The Microsoft SQL Server integration collects transaction, connection,and other metrics from your SQL Server instances.

For more information about SQL Server, see theSQL Serverdocumentation.

Before you begin

The Ops Agent version 2.15.0 introduces support for a new set ofSQL Server metrics using theworkload.googleapis.com/ prefix. Youmust configure the agent to collect these metrics, as described inExample configuration.

The Ops Agent has always supported a limited set of SQL Servier metrics;these metrics use theagent.googleapis.com/mssql/ prefix. No additionalconfiguration is needed to collect these metrics on Windows VMs.

This document refers to theagent-prefixed metrics as thev1 metricsand to theworkload-prefixed metrics as thev2 metrics.

• The v1 metrics include transaction-rate and connection-count information.
• The v2 metrics include batch, lock, page, and user connection-countinformation at the instance level, and transaction and transaction-loginformation at the database level.

For tables of these metrics, seeWhat is monitored.

Starting with the Ops Agent version 2.15.0, you can configurethe agent to collect v1 metrics, v2 metrics, or both.

To collect SQL Server telemetry, you mustinstall the Ops Agent:

• For metrics v1, install version 1.0.0 or higher.
• For metrics v2, install version 2.15.0 or higher.

This integration supports SQL Server versions 11.x, 12.x, 13.x, 14.x, 15.x, and16.x.

Configure the Ops Agent for SQL Server

When using the Ops Agent on a Microsoft Windows VM, the agent automaticallycollects SQL Server v1 metrics. No additional configuration is required.

Following the guide toconfigure the OpsAgent, add the required elementsto collect telemetry from SQL Server instances, andrestart the agent.

After setting up a new SQL Server instance, you might not immediately seemetrics display in Metrics Explorer. The Ops Agent begins collecting SQLServer metrics only after there is database activity to report.

Example configuration

The following commands create the configuration to collect and ingesttelemetry for SQL Server:

$ErrorActionPreference='Stop'#Thisconfiggetsmergedwiththebuilt-inOpsAgentconfig,whichalready#includesthev1receiverinthedefaultpipeline.#Becausethev2receiverhereusesauniqueID,itdoesnotoverwrite#thedefaultreceiverandsobothreceiverswillbeactivesimultaneously#duringthetest.#Createanemptyconfig.yamlfileifitdoesn't exist.$configFilePath  = 'C:\ProgramFiles\Google\CloudOperations\OpsAgent\config\config.yaml'if (-not (Test-Path -Path $configFilePath -PathType Leaf)) {    New-Item -ItemType File -Path $configFilePath -Force | Out-Null}# Create a back up of the existing file so existing configurations are not lost.Copy-Item -Path 'C:\ProgramFiles\Google\CloudOperations\OpsAgent\config\config.yaml' -Destination 'C:\ProgramFiles\Google\CloudOperations\OpsAgent\config\config.yaml.bak'# Configure the Ops Agent.Add-Content 'C:\ProgramFiles\Google\CloudOperations\OpsAgent\config\config.yaml' "metrics:  receivers:    mssql_v2:      type: mssql      receiver_version: 2  service:    pipelines:      mssql_v2:        receivers:        - mssql_v2"if (Get-Service google-cloud-ops-agent* -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) {  (Get-Service google-cloud-ops-agent*).WaitForStatus('Running', '00:03:00')}

For these changes to take effect, you must restart the Ops Agent:

1. Connect to your instance using RDP or a similar tool and login to Windows.
2. Open a PowerShell terminal with administrator privileges by right-clicking the PowerShell icon and selectingRun as Administrator
3. To restart the agent, run the following PowerShell command:

   Restart-Service google-cloud-ops-agent -Force

4. To confirm that the agent restarted, run the following command and verify that the components "Metrics Agent" and "Logging Agent" started:

   Get-Service google-cloud-ops-agent*

Configure v1 metrics collection

The Ops Agent on a Microsoft Windows VM automatically collectsSQL Server v1 metrics. No additional configuration is required.For information about collectingonly v2 metrics, seeConfigure v2 metricscollection.

After you set up a new SQL Server instance, SQL Server might notimmediately report any metrics. The Ops Agent begins collecting SQLServer metrics after there is database activity to report.

Configure v2 metrics collection

To ingest v2 metrics from SQL Server, you must create a receiver for themetrics that SQL Server produces and then create a pipeline for the newreceiver.

This receiver does notsupport the use of multiple instances in the configuration, for example, tomonitor multiple endpoints. All such instances write to the same time series,and Cloud Monitoring has no way to distinguish among them. The Ops Agent doesn'tsupport SQL Server named instances.

To configure a receiver for yourmssql metrics, specify the followingfields:

By default, the v1 metrics are collected automatically. You can either augmentthe v1 metrics by additionally collecting v2 metrics, or you can overridethe v1 metrics to collect only v2 metrics.

