Host Overview

Host Dashboard - Overview

The Host Dashboard - Overview tab provides a comprehensive, multi-host view of your SQL Server infrastructure. This view aggregates metrics across your entire environment or filtered subset of hosts, helping you identify trends, compare performance, and quickly spot issues that need attention.

The Overview screen is organized into three main sections: Overview, Properties, and Capacity Planning. Each section contains multiple cards displaying metrics and insights about your selected hosts.

Filtering and Navigation

Filter Controls

The Overview tab offers several ways to focus on specific hosts:

• Views - Select from pre-configured views to quickly filter hosts based on common criteria. Views may be created and managed in most screens in WISdom.
• Tag - Filter hosts by tags such as Tier of Service, Environment, or custom tags you've created. Tags may be managed in the Tags section.
• Filters - Access the comprehensive filter panel for advanced filtering options. The Filters panel uses expandable sections to organize available filter criteria, making it easy to drill into specific attributes without cluttering the interface.
• Reset - Clear all active filters to return to the unfiltered view

Filters you apply in the Overview tab will persist when you navigate to the Details tab, maintaining your context. However, the Details tab requires a single host to be selected - if you have multiple hosts filtered in Overview, you'll need to narrow your selection to view Details.

Date Selection

The Date Picker in the upper right corner allows you to select any date up to today. The data displayed will vary; some of it is annualized, some monthly, and some based on the selected date.

• Annualized data will be labeled and display data based on up to a year from the current date (or the collection start date)
• Monthly data will be the previous 30 days from today's date
• Configuration data will display based on the last collection date selected in the Date Picker

Overview Section

The Overview section provides high-level health and monitoring information about your host environment.

Host Availability

Displays the availability and accessibility of hosts grouped by Tier of Service. Availability represents the percentage of time during the selected period that each host was online, fully functional, and responsive.

How to Use:

• Review the Tier of Service column to see how hosts are grouped by criticality
• Check the Availability % column to identify hosts with poor uptime
• Sort by clicking column headers to organize data by tier or availability percentage
• Click any row to see a detailed pop-up listing individual hosts with their Availability %, Uptime, and Last System Restart

What It Tells You:
Host Availability indicates whether your infrastructure is meeting service level expectations. Low availability percentages suggest hosts are experiencing outages, significant performance issues, or connectivity problems. Pay particular attention to Tier 1 (mission-critical) hosts with availability below your target threshold.

Alert Status

Shows the current count of active alerts by severity level: Critical, Warning, and Information.

Alert Severity Levels:

• Critical (Red) - Immediate attention required; indicates serious issues impacting availability or performance
• Warning (Yellow) - Issues that may escalate if not addressed; requires monitoring and planning
• Information (Green) - Informational notifications; typically used for awareness rather than action

Alerts are generated based on monitoring checks and thresholds you've configured. The counts shown reflect all active alerts for your filtered host set.

For detailed information about configuring and managing alerts, see the Alerts section in the Monitoring Modules documentation.

Silencing Windows

Displays hosts that have active or upcoming silencing windows. During a silencing window, alerts for the host are suppressed, which is useful during planned maintenance, deployments, or other expected disruption periods.

Columns:

• Host - Name of the host with a silencing window
• Silencing Window - Date and time range when alerts will be suppressed

Click column headers to sort by host name or window timing. Use this card to verify that silencing windows are configured correctly and to identify hosts currently in maintenance mode.

The [+ Windows] button will take an Admin or Power User to the Silencing Window screen in the Admin Console; however, Regular User accounts will not have access to the Admin Console.

For information about creating and managing silencing windows, see Silencing Windows in the Monitoring Modules documentation.

Tier of Service

Shows the distribution of hosts across Tier of Service classifications. Tiers typically represent the criticality of hosts to your business operations.

