tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13009700337472128562024-03-08T05:25:11.055-08:00SQL server auditingAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614337102517782965noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1300970033747212856.post-24237278339513220652016-03-17T06:15:00.001-07:002016-03-17T06:15:30.746-07:00Helpful SQL Server Solutions from Lepide for Effective Data Auditing & Management<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Microsoft SQL Server – one of the most widely used relational database management system is popular worldwide for its effective data storage and retrieval capabilities. However, when it comes to protecting confidential information stored in these SQL servers, security still remains a matter of concern for both small and large enterprises.<br />
<br />
Fortunately, we know how important it is to monitor what’s happening across your SQL servers and who is making what type of changes. Often, even the SQL server’s own auditing tools aren’t sufficient alone to fulfil your comprehensive data security requirements. That’s the reason why Lepide introduced effective SQL server auditing, storage and management solutions to help organizations meet security compliances while executing stress-free change auditing.<br />
<br />
Let’s have a closer look at all these tools that allow enterprises to breathe in a safe IT environment while spotting potential security issues and protecting your organization from getting exposed to data breach incidents.<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.lepide.com/lepideauditor/sql-server.html" rel="nofollow">LepideAuditor for SQL Server</a> – The simplest way to Audit Changes Done Across SQL Servers</b><br />
<br />
LepideAuditor for SQL Server is the easiest, quickest and the most economical auditing and monitoring solution to monitor who’s doing what, where and when, across your SQL Servers. <br />
<br />
This software is available either standalone or as a component of the complete change auditing and monitoring utility - LepideAuditor Suite. It notifies IT administrators via instant email alerts and delivers automatic reports whenever any critical modifications are made to your IT systems.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Key Benefits of Using LepideAuditor for SQL Server</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
* Advanced reporting functionality with option to build customized reports as per your convenience – whether you want to get details on just a single log, multiple changes, login changes, top users, active databases, replication, permissions and roles information, data replication and modifications done to tables etc.<br />
<br />
* Besides offering a secure web console, it helps organizations to track SQL server activity trends that specify who did most changes and which user used what resource to accomplish the task. With this feature, one can easily track potential security issues and monitor even the minutest of the details required to spot any suspicious activity.<br />
<br />
* Threshold Based Alerts are sent straight to the inbox based on criteria like time and event.<br />
<br />
* Enables you to monitor SQL Server Changes while on-the-go via LepideAuditor mobile app which is available for all devices including iPhone, iPad, Android phones, tablets, etc<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.lepide.com/lepideauditor/health-monitoring.html" rel="nofollow">Lepide SQL Server HealthCheck</a> to Keep Track on Health Status</b><br />
<br />
SQL Server HealthCheck is a component of LepideAuditor Suite – an integrated solution for tracking and monitoring health status of all SQL servers across your IT environment.<br />
<br />
The software enables IT administrators to constantly monitor the health status of their storage environment by auditing changes done across SQL servers, monitoring their health status and reporting the same via email notifications sent straight to your inbox.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Key Benefits of Using Lepide SQL Server HealthCheck</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
* This utility keeps a constant check on important parameters such as CPU usage, memory consumption, service activity, error rates, deadlock and user activities etc. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
* The software also notifies about any changes done across your SQL servers via making use of its alerting and reporting features.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.lepide.com/sql-storage-manager/" rel="nofollow">Lepide SQL Server Storage Manager </a>to Gain Visibility on Storage & Performance</b><br />
<br />
Lepide SQL Server Storage Manager is a freeware offered by Lepide that helps in tracking performance of the server, analyzing storage space used by it and structuring everything in proper format.<br />
<br />
By providing complete visibility of storage and performance, this software helps IT administrators to know any potential issues with your SQL servers including disk space utilization, defragmentation, object switching, table partitioning, indexes etc. beforehand.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Key Benefits of Using Lepide SQL Server Storage Manager</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
* This utility eliminates the need to write complex SQL server queries and stored procedures.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
* Sends real-time alerts and reports straight to your inbox.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
* Offers a one-stop solution to create integrated reports of all SQL resources in a single file.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
* Graphical UI to display information of all SQL server elements, resources etc. in a single dashboard.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br />
<b>The Final Verdict</b><br />
<br />
SQL server issues like data leakage, extended downtime, server errors and other disastrous situations can’t just be avoided. However, IT admins can always prepare themselves to face even the worst failure scenarios with utmost confidence. Lepide aims to do just that. By offering effective SQL auditing, storage and management solutions, we empower IT to move ahead in this cyber-threat world while ensuring a protected IT environment. </div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614337102517782965noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1300970033747212856.post-26302902806963345902014-02-03T22:11:00.000-08:002014-08-25T00:18:12.385-07:00Track all critical and granular changes on SQL server with real time alerts<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div align="JUSTIFY" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<p>Tracking SQL server
changes for auditing is one of the top priorities for any SQL server
administrator. Strict regulatory environment in which today’s
companies operate necessitates them to give significant attention to
security of sensitive and confidential business data. Payment Card
Industry (PCI), Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
(HIPAA), Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) etc. are some of the compliance
standards that can ambit your organizational operations making it
absolutely necessary to create a safe and secure database environment
that can stand scrutiny of these compliance standards.
