Foxhound 2.0 FAQ: What ... ? (general)

Foxhound 2.0 FAQ
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What ... ? (general)

What is Foxhound? (and how do I get a copy of Foxhound?)
What is SQL Anywhere?
What are the differences among the different editions of Foxhound: Rental, Basic and Extended?
What are the Foxhound system requirements?
What are the differences among all the activation keys?
What is a "Basic Initial Activation Key"?
What is a "Basic To Extended Activation Upgrade Key"?
What is a "Basic Version Upgrade Key 1.0 to 2.0"?
What is a "Basic Version Upgrade Key 1.1 to 2.0"?
What is an "Extended Initial Activation Key"?
What is an "Extended Version Upgrade Key 1.0 to 2.0"?
What is an "Extended Version Upgrade Key 1.1 to 2.0"?
What is a "Rental Key"?
What is the Foxhound End-User License Agreement (EULA)?
What is the upgrade policy for installing new builds of Foxhound?
What happens when a copy of Foxhound expires?
What environment variables are used by Foxhound?
What does the connection-level "Transaction Running Time" tell me?
What HTTP port should I use for Foxhound?
What is the foxhound2.db ... .ORIGINAL_COPY file?
What's new in Foxhound 2.0?

[ Top ]

Question: What is Foxhound?

Answer: Foxhound is two products in one: it is both a database monitor and a schema troubleshooter for SQL Anywhere.

A database monitor is a computer program that measures the activity of a database management system and displays those measurements in a meaningful way, so that you can easily see that everything's OK or quickly learn about problems and threats to performance and availability. A monitor can also send email alerts when something goes wrong.

A schema troubleshooter is a computer program that performs a static analysis of the tables, columns, indexes, foreign key relationships and other objects in the database, displays those objects in a way that's easy to understand and easy to navigate, together with various facts, figures and curiosities which may be problems that need attention.

Foxhound Features

1. Is my database up?

[next]   [top]
The Alerts feature lets you choose which conditions to watch for:

The database is unavailable,

the server's using too much CPU,

there are too many blocked connections,

the database is running out of disk space,

and 24 other conditions.

Alert emails include a snapshot of
the data gathered by Foxhound:

(scroll down for more)

2. Is my database OK now?

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Sometimes an Alert condition goes away by itself, or when someone else resolves the problem.
When that happens you'll get an "All Clear" email telling you to relax.
    Only Foxhound has "All Clear" emails!

3. Set your own schedule

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You can set up schedules for

sending Alert emails,

collecting samples,

recording connection-level data, and

enabling the new AutoDrop feature.

4. See what's happening now

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The Monitor page is automatically refreshed every 10 seconds to show the last 10 samples, plus details of the first 10 connections.

5. See what happened yesterday

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The History page lets you scroll through all the old samples and all the connections for each sample.

Connections can be sorted on
any of the columns.

Here, the connections using the
most CPU % are at the top:

6. See blocked connections

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Foxhound answers all your questions:

Who's blocked?

What are they waiting for?

How long have they been waiting?

Who's holding the locks?

What kind of locks are they?

What tables?

What rows?

How long has it been since they last did a commit?

7. AutoDrop runaway connections

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The new AutoDrop feature, which can be turned on and off with its own schedule, lets you pick from up to 6 different reasons to automatically drop runaway connections.

8. Persistent connections

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The monitor stays connected to the target database 24x7, and it automatically re-connects after an outage even when Foxhound itself is shut down and restarted.

9. Persistent data

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The monitor data is preserved in the Foxhound database as long as you want, all instantly available in the History view.

10. Peak highlighting

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Peak values are displayed as links into the History view, and values that reach 80% or 50% of the peaks are color highlighted.

11. Schema at-a-glance

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Each table is shown as a formatted CREATE TABLE statements with all the information a developer needs:

datatypes,

defaults,

constraints,

indexes and

relationships,

all syntactically correct for copy and paste and

up to date at the time of display.

12. Follow the foreign keys

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You can reach each parent and child with a single click: no more "following the lines" on a wall-size diagram.

13. How much space?

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For each table you see how much disk space is used for data, extension pages, keys and indexes.
Bytes-per-row numbers include free space so they can be used to calculate future requirements.

14. Find those columns

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All the column names appear in one alphabetic list with hypertext links into the table and view definitions.
Plus, you can see at a glance where different data types are used for the same column name in different tables.

15. Facts & Figures

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This page tells you all the names your database goes by: DSN, server, database and machine.
It also tells you where all your database files are located, how much free space they contain, and how badly each file is fragmented.
Plus, it tells you how big your database is: how many rows, how many bytes, how many tables, columns, indexes, even how many times each different data type is used.

16. What's unusual about this database?

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A "curiosity" is an interesting fact; it may or may not be a problem.
If there's something unusual about your database, you'll see it at a glance in the "Database Curiosities" section.

17. What's unusual about this table?

[top]
The Table-level Curiosities section shows dozens of interesting facts about individual tables; e.g., no primary key, most bytes per row, large number of secondary indexes, and large amount of index space relative to table space,

[ Top ]

Question: What is SQL Anywhere?

Answer: "SQL Anywhere is a relational database management system (RDBMS) product from the company Sybase iAnywhere, a subsidiary of Sybase."
- from the Wikipedia page

"SQL Anywhere is a comprehensive suite of solutions that provides data management, synchronization and data exchange technologies that enable the rapid development and deployment of database-powered applications in remote and mobile environments."
- from the Sybase product page

[ Top ]

Question: What are the differences among the different editions of Foxhound: Rental, Basic and Extended?

Answer: The following chart is subject to change.

General Characteristics

Rental
Basic
Extended

Type of registration key
required for activation

Rental Basic Extended

How you obtain a
registration key

Purchase online Purchase online Purchase online

Installed copy
will expire

Yes, when the
rental period
expires

No No

Installed copy may
be renewed before
or after expiry date

Yes, via purchase of
another Rental
registration key

- -

How is the new expiry
date for a renewal
calculated?

