Install & configure NRDOT for MSSQL on Windows self-hosted: SQL auth

Prerequisites

Before monitoring your Microsoft SQL Server with NRDOT, make sure your environment meets these requirements:

• A New Relic account with a valid license key.
• Network connectivity to the New Relic OTLP endpoint for your region.
• SQL Server requirements:
  • SQL Server 2017 or later.
  • Administrative access to SQL Server (sysadmin role or equivalent).
  • Network connectivity between the collector and SQL Server on port 1433 or a custom port.
  • SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) or the sqlcmd utility.
  • Windows domain or SQL Server authentication.

Install NRDOT Collector

Download and install the NRDOT Collector using PowerShell:

$
[Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = 'tls12, tls'; $NRDOT_VERSION = (Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "https://api.github.com/repos/newrelic/nrdot-collector-releases/releases/latest").tag_name; $WebClient = New-Object System.Net.WebClient; $WebClient.Headers.Add("User-Agent", "Mozilla/5.0"); $WebClient.DownloadFile("https://github.com/newrelic/nrdot-collector-releases/releases/download/$NRDOT_VERSION/nrdot-collector_${NRDOT_VERSION}_windows_x64.msi", "$env:TEMP\nrdot-collector.msi"); Start-Process msiexec.exe -ArgumentList "/i `"$env:TEMP\nrdot-collector.msi`" /qn /norestart /L*V `"$env:TEMP\nrdot_install.log`"" -Wait; Get-Service nrdot-collector -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

Create monitoring user

Run this script as root user/sysadmin user to create the newrelic monitoring user and grant the necessary permissions for collecting SQL Server metrics.

In your SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), run the following script to create the newrelic monitoring user. Replace <YOUR_PASSWORD> with your desired password:

USE [master];
GO
CREATE LOGIN [newrelic] WITH PASSWORD = '<YOUR_PASSWORD>';
GO

GRANT VIEW SERVER STATE TO [newrelic];
GRANT VIEW ANY DEFINITION TO [newrelic];
GRANT VIEW ANY DATABASE TO [newrelic];
GO

DECLARE @name SYSNAME;
DECLARE db_cursor CURSOR READ_ONLY FORWARD_ONLY FOR
SELECT [name]
FROM [master].[sys].[databases]
WHERE [name] NOT IN ('master', 'msdb', 'model', 'rdsadmin', 'distribution')
AND [state] = 0;
OPEN db_cursor;
FETCH NEXT FROM db_cursor INTO @name;
WHILE @@FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
  BEGIN TRY
    EXEC('USE [' + @name + '];
    IF NOT EXISTS (SELECT 1 FROM sys.database_principals WHERE name = ''newrelic'')
    BEGIN
      CREATE USER [newrelic] FOR LOGIN [newrelic];
    END;
    GRANT VIEW DATABASE STATE TO [newrelic];');
  END TRY
  BEGIN CATCH
    PRINT 'Error on ' + @name + ': ' + ERROR_MESSAGE();
  END CATCH
  FETCH NEXT FROM db_cursor INTO @name;
END
CLOSE db_cursor;
DEALLOCATE db_cursor;
GO

Configure NRDOT Collector

1. Create a configuration file named as mssql-config.yaml in PowerShell as an Administrator:

   bash

   Copier

   $
   New-Item -Path "C:\Program Files\nrdot-collector\mssql-config.yaml" -ItemType File

2. Add your environment-specific values to the following configuration and copy it to the mssql-config.yaml file created in the previous step:

   full configuration

   This configuration focuses on essential database monitoring for your SQL Server environment. To enable comprehensive monitoring with all available metrics, refer to the configuration reference.

1
receivers:
2
    nrsqlserver:
3
      collection_interval: 15s
4
      username: newrelic
5
      password: YOUR_PASSWORD
6
      server: sqlserver.example.com
7
      port: 1433
8

