Database servers have emerged as core storage and retrieval mechanisms that drive a variety of mission-critical services - from web-based to ERP services. In many infrastructures, a database server (or a cluster) supports multiple front-end servers. Consequently, a performance bottleneck or failure of a database server can impact the performance of a number of services that rely on it.

Effectively monitoring and managing a database server requires a great deal of expertise. Monitoring a database server involves not just ensuring high uptime but making sure that the database is optimized for peak performance - e.g., that the different database caches are tuned to service requests fast, that the server has enough buffers to perform and sort operations in memory rather than on disk, that the database accesses are evenly distributed across the different datafiles, etc. Tuning the database by considering the behavior of applications using the database - e.g., whether the queries to the database are optimal, whether the locking behavior of the application is normal etc., can result in significant performance improvements.

eG Enterprise provides monitoring capabilities for many databases. A full list of databases and applications supported as standard can be found here