localhost
        PORT: 1433
        USERNAME: mssql_user   
        PASSWORD: mssql_password
      interval: 15s
      labels:
        environment: production

    - name: nri-mssql
      env:
        INVENTORY: true
        HOSTNAME: localhost
        PORT: 1433
        USERNAME: mssql_user
        PASSWORD: mssql_password
      interval: 60s
      labels:
        environment: production
      inventory_source: config/mssql

This configuration monitors the mssql_instance1 and mssql_instance2 instances on the same SQL Server. When connecting directly to an instance you'll need to remove the PORT setting. The SQL Browser service also needs to be running on the server:

integrations:
    - name: nri-mssql
      env:
        HOSTNAME: localhost
        USERNAME: mssql_user
        PASSWORD: mssql_password
        INSTANCE: mssql_instance1
      interval: 15s
      labels:
        environment: production
      inventory_source: config/mssql

    - name: nri-mssql
      env:
        HOSTNAME: localhost
        USERNAME: mssql_user
        PASSWORD: mssql_password
        INSTANCE: mssql_instance2
      interval: 15s
      labels:
        environment: production
    inventory_source: config/mssql

Use to connect to Microsoft SQL Server using SSL without validation of the certificate:

integrations:
    - name: nri-mssql
      env:
        METRICS: true
        HOSTNAME: localhost
        PORT: 1433
        USERNAME: mssql_user
        PASSWORD: mssql_password
        ENABLE_SSL: true
        TRUST_SERVER_CERTIFICATE: true
      interval: 15s
      labels:
        environment: production

If the integration causes some overhead on your SQL Server, disabling the Buffer Pool and Database Partition Reserve metrics can help to optimize the integration's performance. In this example, we also increased the sampling interval to 30 seconds to reduce the sampling frequency:

integrations:
    - name: nri-mssql
      env:
        HOSTNAME: localhost
        PORT: 1433
        USERNAME: mssql_user
        PASSWORD: mssql_password
        ENABLE_BUFFER_METRICS: false
        ENABLE_DATABASE_RESERVE_METRICS: false
        ENABLE_DISK_METRICS_IN_BYTES: false
      interval: 30s
      labels:
        environment: production
      inventory_source: config/mssql

Keep in mind the following:

If you enable ENABLE_BUFFER_METRICS, a query starts running involving the sys.sysdatabases and sys.dm_os_buffer_descriptors internal tables to obtain the buffer's pool size for each database. This query could cause overhead on some SQL Servers. If you disable ENABLE_BUFFER_METRICS, the metric bufferpool.sizePerDatabaseInBytes won't be reported in MssqlDatabaseSample and bufferpool.sizeInBytes won't be reported in MssqlInstanceSample.
If you enable ENABLE_DATABASE_RESERVE_METRICS, the reserved size is queried for each database and may cause some load on your server, depending on its size and usage. When it's disabled, both pageFileTotal and pageFileAvailable metrics stop being reported in MssqlDatabaseSample.
If you enable ENABLE_DISK_METRICS_IN_BYTES, a query that fetches the volume stats for each database will run, and this query can be slow. If you disable ENABLE_DISK_METRICS_IN_BYTES, the metric instance.diskInBytes won't be reported in MssqlDatabaseSample.

You can use a custom query to collect additional metrics. Custom metrics will be added to the MssqlCustomQuerySample event sample.

Tip

If you need to use multiple custom queries, use the CUSTOM_METRICS_CONFIG example.

integrations:
    - name: nri-mssql
      env:
        METRICS: true
        HOSTNAME: mssql_host1
        PORT: 1433
        USERNAME: mssql1_user
        PASSWORD: mssql1_password
        CUSTOM_METRICS_QUERY: >-
        SELECT
            'instance_buffer_pool_size' AS metric_name,
            Count_big(*) * (8*1024) AS metric_value,
            'gauge' as metric_type,
            database_id
        FROM sys.dm_os_buffer_descriptors WITH (nolock)
        GROUP BY database_id
      interval: 15s
      labels:
        environment: production

If you need multiple custom SQL queries, add them to mssql-custom-query.yml, and reference that file on your configuration. For more examples of custom queries, check our sample file on github.

