Ian Harrison
Ian Harrison DBmarlin technical writer and consultant

DBmarlin 2.3 released - Now with Performance Snapshots

DBmarlin 2.3 released - Now with Performance Snapshots

We are pleased to announce version 2.3 of DBmarlin; we have added new performance snapshots which have multiple uses, and greatly simplify comparison of data across events.

What are DBmarlin snapshots all about?

Snapshots are a named record of a database’s performance for a time period (with filters applied if required) so that the performance data can be recalled at a later point in time.

Optionally, the data associated with the snapshot can also be saved at full granularity beyond the normal data retention time. In this case the data for the saved snapshot will not be purged and can be stored indefinitely as long as required.

Why have we introduced this?

We wanted to build on the heritage of DBTuna where the archiving of time periods was a popular feature. Some DBTuna customers liked to save off periods of peak database activity, such as Black Friday sales or the Grand National horse racing festival. In some cases, they have kept this data going back over 10 years so they can see year-on-year how their database performance has changed.

Is this a common feature in database monitoring tools?

Despite this being a useful and popular feature of DBTuna, it isn’t a feature that we see in other monitoring tools. Typically, other monitoring tools will keep detailed data for a short period, but that is then aggregated, thus losing the detail, or purged so that it is lost forever. There is usually no way to save detailed data for future reference.

Many uses for saved snapshots

There are many reasons why you might want to keep detailed data for longer than the standard retention period. Here are some common uses for performance snapshots:

  • Saving the detailed performance data around an incident and linking it to the ticket or incident record
  • Comparing performance across version upgrades
  • Migration from on-prem services to cloud based databases
  • Saving performance test data from a load test so it can be used as a baseline for future load tests.
  • Save detailed data for a peak trading period like Black Friday so it can be used the following year.

I’m sure you can think of other uses for snapshots too. Let us know.

Save snapshot gif

Feedback and roadmap portal is live

Remember to use the new feedback site to see what is being worked on, what is planned and the ideas suggested by others.

If you submit an idea, comment on, or upvote someone else’s idea, then you will automatically get notified when that feature is being worked on and when it is delivered. This helps us keep you in the loop.

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