By adding a new rental
period to the current
date or existing expiry
date, whichever is later

- -

Activation upgrade to a
different edition
is available

Yes, via purchase of
a Basic or Extended
registration key Yes, via purchase of an
Upgrade Basic to Extended
registration key -

Free upgrades to new
builds are available

Yes Yes, until the Free
Upgrade period ends Yes, until the Free
Upgrade period ends

Adhoc reporting is
always available

Yes, even after
the rental period
expires

Yes, even after
the Free Upgrade
period ends

Yes, even after
the Free Upgrade
period ends

Retail price

US$49.95 US$295.00 US$495.00

Limitations on the Database Monitor

Rental
Basic
Extended

Schedules may be used
to control when samples
are recorded

No No Yes

Schedules may be used
to control when Alert
emails are sent

No No Yes

The AutoDrop feature may
be used to automatically
drop errant connections

No No Yes

Maximum number of
connections to each
target database

100 * 100 * No limit

Maximum number of physical
CPUs used for each target
database on a SQL Anywhere
Version 10, 11 or 12 server

1 ** 1 ** No limit

Target database may run on a
SQL Anywhere 11.0.1 or later
Standard or Advanced Edition
server

No *** No *** Yes

Maximum number of target
databases which may be
monitored at the same time
by a single copy of Foxhound

10 10 100

Maximum number of different
server names which may be
used when starting separate
instances of Foxhound ****

1 1 10

* This limit on connections applies to all versions and editions of SQL Anywhere target databases and servers. The actual limit is 101 connections when you count the connection from Foxhound itself. Internal connections (e.g., connections made by events and web services) are counted in the total.

** This limit on physical CPUs does not apply to SQL Anywhere version 5.5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 target databases and servers. Also, it applies to the number of physical processors as given by the NumPhysicalProcessorsUsed server property, not the number of logical processors shown by "Using n CPUs" value in the Foxhound Database Monitor. For example, a single Intel Pentium 4 processor counts as 1 physical processor even though the separate HyperThreading units may show up as "Using 2 CPUs". Similarly, a single Intel Core2 Quad processor also counts as only 1 physical processor even though it may show up as "Using 4 CPUs".

*** This restriction on SQL Anywhere editions does not apply to SQL Anywhere target databases and servers earlier than version 11.0.1, which is when SQL Anywhere introduced the notion of different editions.

**** The Extended Edition allows up to 10 separate copies of the Foxhound database to be created, and these separate copies may be started at the same time using separate SQL Anywhere servers running on the same physical computer or on separate computers on the same local network. The following runtime server names are allowed: foxhound2 (the default) and foxhound2b through foxhound2j.

[ Top ]

Question: What are the Foxhound system requirements?

Answer:

1. Windows - Foxhound works with target databases running on other operating systems but the Foxhound engine itself only runs on Windows, and has been tested on Microsoft Windows 7.

2. ODBC - Foxhound itself uses ODBC to connect to your target databases. You don't necessarily need ODBC installed on the servers running your target databases, and you can specify DSN-less connections for Foxhound by using the "String" tab on the main menu page.

3. Chrome, Firefox, IE - The Foxhound client has been tested with the latest browser versions, currently Google Chrome 21, Firefox 15 and Internet Explorer 9.

4. JavaScript - Foxhound needs "JavaScript" or "Active scripting" to be enabled in your browser.

5. SQL Anywhere version 5.5.5.2787 through version 12 for target databases - If you have any target databases running on SQL Anywhere 5.5, you may have to upgrade them to 5.5.5.2787 for Foxhound to work properly with them.

6. SQL Anywhere 12.0.1.3298 or later for Foxhound - Foxhound works with target databases using 5.5 to 12 of SQL Anywhere but the Foxhound engine itself needs the 32-bit or 64-bit version of SQL Anywhere 12.0.1.3298 or later to run.

7. SQLANY12 - The delivered *.bat files expect that the SQLANY12 environment variable points to SQL Anywhere 12. If that is not the case you may have to modify the *.bat files. Here is the default setting on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7:

   SET SQLANY12=C:\Program Files\SQL Anywhere 12

8. FOXHOUND2 - The delivered *.bat files expect that the FOXHOUND2 environment variable will be created by the Foxhound installation (which will happen by default). If that is not the case you may have to modify the *.bat files. Here is the default setting for Windows XP:

   SET FOXHOUND2=C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\RisingRoad\Foxhound2\

and for Windows Vista and Windows 7 it is this:

   SET FOXHOUND2=C:\ProgramData\RisingRoad\Foxhound2\

9. Disk space - When re-installing or upgrading Foxhound, 60% or more extra disk space may be required during the post-setup process. The "60% or more" figure applies to the amount of disk space occupied by the existing Foxhound installation, not the total used disk space on the drive.

[ Top ]

Question: What are the differences among all the activation keys?

Answer:

An Activation Key (also known as a Registration Key) is a code that lets you use a copy of Foxhound that you have already installed.

Activation Keys are available for purchase here, and the Foxhound Activation page will tell you which kind of key you need... or you can look use the following table:

If ... Then ... With a ...

You have just installed a fresh copy of Version 2,
without upgrading from an existing copy of Version 1.x You can activate it as the Rental Edition Rental Key

   or ... You can activate it as the Basic Edition Basic Initial Activation Key

   or ... You can activate it as the Extended Edition Extended Initial Activation Key

If ... Then ... With a ...

You originally installed a free Evaluation Edition copy of Version 1.x,
and you have now upgraded it to Version 2 You can activate it as the Rental Edition Rental Key

   or ... You can activate it as the Basic Edition Basic Initial Activation Key

   or ... You can activate it as the Extended Edition Extended Initial Activation Key

If ... Then ... With a ...

You originally purchased a Basic Edition copy of Version 1.0,
and you have now upgraded it to Version 2 You must activate it again as the Basic Edition Basic Version Upgrade Key 1.0 to 2.0
(you can change it to the Extended Edition later)

If ... Then ... With a ...

You originally purchased a Basic Edition copy of Version 1.1,
and you have now upgraded it to Version 2 You must activate it again as the Basic Edition Basic Version Upgrade Key 1.1 to 2.0
(you can change it to the Extended Edition later)

If ... Then ... With a ...

You originally purchased a Basic Edition copy of Version 1.2,
and you have now upgraded it to Version 2 You don't have to do anything! (it remains activated as the Basic Edition)

If ... Then ... With an ...

You originally purchased an Extended Edition copy of Version 1.0,
and you have now upgraded it to Version 2 You must activate it again as the Extended Edition Extended Version Upgrade Key 1.0 to 2.0

If ... Then ... With an ...

