Bringing It All Together with SQL Nexus - SQL Server 2012 Internals and Troubleshooting - page 342

NOTE You can use Readtrace.exe / ? from the RML Utilities command prompt
to look at the parameters available or use the RML Utilities Help i le to get the
list of parameters.
Building Custom Reports for SQL Nexus
Another option you have is to build custom reports for the tables available in the SQL Nexus
database. The report structure itself is quite simple. It uses the Shared Data Source, sqlnexus.rds ,
so that the database context can switch when you change the database name using the drop-down
menu in the SQL Nexus tool. Once you have the custom reports built, you can drop them in the
following folder: %appdata%\SQLNexus\Reports . SQL Nexus automatically picks up these reports
when it is launched. If you are familiar with designing reports for SQL Server Reporting Services,
then this will be a piece of cake for you. You can build your reports using a Visual Studio Reporting
Services project. When you build the report project, you need to ensure that the target server version
for the project is set to “SQL Server 2008” or “SQL Server 2008 R2 or later.”
Running SQL Nexus Using the Command Prompt
This option is only rarely used but it can be very powerful when automating your diagnostic
data analysis. Using sqlnexus.exe /? from a command prompt window will return the list of
command-line parameters that the tool can accept. The following command will import the
diagnostic data into a sqlnexus_cmd database by picking up the i les to be imported from
the C:\temp\sqldiag\output folder. /X will cause SQL Nexus to exit after importing the
diagnostic data into the database:
Sqlnexus.exe /S. /D"sqlnexus_cmd" /E /I"C:\temp\sqldiag\output" /X
Remember that the settings you saved while running SQL Nexus the last time you ran it in the GUI
are used when the command-line options are specii ed.
Creating Your Own Tables in the SQL Nexus Database
Let's assume that you decided to collect the output of a T-SQL script that is not part of the
default collectors provided by the Pssdiag and Sqldiag Manager. After the diagnostic data has been
collected you need to pore through pages and pages of textual data manually, using your
favorite text editor, to create a useful hypothesis about the issue that you are troubleshooting.
This is another scenario in which SQL Nexus turns out to be your best friend, as it can import the
data into a table, enabling you to run queries on the imported data and saving you
valuable time.
The Rowset Importer is responsible for importing data from text i les into a SQL Nexus database.
SQL Nexus provides a way to extend this functionality to other text i les containing diagnostic data
through the Edit Custom Rowset option, which is available in the left hand pane of the tool's main