Alert visualization recipe: Get out your blender, drop in some sp_send_dbmail, Google Charts API, add your favorite colors and sprinkle with html. Blend till it’s smooth and looks pretty enough to taste.

Posted by Maria Zakourdaev on SQL Blog See other posts from SQL Blog or by Maria Zakourdaev
Published on Wed, 26 Jun 2013 14:08:00 GMT Indexed on 2013/06/26 16:26 UTC
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I really like database monitoring. My email inbox have a constant flow of different types of alerts coming from our production servers with all kinds of information, sometimes more useful and sometimes less useful. Usually database alerts look really simple, it’s usually a plain text email saying “Prod1 Database data file on Server X is 80% used. You’d better grow it manually before some query triggers the AutoGrowth process”.

Imagine you could have received email like the one below. In addition to the alert description it could have also included the the database file growth chart over the past 6 months. Wouldn’t it give you much more information whether the data growth is natural or extreme? That’s truly what data visualization is for.

Believe it or not, I have sent the graph below from SQL Server stored procedure without buying any additional data monitoring/visualization tool.

Would you like to visualize your database alerts like I do? Then like myself, you’d love the Google Charts.

All you need to know is a little HTML and have a mail profile configured on your SQL Server instance regardless of the SQL Server version.

First of all, I hope you know that the sp_send_dbmail procedure has a great parameter @body_format = ‘HTML’, which allows us to send rich and colorful messages instead of boring black and white ones. All that we need is to dynamically create HTML code.

This is how, for instance, you can create a table and populate it with some data:

DECLARE @html varchar(max)

SET @html = '<html>'
+ '<H3><font id="Text" style='color: Green;'>Top Databases: </H3>'
+ '<table border="1" bordercolor="#3300FF" style='background-color:#DDF8CC' width='70%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='3'>'
+ '<tr><font color="Green"><th>Database Name</th><th>Size</th><th>Physical Name</th></tr>' +

CAST( (SELECT TOP 10
                            td = name,'',
                            td = size * 8/1024 ,'',
                            td = physical_name
            FROM sys.master_files
            ORDER BY size DESC
            FOR XML PATH ('tr'),TYPE
) AS VARCHAR(MAX))
+
'</table>'

EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_send_dbmail
@recipients = '[email protected]',
@subject ='Top databases',
@body = @html,
@body_format = 'HTML'

This is the result:

If you want to add more visualization effects, you can use Google Charts Tools https://google-developers.appspot.com/chart/interactive/docs/index which is a free and rich library of data visualization charts, they’re also easy to populate and embed.

There are two versions of the Google Charts

Image based charts: https://google-developers.appspot.com/chart/image/docs/gallery/chart_gall

This is an old version, it’s officially deprecated although it will be up for a next few years or so. I really enjoy using this one because it can be viewed within the email body. For mobile devices you need to change the “Load remote images” property in your email application configuration.

Charts based on JavaScript classes: https://google-developers.appspot.com/chart/interactive/docs/gallery

This API is newer, with rich and highly interactive charts, and it’s much more easier to understand and configure. The only downside of it is that they cannot be viewed within the email body. Outlook, Gmail and many other email clients, as part of their security policy, do not run any JavaScript that’s placed within the email body. However, you can still enjoy this API by sending the report as an email attachment.

Here is an example of the old version of Google Charts API, sending the same top databases report as in the previous example but instead of a simple table, this script is using a pie chart right from the T-SQL code

DECLARE @html varchar(8000)

DECLARE @Series varchar(800),@Labels varchar(8000),@Legend varchar(8000);

SET @Series = '';
SET @Labels = '';
SET @Legend = '';

SELECT TOP 5 @Series = @Series + CAST(size * 8/1024 as varchar) + ',',
@Labels = @Labels +CAST(size * 8/1024 as varchar) + 'MB'+'|',
@Legend = @Legend + name + '|'
FROM sys.master_files
ORDER BY size DESC

SELECT @Series = SUBSTRING(@Series,1,LEN(@Series)-1),
@Labels = SUBSTRING(@Labels,1,LEN(@Labels)-1),
@Legend = SUBSTRING(@Legend,1,LEN(@Legend)-1)

SET @html =
'<H3><font color="Green"> '+@@ServerName+' top 5 databases : </H3>'+
   '<br>'+
   '<img src="http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?'+
   'chf=bg,s,DDF8CC&'+
   'cht=p&'+
   'chs=400x200&'+
   'chco=3072F3|7777CC|FF9900|FF0000|4A8C26&'+
   'chd=t:'+@Series+'&'+
   'chl='+@Labels+'&'+
   'chma=0,0,0,0&'+
   'chdl='+@Legend+'&'+
   'chdlp=b"'+
   'alt="'+@@ServerName+' top 5 databases" />'

EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_send_dbmail @recipients = '[email protected]',
                            @subject = 'Top databases',
                            @body = @html,
                            @body_format = 'HTML'

This is what you get. Isn’t it great?

