Support for Cluster Listeners in High Availability MSSQL Environments

Description: We are currently monitoring MSSQL database calls using Instana agents installed on both the machines making the calls (via .NET framework services) and the database servers. However, in our high availability (HA) environments, the database calls are routed through a cluster listener rather than directly addressing the hostname and instance of a specific database server. Since the listener does not correspond to the hostname of any monitored agent, Instana incorrectly determines that the destination machine (i.e., the one hosting the database) is unmonitored.

This leads to incomplete or misleading topology views, and prevents us from getting accurate end-to-end visibility into our database calls.

Enhancement Request: We request that Instana provide support for monitoring MSSQL database calls in high availability environments where cluster listeners are used. Specifically, we would like to see the following capabilities:

1. Cluster Listener Awareness: Instana should be able to recognize and map database calls made to cluster listeners to the actual database server(s) behind the listener. This would ensure that the system correctly identifies the monitored agents responsible for handling the calls.

2. Improved Topology Mapping: The topology view should reflect the correct relationship between services, the cluster listener, and the underlying database servers, even in high availability or failover scenarios.

3. Seamless Monitoring for Failover Scenarios: In the event of a failover, Instana should be able to dynamically update the monitoring view to reflect the current active database server, ensuring continuous and accurate monitoring.

Business Impact: Without this enhancement, our monitoring and troubleshooting processes are hindered in high availability MSSQL environments. The inability to correctly map calls made via cluster listeners to the actual database servers results in blind spots, which can delay issue detection and resolution, and impact service reliability and performance.

We believe that supporting cluster listeners in high availability environments would greatly enhance Instana's ability to monitor critical infrastructure, especially in enterprise environments where HA configurations are common.

Thank you for considering this enhancement request. We look forward to your response and are happy to provide further details if needed.