How It Works:

• The color-coded horizontal bar chart shows the relative distribution of hosts across tiers
• Each row displays the tier name and the count of hosts in that tier
• Colors in the chart correspond to the colored numbers in the Hosts column
• Click any row to see a pop-up listing all hosts assigned to that tier

Common Tier Definitions:

• Tier 1 - Mission-critical systems requiring the highest availability and fastest response
• Non-Production - Development, test, and QA environments
• Unassigned - Hosts that haven't been categorized yet

Tiers are assigned using Tier of Service tags. If you need to update a host's tier assignment, modify its tags in the Tags section. Proper tier classification helps prioritize monitoring efforts and ensures critical systems receive appropriate attention.

Monitoring

Displays the distribution of hosts by their monitoring level. Monitoring levels determine how WISdom tracks and reports on each host.

Common Monitoring Levels:

• Collection Only - Data is collected, but no alerts are generated
• Mission Critical - Tier 1 - Full monitoring with alerts for Tier 1 hosts
• Not Monitored - Host is registered but not actively monitored

For managed services customers, additional monitoring levels may include:

• 24/7 Monitoring - Around-the-clock monitoring and response
• Core Business Hours - Monitoring during standard business hours

Click any row to see a pop-up listing hosts configured with that monitoring level. The color-coded chart helps you quickly understand your monitoring coverage and identify hosts that may need configuration updates.

Properties Section

The Properties section summarizes infrastructure characteristics and configuration details across your monitored hosts.

Host Resources

Displays aggregate resource totals across all hosts in your filtered view.

Metrics Shown:

• Hosts - Total count of hosts in the filtered view
• CPU - Total logical processors across all hosts
• Memory - Total memory capacity across all hosts (TB)
• Storage - Total storage capacity across all hosts (TB)

Use this card to understand the total infrastructure footprint for your environment or filtered subset. These totals help with license planning, capacity forecasting, and resource allocation decisions.

Environment

Shows the distribution of hosts across environment types. Environments typically represent the purpose or lifecycle stage of each host.

Common Environments:

• Production - Live production systems serving end users
• Development - Development and engineering systems
• Disaster Recovery (DR) - Standby systems for business continuity
• Quality Assurance (QA) - Testing and quality validation systems
• Staging - Pre-production validation environment
• Test - General testing systems
• User Acceptance Test (UAT) - End-user validation environment
• Unassigned - Hosts without environment classification

How to Use:

• The color-coded donut chart shows the proportion of hosts in each environment
• Colors in the chart match the numbers in the Hosts column
• Click any row to see a pop-up listing hosts in that environment

Environment classifications are assigned using Environment tags in the Tags section. Proper environment tagging helps separate production from non-production systems and enables environment-specific monitoring and reporting.

Data Collector

Shows which Data Collectors are gathering metrics from your hosts. Data Collectors are installed agents that collect performance and configuration data from SQL Server hosts and transmit it to WISdom.

What You'll See:

• The color-coded donut chart displays the distribution of hosts across collectors
• Each row shows the collector name and the count of hosts it monitors
• Click any row to see a pop-up listing hosts assigned to that collector

Why This Matters:
Understanding collector distribution helps you:

• Balance the monitoring load across multiple collectors
• Identify collectors that may be overloaded
• Troubleshoot collection issues by identifying which collector serves specific hosts
• Plan collector placement for new hosts

For detailed information about collector health and configuration, see Collector Health in the Monitoring documentation.

Operating System

Displays the distribution of hosts by Operating System version. This helps you track OS diversity, identify outdated versions, and plan upgrade initiatives.

How to Use:

• The color-coded donut chart shows the breakdown by OS version
• Each row displays the OS name and host count running that version
• Click any row to see a pop-up listing specific hosts running the selected OS

Common OS versions include various releases of Microsoft Windows Server (2012, 2016, 2019, 2022) and different distributions of Linux. Understanding your OS distribution helps with:

• Security and patch management
• Support lifecycle planning
• Standardization initiatives
• Compatibility assessments for software upgrades

Patch Compliance

Shows how recently hosts have been patched, helping you identify systems that may be falling behind on security and maintenance updates.