You originally purchased an Extended Edition copy of Version 1.1,
and have now upgraded it to Version 2 You must activate it again as the Extended Edition Extended Version Upgrade Key 1.1 to 2.0

If ... Then ... With a ...

You originally purchased an Extended Edition copy of Version 1.2,
and have now upgraded it to Version 2 You don't have to do anything! (it remains activated as the Extended Edition)

If ... Then ... With a ...

You are now running an activated Rental Edition copy of Version 2. You can extend or renew the rental period Rental Key

   or ... You can change it into the Basic Edition Basic Initial Activation Key

   or ... You can change it into the Extended Edition Extended Initial Activation Key

If ... Then ... With a ...

You are now running an activated Basic Edition copy of Version 2 You can change it into the Extended Edition Basic To Extended Activation Upgrade Key

[ Top ]

Question: What is a "Basic Initial Activation Key"?

Answer:

A Basic Initial Activation Key is a code that may be used to activate Foxhound Version 2 as an Basic Edition copy after

installing a fresh copy of Version 2 without upgrading from an existing copy of Version 1.x, or
upgrading an existing copy of the Version 1.x Evaluation Edition to Version 2.

In both cases the Foxhound Activation page will appear automatically when you start Foxhound, and entering a Basic Initial Activation Key will be one of the alternatives.

A Basic Initial Activation Key may also be used to change the Rental Edition to the Basic Edition; see the Renew or Upgrade Foxhound button on the About page.

You can purchase a Basic Initial Activation Key here:

[ Top ]

Question: What is a "Basic To Extended Activation Upgrade Key"?

Answer:

A Basic To Extended Activation Upgrade Key is a code that may be used to change an existing copy of Foxhound Version 2 from the Basic Edition to the Extended Edition.

You can purchase a Basic To Extended Activation Upgrade Key here:

[ Top ]

Question: What is a "Basic Version Upgrade Key 1.0 to 2.0"?

Answer:

A Basic Version Upgrade Key 1.0 to 2.0 is a code that may be used to activate a Basic Edition copy of Foxhound that was originally purchased as Version 1.0, after it has been upgraded to Version 2.

In this case the Foxhound Activation page will appear automatically when you start Foxhound, and it will request a Basic Version Upgrade Key 1.0 to 2.0.

You can purchase a Basic Version Upgrade Key 1.0 to 2.0 here:

[ Top ]

Question: What is a "Basic Version Upgrade Key 1.1 to 2.0"?

Answer:

A Basic Version Upgrade Key 1.1 to 2.0 is a code that may be used to activate a Basic Edition copy of Foxhound that was originally purchased as Version 1.1, after it has been upgraded to Version 2.

In this case the Foxhound Activation page will appear automatically when you start Foxhound, and it will request a Basic Version Upgrade Key 1.1 to 2.0.

You can purchase a Basic Version Upgrade Key 1.1 to 2.0 here:

[ Top ]

Question: What is an "Extended Initial Activation Key"?

Answer:

An Extended Initial Activation Key is a code that may be used to activate Foxhound Version 2 as an Extended Edition copy after

installing a fresh copy of Version 2 without upgrading from an existing copy of Version 1.x, or
upgrading an existing copy of the Version 1.x Evaluation Edition to Version 2.

In both cases the Foxhound Activation page will appear automatically when you start Foxhound, and entering an Extended Initial Activation Key will be one of the alternatives.

An Extended Initial Activation Key may also be used to change the Rental Edition to the Extended Edition; see the Renew or Upgrade Foxhound button on the About page.

You can purchase an Extended Initial Activation Key here:

[ Top ]

Question: What is an "Extended Version Upgrade Key 1.0 to 2.0"?

Answer:

An Extended Version Upgrade Key 1.0 to 2.0 is a code that may be used to activate an Extended Edition copy of Foxhound that was originally purchased as Version 1.0, after it has been upgraded to Version 2.

In this case the Foxhound Activation page will appear automatically when you start Foxhound, and it will request an Extended Version Upgrade Key 1.0 to 2.0.

You can purchase an Extended Version Upgrade Key 1.0 to 2.0 here:

[ Top ]

Question: What is an "Extended Version Upgrade Key 1.1 to 2.0"?

Answer:

An Extended Version Upgrade Key 1.1 to 2.0 is a code that may be used to activate an Extended Edition copy of Foxhound that was originally purchased as Version 1.1, after it has been upgraded to Version 2.

In this case the Foxhound Activation page will appear automatically when you start Foxhound, and it will request an Extended Version Upgrade Key 1.1 to 2.0.

You can purchase an Extended Version Upgrade Key 1.1 to 2.0 here:

[ Top ]

Question: What is a "Rental Key"?

Answer:

A Rental Key is a code that may be used to activate Foxhound Version 2 as a Rental Edition copy after

installing a fresh copy of Version 2 without upgrading from an existing copy of Version 1.x, or
upgrading an existing copy of the Version 1.x Evaluation Edition to Version 2.

In both cases the Foxhound Activation page will appear automatically when you start Foxhound, and entering a Rental Key will be one of the alternatives.

A Rental Key may also be used to extend or renew the rental period for an existing installation of the Rental Edition for an additional or subsequent 30-day period. A different Rental Key is required for each 30-day period; see the Renew or Upgrade Foxhound button on the About page.

You can purchase a Rental Key here:

[ Top ]

Question: What is the Foxhound End-User License Agreement (EULA)?

Answer: RisingRoad - 3QC Inc. License Terms

Foxhound Version 2

By using the software, you accept the following terms. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT THEM, DO NOT USE THE SOFTWARE.

1. No-Nonsense License Agreement

The Foxhound software is protected by United States and Canadian copyright law and international copyright treaty provisions. Therefore, you must treat Foxhound just like a book, except that you may copy it onto a computer to be used and you may make archival copies of Foxhound for the sole purpose of backing-up our software and your data and protecting your investment from loss.

By saying "just like a book," RisingRoad means, for example, that one copy of Foxhound may be executed on any number of computers, and may be freely moved from one computer to another, so long as there is no possibility of it being executed on one computer while it's being executed on another.

By saying "one copy of Foxhound", RisingRoad means a copy of the Foxhound software that has been activated by the application of one single unique registration key obtained from RisingRoad.