Tip

CUSTOM_METRICS_CONFIG is only enabled if CUSTOM_METRICS_QUERY is not present.

integrations:
    - name: nri-mssql
      env:
        METRICS: true
        HOSTNAME: mssql_host1
        PORT: 1433
        USERNAME: mssql1_user
        PASSWORD: mssql1_password
        CUSTOM_METRICS_CONFIG: 'C:\path\to\mssql-custom-query.yml'
      interval: 15s
      labels:
        environment: production

Here's an example mssql-custom-query.yml.

queries:
    # Example for metric_name / metric_type specified in this config
    - query: SELECT count(*) AS 'metric_value' FROM sys.databases
    metric_name: dbCount
    metric_type: gauge

    # Example for metric_name from query, metric_type auto-detected, additional attribute 'category_type'
    - query: SELECT CONCAT('category_', category_id) AS metric_name, name AS metric_value, category_type FROM syscategories
    database: msdb

    # Example for stored procedure 'exec dbo.sp_server_info @attribute_id = 2'
    - query: dbo.sp_server_info @attribute_id = 2

Tip

Enhance your SQL Server tags: The labels section shown in these examples is key to enriching your Microsoft SQL Server entities with custom tags. For a comprehensive understanding of how to leverage these tags, including how label. prefixed custom attributes from the infrastructure agent can also become tags, and how these tags behave in the UI, refer to our detailed guide on Enhanced tags for New Relic database entities.

Metrics collected by the integration

The Microsoft SQL Server integration collects the following metric data attributes. Some metric name are prefixed with a category indicator and a period, such as asserts. or flush..

These attributes can be found by querying the MssqlDatabaseSample event.

Metric	Description
`bufferpool.sizePerDatabaseInBytes`	The size of the buffer pool per database. It is reported when `ENABLE_BUFFER_METRICS` is set to true.
`maxDiskSizeInBytes`	Maximum database size in bytes. It is reported when `ENABLE_DISK_METRICS_IN_BYTES` is set to true. Applies to: Azure SQL Database.
`io.stallInMilliseconds`	Wait time of stall since last restart, in milliseconds.
`log.transactionGrowth`	Total number of times the transaction log for the database has been expanded since the last restart.
`pageFileAvailable`	Available page file size, in bytes. It is reported when `ENABLE_DATABASE_RESERVE_METRICS` is set to true.
`pageFileTotal`	Total page file size, in bytes. It is reported when `ENABLE_DATABASE_RESERVE_METRICS` is set to true.
`memoryAvailable`	The available physical memory, in bytes. Applies to: Azure SQL Database.
`memoryTotal`	The total physical memory, in bytes. Applies to: Azure SQL Database.
`memoryUtilization`	The percentage of memory utilization. Applies to: Azure SQL Database.

The Microsoft SQL Server integration collects the following instance metrics. These attributes can be found by querying the MssqlInstanceSample event.

Metric	Description
`access.pageSplitsPerSecond`	The number of page splits per second.
`activeConnections`	The number of active connections.
`buffer.checkpointPagesPerSecond`	The number of pages flushed to disk per second by a checkpoint or other operation that require all dirty pages to be flushed.
`bufferpool.batchRequestsPerSecond`	The number of batch requests per second on the buffer pool.
`bufferpool.pageLifeExpectancyInMilliseconds`	The life expectancy of a page in the buffer pool, in milliseconds.
`bufferpool.sizeInBytes`	The size of the buffer pool, in bytes. It is reported when `ENABLE_BUFFER_METRICS` is set to true.
`instance.backgroundProcessesCount`	The number of background processes on the instance.
`instance.blockedProcessesCount`	The number of blocked processes on the instance.
`instance.diskInBytes`	The amount of disk space on the instance, in bytes. It is reported when `ENABLE_DISK_METRICS_IN_BYTES` is set to true. This metric is not reported in case of Azure SQL Database.
`instance.dormantProcessesCount`	The number of dormant processes on the instance.
`instance.forcedParameterizationsPerSecond`	The number of forced parameterizations per second on the instance.
`instance.preconnectProcessesCount`	The number of preconnect processes on the instance.
`instance.runnableProcessesCount`	The number of runnable processes on the instance.
`instance.runnableTasks`	The number of runnable tasks on the instance.
`instance.runningProcessesCount`	The number of running processes on the instance.
`instance.sleepingProcessesCount`	The number of sleeping processes on the instance.
`instance.suspendedProcessesCount`	The number of suspended processes on the instance.
`instance.transactionsPerSecond`	The number of transactions per second on the instance.
`memoryAvailable`	The available physical memory, in bytes. This metric is not reported in case of Azure SQL Database.
`memoryTotal`	The total physical memory, in bytes. This metric is not reported in case of Azure SQL Database.
`memoryUtilization`	The percentage of memory utilization. This metric is not reported in case of Azure SQL Database.
`stats.connections`	The number of user connections.
`stats.deadlocksPerSecond`	The number of lock requests per second that resulted in a deadlock since the last restart.
`stats.killConnectionErrorsPerSecond`	The number of kill connection errors per second since the last restart.
`stats.lockWaitsPerSecond`	The number of times per second that Microsoft SQL Server is unable to retain a lock right away for a resource.
`stats.sqlCompilations`	The number of Microsoft SQL Server compilations per second.
`stats.sqlRecompilationsPerSecond`	The number of Microsoft SQL Server re-compilations per second.
`stats.userErrorsPerSecond`	The number of user errors per second since the last restart.
`system.bufferPoolHitPercent`	The percentage of buffer pools hits on the instance.
`system.waitTimeInMillisecondsPerSecond`	The number of milliseconds per second spent waiting across the instance.

