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This is a small command line interface (CLI) utility to gather very specific SQL Server telemetry information that drives the optimization of SQL Server licensing. The focus of this application is to gather data about running and operational operationalizing SQL Servers in a manner that allows for the export of the information without providing access credentials to the report-requesting organization. This can be compiled and run on Windows, Mac, and Linux for all of the most common chipsets, but the default packages are compiled for the following platforms:
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For other operating systems and build targets, please contact helpdesk@cloudamize.com.
Use Cases
Cloudamize captures SQL server data for licensing analysis via the Cloudamize agent or Cloudamize Agentless data collector. Some customers want to include SQL server information in their Cloudamize assessment but are unable to provide access credentials for their SQL servers. The provided utility allows you to capture this information without providing those credentials via the Cloudamize agent/agentless data collection method. This data can then be uploaded to Cloudamize and incorporated in the final results.
Other times, Cloudamize is able to collect SQL Server data from a customer’s environment but can only capture Basic SQL Server data and is unable to capture Advanced data. To capture Advanced data the customer must have PowerShell 5.1 (or higher) installed. If the customer wants to capture Advanced data but cannot upgrade PowerShell they can use this utility to provide the Advanced data to Cloudamize. You can learn more about the difference between Basic and Advanced data here: https://support.cloudamize.com/kb/basic-and-advanced-ms-sql-collected-by-agent-based .
How to Use
In order to use this, you will need to download from the links provided above, this will provide you with the latest version of the application. Since this is a CLI based application, it is required that you have some knowledge of how to use your Terminal or Command Line (Powershell for Windows is perfectly acceptable as well).
Regardless of Operating System (Input)
In the directory where you downloaded the application, create a new file called servers.csv - which can be done with vi, emacs, Notepad, Excel, or any other format that can write in CSV format. The format for this file is on each line. Write out the Data Source Name (DSN) connection string for each of the SQL servers you would like to gather the information. You can provide 1 or 3000, there is no limit. The recommended connection string uses a URL format:
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Regardless of Operating System (Output)
This utility will generate a JSON file called telemetry.json which is a machine and human-readable list of all of the output for the telemetry commands run against each of the listed DSN connection strings in the servers.csv file. For each connection string, it will capture the following information as accessible from within SQL Server AND the permissions allowed to the connection string account:
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