DBA Dash

Quick Start

Requirements

Repository DB:

  • SQL 2016 SP1 or later, including Azure DBā½Ā¹ā¾, Managed Instance and RDS (SQL Server)

    ā½Ā¹ā¾The Messaging feature requires service broker which isnā€™t supported on Azure DB.

Monitored Instances:

  • SQL 2005-2025, including Azure DB, Managed Instance and RDS (SQL Server)

DBA Dash Service:

  • .NET 8 Desktop Runtime. Version 8.0.0 or later

    Download .NET 8 Desktop Runtime

    If the .NET 8 runtime is not installed, you will be prompted to install it when you try to run the application.

    Note: Versions 2.x of DBA Dash used .NET 6. Version 3.0 and later use .NET 8

    dotnet --list-runtimes

  • A user account to run the service with appropriate permissions to connect to the monitored instances and repository database instance. This account requires Log on as a service.
Grant Log on as a service

To run as a Windows service, accounts need the Logon as a service right. This should be granted by default if you are LocalSystem, LocalService, NetworkService or a managed service account. A managed service account is recommended.

A managed service account is the best option as it allows you to use Windows authentication and the password of the account is automatically rotated for you. It should also have the logon as a service right automatically. A regular domain account can be used, but you will need to grant Log on as a service. You will also need to manage the rotation of the password (set it to never expire to avoid issues with password expiry and rotate manually). A local account can also be used, but you will need to use SQL authentication to connect to your monitored instances.

DBA Dash now includes a Permissions Helper as part of the config tool to help you assign the appropriate permissions. Configure the destination & source connections and install the service. Use the Permissions Helper to assign permissions to the service account.

You can run the DBADashService.exe console app as your own user account without installing as a service for testing purposes

Setup

  1. Download the latest release from GitHub:

Download

(Select the one labelled DBADash_{version}.zip)

  1. Extract the files to a folder of your choosing

Please secure access to this folder. See security document for more information.

  1. Run DBADashServiceConfigTool.exe

If the application fails to start, please ensure you have .NET Framework 8 Runtime (desktop apps) installed. See Requirements

  1. Set a destination connection

The destination connection is the SQL instance where your DBA Dash repository database is to be located. By default this is set to DBADashDB and the database will be created automatically when the service starts. If you select an existing database it will need to be completely blank with no existing objects created.

Use Windows authentication where possible.

  1. Click the ā€œSourceā€ tab
  2. Click the connect button to add a source connection (monitored instance)

Add multiple instances at the same time by entering a connection string or instance name on each line in the source textbox

  1. Review the options available on the ā€œExtended Eventsā€ and ā€œOtherā€ tab.
  2. Click ā€œAdd/Updateā€ to add the source connection(s)
  3. Repeat the process of adding source connections as necessary
  4. Click ā€œSaveā€.

Your settings are stored in a file called ServiceConfig.json. You can protect this by clicking Configure Encryption on the Options tab.

  1. Click the ā€œDestinationā€ tab
  2. Click the ā€œInstall as service linkā€
  3. Click Install and enter credentials for the service.

You can use the script in the ā€œScript to create service accountā€ link to help create a managed service account.

  1. If you havenā€™t already done so, use the Permissions Helper button to assign permissions to the service account and/or review the security document and configure the permissions manually.

  2. Click Start

Click View Service Log button to see what the service is doing. It will take a few moments to create the repository database and start collecting data.

  1. All done! Run DBADash.exe to see the data collected šŸŽ‰
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