These attributes can be found by querying the MssqlWaitSample event.

Metric	Description
`system.waitTimeCount`	Total wait time for this wait type, in milliseconds. This time is inclusive of `signal_wait_time_ms`.
`system.waitTimeInMillisecondsPerSecond`	The number of waits on this wait type, in milliseconds. This counter is incremented at the start of each wait.

Microsoft SQL Server instance settings

The Microsoft SQL Server integration collects both metrics and inventory information. In the table, use the Applies to column for the settings available to each collection:

Setting	Description	Default	Applies to
`HOSTNAME`	Hostname or IP where Microsoft SQL Server is running.	`127.0.0.1`	M/I
`PORT`	Port on which Microsoft SQL Server is listening. Note: Port is only required when `INSTANCE` is not specified.	`1433`	M/I
`INSTANCE`	The Microsoft SQL Server instance to connect to. Note: Only required when `PORT` is not specified. Do not use both.	N/A	M/I
`USERNAME`	Username for accessing the Microsoft SQL Server. If using a domain user use the syntax `domain\user`	N/A	M/I
`PASSWORD`	Password for the given SQL or Domain user.	N/A	M/I
`EXTRA_CONNECTION_URL_ARGS`	Specify extra connection parameters as attr1=val1&attr2=val2.	N/A	M/I
`ENABLE_SSL`	Use SSL to connect to the Microsoft SQL Server.	`false`	M/I
`TRUST_SERVER_CERTIFICATE`	if set to `true`, server certificate is NOT verified for SSL.	`false`	M/I
`CERTIFICATE_LOCATION`	Location of the SSL Certificate.	N/A	M/I
`TIMEOUT`	Timeout for queries, in seconds. Set `0` for no timeout.	`30`	M/I
`ENABLE_BUFFER_METRICS`	Enable collection of buffer pool metrics. These can be resource intensive for large systems.	`true`	M
`ENABLE_DATABASE_RESERVE_METRICS`	Enable collection of database partition reserve space. These can be resource intensive for large systems.	`true`	M
`ENABLE_DISK_METRICS_IN_BYTES`	Enable collection of the volume stats for each MSSQL instance.	`true`	M
`CUSTOM_METRICS_QUERY`	A SQL query to collect custom metrics. See the custom query example.	N/A	M
`CUSTOM_METRICS_CONFIG`	YAML configuration with one or more SQL queries to collect custom metrics. See the multiple custom queries example.	`false`	M
`METRICS`	Set to `true` to enable metrics-only collection.	`false`
`INVENTORY`	Set to `true` to enable inventory-only collection.	`false`

The values for these settings can be defined in several ways:

Adding the value directly in the config file. This is the most common way.
Replacing the values from environment variables using the {{ }} notation. Read more about using environment variable passthroughs with on-host integrations or see the example for environment variables replacement.
Important
This requires infrastructure agent v1.14.0+.
Using secrets management. Use this to protect sensitive information, such as passwords that would be exposed in plain text on the configuration file. For more information, see secrets management.

Metrics collected by query performance monitoring

These attributes can be found by querying the MSSQLBlockingSessionQueries event.

Metric	Description
`blocking_spid`	The ID of the blocking session.
`blocking_status`	The status of the blocking session.
`blocked_spid`	The ID of the blocked session.
`blocked_status`	The status of the blocked session.
`wait_type`	The type of wait experienced by the blocked session.
`wait_time_in_seconds`	The time the session has been waiting in seconds.
`command_type`	The type of command being performed.
`database_name`	The name of the database where the blocking is occurring.
`blocking_query_text`	The text of the query causing the block.
`blocked_query_text`	The text of the query being blocked.
`blocked_query_start_time`	The start time of the blocked query.

These attributes can be found by querying the MSSQLQueryExecutionPlans event.