9
      # Enable comprehensive database metrics
10
      metrics:
11
        sqlserver.database.count:
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          enabled: true
13
        sqlserver.database.io:
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          enabled: true
15
        sqlserver.database.latency:
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          enabled: true
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        sqlserver.database.operations:
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          enabled: true
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        sqlserver.database.tempdb.space:
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          enabled: true
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        sqlserver.database.tempdb.version_store.size:
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          enabled: true
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        sqlserver.deadlock.rate:
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          enabled: true
25
        sqlserver.os.wait.duration:
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          enabled: true
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        sqlserver.processes.blocked:
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          enabled: true
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        sqlserver.memory.grants.pending.count:
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          enabled: true
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        sqlserver.database.file.size:
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          enabled: true
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        sqlserver.memory.area:
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          enabled: true
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      # Enable query sample, top query, query plan, and top procedure log collection
37
      events:
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        db.server.query_sample:
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          enabled: true
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        db.server.top_query:
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          enabled: true
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        db.server.query_plan:
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          enabled: true
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        db.server.top_procedure:
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          enabled: true
46

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      # Top query collection configuration
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      top_query_collection:
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        lookback_time: 60s
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        max_query_sample_count: 1000
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        top_query_count: 250
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        collection_interval: 60s
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        collect_full_query_text: true
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        allowed_comment_keys:
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          - nr_service_guid
56

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      # Query sample collection configuration
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      query_sample_collection:
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        max_rows_per_query: 100
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        collect_full_query_text: true
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        allowed_comment_keys:
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          - nr_service_guid
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      # Top stored procedure collection configuration
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      top_procedure_collection:
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        max_procedure_sample_count: 1000
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        top_procedure_count: 250
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        collection_interval: 60s
69

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      resource_attributes:
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        db.system.version:
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          enabled: true
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        sqlserver.db.edition:
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          enabled: true
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processors:
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    memory_limiter:
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      check_interval: ${env:NR_MEM_LIMITER_CHECK_INTERVAL:-1s}
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      limit_mib:       ${env:NR_MEM_LIMITER_LIMIT_MIB:-200}
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      spike_limit_mib: ${env:NR_MEM_LIMITER_SPIKE_MIB:-50}
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exporters:
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    otlp:
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      endpoint: https://otlp.nr-data.net:4318
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      headers:
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        api-key: YOUR_LICENSE_KEY
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      tls:
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        insecure: false
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      compression: gzip
90

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      sending_queue:
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        enabled: true
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        sizer: bytes
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        queue_size: 100_000_000
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        num_consumers: 10
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        batch:
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          sizer: bytes
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          max_size: 1_000_000
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          min_size: 0
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          flush_timeout: 5s
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service:
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    telemetry:
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      metrics:
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        level: none
106

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    pipelines:
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      metrics:
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        receivers: [nrsqlserver]
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        processors: [memory_limiter]
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        exporters: [otlp]
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      logs:
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        receivers: [nrsqlserver]
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        processors: [memory_limiter]
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        exporters: [otlp]

Update Windows Service Registry

1. Update the Windows Service Registry to use the new mssql-config.yaml file using one of the following methods:

   • For PowerShell: Run the following command as Administrator:

     bash

     Copier

     $
     Set-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\nrdot-collector" -Name "ImagePath" -Value '"C:\Program Files\nrdot-collector\nrdot-collector.exe" --config "C:\Program Files\nrdot-collector\mssql-config.yaml"'

   • For Command Prompt: If PowerShell isn't available, use Command Prompt instead and run the following command as Administrator:

     bash

     Copier

     $
     sc config "nrdot-collector" binPath= "\"C:\Program Files\nrdot-collector\nrdot-collector.exe\" --config \"C:\Program Files\nrdot-collector\mssql-config.yaml\""

2. Validate the NRDOT Collector configuration to ensure it's correctly formatted and will work properly.

   bash

   Copier

   $
   & "C:\Program Files\nrdot-collector\nrdot-collector.exe" validate --config="C:\Program Files\nrdot-collector\mssql-config.yaml"

   Conseil

   To correlate your application performance with database operations, you can set up database service identification. For more information, refer to set up database service identification.

Restart NRDOT Collector

After updating your configuration, restart the NRDOT Collector service:

$
net stop nrdot-collector
$
net start nrdot-collector

Find and use your data

Once your data is being collected, you can access comprehensive SQL Server database monitoring through New Relic UI.

To find your SQL Server database entity in New Relic:

1. Go to https://one.newrelic.com > All Capabilities > Databases.

2. From the Entity type dropdown, select MSSQL instance, then click Apply.

3. Select your SQL Server database from the list of entities.

   After setting up SQL Server monitoring with NRDOT, you can:

   • Create custom dashboards to visualize your database metrics
   • Set up alerts for critical database performance thresholds
   • Explore your data using New Relic query capabilities