Client requirements
Platform
1 GHz Pentium® 4 PC
Memory
1 GB RAM
Hard disk space
200 MB
This space should exist on a local disk drive rather than a network drive.
Operating systems
- Microsoft® Windows 11 (64-bit)
- Microsoft® Windows 10 (64-bit)
- Microsoft Windows 8.1 (64-bit)
- Microsoft Windows Server 2019 (64-bit)
- Microsoft Windows Server 2016 (64-bit)
- Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 (64-bit)
- Microsoft Windows Server 2012 (64-bit)
- Microsoft Windows Server 2019 (64-bit)
- Microsoft Windows Server 2022 (64-bit)
The Spotlight Enterprise customer support will not be available for the following operating systems as Microsoft has stopped providing support for these platforms. However, Spotlight Enterprise will continue monitoring the OS connections added.
- Microsoft Windows 8 (64-bit)
- Microsoft Windows 7 (64-bit)
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit)
Screen resolution
Minimum Resolution: 1280x1024
DPI scaling is supported for large fonts, Windows 8.1 and above.
CD-ROM drive or Internet connection
This is required for installation only.
Additional software requirements
SQL Server Client Tools
Required to use the Discovery Wizard to locate SQL Servers on your network. SQL Server Client Tools can be found on the Microsoft SQL Server installation media. Client Connectivity Tools - Required to monitor an Analysis Services server.
.NET
It is recommended that the latest .NET be installed. Minimum .NET 4.8. .NET is required for the Performance Health drilldowns and the Spotlight Report Viewer.
Support for TLS 1.2
In general every Windows version after and including Windows 7 include TLS 1.2 support by default. For older versions, consult the Microsoft table https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3135244/tls-1.2-support-for-microsoft-sql-server.
As part of the support for TLS 1.2, ensure the ODBC Driver 13 for SQL Server is installed.
Microsoft Internet Explorer® 6.0 or later.
Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC)
MDAC includes the ODBC and other components that enable a connection to be established to a SQL Server database. The database may be local or remote. Your client machine must have MDAC 2.7 (or later) installed.
MDAC is available from the Microsoft website: www.microsoft.com/downloads
To find out the version of MDAC that you are currently running, you can download an application from the Microsoft website called the Component Checker Tool. Review the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article for more information: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/301202
Microsoft Windows Powershell 3.0 or above
Microsoft Windows Powershell 3.0 or above is required to access Spotlight from the command line.
Spotlight Diagnostic Server requirements
Platform
2 GHz Pentium Dual Core
| Host CPUs (2.4GHz) | Host RAM | DS JVM Settings | #DB Connections | #OS Connections |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 cores | 8GB | 2GB | 50 | 50 |
| 4 cores | 16GB | 4GB | 100 | 100 |
Hard disk space
500 MB
If the Diagnostic Server’s connection to the Spotlight Statistics Repository or Playback database is interrupted, the Diagnostic Server will cache data to the local disk. In this event, an extra 2 MB per hour, per monitored server is required.
Operating systems
- Microsoft® Windows 11 (64-bit)
- Microsoft® Windows 10 (64-bit)
- Microsoft Windows 8.1 (64-bit)
- Microsoft Windows Server 2019 (64-bit)
- Microsoft Windows Server 2016 (64-bit)
- Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 (64-bit)
- Microsoft Windows Server 2012 (64-bit)
- Microsoft Windows Server 2019 (64-bit)
- Microsoft Windows Server 2022 (64-bit)
The Spotlight Enterprise customer support will not be available for the following operating systems as Microsoft has stopped providing support for these platforms. However, Spotlight Enterprise will continue monitoring the OS connections added.
- Microsoft Windows 8 (64-bit)
- Microsoft Windows 7 (64-bit)
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit)
.NET
.NET 4.8 or later.
Virtualized Environments
We support deploying Spotlight Entrprise in a virtualized environment.
Additional requirements
SQL Server Client Tools
Required to use the Discovery Wizard to locate SQL Servers on your network. SQL Server Client Tools can be found on the Microsoft SQL Server installation media. Client Connectivity Tools - Required to monitor an Analysis Services server.
