ApexSQL Monitor – Permissions and requirements

Description
This article provides information about required permissions and software requirements for ApexSQL Monitor.

• Q: Which permissions are required for installing ApexSQL Monitor?

  A: The Windows user account used to install ApexSQL Monitor must have Windows administrator permissions and must be a member of the fixed SQL Server sysadmin role.

• Q: Are there any permissions required for application use?

  A: The ApexSQL Monitor service user must be a member of local or domain administrator groups. A free communication port is required for communication with ApexSQL Monitor web server. Port 5000 is used by default.

• Q: Which permissions are required for local SQL Server instances?

  A:

  • Windows permissions:
    • A Windows user must be member of Performance Log Users, Performance Monitor Users groups and the Event Log Readers group
  • SQL Server permissions:
    • Fixed sysadmin role permissions are required for the first, initial, use only
    • Otherwise: GRANT VIEW ANY DATABASE, GRANT VIEW SERVER STATE, and GRANT VIEW ANY DEFINITION

• Q: Which permissions are required for remote SQL Server instances?

  A:

  • Windows permissions:
    • A Windows user must be member of Performance Log Users, Performance Monitor Users groups and the Event Log Readers groups on the monitored instance
  • SQL Server permissions:
    • A Windows account with the following permissions on remote SQL Server instances: GRANT VIEW ANY DATABASE, GRANT VIEW SERVER STATE, and GRANT VIEW ANY DEFINITION
  • Requirements:
    • Remote Registry service must be started on the remote server
    • Ports 139 and 445 must be opened to allow monitoring and collecting Windows performance counters

• Q: Which additional permissions are required for monitoring SQL Server index performance metrics?

  A:

  • SQL Server permissions:
    • A Windows account login must be mapped as a user with CONNECT permission on the target database that will be monitored
  • Or
    • A Windows account login with the Sysadmin permission on the monitored SQL Server instance where the index monitoring is turned on
  • Or
    • The login with the CONNECT ANY DATABASE permission on the monitored SQL Server instance where the index monitoring is turned on (for SQL Server 2014 and newer)

• Q: Which are the software requirements for ApexSQL Monitor?

  A: ApexSQL Monitor software requirements are specified on the System requirements page

• Q: Which are hardware requirements for ApexSQL Monitor?

  A: Both minimum and recommended hardware requirements for ApexSQL Monitor are the same as described in the Hardware and Software Requirements for installing SQL Server. Additionally, we recommend using multi-core processors as ApexSQL Monitor relies heavily on parallel job processes to provide fast processing of captured information. There are additional HDD space requirements, depending on traffic activity per monitored SQL Server database:

  • Light activity requires 1 – 3GB
  • Medium activity requires 3 – 5GB
  • High activity requires 5 – 10GB and more