Just like one copy of a book can't be read by two different people in two different places at the same time, neither can one copy of Foxhound be executed on two different computers at the same time. (Unless, of course, this License Agreement has been violated.)

2. Use on a Network and the Internet

In the case of the Rental and Basic Editions, one copy of Foxhound may be executed on a computer attached to a local area network and/or the internet, with multiple users accessing the single Foxhound database from browsers running on different computers. The "just like a book" analogy begins to weaken at this point, but it still applies if you think of more than one person reading the same book over someone else's shoulder... it's still one copy of the book, and one copy of Foxhound executing.

In the case of the Extended Edition, up to 10 copies of the Foxhound database may be created and executed on a computer attached to a local area network and/or the internet, with multiple users accessing these Foxhound databases from browsers running on different computers. These multiple copies must be launched according to the method shown in the documentation, using one single installed copy of Foxhound.

3. Further Explanation of Copyright Law and the Scope of This License Statement

You may not download or transmit your copy of Foxhound electronically (either by direct connection or telecommunication transmission) for the purpose of executing it on multiple computers at the same time.

You may transfer all of your rights to use your copy of Foxhound to another person, provided that you transfer to that person (or destroy) all of the software and documentation provided in this package, together with all copies, tangible or intangible, including copies in RAM or installed on a disk, as well as all back-up copies. Remember, once you transfer your copy of Foxhound, it may only be executed on the single computer to which it is transferred and, of course, only in accordance with copyright law and international treaty provisions.

Except as stated in this paragraph, you may not otherwise transfer, rent, lease, sub-license, time-share, or lend the Foxhound software or documentation. Your use of Foxhound is limited to acts that are essential steps in the use of Foxhound on your computer as described in the documentation. You may not otherwise modify, alter, adapt, merge, decompile or reverse-engineer Foxhound, and you may not remove or obscure RisingRoad copyright notices.

6. Disclaimer of Warranty

The software is licensed "as is". You bear the risk of using it. RisingRoad gives no express warranties, guarantees or conditions. RisingRoad excludes the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.

[ Top ]

Question: What is the upgrade policy for installing new builds of Foxhound?

Answer: At present, you can install a new build of Foxhound on top of an old one, and your data will be copied and upgraded.

In the future, limitations may be applied to the installation of new builds; e.g., the end of the "Free Upgrade" period. These limitations are not yet fully defined, but they will take the form of requiring you to provide a new registration key to activate the new build.

[ Top ]

Question: What happens when a copy of Foxhound expires?

Answer: If your installed Rental copy of Foxhound expires, you will be still able to view the History portion of the Monitor Database feature, as well as view your Foxhound Options and Alerts Criteria settings. However, the Monitor Database process will not gather any new samples and by implication the Alert process will cease to function. Also, the Display Schema feature will be disabled.

Other limitations may be applied to the installation of new builds; e.g., the end of the "Free Upgrade" period. These limitations are not yet fully defined, but they will take the form of requiring you to provide a new registration key to activate the new build.

[ Top ]

Question: What environment variables are used by Foxhound?

Answer:

FOXHOUND2 is very important. It is set by the Foxhound InstallShield setup program to contain the drive and path of the folder where Foxhound is installed. It is then used in most of the Windows command files that are executed by the Foxhound shortcuts. For example, the "Start - Foxhound2 - Start Foxhound via Chrome" executes the $start_foxhound2_chrome.bat file which contains the command CD /D "%FOXHOUND2%".

Normally you do not have to enter or change the FOXHOUND2 environment variable, but if you do, here's how:

Start 
  - Control Panel 
    - System 
      - Advanced system settings 
        - Environment Variables...

FOXHOUND2BIN is optional and rarely used. You can set it to Bin32 if you want to start Foxhound using the 32-bit version of SQL Anywhere 12 even if the 64-bit version is available. Values other than Bin32 have no effect. The default action (if FOXHOUND2BIN is not set to Bin32) is to start Foxhound using the 64-bit version of SQL Anywhere if it is installed, otherwise use the 32-bit version.

No automatic process sets or changes the FOXHOUND2BIN environment variable, it's all up to you:

Start 
  - Control Panel 
    - System 
      - Advanced system settings 
        - Environment Variables...

FOXHOUND2UPGRADE is optional and rarely used. If it is set, it is used as the initial value for the FOXHOUND2UPGRADE setting in the post-setup process the next time you reinstall or upgrade Foxhound.

The post-setup process will prompt you to provide a different value if one is desired:

The default action (if FOXHOUND2UPGRADE is not set to any value) is to use the the value ALL as the initial value, which you can change as shown above; see How do the different FOXHOUND2UPGRADE values work?

No automatic process sets or changes the FOXHOUND2UPGRADE environment variable, it's all up to you:

Start 
  - Control Panel 
    - System 
      - Advanced system settings 
        - Environment Variables...

[ Top ]

Question: What does the connection-level "Transaction Running Time" tell me?

Answer: A long Transaction Running Time means the connection hasn't performed a COMMIT or ROLLBACK for a long time since starting the current database transaction.

Note that each connection can only have one database transaction in progress at any given point in time; there is no such thing as "nested transactions", and if an application wants to run two different database transactions at the same time it must use two different database connections.

If the Locks Held number is larger than zero, it means other connections may be prevented from updating (and possibly even reading) rows this connection has locked; if that actually happens, this connection's Conn # will show up in the Blocked by Conn # for the other connections.

If the Uncommitted number is larger than Locks Held, it may be that this connection is repeatedly updating the same rows without committing the changes.

[ Top ]

Question: What HTTP port should I use for Foxhound?

Answer: Port 4950 is officially registered to the "Sybase Server Monitor" which is the SQL Anywhere Monitor that ships in the box with SQL Anywhere. If you're not already running the SQL Anywhere Monitor on that port, consider using 4950 for Foxhound.

Alternatively, consider using one of the "Dynamic and/or Private Ports" in the range 49152 through 65535.

[ Top ]

Question: What is the foxhound2.db ... .ORIGINAL_COPY file?

Answer: [

It is a copy of the foxhound2.db file as delivered; i.e., before anything was copied from the old Foxhound database including the activation status.

It is created in foxhound2\setup folder by the $post_setup.bat command file after the InstallShield setup runs but before the post-setup data upgrade process runs.

[ Top ]

Question: What's new in Foxhound 2.0?

