Thresholds

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Thresholds are the point that must be exceeded to begin producing a user-defined effect or result, or to elicit a response, such as an alarm. Performance Analyst provides default threshold templates for each database platform. The default template is applied unless you choose to apply a customized template. There are two methods to place thresholds on statistics in Performance Analyst:

• Threshold Templates - Threshold templates are logical containers used to define and deploy thresholds to datasources. You can apply many templates at a single time and you can apply a single threshold template to many datasources. To customize a template, use the Threshold Template Maintenance dialog. As you add or edit thresholds for a customized template, you make your changes in the Threshold Template Properties dialog. And finally, when you have customized a threshold template to your satisfaction, you Select Datasource(s) where you want the template to be applied.
• Datasource Thresholds - Datasource Thresholds are default or user-defined values that mark performance boundaries. You can apply Datasource Thresholds to specific statistics on a datasource. To make changes to a datasource threshold, use the Datasource Thresholds Maintenance dialog. From here, the Threshold Templates dialog gives you the opportunity to use a previously created template to override the target datasource’s user thresholds.

Whenever you make changes to a threshold, whether through the Threshold Template functions or from the Datasource Thresholds, you are presented with the Threshold Properties dialog where you can specify when, and what type of alarm you want to trigger.

Additionally, you can Copy a template.

Threshold Properties Dialog Box

Thresholds are the point that must be met to begin producing a user-defined effect or result, or to elicit a response, such as an alarm. The Threshold Properties dialog lets you modify properties for any threshold.

To open the Threshold Properties dialog box

• Choose Threshold Maintenance... from the Performance Analyst drop-down menu to open a Threshold Template Maintenance dialog box, and then click Add or Edit.
• You can also choose Datasource Thresholds... from the Performance Analyst drop-down menu to open the Datasource Thresholds Maintenance dialog, and then click Add or Edit.

The table below describes the options and functionality on the Threshold Properties dialog:

Option	Description
Statistic	Lets you choose the target statistic where you want to add a threshold. NOTE: If you are adding a statistic to a template or datasource threshold, use the drop-down list to find the statistic you want to add. When you select Edit for any statistic showing in the User Thresholds window, the target statistic is displayed.
Generate Alarm If	Lets you choose or change the target alarm condition. The seven options are: greater than, greater than or equal to, is equal to, is not equal to, is not equal to, less than, and less than or equal to.
Value amount	Lets you set or change the numerical value for the threshold. You cannot leave the value text box blank when you first add the threshold.
Severity	Lets you select the target severity level: Fair, Poor, or Critical.

Threshold Templates Dialog Box

Threshold Templates are logical containers used to define and deploy thresholds to datasources. Performance Analyst offers a default template for each platform. You can copy or customize and apply templates to your heart’s content. You cannot, however delete the default template.

To open the Threshold Templates dialog box

• Choose Datasource Thresholds... from the Performance Analyst drop-down menu to open the Datasource Thresholds Maintenance dialog, and then click Change.

The Threshold Templates dialog displays the available Threshold Templates. The table below describes the options and functionality of the Threshold Templates dialog:

Option	Description
Name	Displays the name(s) of the available platform-specific Threshold Template(s).
Description	Displays the description(s), if any of available Threshold Template(s).
Override Datasource’s User Thresholds	Lets you choose which thresholds to use on the target datasource - the thresholds in the Threshold Template or the user-defined thresholds on the target datasource. If you select the check box, Performance Analyst will override any Datasource Thresholds on the target datasource with the thresholds in the Thresholds Template.

Threshold Template Properties

Threshold Templates are logical containers used to define and deploy thresholds to datasources. The Threshold Template Properties dialog is where you create a custom template or where you edit an existing one.

To open the Threshold Template Properties dialog box

• Choose Threshold Maintenance... from the Performance Analyst drop-down menu to open a Threshold Template Maintenance dialog, and then click Add or Edit.

The table below describes the options and functionality on the Threshold Template Properties dialog

Option	Description
Name	Lets you name the threshold template you are creating. If you are editing a template, target template’s name appears here.
Description	Lets you type or review the target template’s description.
Platform	Offers a drop-down list of supported platforms. The selection box displays the target template’s platform, but you can use this list to see thresholds from other platforms.
Threshold/Severity/Condition/Template	Displays each threshold contained in each template for a given platform. Here you see the severity and condition of each template as well.
Arrow	Lets you select thresholds for the Threshold Template. When you click the arrow, Performance Analyst moves selected thresholds to the Threshold Template you are creating or editing.
Add	Use this function to add statistics to the threshold template you are creating/editing. When you click this button, Performance Analyst opens the Threshold Properties dialog.
Edit	Lets you edit the selected Datasource Thresholds appearing in the Current Template window. When you click this button, Performance Analyst opens the Threshold Properties dialog.
Delete	Lets you delete the selected Datasource Thresholds. When you click this button, Performance Analyst deletes the selected thresholds.
Save	Saves any changes you made in this dialog box to create the new or modified template.

Threshold Template Maintenance Dialog Box

Threshold Templates are logical containers used to define and deploy thresholds to datasources. The Threshold Template Maintenance dialog lets you add or edit templates, as well as configure template maintenance options. For example, you can copy the original IDERA Threshold template and modify it to fit your needs. You can control which statistics are sampled for performance violations, as well as the levels of severity to report. When you are satisfied with your Template, you can save it, and then, in one action, apply it to one or more datasources, thereby immediately enforcing your performance standards.

To open the Threshold Template Maintenance dialog box

• Choose Threshold Maintenance... from the Performance Analyst drop-down menu.
• Hover your mouse over the red and green cylinder on the Performance Analyst toolbar and look for the Threshold Maintenance tool-tip.

