Technical Reference
Introduction
The SYBASE suite of Plug-Ins allow for monitoring of SYBASE database parameters and the SYBASE server parameters. There are currently two plug-ins:
- Sybase-Server - this document
- Sybase - see Sybase
Sybase-Server monitor can be configured to monitor multiple servers. This plug-in monitors the overall status of the server rather than focusing on a particular database.
Views
The Sybase-Server Plug-in produces a single view.
Devices View
This views shows the physical disk devices allocated to Sybase on a particular server and the amount of space that has been used per device, including other details:
Headline Legend
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| serverName | Server being monitored. |
| status | Status of the server connection. |
| totalDiskSpace | Total of all the partition spaces. |
| usedDiskSpace | Total used disk space for all partitions. |
| percentUtilisation | Percent of total disk space used. |
Table Legend
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| deviceName | Name Sybase has given to a particular portion of physical disk space called a device. |
| deviceLocation | Shows the physical location of the partition. |
| isDefaultDisk | Shows which disk is currently set as the default or adding new data segments. |
| numFragments | Shows the number of fragments the device has had added to it. |
| totalMB | The size of the device. |
| usedMB | Amount of space already allocated to database segments. |
| availableMB | Amount of space unallocated to database segments per device. |
| percentUtilisation | Shows the amount of space allocated as a percentage of total space. |
Note: The maximum number of DB
connections that can be made by a Netprobe is
configurable by setting the environment variable
MAX_DATABASE_CONNECTIONS. This configuration option
can be accessed from the Gateway Setup Editor > Advanced tab for Probes. The default value is 10.
Plug-In Configuration
The following parameters can be configured for this plug-in:
server
Name of the Sybase server on which the target database resides. This string should match an entry in the Sybase interfaces file [case sensitive].
Mandatory: Yes
databaseName
The name of the database that the plug-in will be connected to. As this plug-in queries overall status of the server rather than a particular database, this parameter is not mandatory.
applicationName
The application name to be set to the connection created from the sampler to the Database Server.
userName
The username of the account used to connect to the database with. This account should have read permissions to the master databases.
This plug-in needs read permission for the following tables:
master.dbo.sysusages
master.dbo.sysdevicesFor setting the user permission, check the Sybase website http://infocenter.sybase.com/help/index.jsp?topic=/com.sybase.infocenter.dc01672.1572/html/sec_admin/CIHEGCIA.htm for reference. See Chapter 6, Managing User Permissions, or the sub-section Granting default permissions to system tables and stored procedures.
Mandatory: Yes
password
Password of the account used to connect to the database with. To set an encrypted password, click on the "Set Password" button, then enter and confirm the password to be used.
Mandatory: Yes
serverVersion
Optionally specify the Sybase server version.
Starting version 15.0, Sybase updated its System Table organisation, which means that queries made for certain database values on Sybase 12.5 may not necessarily work with Sybase 15.0.
"12.5" explicitly instructs the netprobe to query data using the old system tables used for versions < 15.0.
"15.0" explicitly instructs the netprobe to query data using the updated system tables. This setting is valid for Sybase 15.x and 16.x.
"Auto" allows the netprobe to extract the Sybase version directly and use the appropriate queries based on the obtained version.
Note that forcing the netprobe to use an incorrect version (i.e. Set serverVersion to 12.5, but target machine uses Sybase 15.0) will yield inaccurate results.
Additional Requirements
Netprobe can be run on the actual database server machine or on a remote host. It also needs the standard Sybase shared client libraries, charset files and appropriate interfaces file installed on the NetProbe host.
The following environment variables MUST be set in the start_netprobe script in addition to the variables in the Sampler descriptor.
| Name | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| LD_LIBRARY_PATH PATH (for Windows) | The variable needs to point to the Sybase shared client library directory. | Mandatory |
| SYBASE | The variable should point to the Sybase client installation. By default the Sybase interfaces file should reside here. | Mandatory |
| DEBUG=SYBASE:SYBASE | If this variable is defined then debug information is displayed. | Optional |
In addition, Microsoft.VC80.CRT redistributables are required when using AES-256 passwords in Windows machines.
Configuring the Netprobe Environment
The plug-in behavior will depend on the Sybase client library referenced in these environment variables. For every environment, it needs an assortment of libraries usually found in the lib directory of the Sybase installation directory. If wide table and columns are used, Sybase client library version should at least be 12.5.
Windows
SYBASE=C:\Sybase12
set PATH=C:\Sybase12\OCS-12_0\dll;%PATH%Solaris
setenv SYBASE /opt/sybase
setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH /opt/sybase/OCS-15_0/libLinux
setenv SYBASE /opt/sybase
setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH /opt/sybase/OCS-15_0/libAIX
setenv SYBASE /opt/sybase
setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH /opt/sybase/OCS-15_0/lib