Answer:

There are three "release defining" features in Foxhound Version 2: AutoDrop and Schedules are available in the Extended Edition, and Jumping Through History is available in all editions.
There are also a whole bunch of Enhancements available in all editions,
plus a few Behavior Changes
and a bunch of Fixes.

New Feature: AutoDrop [Top]

The AutoDrop process is available in the Extended Edition of Foxhound Version 2.
AutoDrop works like Alerts; with AutoDrop you specify the conditions which will cause Foxhound to automatically drop a connection:

AutoDrop #1 - Blocking others - Automatically drop each connection that has been blocking [5] or more other connections for [10] or more recent samples.

AutoDrop #2 - Blocked by other - Automatically drop each connection that has been blocked by another connection for [10] or more recent samples.

AutoDrop #3 - Long transaction - Automatically drop each connection with a transaction that has been running for [10m] or longer.

AutoDrop #4 - Temp file usage - Automatically drop each connection that uses [512M] or more of temporary file space for [10] or more recent samples.

AutoDrop #5 - CPU usage - Automatically drop each connection that uses [25]% or more of approximate CPU time for [10] or more recent samples.

AutoDrop #6 - Locks - Automatically drop each connection that has [1,000,000] or more locks for [10] or more recent samples.

Like Alerts, AutoDrop notices appear on the Monitor and History pages and they can be sent by email.
Unlike Alerts, connections that have been autodropped are highlighted in the current connections section of the Monitor and History pages:
Also, the Do-Not-AutoDrop lists let you specify which important user ids and connection names are to be excluded from the AutoDrop process.
The AutoDrop process is available for target databases running on SQL Anywhere Version 9 and above.

New Feature: Schedules [Top]

The Schedules feature is available in the Extended Edition of Foxhound Version 2.
Schedules let you tell the Foxhound Database Monitor when to turn various processes on and off.
Schedules are entered as one string for each day and one character for each 15-minute period with Ys and dots representing "on" and "off":

The Sample Schedule controls everything: it specifies when the entire Foxhound Monitor process is turned on and off. For example, you might turn sampling off during regularly-scheduled outages or periods of complete inactivity.
When the Monitor is running, three other schedules can be used to fine-tune Foxhound processing:

The Connection Sample Schedule turns the gathering of connection-level sample detail on and off. For example, you might be interested in database availability on a 24-hour basis, but not detailed information about all the connections in a large pool during the overnight hours. Depending on the number of connections and the schedule settings, the Connection Sample Schedule can dramatically reduce the growth of the Foxhound database.

The Alert Email Schedule turns Alert emails on and off. For example, Alerts may only be important enough for emails to be sent during certain hours of the day and/or days of the week.

The AutoDrop Schedule turns the AutoDrop process on and off. For example, off-peak periods may be set aside for processes that might cause blocking and other problems if they were run during peak periods.

New Feature: Jumping Through History [Top]

The Jumping Through History feature is available in all editions of Foxhound Version 2.
The new Go to: jump on the History menu lets you scroll the display directly to a date/time to see what was going on in your database back then. You don't have to be exact when entering the date/time, Foxhound will scroll to the nearest recorded sample.

After doing a direct Go to: jump, you can change the value to get closer, or use the relative menu items to scroll up and down by 1 sample, or 100 samples, or an hour, a day, a week.
The new up and down Message jumps let you skip over all the intervening samples to reach the previous or next Alert message, AutoDrop Notice or "Database stopped" message, or any of the other special actions or unusual circumstances encountered during the monitoring process.

Enhancements... [Top]

Monitor Tab Shows More Data In Less Space
Up and Down Arrows On The History Menu
Latency and Throughput Highlighted
Connection Identification Columns Rearranged
Email Status Displayed In Alert Messages
Initial 'Last Statement:' Sort Order Changed To DESC
Click here to sort on: Last Statement or AutoDrop message
Tip "Click on a column title to sort the connections ..."
New Design For The Foxhound And Monitor Options Pages
Color Highlighting For "[Default Options]" On The Monitor Options Page
More Buttons Automatically Save Your Changes
Alert #27 Connection CPU Criteria Improved
Database Options Page Shows The Full Set
Improved Error Checking In Startup Scripts
Refresh Diagnostics Display
Google Mail Certificate File Included
New Design For The Activation Page
Timeout Exceptions Replaced by Console Messages
New Views And Columns For Adhoc Reporting
More Adhoc Reporting Samples
Primary Key Values Displayed For Adhoc Reporting And "Go to:" Jumping

Enhancement: Monitor Tab Shows More Data In Less Space [Top]

The list of target databases on the Monitor tab of the Foxhound Menu page has been redesigned to reduce the amount of horizontal and vertical scrolling required when you are monitoring a lot of databases.

At the same time, the full text of any error messages is now shown in the "Status" column, with wrapping enabled, rather than truncating the text.

Enhancement: Up and Down Arrows On The History Menu [Top]

The new and arrows are better than the old left � and right � arrow characters didn't match the up and down scrolling actions.

Enhancement: Latency and Throughput Highlighted [Top]

The columns on the Monitor and History pages have been rearranged to highlight the Latency and Throughput numbers:

The separate Bytes In and Bytes Out numbers are still shown at the connection level, but they are aggregated at the database level as one of the Throughput numbers.

Enhancement: Connection Identification Columns Rearranged [Top]

The four columns which identify each connection have been rearranged to put the connection number first: Conn # / User / IP / Name
Also, for target databases running on SQL Anywhere 12 and later, "INT:" internal connection numbers are sorted by their parent connection numbers.
Here's an example showing how two "INT: Exchange" connections are used to implement intra-query parallelism:

Enhancement: Email Status Displayed In Alert Messages [Top]

Alert messages include the email status on the Monitor and History displays, and on the Active Alerts section of Foxhound Menu Monitor Tab.
Also, the adhoc view rroad_alert_union now includes the email_status column.
Email sent OK.
Email failed with return code xxx.
Email not sent because emails were disabled.
Email not sent because of the Alert Email Schedule.
Email sent, status unknown.

Enhancement: Initial 'Last Statement:' Sort Order Changed To DESC [Top]

The initial sort order when you first click on the 'Last Statement:' title text in the current connection list in the Monitor and History pages has been changed from ASC to DESC so non-empty values appear at the top of the list.

