Issues Configuring SQL Server Data Collector

I recently encountered multiple issues when attempting to configure the SQL Server Data Collector on a number SQL Server 2008 R2 boxes. The idea was to configure the Data Collector on multiple SQL servers and have them report into a single management SQL server which had the Data Collection Warehouse database. This should have been a quick and simple task, but instead it consumed more time and effort that it deserved…

A few of the servers configured and reported data in just fine, however, the rest would only report  on everything except for Disk Usage metrics or would simply fail during the configuration.

Since I went through an insane number of troubleshooting options and really did not have time to document all of the steps, or what step fixed which issue, I will just list out the issues and some notes regarding the solutions.

Data Collector Configuration Failed

If you are trying to configure the Data Collector on a target server to report into another server, and the configuration fails outright, do the following:

• Make sure that the SQL Agent account on the target server has access to the management server. I used a service account which is on the same domain as the management server and has sysadmin privileges on both the target and management server.

• If your target server’s SQL service is running on a port that is not the default port and your management server IS using the default port, make sure to include the default port in the management server box on the target server’s Data Collector configuration screen.
  • For example. If your target server,  ServerA, is running on a non-default port such as 1431, and your management server, ServerB, is running on the default port 1433, the server name in the target server’s Data Collector configuration must show the managment server as ServerB,1433.

Data Collection Disk Usage Metrics or Other Metrics Not Reporting

If you successfully configured the Data Collector on the management server and target server, but the target server is not reporting in any metrics or is only reporting some of the metrics, do the following:

• First, check the job history on the target server for the jobs that start with ‘collection%’. Those are the collection jobs that run and upload data to the management server. Check for errors in the job steps.

• If you still see connectivity errors at all, then do yourself a favor and make sure that the SQL Agent account on the target server has its default database set to master. This was what ultimately fixed most of my problems. You can set this on the target server using the following command replacing the ‘login’ with the name of your SQL Agent login:
  • Exec sp_defaultdb @loginame='login', @defdb='master'

• If you get any error regarding not being able to connect to the management server then you may want to try the steps in the Data Collector Configuration Failed section above. These errors may present themselves as:
  • Login timeout expired
  • A network-related or instance-specific error has occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. Server is not found or not accessible. Check if instance name is correct and if SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. For more information see SQL Server Books Online.
  • Named Pipes Provider: Could not open a connection to…
  • Failed to connect to server %SERVERNAME%. –> Login failed for user ‘%SERVERNAME%\%USERNAME%’

• If none of the previous steps work you can add a registry entry to the target server to add additional tracing to the dcexec: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlagent/archive/2011/07/13/enabling-additional-tracing-for-data-collector.aspx

The post Issues Configuring SQL Server Data Collector appeared first on Bates ITS.