• To collectonly v2 metrics, do the following:

  • Name your receivermssql.
  • Set thetype field tomssql.
  • Set thereceiver_version field to2.
  • Use this receiver in yourdefault_pipeline pipeline.This configuration overrides the built-in configuration of themssql receiver.

• To collect both v1 and v2 metrics, do the following:

  • Name your receiver something other thanmssql, likemssql_v2.
  • Set thetype field tomssql.
  • Set thereceiver_version to2.
  • Use this receiver in your new pipeline.This configuration adds a v2 receiver rather than overriding the built-inreceiver. The script inExample configuration uses thisapproach.

What is monitored

Starting with version 2.15.0, the Ops Agent can collect two differentsets of metrics:

• The v1 metrics:agent.googleapis.com/mssql/.
• The v2 metrics:workload.googleapis.com/.

V1 metrics

The following table provides the list of v1 metrics that the Ops Agent collectsfrom the SQL Server instance.

The "metric type" strings in this table must be prefixed withagent.googleapis.com/mssql/. That prefix has been omitted from the entries in the table. When querying a label, use themetric.labels. prefix; for example,metric.labels.LABEL="VALUE".

Table generated at 2026-02-20 00:02:33 UTC.

V2 metrics

The following table provides the list of v2 metrics that the Ops Agent collectsfrom the SQL Server instance.

Verify the configuration

This section describes how to verify that you correctly configured theSQL Server receiver. It might take one or twominutes for the Ops Agent to begin collecting telemetry.

To verify that SQL Server metrics are being sent toCloud Monitoring, do the following:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to theleaderboard Metrics explorer page:

   Go toMetrics explorer

   If you use the search bar to find this page, then select the result whose subheading isMonitoring.

2. In the toolbar of thequery-builder pane, select the button whose name is eithercode MQL orcode PromQL.
3. Verify thatPromQL is selectedin theLanguage toggle. The language toggle is in the same toolbar thatlets you format your query.
• For v1 metrics, enter the following query in the editor, and then clickRun query:
  

  {"agent.googleapis.com/mssql/connections/user", monitored_resource="gce_instance"}

• For v2 metrics, enter the following query in the editor, and then clickRun:
  

  {"workload.googleapis.com/sqlserver.user.connection.count", monitored_resource="gce_instance"}

View dashboard

To view your SQL Server metrics, you must have a chart or dashboardconfigured.The SQL Server integration includes one or more dashboards for you.Any dashboards are automatically installed after you configure theintegration and the Ops Agent has begun collecting metric data.

You can also view static previews of dashboards withoutinstalling the integration.

To view an installed dashboard, do the following:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to thedashboard Dashboards page:

   Go toDashboards

   If you use the search bar to find this page, then select the result whose subheading isMonitoring.

2. Select theDashboard List tab, and then choose theIntegrations category.
3. Click the name of the dashboard you want to view.

If you have configured an integration but the dashboard has not beeninstalled, then check that the Ops Agent is running. When there is nometric data for a chart in the dashboard, installation of the dashboard fails.After the Ops Agent begins collecting metrics, the dashboard is installedfor you.

To view a static preview of the dashboard, do the following:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Integrations page:

   Go toIntegrations

   If you use the search bar to find this page, then select the result whose subheading isMonitoring.

2. Click theCompute Engine deployment-platform filter.
3. Locate the entry for SQL Server and clickView Details.
4. Select theDashboards tab to see a static preview. If the dashboard is installed, then you can navigate to it by clickingView dashboard.

For more information about dashboards in Cloud Monitoring, seeDashboards and charts.

For more information about using theIntegrations page, seeManage integrations.

Install alerting policies

Alerting policies instruct Cloud Monitoring to notify you whenspecified conditions occur.The SQL Server integration includes one or more alerting policies foryou to use.You can view and installthese alerting policies from theIntegrations page inMonitoring.

To view the descriptions of available alerting policies and install them, do the following:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Integrations page:

   Go toIntegrations

   If you use the search bar to find this page, then select the result whose subheading isMonitoring.

2. Locate the entry for SQL Server and clickView Details.
3. Select theAlerts tab. This tab provides descriptions of available alerting policies and provides an interface for installing them.
4. Install alerting policies. Alerting policies need to know where to send notifications that the alert has been triggered, so they require information from you for installation. To install alerting policies, do the following:
   1. From the list of available alerting policies, select those that you want to install.

   2. In theConfigure notifications section, select one or more notification channels. You have the option to disable the use of notification channels, but if you do, then your alerting policies fire silently. You can check their status in Monitoring, but you receive no notifications.

      For more information about notification channels, seeManage notification channels.

   3. ClickCreate Policies.

For more information about alerting policies in Cloud Monitoring, seeIntroduction to alerting.

For more information about using theIntegrations page, seeManage integrations.

What's next

For a walkthrough on how to use Ansible to install the Ops Agent, configurea third-party application, and install a sample dashboard, see theInstall the Ops Agent to troubleshoot third-party applications video.