Time Buckets:

• Last patched within 6 months - Recently updated systems
• Last patched 6-12 months ago - Systems approaching the end of compliance window
• Last patched over 12 months ago - Systems requiring immediate attention

How to Use:

• The color-coded donut chart shows the distribution across time buckets
• Colors match the numbers in the Hosts column
• Click any row to see a pop-up with specific hosts and their last patch dates

Regular patching is critical for security, stability, and support compliance. Use this card to identify hosts needing patch updates and prioritize your patching schedule based on environment and criticality.

Capacity Planning Section

The Capacity Planning section uses 30 days of performance data to provide sizing recommendations and current configuration insights. These cards help you optimize resource allocation and identify hosts that are over-provisioned or under-provisioned.

CPU Capacity

Provides CPU sizing recommendations based on actual usage patterns over the past 30 days.

Understanding the Display:

• The center gauge value shows the total recommended CPU change across all filtered hosts (expressed as number of cores)
• Negative values suggest you can reduce CPU allocation (over-provisioned hosts)
• Positive values suggest you need to add CPU capacity (under-provisioned hosts)
• The color-coded gauge chart shows the distribution of hosts across sizing categories

Sizing Categories:

• Oversized - Hosts using significantly less CPU than allocated
• Optimal - Hosts appropriately sized for their workload
• Undersized - Hosts consistently using CPU near or above capacity

How to Use:
Click any sizing category to see a pop-up listing specific hosts with recommendations for core adjustments. Use these insights to:

• Right-size virtual machines to reduce licensing costs
• Identify hosts at risk of CPU bottlenecks
• Plan capacity changes based on actual demand

💡 Deep Dive (CPU):
WISdom calculates CPU recommendations by analyzing CPU utilization patterns across the 30-day window. The algorithm considers peak usage, sustained average usage, and workload variability to determine whether the current allocation matches actual demand. For virtual environments, reducing over-provisioned CPUs can yield immediate licensing cost savings, particularly for SQL Server Enterprise Edition, where licensing is per-core. Conversely, under-provisioned hosts may experience query performance degradation during peak periods. The recommendation engine accounts for typical growth patterns and headroom requirements, ensuring recommendations balance cost optimization with performance stability.

Memory Capacity

Provides memory sizing recommendations based on actual usage patterns over the past 30 days.

Understanding the Display:

• The center gauge value shows the total recommended memory change across all filtered hosts (in GB)
• Negative values suggest you can reduce memory allocation (over-provisioned hosts)
• Positive values suggest you need to add memory (under-provisioned hosts)
• The color-coded gauge chart shows the distribution of hosts across sizing categories

How to Use:
Click any sizing category to see a pop-up listing specific hosts with recommendations for memory adjustments. Memory recommendations help you:

• Reduce infrastructure costs by reclaiming unused memory
• Prevent performance issues caused by memory pressure
• Plan memory upgrades before hosts reach critical thresholds

💡 Deep Dive (Memory):
SQL Server is memory-intensive by design, and proper memory allocation is critical for optimal performance. WISdom's memory recommendations analyze several factors: buffer pool utilization, memory grants, page life expectancy, and memory pressure indicators. The algorithm distinguishes between SQL Server's "grab all available memory" behavior and actual working set requirements. For hosts showing potential for reduction, WISdom verifies that page life expectancy remains healthy and that the reduction won't trigger excessive disk I/O due to cache pressure. For undersized hosts, recommendations consider not just current pressure but projected growth to avoid repeated resizing operations.

Storage Capacity

Shows the distribution of drives across free space percentage ranges. This helps you identify drives approaching capacity limits.

Free Space Ranges:

• 0-5% - Critical; immediate action required
• 5-10% - Warning; plan expansion soon
• 10+% - Healthy free space levels

How to Use:

• The color-coded gauge chart shows how many drives fall into each range
• Click any range to see a pop-up listing host, drive letter, total size, and free space for each drive

Monitor this card regularly to proactively address storage capacity issues before they impact operations. Drives with less than 10% free space should be prioritized for expansion or cleanup.

Memory Configurations

Displays the distribution of hosts by total memory configuration, showing how memory is allocated across your infrastructure.

