Installation Guide

This article describes how to install Syskit Insights.

Syskit Insights provides continuous load of the SharePoint ULS, Windows Event logs and SQL logs in real-time. The Syskit Insights Agent will gather selected events and store them on index location on your disk. Syskit Insights presents a centralized place for you to explore, detect and prevent possible issues appearing on your SharePoint farm. Performance data is also collected and is stored in the Syskit Insights database.

Use Syskit Insights to keep multiple farms under control and find problems more easily.

Before we get started please note! We recommend installing the application on a machine outside of the SharePoint farm/s you wish to monitor.

  1. Download Application.

  2. Unpack and run SysKitInsightsSetup.exe. The wizard will guide you through the installation steps, click Next > to proceed.

  3. Click I Accept the terms of the license agreement to accept the license and then click Next > to proceed.

  4. Choose the installation folder e.g. C:\Program Files\SysKit\Insights. Click Next > to proceed.

  5. Select the location where to create application shortcuts and the preferred availability option (Anyone or Only me). Click Next > to proceed.

  6. The installation wizard will unpack your files and you will be able to run the application from: Start > All Programs > Syskit Insights.

And that is it. The application is installed. Now we need to setup the Syskit Agent. This is how:

After the installation is done, Syskit Insights - Configuration Wizard will automatically start. Alternatively, you can start it manually by running it from the installation folder (default is C:\Program Files\SysKit\Insights\Service\SysKit.Insights.ConfigurationWizard.exe)

  1. Database - here you need to choose whether you want to create a new database or use an existing one. If this is your first time setting up the application choose 'Create new database'.

  2. Database Configuration - On the Database Configuration wizard page specify the SQL Server, Database Name and authentication. It is possible to overwrite the existing database under the same name.

    • If you are using the default instance type "servername", or "servername.yourdomain.loc"

    • If you are using a named instance type "servername\instancename", or "servername.yourdomain.loc\instancename"

    • If your SQL Server is on a non-standard port (different from 1433), type "severname,port" or "servername\instance,port". (FQDN formats are also supported)

      After providing the information, click the Test Connection button to ensure that the settings are correct.

  3. On the Service Settings type the service account details. The service account needs to have the following privileges to be able to collect all the data from the desired servers.

  4. Insights Configuration

    • Index Location – you need to ensure that the provided service account has write access to the index location directory. The directory for the index must be empty or contain an existing index. It is recommended not to place the index on the system drive. Be careful if you plan to use the system drive for index location, as it can be quickly filled up.

    • Port To Use - this is the port that the Syskit Insight Agent will use to communicate with the Syskit Insights application. By default, port 7890 is set, but you can change it to suit your needs.

    • Max Index Size – by default we set this value to 200GB with a maximum of 1TB. Feel free to change it to suit your needs and hardware capabilities.

      If the service determines that the index exceeds the maximum index size, it will stop the data collection. Note that the actual size of the index can vary because of index reorganization and can require up to 3 times the amount of disk space specified here.

      • Please note! - The requirement of up to 3x the amount of disk space is more of a precaution against very rare cases where indexing wasn't running for any given reason. In most cases even during the intense index reorganization it would temporarily use up to 20% of the current index size.

  5. click Next to complete the Configuration Wizard and apply the changes.

Last updated