Monitoring SAP SQL Anywhere

SAP SQL Anywhere is an embedded database for application software. Instana uses the SAP SQL Anywhere sensor to monitor SAP SQL Anywhere.

After you install the Instana host agent, the SAP SQL Anywhere sensor is automatically installed. You can view metrics that are related to SAP SQL Anywhere in the Instana UI after you complete the configuration as outlined in the Configuring section.

Supported versions

Instana supports only SAP SQL 17.

Configuring

Driver installation

Due to licensing reasons, the jConnect driver is required on Instana to monitor SAP SQL Anywhere automatically. The jConnect driver is to connect with the SAP SQL Anywhere database. Only SAP can distribute the JAR file with the driver.

If the driver is not added on Instana, when the agent starts and discovers the SAP SQL Anywhere server, the following entries are added in the agent.log file:

2019-06-24T12:19:03.248+0200 | ERROR | heduler-thread-4 | Sybase | 137 - com.instana.discovery-sybase - 1.0.0 |
Cannot monitor Sybase without the driver jconn4-7.0.jar
2019-06-24T12:19:03.248+0200 | ERROR | heduler-thread-4 | Sybase | 137 - com.instana.discovery-sybase - 1.0.0 |
For license reasons it cannot be provided by Instana and needs to be manually obtained and added to the agent

The driver is named as jconn4.jar by default. Rename the file as jconn4-7.0.jar before you add the driver to the agent.

To add the driver to the agent, add the JAR file jconn4-7.0.jar to the location <agent_install_dir>/system/com/sybase/jdbc4/jdbc/jconn4/7.0.

Connection between Instana and the SAP SQL Anywhere server

You must configure the Instana agent to connect with the SAP SQL Anywhere server.

To enable in-depth metric monitoring, provide the credentials to access monitoring information in the Instana agent.

You must have system privileges to access the database in the SAP SQL Anywhere server. To grant access, enter the following command on the SAP SQL Anywhere server:

GRANT ROLE SYS_AUTH_DBA_ROLE TO grantee
WITH ADMIN OPTION
WITH NO SYSTEM PRIVILEGE INHERITANCE;

Update the Instana agent configuration file <agent_install_dir>/etc/instana/configuration.yaml as shown in the following example:

# SAP SQL Anywhere / Sybase SQL Anywhere
com.instana.plugin.sybase:
  servers:
    SERVER_NAME_1: #example 'server1'
      port: '' #default '2638'
      database: '' #default 'demo'
      user: '' #default is 'DBA'
      password: '' #default is 'sql'

The server name must be unique. The access credentials for one of the databases on the server are sufficient.

Viewing metrics

To view the metrics, complete the following steps:

  1. In the Instana UI, click Infrastructure.
  2. In the Map tab, click an SAP SQL Anywhere host that is monitored.
  3. Click Open Dashboard. A dashboard is displayed with metrics and processes.

Configuration data

The following configuration data of SAP SQL Anywhere is displayed:

  • Process ID
  • Start time
  • Port
  • Server type
  • Server version
  • Server name
  • Max connections
  • Databases

Performance metrics

The metrics from different categories are displayed.

Server

The following metrics for the SAP SQL Anywhere server are displayed:

  • Connections
  • Disk Reads & Writes
  • Bytes Received & Sent
  • Thread Dead Locks Avoided & Reported
  • Databases

Database

The following metrics for the SAP SQL Anywhere database are displayed:

  • Connections
  • Disk Reads & Writes
  • Bytes Received & Sent

Health signatures for raising issues and incidents

For every sensor, a curated knowledge base of health signatures is evaluated continuously against the incoming metrics. Issues or incidents are raised depending on the user impact.

  • Built-in events trigger issues or incidents based on the failing health signatures on entities. For more information about built-in events, see Sybase Server.

  • Custom events trigger issues or incidents based on the metric thresholds of an entity.