Metric	Description
`sql_text`	The SQL statement text.
`query_id`	The unique identifier for the query.
`query_plan_id`	The unique identifier for the query plan.
`NodeId`	The ID of the node in the execution plan.
`PhysicalOp`	The physical operation performed by this node.
`LogicalOp`	The logical operation represented by this node.
`EstimateRows`	The estimated number of rows this operation will produce.
`EstimateIO`	The estimated I/O cost of this operation.
`EstimateCPU`	The estimated CPU cost of this operation.
`AvgRowSize`	The average size of the rows processed by this node.
`TotalSubtreeCost`	The estimated total cost for running this subtree.
`EstimatedOperatorCost`	The cost estimate of the node's operation.
`EstimatedExecutionMode`	The estimated execution mode of this operation.
`GrantedMemoryKb`	The amount of memory granted for this query in kilobytes.
`SpillOccurred`	A boolean indicator of whether a spill occurred.
`NoJoinPredicate`	A boolean indicator of whether there is a join predicate.
`total_worker_time`	The total worker time in milliseconds.
`total_elapsed_time`	The total elapsed time in milliseconds.
`total_logical_reads`	The total number of logical reads performed.
`total_logical_writes`	The total number of logical writes performed.
`execution_count`	The number of times the query was executed.
`plan_handle`	The plan handle used for retrieving the plan.
`avg_elapsed_time_ms`	The average elapsed time in milliseconds.

These attributes can be found by querying the MSSQLWaitTimeAnalysis event.

Metric	Description
`query_id`	The unique identifier for the query.
`database_name`	The name of the database.
`query_text`	The text of the query.
`wait_category`	The category of wait experienced by the query.
`total_wait_time_ms`	The total amount of wait time in milliseconds.
`avg_wait_time_ms`	The average amount of wait time in milliseconds.
`wait_event_count`	The count of wait events that occurred.
`last_execution_time`	The time of the last execution of the query.
`collection_timestamp`	The timestamp of when the data was collected.

These attributes can be found by querying the MSSQLTopSlowQueries event.

Metrics	Description
`query_id`	The unique identifier for the query.
`query_text`	The text of the query.
`database_name`	The name of the database.
`schema_name`	The name of the schema.
`last_execution_timestamp`	The timestamp of the last execution of the query.
`execution_count`	The number of times the query was executed.
`avg_cpu_time_ms`	The average CPU time in milliseconds.
`avg_elapsed_time_ms`	The average elapsed time in milliseconds.
`avg_disk_reads`	The average number of disk reads.
`avg_disk_writes`	The average number of disk writes.
`statement_type`	The type of SQL statement.
`collection_timestamp`	The timestamp of when the data was collected.

Inventory data

The Microsoft SQL Server integration captures the configuration parameters and current settings from your SQL Server environment. It collects the results of the sp_configure stored procedure, as well as current running configuration settings from the sys.configurations table. The data is available on the Inventory page, under the config/mssql source.

For more about inventory data, see Understand integration data.

Microsoft SQL monitoring integration

Configure the Microsoft SQL Server integration

mssql-config.yml sample files

Basic configuration

Configuration with database performance monitoring

Configuration with Windows domain authentication

Configuration with gMSA user

Configuration with Microsoft EntraId Service Principal

Configuration with different metric/inventory intervals

Multi instance connection

Metrics-only connecting over SSL

Buffer Pool and Partition Reserve metrics optimization

Custom Query

Tip

Multiple Custom Queries

Tip

Tip

Metrics collected by the integration

Database metrics

Instance metrics

Wait metrics

Microsoft SQL Server instance settings

Microsoft SQL Server instance settings

Important

Metrics collected by query performance monitoring

Blocking session metrics

Query execution plan metrics

Wait event metrics

Slow query metrics

Inventory data

Microsoft SQL monitoring integration

Configure the Microsoft SQL Server integration .css-21sua1{background:none;border:none;width:0;padding:0;}

mssql-config.yml sample files

Configuration with database performance monitoring

Configuration with Windows domain authentication

Configuration with gMSA user

Configuration with Microsoft EntraId Service Principal

Configuration with different metric/inventory intervals

Multi instance connection

Metrics-only connecting over SSL

Buffer Pool and Partition Reserve metrics optimization

Custom Query

Multiple Custom Queries

Tip

Metrics collected by the integration

Database metrics

Instance metrics

Wait metrics

Microsoft SQL Server instance settings

Microsoft SQL Server instance settings

Metrics collected by query performance monitoring

Blocking session metrics

Query execution plan metrics

Wait event metrics

Slow query metrics

Inventory data

Configure the Microsoft SQL Server integration