User guide

5 Installation Recommendations
WHERE TO INSTALL THE SQL SENTRY COMPONENTS
The SQL Sentry Client, Monitoring Service, and SQL Sentry Database are typically installed as follows:
The SQL Sentry Client is installed on your workstation computer(s)
The SQL Sentry Database is installed on a SQL Server instance on your local area network
The Monitoring Service is installed on the same computer as the SQL Sentry Database, or any
other non-production server in the same LAN.
The SQL Sentry Clients and Monitoring Services are each configured to connect to the same SQL
Sentry Database during setup.
NOTE: The SQL Sentry Database must be installed on a SQL Server 2005 (Service Pack 2) or
higher instance. SQL Server Express Edition is not supported. Please see the System
Requirements section for more information.
INSTALL ALL COMPONENTS ON THE SAME LOCAL AREA NETWORK
For performance reasons, it is recommended that the SQL Sentry Client, Monitoring Service and
database be installed on the same LAN. For example, you would not want to connect the SQL Sentry
Client or Monitoring Service to a SQL Sentry Database over a slow WAN link, as performance will
suffer.
WHERE TO INSTALL THE MONITORING SERVICE(S)
It is not recommended that the Monitoring Service be installed on a production server, as it does incur
some memory and CPU overhead. Exactly how much depends on the number of connections and
objects being monitored.
INSTALLING THE SQL SENTRY MONITORING SERVICE AND DATABASE ON THE SAME
COMPUTER
Depending on your environment, you may want to install the Monitoring Service on the same SQL
Server machine where the SQL Sentry Database is located, to minimize network overhead for
communications between the Monitoring Service and the database. Because both Microsoft SQL
Server and the SQL Sentry Monitoring Service are multi-threaded, to ensure adequate performance
when running both on the same computer it is very important that the computer have at least
two CPUs. See System Requirements for more information.
INSTALLING MULTIPLE SQL SENTRY CLIENTS AND MONITORING SERVICES
Depending on the size of your SQL Server environment, you may need to install multiple SQL Sentry
Clients and Monitoring Services. Typically each DBA will have the SQL Sentry Client installed on their
workstation, and one Monitoring Service will be installed for every 50 to 100 SQL Server, Oracle, or
Windows Task Scheduler instances being monitored.
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