Enhancement: Click here to sort on: Last Statement or AutoDrop message [Top]

When there are a lot of connections showing on the Monitor or History pages, the column titles "Last Statement" and "AutoDropped" might not appear on screen so there's nothing to click on if you want to sort those values to the top. This has been fixed by adding clickable text to the connection section heading: "Click here to sort on: Last Statement or AutoDrop message."

Enhancement: Tip "Click on a column title to sort the connections ..." [Top]

The Monitor and History pages now display this tip at the top of the list of current connections: "Click on a column title to sort the connections ..."

Enhancement: New Design For The Foxhound And Monitor Options Pages [Top]

The Foxhound Options and Monitor Options pages have both been redesigned to be easier to use.

Enhancement: Color Highlighting For "[Default Options]" On The Monitor Options Page [Top]

The "[Default Options]" title is color highlighted on the Monitor Options page to help prevent the common error of making changes to the default settings rather than the options for a specific target database.

Enhancement: More Buttons Automatically Save Your Changes [Top]

The following buttons on the Monitor Options page now automatically save any changes you have made to fields on the screen before performing the button's primary action. Previously, you had to remember to click on one of the other "Save" buttons first.
Save Settings As Default
Save the currently displayed settings for "DSN: xxx", then copy and save them into the [Default Settings].
Force Default Settings on All Targets
Save the currently displayed [Default Settings], then copy and save them onto all other target databases.

Enhancement: Alert #27 Connection CPU Criteria Improved [Top]

The connection-level CPU time percentage used by the Alert #27 processing has been changed to be the percentage of overall CPU time available, rather than the percentage of clock on the wall time. The new technique has also been used in the new AutoDrop #5 processing.
Alert #27 Connection CPU: The approximate CPU time has been [x]% or higher for at least one connection during [y] or more recent samples.
AutoDrop #5 CPU usage: Automatically drop each connection that uses [x]% or more of approximate CPU time for [y] or more samples.

This change affects target servers using multiple CPUs. For example, if SQL Anywhere was using 8 processors, and one connection used 8 seconds of CPU time in a 10-second interval, that would be
8 seconds / 10 seconds) / (8 processors in total) * 100 = 10% of the total available CPU time

Previously 80% was the figure used when processing Alert #27.

Enhancement: Database Options Page Shows The Full Set [Top]

The Display Schema - Options page now shows the full set of target database options in the lower section of the display. This will make it easier to copy-and-paste all the option settings for documentation and comparison purposes.
Previously, only the options currently containing the original default values were shown in the lower section.

Enhancement: Improved Error Checking In Startup Scripts [Top]

Improved error checking has been added to the "Start Foxhound via..." shortcuts to diagnose problems with the FOXHOUND2 and SQLANY12 environment variables and the SQL Anywhere 12 installation.

Enhancement: Refresh Diagnostics Display [Top]

A "Refresh Display" button has been added to the Diagnostics section of the Foxhound Options page. This is more convenient than the browser refresh button which sometimes prompts for confirmation, and then scrolls back to the top.

Enhancement: Google Mail Certificate File Included [Top]

A copy of the SSL certificate file currently used by smtp.gmail.com has been included with Foxhound.
For a standard installation on Windows 7, specify the following in Foxhound Options - SMTP Certificate Filespec:
C:\ProgramData\RisingRoad\Foxhound1\Equifax_Secure_Certificate_Authority.cer

Enhancement: New Design For The Activation Page [Top]

All the new kinds of registration keys available with Version 2 made a new design necessary for the Foxhound Activation page.
Gone are the detailed "Step 1, Step 2, Step 3" instructions, replaced by a simple "pick this key and press that button" process with "What is ... ?" links to help you pick the right kind of key.
...and most of the time, if you're upgrading from Version 1.0 or 1.1, Foxhound tells you exactly which kind of key you need.

Enhancement: Timeout Exceptions Replaced by Console Messages [Top]

Timeout exceptions are very common and usually useless, so they have been replaced by an additional message to the console.
Previously, Foxhound would record an exception that looked like this:
   1184 2012-07-07 11:36:39.163 Full Build 4162a 1000000009 202b1(202eh1) Connection timeout for target DSN ddd12 
      after 15.4s (timeout threshold is 15.0s; see Foxhound Options) - 1000004860
while SQL Anywhere would produce a message on the Foxhound server console that looked like this: I. 07/07 11:36:39. User "DBA" dropped event connection 1000004860 ("rroad_monitor_sample_loop")
The console message from SQL Anywhere can't be suppressed, and it can be confusing because it looks like an error message.
Now, two messages appear on the console, with the one coming from Foxhound helping to explain why SQL Anywhere produced the other message:
   I. 07/07 11:36:39. Connection 1000004860 dropped by Foxhound because it failed to connect to target DSN ddd12 
      after 15.4s (timeout threshold is 15.0s; see Foxhound Options)
   I. 07/07 11:36:39. User "DBA" dropped event connection 1000004860 ("rroad_monitor_sample_loop")

Enhancement: New Views And Columns For Adhoc Reporting [Top]

New views...

CREATE VIEW autodrop_candidate     AS SELECT * FROM rroad_autodrop_candidate;
CREATE VIEW autodropped_connection AS SELECT * FROM rroad_autodropped_connection;
CREATE VIEW message_locator        AS SELECT * FROM rroad_message_locator;
CREATE VIEW schedule               AS SELECT * FROM rroad_schedule;
CREATE VIEW schedule_day_entry     AS SELECT * FROM rroad_schedule_day_entry;
CREATE VIEW schedule_period_entry  AS SELECT * FROM rroad_schedule_period_entry;

New columns...

rroad_group_1_property_pivot.CPU_count                         INTEGER NULL,
rroad_group_1_property_pivot.autodropped_connection_count      INTEGER NOT NULL DEFAULT 0,
rroad_group_2_property_pivot.autodrop_attempt_count            INTEGER NOT NULL DEFAULT 0,
rroad_group_2_property_pivot.autodrop_reason                   LONG VARCHAR NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
rroad_group_2_property_pivot.autodrop_result                   LONG VARCHAR NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
rroad_group_2_property_pivot.ParentConnection                  BIGINT NULL,                                 -- '- - - - - -- -- 12'
rroad_group_2_property_pivot.interval_CPU_percent              DECIMAL ( 30, 1 ) NOT NULL DEFAULT 0, -- old rows will have zero values

Enhancement: More Adhoc Reporting Samples [Top]

More examples have been added to the adhoc FAQ "How do I run adhoc queries on the Foxhound database?" http://www.risingroad.com/foxhound/faq/FAQ-How-do-I-run-adhoc-queries-on-the-Foxhound-database.html Recent blocked connections. Long-running queries. Latency and throughput history plus 100-sample moving averages.

