AWS RDS Instance for SQL Server Monitoring Question

[Michael.Mom]

Hello - wanted to ask if anyone happens to know the best approach (recommended by Cisco) for monitoring an AWS RDS SQL Server instance with the AppDynamics controller type being SaaS/Cloud hosted. The documentation for AppDynamics isn't quite clear and is it correct to assume that the best approach is to provision an EC2 instance (or AWS workspace) in my AWS environment with the appropriate VPC / RDS security group settings and install an agent? The EC2 instance or AWS workspace would connect to the RDS instance. If anyone has a step-by-step guide that they can share that would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks!  

[MARTINA.MELIANA]

Hello @Michael.Mom ,

Thanks for posting to the AppDynamics Community.

Your Question:
is it correct to assume that the best approach is to provision an EC2 instance (or AWS workspace) in my AWS environment with the appropriate VPC / RDS security group settings and install an agent?

Brief Answer:
not necessarily. We can avoid provisioning a new EC2 instance solely for this purpose.

Analysis & Observations:

• The AppDynamics Database Agent can be run from any machine as long as it has network access to your RDS and the Controller.
• This means you can leverage any existing on-premises server or, for scalability, any pre-existing AWS EC2 instance, including your controller if applicable.
• But, it’s important to ensure that your chosen machine has the necessary network access.
  1. Machine to RDS: Ensure the machine can communicate with the RDS over the necessary ports (default: 1433 for SQL Server).
  2. Machine to Controller: If the machine and the controller are on different hosts, ensure the machine can access the controller over the internet.
  
  

Step by step guide :

1. Ensure Resource Requirements.
   ensure your machine has sufficient resources.
   Database Visibility System Requirements
   
   
2. Ensure your SQL Server version is supported.
   
   Database Visibility Supported Environments
   
   
3. Install the Database Agent.
   Install the Database Agent
   Note: You can configure access to the controller using the controller-info.xml file. This can be found in the “Configure the Agent” section of the documentation above.
   
   
4. Configure Database Collectors.
    After installing the agent, you need to configure database collectors. Refer to the following documentation:
   • Add Database Collectors
   • Configure Microsoft SQL Server Collectors
     
     
5. Database User Permissions. 
   Ensure that the database user has the appropriate permissions. For SQL Server on AWS RDS, refer to: Microsoft SQL Server on AWS RDS Permissions

Hope this helps.

Best Regards,

Martina

[Rajesh.Ganapavarapu]

Hello @Michael.Mom,

In addition to @MARTINA.MELIANA, if you would like to monitor the AWS RDS SQL Server instance hardware metrics you can install the machine agent on that server and you will be able to monitor hardware metrics.

You may visit the below pages for more understanding.

https://docs.appdynamics.com/appd/24.x/24.7/en/infrastructure-visibility

https://docs.appdynamics.com/appd/24.x/24.7/en/infrastructure-visibility/overview-of-infrastructure-...

https://docs.appdynamics.com/appd/24.x/24.7/en/infrastructure-visibility/hardware-resources-metrics

Best Regards,
Rajesh Ganapavarapu

[Ryan.Paredez]

Hi @Michael.Mom,

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