Background
Monitoring technology has come a long way, giving organisations a wide choice of tools that offer insight, control, and automation. When we first reviewed our Open-Source monitoring application, it was exactly what we needed. It fitted neatly into our architecture and provided the visibility required to keep client environments running smoothly.
As our Open-Source managed support service expanded, so did our goal to move beyond built-in monitoring facets and take a more proactive, preventative approach by developing our monitoring to identify issues early and address them before they affect day-to-day operations.
The Challenge
One of our Open Source Managed Services customers raised a Priority 1 incident that highlighted a key opportunity to strengthen our monitoring approach. Our team resolved the issue quickly with minimal disruption, but we didn’t stop there. We worked closely with the client to review what had happened and why. Through that discussion, we identified an area where we could expand the view of the Open-Source monitoring application: long-running queries weren’t being monitored by default. While the original implementation met all requirements at the time, this finding showed where we could improve visibility and further reduce performance risks.
The Solution
In keeping with our values and the teams proactive mindset, we designed and implemented a bespoke enhancement to the monitoring solution.
By combining Batch scripting, PowerShell, SQL, and Custom Script logic, we built an additional monitoring layer that can:
- Detect and track long-running queries in real time
- Send early alerts and reports when thresholds are exceeded
- Notify the support team so we can investigate before performance begins to degrade
This enhancement further improved the overall monitoring approach, moving deeper into a proactive and preventative approach.
The Impact
The new capability now alerts the support team to potential long-running query issues before they escalate, allowing us to investigate early and address problems before our Client’s users or business processes are affected.
The improvement has:
- Increased visibility into active transactions
- Reduced the likelihood of performance-related incidents
- Strengthened our proactive response and boosted client confidence
What began as the response to a single incident has now become a long-term benefit for all clients a clear example of how we continually learn, refine, and innovate.
Conclusion
We believe effective monitoring isn’t only about technology, it’s about listening, adapting, and finding better ways to support our clients. Each challenge gives us the chance to improve how we manage and protect the systems.
By identifying gaps early, developing tailored solutions, and continually evolving our monitoring strategy, we ensure our clients benefit from early detection, faster responses, and reliable performance.
Proactive monitoring isn’t just something we do, it’s part of who we are.