There are numerous database monitoring tools available today in the market, so choosing the right tool can be really time-consuming. Many traditional tools and methodologies of analyzing database performance doesn’t work and many IT professionals waste time and money looking at the wrong metrics/statistics.
This blog describes the features industrial experts agree that an efficient and effective database monitoring tool should provide.
Databases Activity Monitoring (DAM) tools plays a pivotal role in any organization that needs to provide an additional layer of security and protection in opposition to malicious attacks. Furthermore, the database activity monitoring tools are highly crucial to meet legal compliance needs that administrative industries like health and finances need. However, many database administrators are still using traditional or legacy database monitoring tools that can prove to be inefficient and expensive. While some of these monitoring software’s may come for free, however, they can carry a hidden outlay that can interpret or lead to millions of dollars exhausted later on.
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How can Database Monitoring Tools guard you?
Automated solutions offer enhanced protection, minimize costs, lead to better security audits, and empower you with an end to end reporting. In a scenario that an attacker breaches your database, whether it’s via data exploitation, SQL injection or DDoS real-time responses and alerts are essential.
The other chief features database monitoring tools persist are precedence optimization and dynamic policy formation, not to mention a simple to use interface that leads the administrator, or activity handler, to analyse contemporary vulnerabilities or potential threats.
The useful monitoring tools realize four tasks for database monitoring activities:
A) They collect data and information in regards to traffic interacting with your databases
B) Correlate that actions with legitimate vs. illegitimate user-base
C) And offer quick and prioritized responses to all types of threats
Features to look for in Database activity monitoring tools while selection incorporates:
A) Traffic Collection
Many monitoring tools have started auditing users that are either straightforwardly accessing the database that uses the database via a web application, mobile device or a browser. To all intents and purposes, this approach allows companies to keep up with the protection and compliance policies in regards to their databases and regardless of the total amount of traffic.
An ideal solution must accomplishes that by fitting in the needed details of every transaction, analysing actions and activities within the database. The real-time monitoring enables the companies to be in full control of all traffic in order to correctly address vulnerabilities and measure risks.
B) Activity Correlation
In addition to database performance monitoring, activity correlation is a highly developed feature among DAMs that detects a probable threat by monitoring transactions from specific users. If a user has a curiously high amount of transactions or if an unswerving user has begun corrupting with a database outside of their assigned domains then an alert with a notification is automatically generated.
All activity within a database is characteristically logged to a repository, a familiar feature in a DAM solution. However, activity correlation goes further than this criterion feature. It automatically archives required activities, the policies, and the configurations for creating a model for normal database operations on the user basis. This correlation is imperative to establishing what each user pattern activity looks likes so irregularities can be identified and met head-on.
C) Alert Communication
One of the most significant aspects of DAM tools is sustenance in prioritizing incidents and enabling active alerting. Alerts can be communicated in an assortment of ways, whether through a quick email, through an alert panel on the tool, or via a 3rd party security systems like SIEM. Incidents that are lower in the risks should be recognized as such, but others like a user trying to way in insightful information or traffic must be attended first and dealt as per the defined levels of severity.
The most wide-ranging form of alerts is policy-based alerts. There are two groups that policy-based alerts fall into. The user activity group alerts are completely user-specific such as strange information requests or way in, interfering with some sensitive data and the SQL injections. These alerts are fundamental to inform the DAM tool that there is a possibility of threat or malicious action has been observed.
Key Takeaways
Choosing the right Databases Activity Monitoring (DAM) tool is very crucial for all businesses as they contribute to the overall security to your company and to the clients you serve.
Whatever tool you select, make sure that it guards your organization against SQL injections, excessive privileges, privilege abuse, and anomalous user activities. For the best run through, setting up responsive policies and alerts should be a peak priority. All said, this means your DAM must attend to the three features or procedures which consist of traffic collection, activity correlation, and alert communication.
This is where tools such as Motadata offers a comprehensive and effective database monitoring tool which lets you monitor and manage heterogeneous IT infrastructure which may consist of MSSQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, IBM DB2 and other databases. Motadata enables admins by giving them prior notification before any problem happens. With the use of out-of-the-box dashboards and reports, Motadata helps you meet SLAs and troubleshoot problems quickly.
Key Highlights of the Tool
Analyse usage trends: Keep a close eye on metrics like availability, utilisation and other key metrics
Optimize database performance: Motadata is scalable with proactive alerting, reporting and comprehensive monitoring
Proactively Troubleshoot: Quick database outages and failures detection with root cause analysis
Reduce downtime: Ensure 100% database server availability with instant failure troubleshooting
Proactive Database Monitoring: Avoid unexpected database slowdowns with powerful correlation between wait times, application requests, SQL statements, and other aspects to improve overall database response time.
Reach highest levels of performance: This includes complete and effective monitoring of availability, performance, and the usage statistics for databases. Get hands on comprehensive and customizable reports and widgets.