<a name='more'></a>SQL servers,
one of the favorite options of IT administrators for storing external
customer data or internal business data, requires thorough auditing
for all the accesses that are made to it, all changes that are made
to server and database level objects and all the changes that are
made to permissions. </p>
</div>
<p>
<b>Native auditing
options available with the SQL Server</b></p>
<p>Till SQL Server 2005,
auditing requirement was fulfilled using SQL Trace functionality that
has a number of limitations when it comes to auditing. First of all
it is a multipurpose functionality which requires a separate tool
called SQL Profiler to implement auditing. This tool is not
integrated with the main SQL server administration console – SQL
Server Management Studio and also has a user interface that is not
dedicated entirely for auditing.</p>
<p>With SQL Server 2008, the
auditing capabilities of SQL server has been considerably improved by
a new feature – SQL Server Audit, which overcomes a lot of auditing
limitations faced by users who worked with previous SQL server
versions. </p>
<p>
<b>Advantages of SQL
Server Audit (2008) over SQL Trace</b></p>
<p>One of the most important
aspects of it is the level of granularity at which you can perform
the audit. You can target a particular action on a particular
Server/Database object by a particular user – such is the level of
granularity offered by SQL Server Audit.</p>
<p>Besides, it is,
comparatively, very easy to administer, use and view audit data with
this tool. </p>
<p>Also, the performance
overhead on SQL server is considerably reduced while using this
application.</p>
<p>
<b>Limitations of SQL
Server 2008 Audit functionality</b></p>
<p>However, despite offering
some clear auditing advantages over SQL Trace (SQL Profiler), SQL
Server Audit functionality fails to bring cheer on the face of many
SQL server administrators because of a number of limitations some of
which are inherent to the tool while others originate from the scope
and size of auditing required by those administrators:</p>
<ul>
<li>
Firstly, it doesn’t
provide a central platform to audit all instances of SQL server in
the organization; auditing, at most, can be performed at one SQL
instance level.
</li>
<li>
Audit data can be
stored on the disk or with Windows event logs, which means you need
to import it to a new database or use Windows event viewer to see
the audit data.
</li>
<li>
It doesn’t offer
canned reports, so you will have to use SQL Server Reporting
services to generate audit reports.
</li>
<li>
Then, there are,
still, performance overheads (if not like SQL Trace) that can be
quite annoying especially for very busy servers.
</li>
</ul>
<p><b>SQL Server auditing
with dedicated auditing tools </b></p>
<p>Native <a href="http://www.lepide.com/sql-server-audit/" rel="nofollow">SQL Server auditing</a>, as we just understood above, could be too complex and
time-consuming. Therefore, many of the SQL Server administrators have
stopped considering it as an option to rely on native auditing to
meet strict regulatory requirements; instead they prefer commercial
tools that have been designed for the express purpose of SQL server
auditing and overcome all the above-mentioned limitations and offer
much value beyond their worth.</p>
<p>They give you the option
to perform auditing at organization level, monitoring all SQL servers
across organization through a central platform. There are built-in
reports to answer all possible audit questions as and when required.
When it comes to meeting regulatory compliances, there are
preconfigured reports that have been designed keeping in mind audit
questions that you usually face.</p>
<p>Audit data storage for
the unlimited period of time with the facility to archive old data
that you won’t think is required for now; Automated report delivery
with latest change data within and outside organization right in the
Inbox of all the employees who need to see it; Real-time alerts to
apprise administrators of critical changes - these are the usual
features that you get with these tools. <a href="http://www.lepide.com/sql-server-audit/" rel="nofollow">LepideAuditor for SQL Server</a>
is one such commercially available tool. It is also available in free trial version to give it a try before going for the licensed version.</p></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01614337102517782965noreply@blogger.com0