Getting Started with MSSQL Dashboards

If you're a Microsoft shop, it is a given that you have loads of SQL databases lying around with critical data in them. SquaredUp lets you connect to your SQL database and run SQL queries on the database to fetch data and build dashboards with it. Let's see how.

Connecting the data source

The MSSQL plugin comes in two versions – Cloud and On-prem.

The On-prem version connects to your SQL databases running on prem in your network using SquaredUp's relay agent.

The Cloud version is best used to connect to your SQL servers in Azure without needing the relay agent. All it needs is the server's name with credentials to authenticate, the database name you want to connect to, and the port where the connection will be made.

You can refer to the in-app documentation on the right if you need help at any point in deploying.

Creating our own dashboard

Hit the + button on a new dashboard to create a tile. The SQL data source comes with 3 data streams:

1. Custom Metrics Query: Returns the result of a SQL query for metrics used in graphing

2. Custom State Query: Returns the result of a SQL query for display in rollup and block tiles

3. Custom SQL Table Query: Returns the result of a SQL query for display in a tabular format

Let's use the Custom SQL Table Query for now to keep this simple.

On the Objects screen, choose MSSQL and hit next. Now comes the screen where you can paste your SQL query. In the database I have, there are records of some products, and some details of the customers who've purchased them.

I'll go ahead and run the query:
select TOP 100 * from salesLT.Address

This gives me an output like the following:

We can skip the timeframe column as the results are coming in straight from the SQL query which has no timeframe defined.

I see some fields in the output I can use on my dashboard. Let's group our results by the "City" column and see where the products have been delivered to the most.

In Shaping, I'll group the results by "City" and sort the count in descending order so I can see the top 5 locations where deliveries were made.

The last thing to do now is to choose the right visualization for this. I will choose the Donut, and voila, we have our result:

Repeat this with other data streams and/or different SQL queries and build the dashboard of your dreams!

Next steps – Monitoring and sharing

SquaredUp monitoring makes it easy to turn our dashboard tiles into monitors, so that we can be alerted about changes. Suppose I want to be notified when a new large order comes in with 45 or more products.

Drop into the tile editor and turn on monitoring. Set up the right condition in the monitor logic and you'll see it has identified orders that cross the given thresholds.

Not only can I see this in SquaredUp, I can also set up notifications to let me know if any alerts are raised so I can be aware anytime. They can be sent as an email, as an IM message or forward it over to any of your automation workflows.

If the monitor triggers, we can receive a notification by email, Slack, Teams or via any system that supports webhooks. Read our docs to learn more about monitoring.

Sharing

Sharing is very simple in SquaredUp. We just hit the share button and have the option of inviting a user to the workspace, or sharing just the dashboard via a link:

Get started with SquaredUp

From this point on, you can try out different data streams and queries to create dashboard of your dreams. In addition, we also have many other plugins including Azure, Azure DevOps, PowerShell and many others.

Sign up for free and experience the power of SquaredUp yourself!