Deployment¶

SQLMonitor deploys in three phases:

Bootstrap the central server — install Grafana, the DBA database, and the SQLMonitor repo on a machine that will orchestrate deployment.
Onboard an instance — run Install-SQLMonitor.ps1 against the target instance. This creates objects, loads 3rd-party kits (First Responder Kit, Darling Data, Ola Hallengren), sets up Perfmon, creates jobs, creates partitions, sets up linked servers, and wires up the Grafana login.
Import dashboards — import the JSONs in Grafana-Dashboards/ into the SQLMonitor folder in your Grafana instance, pointing them at the SQLMonitor data source.

Pages in this section¶

Prerequisites — what you need in place before running the installer.
Install Walkthrough — step-by-step first install.
Install-SQLMonitor Parameters — full reference for every parameter of Install-SQLMonitor.ps1.
Install Steps — every named install step, in order, and what it does.
Upgrade — how to refresh an already-deployed instance.
Remove — Remove-SQLMonitor.ps1 walkthrough.
Troubleshooting — common errors and fixes.

High-level flow¶

flowchart LR
    A[Close repo to<br/>central server] --> B[Install Grafana<br/>+ data source]
    B --> C[Copy Wrapper-Samples/<br/>*.ps1 to Private/]
    C --> D[Edit Private/<br/>Wrapper-InstallSQLMonitor.ps1]
    D --> E[Run wrapper &rarr;<br/>Install-SQLMonitor.ps1]
    E --> F[59 install steps]
    F --> G[Import<br/>Grafana-Dashboards/*.json]
    G --> H[Deploy Alert Engine<br/>optional]
    H --> I[Deploy sql_exporter<br/>optional]

Deploy-time decisions¶

Before you run the installer, decide:

Decision	Options	Where it maps in the installer
Topology	Distributed vs Central vs Hybrid	`SqlInstanceForTsqlJobs`, `SqlInstanceForPowershellJobs`, `SqlInstanceAsDataDestination`
Inventory server identity	Hostname of the observability SQL instance	`InventoryServer`
Data destination	Same as monitored instance? Or push elsewhere?	`SqlInstanceAsDataDestination`
Memory-Optimized usage	On by default; disable for non-supporting editions	`MemoryOptimizedObjectsUsage`
Retention	Per-table (via `dbo.purge_table`) or a single fleet default	`RetentionDays`
3rd-party kits	Use bundled ZIPs or reference existing installs	`FirstResponderKitZipFile`, `DarlingDataZipFile`, `OlaHallengrenSolutionZipFile`
Managed Instance?	If yes, a different disk-space / perfmon path is used	`IsManagedInstance`

What the installer is not¶

Not idempotent-across-versions by default. It is idempotent for the same version; when upgrading SQLMonitor itself, run it again — it will upgrade objects in place. See Upgrade.
Not a replacement for change control. The installer creates SQL Agent jobs, proxies, credentials, linked servers and logins on both the monitored and inventory instances. Treat it as a production change.