SQL Server Management Tools
Required to monitor an Analysis Services server, a SQL Server Replication environment, and the use of Session Trace when monitoring a SQL Server.
The SQL Server Management Tools are available from any SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008, SQL Server 2012, SQL Server 2014, SQL Server 2016 edition or SQL Server 2022 except SQL Server Express and SQL Server Compact. The version required corresponds to the latest version of SQL Server that you are monitoring.
Connection Limit
A single Spotlight Diagnostic Server is designed to monitor a maximum of 100 SQL Servers, Analysis Services or Replication instances and 100 Windows servers. Exceeding this recommended limit on 32 bit environments may result in poor performance or product instability, due to the 1 Gb memory limit. On 64 bit environments theoretically more connections can be monitored as the 1 Gb limit no longer applies, however testing of this has been limited. In environments that exceed this number of connections, consider a deployment of federation of Spotlight Diagnostic Server.
Support for TLS 1.2
In general every Windows version after and including Windows 7 include TLS 1.2 support by default. For older versions, consult the Microsoft table https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3135244/tls-1.2-support-for-microsoft-sql-server.
Monitoring
Spotlight Enterprise is able to monitor the following connections
Databases
Spotlight can be used to monitor:
- SQL Server
- SQL Server Analysis Services
- SQL Server Availability Group
- SQL Server Replication
Database Cloud Service
- Azure SQL Managed Instance
- SQL Azure Database (both single database and hosted in elastic pool)
Operating Systems
Spotlight can be used to monitor:
Virtualization
Spotlight can monitor virtual environments and virtual guest machines in a virtual environment.
Playback database requirements
Database sizing
The MS Model database is used. The database size usually starts at about 3MB (data size) and 1MB (log size).
Hard disk space
Requires approximately 270 MB for each monitored SQL Server instance and the corresponding monitored Windows host on which the SQL Server instance resides. Retains 7 days of historical data for each connection in the Playback Database by default. This is configurable.
This estimate assumes default configuration in an average environment. Actual space used will depend on your environment and any data collection/storage configuration changes that are made. For more information, see the Spotlight Enterprise Sizing Wizard. You can access the wizard from the Spotlight Installation Center.
SQL Server
The Playback Database can be installed on:
- SQL Server 2022
- SQL Server 2019
- SQL Server 2017
- SQL Server 2016
- SQL Server 2014
- SQL Server 2012
The Spotlight Enterprise customer support will not be available for the following SQL servers as Microsoft has stopped providing support for these platforms. However, Spotlight Enterprise will continue monitoring the SQL servers added.
- SQL Server 2008 R2
- SQL Server 2008
- SQL Server 2005
Azure SQL Managed Instance
The Playback Database can be installed on Azure SQL Managed Instance.
Other requirements
The SQL Browser service must be running on the machine where the Playback Database is installed. Alternatively you can use the host and port number of the (named) SQL Server instance you want to connect to, when creating a connection and connecting to the Playback Database.
Maintenance
The Diagnostic Server runs maintenance procedures daily at 3am for the Playback Database. This is configurable.
It is highly recommended that regular maintenance is performed on the Playback Database. See Maintenance plan for Spotlight Statistics Repository and Playback Database.
Spotlight Statistics Repository Requirements
Database sizing
The MS Model database is used. The database size usually starts at about 3MB (data size) and 1MB (log size).
Hard Disk Space
Approximately 1.2 GB for each monitored SQL Server instance and the corresponding monitored Windows host on which the SQL Server instance resides. This estimate assumes default configuration in an average environment. Actual space used will depend on your environment and any data collection/storage configuration changes that are made. For more information, see the Spotlight Enterprise Sizing Wizard. You can access the wizard from the Spotlight Installation Center.
SQL Server
The Spotlight Statistics Repository can be installed on:
- SQL Server 2022
- SQL Server 2019
- SQL Server 2017
- SQL Server 2016
- SQL Server 2014
- SQL Server 2012
The Spotlight Enterprise customer support will not be available for the following SQL servers as Microsoft has stopped providing support for these platforms. However, Spotlight Enterprise will continue monitoring the SQL servers added.
