Category

Resolved Issue

Defect ID

Category

Known Issue

Defect ID

Response time SQL statement. When upgrading from Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise to 2.5 the formatting in the SQL statement used to measure response time for a SQL connection may be lost.

Workaround: Replace the lost formatting by opening the Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise Options window, selecting Diagnostic Configuration and then clicking SQL Server Response Time. Only members of the Quest Diagnostic Administrators group can change the SQL statement.

Spotlight Reporting and Trending. Some views are not displayed correctly at a screen resolution of 1024 by 768.

Spotlight Statistics Repository. Installing the Spotlight Statistics Repository on SQL Server 2000 is not recommended. Doing so can result in errors being displayed and no data being shown in some views.

Spotlight Statistics Repository and SQL Server 2008. Installing the Spotlight Statistics Repository on SQL Server 2008 is not supported.

Data sourced from SQL Server 2000 performance counters may be incorrect. Spotlight may display an incorrect size or procedure cache hit rate for SQL Server 2000. This does not apply to SQL Server 2005.

False deadlock alarm. Under some conditions, a deadlock alarm may be raised incorrectly and displayed in the Alarm log. Even in such cases, the data displayed on the Deadlocks/sec chart (SQL Activity drilldown) is correct.

SQL Analysis grid. The Text Data column in the SQL Analysis grid may occasionally display blank rows. This is due to SQL Server not returning any data in the Text Data column from the trace.

Storing statistics in the Spotlight Statistics Repository. The Store statistics in the Spotlight Statistics Repository option applies to both the SQL Server connection and its equivalent Windows connection. If you change this option for a SQL Server connection, the change is also applied to the equivalent Windows connection, and vice versa.

Changing Spotlight configuration options. Changes to Spotlight configuration options cause all current alarms to be re-evaluated. This may result in duplicate emails or command line actions (if configured) for current alarms even if they have already been raised. This also applies to Spotlight on Windows Enterprise.

SQL Analysis and SQL Server 2000. SQL Analysis is built on top of SQL Server Trace. In SQL Server 2000, Trace only supports filtering on Database ID. This limitation does not exist in SQL Server 2005 where filtering on Database Name is also allowed. SQL Analysis gets around this somewhat by allowing you to specify a database name for SQL Server 2000. This is converted to a Database ID and this ID is used for the filter.

Note the following:

• In SQL Server 2000 wild cards cannot be used in a database filter since Trace only supports filtering on one Database ID at a time. Since a wild-carded name cannot be resolved to a single Database ID the filter will not function.
• In a mixed environment of SQL Server 2000 and SQL Server 2005 a database filter that uses wildcards that is set at site default level will also not function for SQL Server 2000 instances.

Server permissions and NetBIOS. For information on server permissions, see Security and Firewall Considerations with Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise. This document is available in PDF from the Windows Start menu.

Daylight Savings time changes. Stop the Diagnostic Server service before changing the system time on the Diagnostic Server machine.

Explain Plan. This version of Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise does not support the collection of Explain Plan data. As a consequence, the Explain Plan pages on the SQL Activity drilldown are unavailable. This functionality will be added in a later release.

Monitor requirements. Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise requires a monitor that supports 65536 colors (or Hi Color) or higher so that it can properly shade graphics.

Use of ATI Rage Video card. If you are using an ATI Rage video card or chipset (such as the ones used in Dell laptops) you may encounter display problems when using Spotlight.

SMTP settings. When upgrading to 2.5, the SMTP settings that Spotlight uses to send emails may not be transferred. Configure the SMTP settings by clicking the Server button on the Diagnostic Server Administration page.

Upgrading Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise 1.1. When upgrading from Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise 1.1 you must delete all saved templates.

Installing other Spotlights. Do not install other Spotlights into the Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise folder. You will be unable to run Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise if you do this. When installing other Spotlights you must install them into a different folder.

Installing for multi-user access. If multiple users of a system install Spotlight for use, the additional users must be local administrators.

Remote installation. Remote installation of Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise fails if the user has both a domain account and a local account with the same user name.

Uninstalling the Diagnostic Server. If, during uninstallation of the Diagnostic Server, an error message displays stating that another application has exclusive access to a file located in C:\Program Files\Quest Software\Diagnostic Server, do the following:

1. Leave the error message open.

2. Use Windows Task Manager to manually end the mysqld.exe process.

3. On the error message, click Retry.

This happens when the Diagnostic Server is running under SYSTEM user credentials and is then uninstalled by a normal user.

Unable to perform certain operations. If, whilst using the Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise client, a message is displayed stating:

You are not connected to the Diagnostic Server as a member of the Quest Diagnostic Administrators group. Only members of that group can perform the requested operation.

and the user needs to be able to perform the operation that led to this message, the Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise client user must be added to the Quest Diagnostic Administrators group on the Diagnostic Server.

