Embarcadero arms DBAs with Performance Center 2.5

SAN FRANCISCO, USA: Embarcadero Technologies is delivering another superior solution to detect, diagnose and correct database performance degradation issues with Performance Center version 2.5. The upgraded monitoring tool incorporates features that help database administrators (DBAs) resolve performance issues and improve end-user service satisfaction levels.

With Performance Center 2.5, Embarcadero focused on features that help mitigate the strain DBAs are facing amid the radical growth in data and the increased number of systems under their management. This latest release enables DBAs to review both current and historical performance information for all monitored databases and, by understanding the historical performance spike patterns, they can preclude future performance problems. Details on database activities that could be hampering performance, such as memory, I/O, contention, space, network, objects, users, and SQL code, can be tracked from a single Web-based console that also provides point-in-time health summaries and customizable reports.

"DBAs are already overworked and stretched in a million directions, so the last hassle they want to face is a manual performance management tool or one that can't unite multiple database platforms into one simple view," said Scott Walz, senior director, product management, Embarcadero. "By providing administrators with enterprise-wide alerts and database health information through a simple UI, Performance Center makes performance monitoring less tedious and time consuming."

The robust new graphical productivity features in Performance Center 2.5 enable DBAs to easily monitor multiple databases platforms from a single view. New graphing zoom features and an enhanced Enterprise View with enterprise-wide alert and health status information help mitigate large-scale database monitoring. Also, the addition of configurable alert thresholds, notifications and escalation paths allow users to stay a step ahead of database issues and capture a wide array of performance metrics.

"Managing the performance of our databases is a top priority that requires equal parts of art and science and, ideally, the least amount of time and labor possible," said Chris Hanson, principal, Wire Science, a software development company. "Performance Center has become a staple in our company because it gives us fingertip access to all of our database performance details and, with customizable alerts and notifications set to our specific preferences, we can resolve any problems before they result in disgruntled end-users."

Like all other Embarcadero DatabaseGearTM tools, Performance Center offers cross-platform support for IBM DB2 forLinux, Unix and Windows, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle and Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE). Highly detailed and specialized reports can be generated for a variety of audiences, including CIOs, IT managers and business unit managers, who routinely assess operational costs and service-level agreements.

"Performance Center is a key component of our strategy in delivering products that detect, diagnose and ultimately correct database performance issues," said Greg Keller, chief evangelist, databaseGear products, Embarcadero. "With this release and our other performance optimization tools offered in the DatabaseGear and CodeGear product portfolios, application developers and database professionals alike can quickly implement end-to-end application performance from clients, into servers, and all the way through to the database."

Other key Performance Center 2.5 features and benefits include:

• An agent-less architecture lets DBAs install and configure the tool without involving system administrators, cutting installation costs and time
• An at-a-glance view into overall database health gives guidance to help desk managers
• Server-side caching of monitored metrics results in the immediate population of graphs and grids without the need for client-side caching or initialization
• Increased server capacity offers greater flexibility
• New reporting engine enables quicker set-up, configuration and more custom reporting options