SQL Sentry Performance Advisor looks out for your performance needs
February 18, 2016

SQL Sentry Performance Advisor looks out for your performance needs

Christopher Richards | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with SQL Sentry Performance Advisor

SQL Sentry is only being used by our DBA team, (comprised of a DBA and a DBA in training) in our IT department. We use SQL Sentry to keep an eye on our SQL servers and in performance tuning. We also use the software for various notifications, and performance reporting related to our SQL servers.

Pros

  • The historical reporting feature for waits, blocking and deadlocks is one of the most used features. We run those reports, and talk with the developers about how their code changes are helping or hurting.
  • The dashboard is always used when a developer wants to see what a query is doing in our testing environment. From the dashboard, if something strikes us as odd, we dive deeper using the Top SQL tab, or fire up SSMS and run sp_WhoIsActive.
  • The notifications are a huge benefit, I don't always have the program open, so I know that if I get a cluster of blocking, long waits, or long running query emails I've got to go and check out what's going on.

Cons

  • I would like to see the blocking and deadlock tabs reworked to provide a easier break out. Most times I start looking in SQL Sentry, but end up running sp_WhoIsActive in SSMS.
  • It would be nice if it had a version of the dashboard that was able to be pushed out to a web service, so that devs would be able to have a realtime view at what is going on with the monitored servers.
  • The settings/conditions pane needs an overhaul, it is difficult to navigate and even use. I just flat out don't like how it's set up.
If you're apart of a midsize and up organization and are bound my contract agreement and red tape, then SQL Sentry Performance Advisor is well suited. If you need to purchase supportable software, that is ready out-of-the-box, SQL Sentry is the perfect fit. I'd take a look at OpServer from the StackExchange team if you're on a tight budget, or in an IT department that is looking for something almost homespun, that you are able to customize.

SolarWinds SQL Sentry Feature Ratings

Performance dashboard
7
Intelligent alerting
5
Top SQL
8
Historical trend data
9
Virtualization support
Not Rated

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