Connections

SQL Server instance names containing non-US ASCII characters. Spotlight cannot connect to SQL Server instances where the instance name contains non-US ASCII characters.

Access errors when connecting to SQL Server 2005. If an access error related to xp_cmdshell occurs and the user changes the SQL Server configuration to allow access to xp_cmdshell, the SQL Server documentation states that you must disconnect and reconnect. To disconnect in Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise, you must disable monitoring and enable monitoring for that SQL Server.

To disable and enable monitoring, in the Connection Manager, right-click the affected SQL Server and select Properties. On the Monitoring page, select Do not Monitor and then click OK. A confirmation message is displayed. On the Monitoring page, select Monitor and then click OK. Close the Connection Manager.

Mandatory creation of Windows profile. When you connect to a SQL Server instance using Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise (thereby creating a SQL Server profile for the connection), Spotlight will also create a Windows profile for use with Spotlight on Windows Enterprise, regardless of whether you intend to use Spotlight on Windows Enterprise.

WMI access denied alarm messages. A large number of WMI access denied alarm messages usually indicates a network problem such as a malfunctioning domain controller or DNS server. When the network problem is resolved, restart the Diagnostic Server service.

Microsoft Cluster Server connection problem. If you are connecting to a Microsoft Cluster Server system that does not have control of all disk resources, the uncontrolled disks may display a value of zero for space in total and space available in Spotlight. To rectify this problem customize your disk view to not show this disk. (Do this by right-clicking the disk and choosing Disk Options).

Windows 2000 and Remote Registry service. When the machine being diagnosed is running Windows 2000, it must also have the Remote Registry service running. If you attempt to connect to a Windows 2000 machine that has the Remote Registry service stopped, Spotlight will return error message:

Network name not found.

Make sure the Remote Registry service is running on the Windows 2000 machine you are connecting to.

Migrating connection properties. When changing or upgrading a Diagnostic Server, some component properties such as MaxValue, ToolTips and chart customizations are not transferred. In this case, properties that are not transferred revert to the default settings.

Monitoring multiple SQL Server instances. This version of Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise is designed to monitor a maximum of 50 SQL Server instances. Monitoring more than this recommended limit may result in poor performance or product instability.

Setting multiple connections to 'Do not monitor'. When setting multiple connections on the Connection Configuration page to 'Do not monitor', it is recommended that you set no more than 10 connections at once.

History Browser and Playback mode. A number of drilldowns do not display data correctly when Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise is in Playback mode. Some grids display "no data" when being viewed in Playback mode.

The affected drilldowns, grids, and Spotlight home page elements include:

• Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise home page
  The Status button is disabled.
  The Error Log, Replication and Services buttons show the alarm that was current at the selected time.

• Memory drilldown
  Buffer Cache page - Shows data only if the Buffer Cache page was viewed in live mode at the selected time. If the Page Life Expectancy alarm was raised during the selected time, the Buffer Cache page shows data.
  Procedure Cache page - Shows data only if the Procedure Cache page was viewed in live mode at the selected time. If the Procedure Cache Hit Ratio alarm was raised during the selected time, the Procedure Cache page shows data.
• Session Details sub-page (SQL Activity drilldown > Session page)
  Shows data only for those sessions that were selected in live mode at the selected time. If the Disk Queue Length alarm was raised during the selected time, the top five sessions sorted by I/O are populated in the Sessions grid. If the Windows CPU alarm was raised during the selected time, the top five sessions sorted by CPU are populated in the Sessions grid.
• SQL Analysis grid (SQL Activity drilldown > SQL Analysis page)
  The Show Real-Time data option is not available in Playback mode. The Show Statistics Repository data option is available in Playback mode but displays data from the time period specified in the From and To fields, not from the time selected in the History Browser.
• Job Messages sub-grid (Support services drilldown > SQL Agent Jobs page)
  Shows data only for those jobs selected in live mode at the selected time.
• Replication drilldown
  Shows data only if the drilldown was viewed in live mode at the selected time.
• Configuration drilldown
  Shows data only if the drilldown was viewed in live mode at the selected time.
• Error Log drilldown
  Shows data only if the drilldown was viewed in live mode at the selected time.
  The Error Log drilldown is accessible only via the Error Log button on the homepage when Spotlight is in Playback mode.

Note: Playback data is collected when any Spotlight client is viewing a drilldown. This means that Playback data may be available for a drilldown that you never viewed. For procedures that are collected only when a Spotlight client is connected, you can change the Scheduling options so that data is collected and stored for those procedures, even when no Spotlight clients are connected. To display the Scheduling options, on the Diagnostic Server Administration drilldown, click the Scheduling button.

The following grids and charts show data in Playback mode only if an alarm was raised at the selected time:

• SQL Agent Alerts grid (Support Services drilldown > SQL Agent Alerts page)
• Blocking grid (SQL Activity drilldown > Blocking page)