Active Directory (AD) solution provider NetPro has entered the SQL Server product arena, adding SQL Server database auditing to its auditing solution, ChangeAuditor 4.5. The solution helps DBAs to manage, track, alert, and report on database changes, performance and transaction events, errors, and warnings.
ChangeAuditor's SQL version was created in response to customers whose apps running on top of AD required SQL Server databases. Auditors were asking customers for information about permission changes and configuration changes made to their SQL Server databases in addition to AD changes, and it seemed a natural way for the company to expand its auditing solution.
ChangeAuditor's strengths are its granularity and its integration with Windows and AD, according to Brad Hibbert, NetPro's vice president for strategy: "Point-solution vendors don't always cover other apps that impact SQL—you have to look at everything together." Customers "wanted to be able to manage SQL audits without having to go to each box," he said. "They wanted to access anything you could do natively, and they wanted info for long-term tracking." NetPro obliged.
Templates help you set up auditing. ChangeAuditor provides templates related to various compliance requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), and others. ChangeAuditor also offers recommended best practice reports and the ability to create reports using SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) and export reports to a Web-based reporting database.
Hibbert gave a remote demonstration of ChangeAuditor 4.5. A wizard lets you set up processes with tabs labeled "Who" "What" "When" "Why" and "Alert." Everything is integrated in the same console, although you can change dashboard views, and the Search capability for searching events seemed nimble and quick. You can set policies telling what you want to track at a very granular level, filter events, and specify types of alerting, as well as audit different things on different SQL Server servers using agents you configure.
The solution is scalable to thousands of servers and supports SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2000. The company is targeting enterprise and mid-market companies. Support for SQL Server 2008 is planned for later this year and future functionality will include templates for auditing virtual machines (VMs). Currently this ability exists in a custom mode. ChangeAuditor 4.5 is licensed per AD user at $12 per user for the core module plus $4 per user for the SQL Server module.