Enhancement: Primary Key Values Displayed For Adhoc Reporting And "Go to:" Jumping [Top]

Two important Foxhound database primary key values, sampling_id and sample_set_number, are now displayed on the Monitor and History pages; for example, "[4,1796] Recent Sample" and "[4,1796] Samples".
Now it's easier to write adhoc queries that display the same rows that are showing up on the Monitor and History pages.
The sample_set_number values can also be used in the Go to: field on the History menu.

Behavior Change: Rental Edition Replaces Evaluation Edition [Top]

Foxhound can now be rented for 30 days at a time, giving you all the features of the Basic Edition at a lower price.
The new Rental Edition replaces the Evaluation Edition which is no longer available.
Here are the differences...

Evaluation Edition
Rental Edition

Feature Set Same as the Extended Edition Same as the Basic Edition

Free? Yes, on request No... a Rental Key must be purchased

Renewable? Yes, on request Yes, with the purchase of another Rental Key

Access to Extended Edition feature set? Yes, built-in Yes, with the purchase of an Extended Initial Activation Key

See also...
What are the differences among the different editions of Foxhound: Rental, Basic and Extended?
What are the differences among all the activation keys?

Behavior Change: Only Adhoc Reporting Is Available Without Activating Foxhound [Top]

Previously, the History page was available after the Evaluation period expired; that is no longer true for the new Rental edition.
This change also affects Version 1.0 and 1.1 databases that require a registration key to be upgraded to Version 2.0.
Adhoc reporting is always available, however, and that satisfies the Foxhound promise that you always have access to data that belongs to you.

Behavior Change: The "Display Alerts" Checkbox Has Been Removed. [Top]

Alert messages are now always displayed on the Monitor and History displays, and in the Active Alerts section of Foxhound Menu Monitor Tab.

Behavior Change: Data Upgrade Process Not Supported For Pre-Version 1.0 (Beta) Databases.

The Foxhound data upgrade process now only copies data from databases created with the original Foxhound GA version 1.0.3738 and later.

Fixes... [Top]

Fix: The Active I/Os column has been removed.

The Active I/Os column has been removed from the Monitor and History pages because the SQL Anywhere CurrIO statistic on which it is based is unreliable for all target servers up to and including version 12.0.1.
When CurrIO becomes reliable the Active I/Os column may be restored.

Fix: Monitor sampling status shown as "...stopping" long after sampling was stopped.

The sampling status is now promptly shown as "Stopped" on the Monitor page after the Stop Sampling button is pressed, and on the Monitor tab of the Foxhound Menu page after the Stop link is clicked.

Fix: Emails failing because the email address was empty.

Emails are no longer sent if you leave the Email address(es) for Alerts and AutoDrop Notices: field empty on the Monitor Options page, thus reducing the number of "Email Failure" messages.

Fix: Incorrect "Running for", "Started at xxx Foxhound time" and overall "CPU Time xx% av" display values.

An error was fixed whereby the difference between the target database server system clock time and the Foxhound system clock time was sometimes ignored (assumed to be zero) when the Foxhound time was earlier (smaller in value).
For example, if the Foxhound time was set to Pacific Standard time (smaller) but the target database server was using Eastern Standard time (larger), Foxhound would incorrectly assume that all the times reported by the target database server were using Pacific Standard time.
The error affected the following three values displayed on the Monitor and History pages in the Most Recent Sample and Top Sample display areas:
Server running time "Running for" and "Was running for" may show a value that's too low; e.g., 0s.
Server start time "Started at xxx Foxhound time" may show a value that is too high, possibly even in the future.
Overall CPU average "xx% av" may show a value that's too high; e.g., 100%.

The underlying problem was that zero was stored in the rroad_group_1_property_pivot.datediff_msec_between_target_and_local column, which also affected the adhoc query view column sample_detail.datediff_msec_between_target_and_local. That column value was used for calculating the three display values listed above.
For example, the server start time recorded in the sample_detail.StartTime column would be treated as if it was three hours later than it actually was; i.e., Foxhound would assume the target server had been running for three hours less than it actually had, causing the overall average CPU % to be shown as higher than it should have been. In an extreme case, the "Started at ... Foxhound time" might show a value in the future (later than the time the corresponding sample was recorded).
Other calculations were not affected because they were based on a different column rroad_sample_set.datediff_msec_between_target_and_local which contained a correct (negative) value.
This error has been fixed for new samples by allowing negative values to be stored in the datediff_msec_between_target_and_local columns.
However, samples recorded before upgrading to the fixed version of Foxhound may still contain incorrect zero values.

Fix: Incorrect Time Connected 0s.

An error was fixed whereby the difference between the target database server system clock time and the Foxhound system clock time ignored (assumed to be zero) when calculating the connection-level time connected.
This error caused incorrect values (e.g., 0s) to be stored in the rroad_group_2_property_pivot.time_connected column and the corresponding adhoc reporting view column sample_connection.time_connected.
This error has been fixed for new samples by storing the correct values in the time_connected columns.
However, samples recorded before upgrading to the fixed version of Foxhound may still contain incorrect values.

Fix: Bogus Alert #1 when the clock lurches forward.

An error was fixed whereby an Alert #1 (Database unresponsive) was incorrectly issued, followed soon thereafter by an All Clear, when the system clock on the computer running Foxhound was set forward.
This error has been fixed by checking to see if the current time has changed by 30 seconds or more between successive passes through the main Foxhound 5-second monitor timing loop, and if it has, skipping the check for Alert #1 until the next sample is taken.

Fix: Bogus Alert #1 after pressing Start Sampling.

An error was fixed whereby an Alert #1 (Database unresponsive) was incorrectly issued, followed soon thereafter by an All Clear, immediately after the "Start Sampling" button was pressed after resolving an earlier problem involving a Foxhound limitation; e.g., "Foxhound Extended edition is required for more than 100 target database connections"
This error has been fixed by correctly recognizing that the earlier problem caused sampling to be stopped, and that the time spent while sampling was stopped should not be counted towards the threshold for issuing an Alert #1.

