Getting Started

Set up your first SQL Server instance in QMonitor
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This guide will walk you through the essential steps to start monitoring your first SQL Server instance with QMonitor.

Before You Begin

What you’ll need:

  • A SQL Server instance you want to monitor (SQL Server 2008 or later)
  • Access to create a login on the SQL Server instance
  • A modern web browser

Time to complete: About 15 minutes

Step 1: Create Your Account

First, you need to register for a QMonitor account:

  1. Go to https://portal.qmonitor.app/Identity/Account/Register
  2. Enter your email and create a password (minimum 20 characters)
  3. Complete the captcha verification
  4. Check your email for the confirmation link

Once you verify your email, you can log in to QMonitor.

Registration Form

Need more details? See the Sign Up guide for step-by-step instructions with screenshots.

Step 2: Set Up Your Organization

After your first login, QMonitor will guide you through creating your organization:

  1. Enter your organization name
  2. Note down your organization name and ID (you’ll need these for agent configuration)
  3. Configure basic settings
  4. Invite team members (optional)

Your organization is the workspace where all your monitored instances and team members will be organized.

Organization Setup

Need help? Check out Set Up Organization for detailed instructions.

Step 3: Install the QMonitor Agent

The QMonitor agent collects metrics from your SQL Server instances and sends them to the QMonitor platform:

  1. Download the agent installer from the Downloads page
  2. Run the installer on a server with access to your SQL Server instances
  3. Configure the agent with your organization’’s connection details
  4. Start the agent service

The agent will start and display as “ok” on the Instances page.

Agent deployment options: You can install the agent on the same server as SQL Server or on a separate monitoring server. See the Agent documentation for installation options.

Step 4: Prepare Your SQL Server Instance

Before adding an instance to QMonitor, you need to configure it with the required permissions:

  1. Download the setup script from the Instances page in QMonitor
  2. Open the script in SQL Server Management Studio
  3. Configure these parameters at the top of the script:
    • @LoginName: The login name for the QMonitor agent
    • @Password: Password for SQL Server authentication (leave empty for Windows authentication)
    • @Sysadmin: Set to ‘‘Y’’ for full access, or ‘‘N’’ for minimum required permissions
  4. Execute the script on your SQL Server instance

The script will:

  • Create the QMonitor login (if it doesn’’t exist)
  • Grant necessary permissions
  • Create the Extended Events session for monitoring
  • Set up required database objects

What permissions does QMonitor need? The setup script can grant either sysadmin role membership (easiest) or minimum required permissions for specific DMVs and system tables. See Set Up Instance for details.

Step 5: Add Your Instance to QMonitor

Now you’’re ready to register your SQL Server instance:

  1. In QMonitor, navigate to Instances
  2. Click New Instance
  3. Enter the connection details:
    • Instance name or address
    • Authentication method (Windows or SQL Server)
    • Login credentials (the ones you configured in Step 3)
  4. Click Save to verify

QMonitor will verify that all permissions are correctly configured before completing the registration.

Add Instance Form

Troubleshooting connection issues? See Register Instance for common problems and solutions.

Step 6: View Your First Metrics

After a few minutes, you’’ll start seeing data in your dashboards:

  1. Navigate to the Dashboard page
  2. Select your instance from the dropdown
  3. Explore the available metrics:
    • CPU and memory usage
    • Wait statistics
    • Query performance
    • Blocking and deadlocks
    • SQL Server Agent jobs

QMonitor Dashboard

What’’s Next?

Now that you have your first instance monitored, you can:

Need Help?

If you run into any issues: