Which instruments do you usually use to monitor SQL Servers in a network?Register SQL Server Wizard from MS SQL Server 2000, may be.
You can see only machine names and can’t see any helpful information such as instance name , SQL Server version, OS version and so on…
Or “Browse for Server” from MS SQL Server 2005\2008 Management Studio?
Browser for Servers provides information about instances and SQL Server versions. It’s really better than his small brother from MS SQL Server 2000, but has the following restrictions: you can search only in the current domain, you can’t sort information, you can’t define ip\port servers and so on.
Next is SQL Ping It’s a good product with several useful features such as advanced search and more detailed information on found instances (Thinking of writing a detailed comparative review). Unfortunately, SQL Ping looks negligently and works slowly.
And finally Quest Discovery Wizard for SQL Server.
This is full-fledged product for monitoring SQL Servers providing all necessary functionality such as advanced searching (you can choose a specific domain or ip range…), detailed information that the SQL Ping doesn’t represent (OS version, machine description). You can also export the list of instances to any format, take snapshots and more …
