We are pleased to announce version 3.6 of DBmarlin where we have added improvements to Remote agent and SQL Statistics as well as backend performance and security updates.

More SQL Statistics improvements

In recent releases, we have expanded our collection of SQL statistics for each database technology. In version 3.4.0, we added the ability to choose which statistics to collect. Previously, these additional statistics were only available in reports such as SQL Stats Explorer and SQL Stats Comparison. Now, they are also included in the SQL Statistics tab, where you can choose which ones to chart. The table at the bottom contains all SQL statistics. If they don’t all fit within your screen width, you can scroll horizontally to see them.

Blocking sessions for Db2 (beta)

We have added the Blocking Sessions feature for IBM Db2 customers, which works in the same way as for Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, and PostgreSQL. This feature displays the blocking trees for any period you choose, and you can see which tree has the most blocking time. For any given blocking tree, you can see who the head blocker was, which session was blocked, and who was holding the lock. To try out the beta please contact us via any of the usual channels (email, Slack, Community or live chat on the website)

Deadlock capture for SQL Server (beta)

We have added the ability to capture deadlocks for SQL Server. A database deadlock occurs when two or more transactions or processes within a database system are waiting for each other to release resources, resulting in a state of mutual deadlock where none of the transactions can proceed. This situation can lead to a system freeze or significant performance degradation. The database engine will normally detect this condition and abort one of the transactions, thus allowing the other session(s) to continue. DBmarlin can now capture the deadlock events as well as the sessions involved to help remediate the problem.

Remote agent improvements

In case you missed it, we added the option to run one or more remote agents that report to your DBmarlin server last month. This is in addition to the default agent that comes included with the DBmarlin server. We have now added a new column to the list view of the Database Instances and Hosts Settings page to show which agent is being used to monitor.

Backend updates and tuning

We have updated all the backend components used by the DBmarlin server and agent to the latest patch releases, which include bug fixes and security updates for Nginx, Tomcat, Java, PostgreSQL, and TimeScaleDB. Additionally, we implemented housekeeping for PostgreSQL log files, which are now cycled after 8 days for Linux installs.

In our ongoing efforts to improve DBmarlin’s performance, we have made some frontend performance enhancements, such as increased caching in the browser and within Nginx. We have also enabled compression within Nginx for text-based resources like CSS and JavaScript.

Instance metadata

A new icon now appears next to the instance name showing some information about the instance like the database version and other useful properties, for example, whether it support the collection of SQL Statistics, Blocking sessions and Deadlocks and if so whether they have been enabled.

By default, 3.6 has blocking sessions available for Oracle and SQL Server. For PostgreSQL, MySQL, and Db2, it is in beta and can be enabled on request. Deadlocking is also a beta feature, but only for SQL Server. SQL Statistics is dependent on the version of the database being used (see docs).

Ready to try DBmarlin?

If you would like to find out more about DBmarlin and why we think it is special, try one of the links below.

• Get hands-on without an installation at play.dbmarlin.com
• Download DBmarlin from www.dbmarlin.com, with one FREE standard edition license, which is free forever for 1 target database.
• Join our new community at https://community.dbmarlin.com/invitation?code=74020A