- SQL Server 2008 R2
- SQL Server 2008
- SQL Server 2005
Azure SQL Managed Instance
The Spotlight Statistics Repository can be installed on Azure SQL Managed Instance.
Other Requirements
The SQL Browser service must be running on the machine where the Spotlight Statistics Repository is installed. Alternatively you can use the host and port number of the (named) SQL Server instance you want to connect to, when creating a connection and connecting to the Spotlight Statistics Repository.
The TCP protocol must be enabled on the instance where the Spotlight Statistics Repository resides.
Maintenance
It is highly recommended that regular maintenance is performed on the Spotlight Statistics Repository. See Maintenance plan for Spotlight Statistics Repository and Playback Database.
Spotlight Cloud
Cloud Connect is compatible with SoSSE versions 13.2 and higher. This is effective from the 1st of June 2020.
Internet Access
Required by Spotlight Cloud. Required to monitor your Spotlight connections from the Spotlight Cloud web site or a mobile device.
If Windows Firewall is set up to block traffic by default then in Windows Firewall | Advanced Settings add new outbound rules to enable the following URLs on TCP port 443:
- https://authzp.spotlightessentials.com
- https://dsmetadata.spotlightessentials.com
- https://mds-alarmingest-v4-spot-prod.spotlightcloud.io
- https://mds-egress-v4-spot-prod.spotlightcloud.io
- https://mds-ingest-v4-spot-prod.spotlightcloud.io
- https://versions.spotlightcloud.io
- https://spn.spotlightcloud.io
- https://login.microsoftonline.com
- https://id.quest.com
- https://app.spotlightcloud.io
- https://um-v2.spotlightessentials.com
Upgrade and compatibility
Use the Spotlight installer to upgrade from Spotlight on SQL Server version 10.5.0 or later. To upgrade from an earlier version of Spotlight than 10.5.0, upgrade to at least version 10.5.0 before upgrading to 12.4. To upgrade from 10.5.0, first upgrade to 12.4 and then upgrade to the latest version.
Spotlight Diagnostic Server - upgrade
The following is transferred during the upgrade:
- Connection properties for all monitored servers (including changes to scheduling and alarms)
- Enterprise views
- Collector properties
- Alarm Actions (These include running a program and sending an email.)
- Planned Outages
- Global options such as user-created Error Log rules
- Configuration information for the Spotlight Statistics Repository (applicable to deployments that include the Spotlight Statistics Repository.)
Alarms requiring acknowledgment - upgrade
The Spotlight factory settings for alarms requiring acknowledgment changes on upgrade from Spotlight 11.2. Only Connection Failure alarms are now factory set to require acknowledgment.
The alarms that were factory set to require acknowledgment in Spotlight 11.2 are as follows. They are included here so you can choose to manually enable them to require acknowledgment again post upgrade if required.
- Availability Group - Failed Over
- Clusters - Failed over
- Error Log - Error Count
- LiteSpeed Backup Failed
- LiteSpeed Backup Warning
- Locks - Blocked Processes
- Locks - Deadlocks
- Mirroring Failedover
- SQL Agent - Jobs Failed
Monitoring your Spotlight connections on a mobile device - upgrade
If you are upgrading from Spotlight on SQL Server 11.1.x and used that version or earlier to monitor your Spotlight on SQL Server connections on a mobile device and intend to continue monitoring your connections on a mobile device then the following additional upgrade instructions are required.
- Uninstall the Spotlight Web Publisher via Windows | Control Panel | Programs and Features. The Spotlight Web Publisher was required in the past to monitor SQL Server connections on a mobile device. It is now important that you uninstall it. By default the Spotlight Web Publisher was installed on the same computer as the Spotlight Diagnostic Server.
- From the Spotlight Client, click Configure | Spotlight Cloud. Select Upload data to Spotlight Cloud. Ensure your Spotlight Cloud (Spotlight Essentials) account details are correct.