Fix: Meaningless message "Multiprogramming level ... different from default 20".

An error was fixed whereby Foxhound would incorrectly display a Database Curiosity message when the multiprogramming level was different from 20 even though automatic tuning of the multiprogramming level was in effect.
For example, "Multiprogramming level -gn 12 -- different from default 20" should not have been displayed because the server was continuously changing the value.
This error has been fixed by not checking the multiprogramming level against the default when automatic tuning of the multiprogramming level is in effect.

Fix: Count of index lookups incorrectly shown as a per-second rate.

A display formatting error was fixed on the Monitor and History pages whereby the number of index lookups was incorrectly shown as a rate in the Most Recent Sample / Top Sample section rather than a count. For example, it was shown as +24,810/s instead of +24,810.
This error has been fixed by dropping the "/s" from the display.

Fix: Peak Cache Satisfaction "-".

A rounding error was fixed whereby a value of 99.5% and higher would not be recorded in the rroad_peaks.peak_CacheSatisfaction column. Consequently, drops in the cache satisfaction to as low as 99.5% would appear as "-" on the "Peaks since" line on the Monitor and History pages.
Note: For cache satisfaction, lower values are regarded as "peaks" rather than higher values.
This error also affected the adhoc reporting view column peaks.peak_CacheSatisfaction.
This error has been fixed by recognizing two decimal digits of precision when checking to see if a new cache satisfaction value is different from 100% before storing it in the rroad_peaks table and the peaks view.
However, the current value stored in rroad_peaks.peak_CacheSatisfaction will not be affected by samples recorded before upgrading to the fixed version of Foxhound; i.e., old rows will not be reprocessed, and the "Peaks since" row may continue to hold an incorrect value until a new sample causes rroad_peaks.peak_CacheSatisfaction to be changed.

Fix: Bogus Temp Space = 32,768G

An error was fixed whereby Foxhound did not take any corrective action when it received invalid CONNECTION_PROPERTY ( 'TempFilePages' ) values such as 4,294,967,281 and 4,294,967,287. These values caused Foxhound to calculate incorrect Temp Space values like 32,768G.
This error has been fixed for new samples by aggressively limiting values received from the target database for this property value to the range 0 to 4,290,000,000 and setting values outside that range to zero.
However, samples recorded before upgrading to the fixed version of Foxhound may still contain the incorrect value, and the "Peaks since" row may continue to hold an incorrect value until the "Reset Peaks" button is pressed.

Fix: Bogus LockCount = 4,294,967,295

An error was fixed whereby Foxhound did not take any corrective action when it received the invalid DB_PROPERTY ( 'LockCount' ) value of 4,294,967,295 from the target database. This error caused the incorrect value of 4,294,967,295 to be stored in the rroad_group_1_property_pivot.LockCount column and the corresponding adhoc reporting view column of sample_detail.LockCount, as well as the "Peaks since" columns rroad_peaks.peak_LockCount and peaks.peak_LockCount.
This error has been fixed for new samples by aggressively limiting values received from the target database for this and some other property values to the range 0 to 100,000,000 and setting values outside that range to zero.
However, samples recorded before upgrading to the fixed version of Foxhound may still contain the incorrect value, and the "Peaks since" row may continue to hold an incorrect value until the "Reset Peaks" button is pressed.

Fix: Bogus Transaction Running Time = 41,170d 15h 13m 40s

An error was fixed whereby an empty value in the connection-level TransactionStartTime property was changed to 1900-01-01 and subsequently treated as a valid value rather "unknown", thus causing a monstrously large Transaction Running Time to be displayed.
This error, and a similar one involving the LastReqTime property, have been fixed so zero is displayed instead of the bogus values.

Fix: Value 46116860613593576000 out of range for destination.

An error was fixed whereby Foxhound did not take any corrective action when it received the invalid PROPERTY ( 'ProcessCPU' ) value of 46,116,860,613,593,576 seconds from the target database. This in turn caused a runtime error "Value 46116860613593576000 out of range for destination" when Foxhound attempted to multiply the value by 1000 to convert seconds to milliseconds.
This error has been fixed for new samples by aggressively limiting values received from the target database for this and some other property values to the range 0 to 10,000,000,000,000,000 and setting values outside that range to zero.
However, samples recorded before upgrading to the fixed version of Foxhound may still contain the incorrect value, and the "Peaks since" row may continue to hold an incorrect value until the "Reset Peaks" button is pressed.
In the case of this particular message, one workaround is to restart the target database to stop it from reporting the bad value.

Fix: Error message "Column 'b' in table 'cp' cannot be NULL"

An error was fixed whereby the Foxhound Monitor would not be able to gather connection-level sample data when the target database had the ALLOW_NULLS_BY_DEFAULT option set to 'OFF'.
This has now been fixed by explicitly specifying the NULL option on NULLable columns in a LOCAL TEMPORARY table inside the rroad_connection_properties procedure that is created on the target database by Foxhound.

Fix: No uninteresting connections deleted.

An error was fixed whereby the uninteresting connection purge process stopped deleting any rows if it fell behind the old sample purge process.

Fix: Redundant "Sampling stopped" messages.

An error was fixed whereby the Monitor process displayed unnecessary "Sampling stopped" messages immediately after Foxhound was restarted.

Fix: Out-of-order messages.

Errors were fixed whereby messages appeared out of order in the Monitor and History pages.
In once case a "Database server not found at" message would appear between a pair of "Foxhound stopped at" and "Foxhound stopped" messages, rather than after the "Foxhound stopped" message.
In another case, a successful sample would appear between a pair of "-- Database server not found at --" and "-- Database server not found --" pair of messages, rather than after the "-- Database server not found --" message.

Fix: Some engine and database-level properties added together; e.g., CacheHits and CacheRead.

An error was fixed whereby certain properties that are now available at both the engine and server level were being added together. With previous versions of SQL Anywhere, these properties were available at either the engine or database levels but not both, so it was OK to add them together, but that is no longer the case.
This error has fixed by ensuring that only one of the two properties is used depending on the version of the target database server.

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This page was last generated on February 8, 2013.

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