Memory Ranges:
Common ranges include: 0-16GB, 16-64GB, 64-256GB, 256GB-512GB, 512GB-1TB, 1TB+

How to Use:

• The color-coded donut chart shows the distribution across memory ranges
• Click any range to see a pop-up listing specific hosts and their total memory

This view helps you understand memory standardization across your environment and identify outliers. Combined with the Memory Capacity recommendations, it provides a complete picture of current allocation versus optimal sizing.

CPU Configuration

Displays the distribution of hosts by logical CPU core count, showing how CPU resources are allocated across your infrastructure.

CPU Ranges:
Common ranges include: 0-16 cores, 16-32 cores, 32-64 cores, 64-128 cores, 128+ cores

How to Use:

• The color-coded donut chart shows the distribution across CPU ranges
• Click any range to see a pop-up listing specific hosts and their CPU allocation

Use this card to understand CPU standardization and identify hosts with non-standard configurations. Combined with CPU Capacity recommendations, it helps you optimize your licensing and performance footprint.

Storage Performance

Displays drive performance measured by disk latency. High latency indicates potential I/O bottlenecks affecting query performance.

Latency Ranges:

• Optimal (<=5ms) - Excellent disk performance
• Healthy (5ms to 15ms) - Acceptable performance for most workloads
• Suboptimal (>15ms) - May impact performance; investigate further

How to Use:

• The color-coded gauge chart shows how many drives fall into each latency range
• Click any range to see a pop-up listing host, drive, and disk latency in milliseconds

Why This Matters:
Disk latency directly impacts SQL Server query performance. Database reads and writes wait for disk operations to complete, so high latency translates to slow query execution. Storage latency above 15ms warrants investigation - possible causes include overloaded storage controllers, insufficient disk throughput, or network issues in SAN environments.

For information about configuring alerts based on storage performance thresholds, see the Alerts documentation.

💡 Deep Dive (Storage):
Storage latency is measured as the time between when SQL Server requests an I/O operation and when that operation completes. WISdom tracks both read and write latency across all drives and mount points. For database workloads, read latency typically matters most for transaction log files and frequently accessed data, while write latency is critical for transaction log writes. Persistent latency above 15ms suggests underlying storage system constraints. In virtualized environments, storage contention from other VMs on shared datastores can cause latency spikes. For cloud environments, latency characteristics vary by storage tier (e.g., Azure Premium SSD vs. Standard HDD). When investigating high latency, correlate with the Monitoring section to determine if SQL Server wait statistics confirm storage-related waits (e.g., PAGEIOLATCH_* waits).

Host List

The Host List provides a detailed table view of all hosts matching your current filter, with sortable columns for easy analysis.

Available Columns:

• Host Health - Current health status indicator (green, yellow, red)
• Silencing - Shows if a silencing window is active or scheduled
• Host - Host name (click for options to include or exclude the host in the filter or to copy the hostname)
• Operating System - OS version installed on the host
• Tier of Service - Service tier classification
• Environment - Environment tag (Production, QA, Development, etc.)
• Data Collector - Name of the collector monitoring this host
• Monitoring - Monitoring level configured for the host
• Patch Compliance - Time since last patch (e.g., "Last patched within 6 months")

How to Use:

• Click any column header to sort by that column (ascending or descending)
• Click a host name for options to include or exclude the host in the filter or copy the hostname
• Use the table to quickly identify hosts meeting specific criteria

The Host List is particularly useful when you need to:

• Generate a list of hosts for reporting or planning purposes
  • The Cloud Migration Planner or the Infrastructure - Hosts provides the best list of all hosts for planning
• Identify all hosts in a specific environment or tier
• Find hosts with specific health or compliance characteristics
• Export host information for external analysis

Related Documentation

• Host Dashboard - Details - Single-host detailed view
• Collector Health - Data collector monitoring
• Alerts - Alert configuration and management
• Silencing Windows - Configuring alert suppression
• Tools - Views, Tags, and Filters documentation
• Cloud Migration Planner - Generate a list of selected hosts with detailed inventory and usage information on one page and cloud migration recommendations on another page