Home
Page Description
This page acts as the operational summary of the monitored environment and brings together basic Windows health, core SQL Server health, and active alerts in a single view. It is meant to quickly identify which servers need attention before opening more detailed dashboards.
The view combines simple but highly useful indicators for an initial review: average CPU usage, lowest free disk percentage, active blocking, failed jobs, SQL Server update status, page life expectancy, transaction log usage, and average storage input/output activity.
It also works as a navigation hub. When a value needs deeper analysis, the dashboard links directly to the corresponding detailed page for Windows counters, blocking sessions, failed jobs, SQL Server version, or internal instance counters.
Variables
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
$Instance | Lets you select the SQL Server instance shown in the SQL status section. Its values come from the instances configured in the dashboard. |
$hostname | Lets you select the Windows server shown in the Windows status section. Its values come from the monitored hosts available in the dashboard. |
Time range | Defines the time interval applied to historical metrics and recent calculations in the dashboard. It mainly affects average CPU, failed jobs, PLE, and I/O activity. |
Alerts
This section groups the active Grafana alerts so operators can immediately prioritize issues that have already been evaluated by monitoring rules. It is the fastest way to see whether an operational threshold has already been breached.
Active Alerts
- Description: Lists alerts in error, firing, or pending state so they can be reviewed quickly at the start of a shift or during an ongoing incident.
- Panel type: alertlist
Practical recommendation: Review firing and error alerts first, because they already represent conditions detected by monitoring rules and can save time before you analyze the rest of the dashboard.
Windows Status
This section summarizes operating system health per host and highlights the two most common infrastructure pressure symptoms: sustained CPU saturation and low free disk space. Its purpose is to show which server needs immediate Windows-side investigation.
Host status ($hostname)
- Description: Shows, for each selected host, the average CPU usage for the last five minutes and the free percentage of the disk with the least available space. The panel is repeated per server to provide a fast operating system health check.
- Panel type: stat
- Units: Percentage
Value colors:
| Value | Color | Description |
|---|---|---|
Avg CPU between 0 % and 80 % | Average CPU usage is within the expected range | |
Avg CPU > 80 % | CPU load has been high during the last five minutes | |
Min Disk % between 20 % and 100 % | The most constrained disk still has sufficient free space | |
Min Disk % < 20 % | At least one drive has little operating headroom |
Practical recommendation: If CPU stays high or free space falls below 20%, open Windows Counters to confirm whether the issue comes from a short-lived process, paging, file growth, or a genuine disk capacity problem.
SQL Server Status
This section concentrates a functional health check for each SQL Server instance and combines concurrency, automation, version, memory, log, and I/O status. It is designed to help you prioritize whether the main problem is blocking, failed maintenance, memory pressure, log growth, or a storage bottleneck.
Instance status ($Instance)
- Description: Shows per instance the number of active blocks, failed jobs detected in the selected period, SQL Server update status, Page Life Expectancy, log space used, and average input/output activity. The panel is repeated per instance to support quick side-by-side review.
- Panel type: stat
- Units: Mixed: count, state, seconds, log capacity, and bytes per second
Value colors:
| Value | Color | Description |
|---|---|---|
Blocks = 0 | No active blocked sessions | |
Blocks > 0 | Blocking exists and may hurt concurrency | |
Failed Jobs = 0 | The monitored jobs completed without error in the analyzed range | |
Failed Jobs > 0 | There are failed jobs that require history and step review | |
SQL Version: Updated | The version is considered up to date by the dashboard reference | |
SQL Version: To Check | Patches or branch level should be reviewed | |
PLE > 3000 s | Data cache retention looks healthy | |
PLE <= 3000 s | There may be memory pressure or extra disk reads | |
Log Used up to 15 GB | Log usage remains within a reasonable margin | |
Log Used > 15 GB | The log is growing and may need truncation or more space | |
AVG IO bytes/s up to 2 MB/s | Average storage activity fits the expected baseline | |
AVG IO bytes/s > 2 MB/s | The instance shows elevated I/O load or a possible storage bottleneck |
Practical recommendation: If you see blocking, identify the head blocker first and reduce transaction duration; if jobs fail, verify that SQL Server Agent is healthy; if log usage grows, review truncation and growth settings; and if I/O or PLE move out of range, confirm whether the issue is memory pressure, expensive queries, or slow storage.