The table below describes the options and functionality on the Threshold Template Maintenance dialog:

Option	Description
Platform	This is a drop-down list of the platforms. The default is the platform of the datasource you connected to most recently, but you can make another selection.
Name	Displays the name(s) of available Threshold Template(s).
Description	Displays the description(s) of available Threshold Template(s). For customized templates, the description is merely a repetition of the template name unless you wrote something when you created or edited the template.
Add	Lets you create Threshold Templates. When you click this button, Performance Analyst opens the Threshold Template Propertiesdialog.
Edit	Lets you edit the selected Threshold Templates. When you click this button, Performance Analyst opens the Threshold Template Properties dialog.
Delete	Lets you delete the selected Threshold Templates.
Copy	Lets you create copies of the selected Threshold Template. When you click this button, Performance Analyst opens the Copy Template dialog.
Apply	Lets you select datasources to apply the selected Threshold Templates. When you click this button, Performance Analyst opens the Select Datasource(s) dialog.
Select/Unselect All	Lets you make global additions to your templates. NOTE: You cannot edit or delete Default templates.

Datasource Thresholds Maintenance Dialog Box

Datasource Thresholds are default or user-defined values that mark performance boundaries. You can apply Datasource Thresholds to specific statistics on a datasource. You can also combine Datasource Thresholds to create a template.

Performance Analyst offers the Datasource Thresholds Maintenance dialog to let you modify Datasource Thresholds. There are two panes in the Datasource Thresholds Maintenance dialog

• Applied Threshold Template
• User Thresholds

To open the Datasource Thresholds Maintenance dialog box

• Choose Datasource Thresholds... from the Performance Analyst drop-down menu.
• Right-click in any open Performance Analyst window and choose Datasource Thresholds... from the drop-down list.

The table below describes the options and functionality in the Applied Threshold Template box of the Datasource Thresholds Maintenance dialog:

Option	Description
Name	Displays the name of the target Threshold Template.
Description	Displays any description of the Threshold Template.
Change	Lets you view and edit all platform-specific Threshold Templates. When you click this button, Performance Analyst opens the Threshold Templates dialog.
Remove	Removes all thresholds in the Applied Threshold Template grid.
Threshold/Severity/Condition/	Displays the statistic on which the threshold is placed, whether it is critical, fair, or poor, and the condition that triggers the alarm.
Block	Prevents that threshold statistic from being triggered in the template. It’s almost as if that threshold never existed in the template. You can, however, reinstate the threshold trigger by highlighting and deleting it from the User Thresholds pane.
Override	Copies the threshold settings from the selected Threshold Template and applies the change to the user-defined Datasource Thresholds. Click this button if the template has the correct Severity and Threshold, but you want to modify the condition for triggering the alarm. When you create a "User Threshold," you are overriding the threshold specified by applied template or you are including an additional threshold not included in the applied template. This may be useful if you have a group of individuals all monitoring the same primary statistics (and thus using the same template) but want to be able to give individual users the ability to modify/add/block a threshold used by the template, without affecting the original template.

The table below describes the options and functionality in the User Threshold box of the Datasource Thresholds Maintenance dialog:

Option	Description
Threshold	Displays the statistic on which the threshold is placed.
Severity	Displays the severity for the threshold.
Condition	Displays the condition for the threshold.
Add	Lets you create Datasource Thresholds. When you click this button, Performance Analyst opens the Threshold Properties dialog.
Edit	Lets you edit the selected Datasource Thresholds. When you click this button, Performance Analyst opens the Threshold Properties dialog. If you Edit a Blocked threshold, it loses its blocked status.
Delete	Lets you delete the selected Datasource Thresholds. When you apply this to a blocked threshold, it is removed from the user thresholds.

Select Datasource(s)

When you have created or edited a threshold template, and you are ready to distribute it, you have the opportunity to apply it to one or more target datasources using the Select Datasources dialog.

To open the Select Datasource(s) dialog box

• Choose Threshold Maintenance... from the Performance Analyst drop-down menu, and then click Apply.

The table below describes the options and functionality on the Select Datasources dialog:

Option	Description
Datasources	You can apply the target threshold template to one or more datasources. You can only apply the target threshold template to the platform where it was created.
Override Datasource’s User Thresholds	Lets you choose which thresholds to use on the target datasource - the thresholds in the Threshold Template or the user-defined thresholds on the target datasource. If you select the check box, Performance Analyst will override any Datasource Thresholds on the target datasource with the thresholds in the Thresholds Template.

Copy Template

The Copy Template dialog lets you copy an existing Threshold Template, rename it, and save it for later use.

To open the Copy Template dialog box

1. Choose Threshold Maintenance... from the Performance Analyst drop-down menu, to open the Threshold Template Maintenance dialog.
2. Select the template you want to replicate, and then click Copy.

The table below describes the options and functionality of the Copy Template dialog:

Option	Functionality
Name	Lets you type the name for the new Threshold Template. The default name is Copy of Frankenstein, or whatever it is you named your template.
Description	Lets you type the description of the new Threshold Template. The default description is simply a repetition of the template name.

Top Sessions

The Top Sessions functionality lets you drill-down into the target metric data and quickly pinpoint the heaviest users of I/O and memory. Generally you are taken to the database-specific Expert Guide when you need an explanation of what you are seeing.

To open Top Sessions

• Hover your mouse over the little head on the Performance Analyst toolbar and look for the Top Sessions tool-tip.

To open the Session Details View

• Double-click any entry in the Top Sessions grid of the Top Sessions view, and the Session Details view opens.

Top SQL

The Top SQL view displays all SQL running or executed in the current datasource. You can use the lists and boxes to reorder the display according to your specific needs.

To view Top SQL, do the following:

• On the Performance Analyst toolbar, click the SQL button.