Chart parameters reference:

chf     Gradient fill bg - backgroud ; s- solid
cht     chart type ( p - pie)
chs        chart size width/height
chco    series colors
chd        chart data string        1,2,3,2
chl        pir chart labels        a|b|c|d
chma    chart margins
chdl    chart legend            a|b|c|d
chdlp    chart legend text        b - bottom of chart

Line graph implementation is also really easy and powerful

DECLARE @html varchar(max)
DECLARE @Series varchar(max)
DECLARE @HourList varchar(max)

SET @Series = '';
SET @HourList = '';

SELECT @HourList = @HourList + SUBSTRING(CONVERT(varchar(13),last_execution_time,121), 12,2) + '|' ,
@Series = @Series + CAST( COUNT(1) as varchar) + ','
FROM sys.dm_exec_query_stats s
CROSS APPLY sys.dm_exec_sql_text(plan_handle) t
WHERE last_execution_time > = getdate()-1
GROUP BY CONVERT(varchar(13),last_execution_time,121)
ORDER BY CONVERT(varchar(13),last_execution_time,121)

SET @Series = SUBSTRING(@Series,1,LEN(@Series)-1)

SET @html =
'<img src="http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?'+
'chco=CA3D05,87CEEB&'+
'chd=t:'+@Series+'&'+
'chds=1,350&'+
'chdl= Proc executions from cache&'+
'chf=bg,s,1F1D1D|c,lg,0,363433,1.0,2E2B2A,0.0&'+
'chg=25.0,25.0,3,2&'+
'chls=3|3&'+
'chm=d,CA3D05,0,-1,12,0|d,FFFFFF,0,-1,8,0|d,87CEEB,1,-1,12,0|d,FFFFFF,1,-1,8,0&'+
'chs=600x450&'+
'cht=lc&'+
'chts=FFFFFF,14&'+
'chtt=Executions for from'
+(SELECT CONVERT(varchar(16),min(last_execution_time),121)
         FROM sys.dm_exec_query_stats
         WHERE last_execution_time > = getdate()-1)
+' till '+
+(SELECT CONVERT(varchar(16),max(last_execution_time),121)
    FROM sys.dm_exec_query_stats)
+
'&'+
'chxp=1,50.0|4,50.0&'+
'chxs=0,FFFFFF,12,0|1,FFFFFF,12,0|2,FFFFFF,12,0|3,FFFFFF,12,0|4,FFFFFF,14,0&'+
'chxt=y,y,x,x,x&'+
'chxl=0:|1|350|1:|N|2:|'+@HourList+'3:|Hour&'+
'chma=55,120,0,0" alt="" />'

EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_send_dbmail
@recipients = '[email protected]',
@subject ='Daily number of executions',
@body = @html,
@body_format = 'HTML'

Chart parameters reference:

chco    series colors
chd        series data
chds    scale format
chdl    chart legend
chf        background fills
chg        grid line
chls    line style
chm        line fill
chs        chart size
cht        chart type
chts    chart style
chtt    chart title
chxp    axis label positions
chxs    axis label styles
chxt    axis tick mark styles
chxl    axis labels
chma    chart margins

If you don’t mind to get your charts as an email attachment, you can enjoy the Java based Google Charts which are even easier to configure, and have much more advanced graphics. In the example below, the sp_send_email procedure uses the parameter @query which will be executed at the time that sp_send_dbemail is executed and the HTML result of this execution will be attached to the email.

DECLARE @html varchar(max),@query varchar(max)
DECLARE @SeriesDBusers varchar(800);

SET @SeriesDBusers = '';

SELECT @SeriesDBusers = @SeriesDBusers + ' ["'+DB_NAME(r.database_id) +'", ' +cast(count(1) as varchar)+'],'
FROM sys.dm_exec_requests r
GROUP BY DB_NAME(database_id)
ORDER BY count(1) desc;

SET @SeriesDBusers = SUBSTRING(@SeriesDBusers,1,LEN(@SeriesDBusers)-1)

SET @query = '
PRINT ''
<html>
<head>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="https://www.google.com/jsapi"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript">
      google.load("visualization", "1", {packages:["corechart"]});
       google.setOnLoadCallback(drawChart);
      function drawChart() {
                     var data = google.visualization.arrayToDataTable([
                       ["Database Name", "Active users"],
                       '+@SeriesDBusers+'
                     ]);

                     var options = {
                       title: "Active users",
                       pieSliceText: "value"
                     };

                     var chart = new google.visualization.PieChart(document.getElementById("chart_div"));
                     chart.draw(data, options);
      };
    </script>
</head>
<body>
    <table>
    <tr><td>
        <div id="chart_div" style='width: 800px; height: 300px;'></div>
        </td></tr>
    </table>
</body>
</html>
'''

EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_send_dbmail
   @recipients = '[email protected]',
   @subject ='Active users',
   @body = @html,
   @body_format = 'HTML',
   @query = @Query,
   @attach_query_result_as_file = 1,
   @query_attachment_filename = 'Results.htm'

After opening the email attachment in the browser you are getting this kind of report:

In fact, the above is not only for database alerts. It can be used for applicative reports if you need high levels of customization that you cannot achieve using standard methods like SSRS.

If you need more information on how to customize the charts, you can try the following:

Image Based Charts wizard https://google-developers.appspot.com/chart/image/docs/chart_wizard
Live Image Charts Playground https://google-developers.appspot.com/chart/image/docs/chart_playground
Image Based Charts Parameters List https://google-developers.appspot.com/chart/image/docs/chart_params
Java Script Charts Playground https://code.google.com/apis/ajax/playground/?type=visualization

Use the above examples as a starting point for your procedures and I’d be more than happy to hear of your implementations of the above techniques.

Yours,

Maria

Developer IT

Alert visualization recipe: Get out your blender, drop in some sp_send_dbmail, Google Charts API, add your favorite colors and sprinkle with html. Blend till it’s smooth and looks pretty enough to taste. - Developer IT

Alert visualization recipe: Get out your blender, drop in some sp_send_dbmail, Google Charts API, add your favorite colors and sprinkle with html. Blend till it’s smooth and looks pretty enough to taste.

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