Microsoft SQL Server Extension - Upgrade to 2.8.0 broke our configs plus undocumented changes

[36Krazyfists]

So, we upgraded our MS SQL Extension (the official one in the hub, not a custom MSSQL data source extension) and now the event logs for all of our configs say:

"Error in YAML or JSON configuration; Datasource has exited and will be starting shortly"

And, of course, no detail as to what the issue with the YAML or JSON is... (like, why not pass that on through the error event message?  I don't even know where to begin looking for that...).

Now, that brings me to the next item that is possibly related.  There is a new field in the Monitoring Configuration for this extension that was added somewhere between 2.7.1 and 2.8.0 called "Endpoint Metadata" under a new section called "Advanced Configuration Parameters".  

I can't find anything in the release notes, Hub, nor documentation about this setting and what it does.  It has no description available.

So, my questions are:
- How do I find out what JSON/YAML entry is causing issues?

- What does this Endpoint Metadata setting do?

[36Krazyfists]

OK, I found the logs in:

 C:\ProgramData\dynatrace\remotepluginmodule\log\extensions\datasources\com.dynatrace.extension.sql-server 

The full error (again, why in the world is the full error not included in the SFM events!?!?) is:
Error in YAML or JSON configuration: Cannot deserialize value of type `int` from String "var:query-interval": not a valid `int` value

I've tried redoing the config, but I notice when you go to type in the fields, it asks for a string, but the underlying code is looking for an int.

This extension has been in place since 5/1.  Has nobody else had this issue??

[rastislav_danis]

I have recently upgraded directly from 2.7.00 to 2.8.00 at one of customers, but in managed environment (i see that you are on saas). It was upgraded without big issues and 2.8.00 is actually functional (up to 10 configurations, 150+ sql endpoints, 2500+ sql dbs).

[36Krazyfists]

I'm guessing it's my ActiveGate version.  The extension.yaml file for 2.8.0 claims that the ActiveGate needs to be on 1.295 or higher (ours is on exactly 1.295) and that the Dynatrace Environment itself needs to be on 1.308 or higher (we have SaaS so we're on whatever the newest version is, which is much higher than 1.308), but I think there's something wrong with being on such an old ActiveGate version or something.

I don't know.  We rolled back to 2.7.5 and we're all good now.

I'll just wait to update the extension until after we finally upgrade our ActiveGates (we have to move a TON of old custom SQL monitors off the old DB Query Plugin to the new SQL Extensions 2.0 plugin before we can though...)...

[JayLabel]

Hi there,

I am sorry you ran into this error, let's try and sort this out.

First, a quick note about the new Endpoint Metadata field: It was added in version 2.8.0. This should have been mentioned in the Release Notes. If you enter a value in Endpoint Metadata, you will see that same value show up under the Properties section of the SQL Server Instance created by your monitoring configuration.

I will make sure our documentation is updated to highlight this feature.

A couple of things about Data Entry in Additional configuration parameters:

• All input boxes accept only plain text. In the extension.yaml, you'll see that "Longest queries timeout", "Endpoint metadata", "Query interval (minutes)", and "Heavy query interval (minutes) are all defined with type text 
• When you enter a number- for example 1 in the "Query interval (minutes)" to denote the standard 1-minute interval - just type 1 (without quotation marks). Typing "1" or '1' will cause an error.

I will add more detail around these points in our documentation. If you are already entering numbers without quotes and still see an error, please open a support ticket so we can investigate further as I have not seen this particular error arise.

[36Krazyfists]

Yeah, this is the release notes for 2.8.0:

Nothing about that new field unfortunately.

And yes, I am only typing numbers in that field.  no quotes or anything.  We had to roll back to 2.7.5 and all is working now.  As a side note, it'd be really nice if it was easier to roll versions back.  It's kind of a huge pain...

For info, our ActiveGates are on 1.295 (which is the minimum version required for EEC according to the yaml file in there) and we are on Dynatrace SaaS, so our Dynatrace environment is up-to-date due to SaaS (I believe minimum version for the environment in the YAML is 1.308 or something.).  So we should be good for 2.8.0 version of that extension, but yeah, doesn't work for some reason, but 2.7.5 does.