The centralized console in SQL Sentry Event Manager Enterprise Edition v2.7 helped SQL Sentry Inc. win kudos from our judges and this year's Gold Award in the Performance and Tuning category.

Touted as a tool to optimize Microsoft SQL Server performance, SQL Sentry Event Manager is said to meet the evolving needs of SQL Server database administrators because the product maker was actually created by DBAs.

Managing more servers more efficiently has been a challenge because of the associated burden of installing, configuring and supporting agents on each server. SQL Sentry Event Manager boasts a one-of-a-kind console that gives DBAs a comprehensive view of the entire SQL Server environment so they can make better decisions over the most critical aspects of the enterprise.

The product's display is key to its success, according to one judge. Its customizable interface allows simultaneous display of calendars, graphs and controls to fit the users' needs.

"In a large enterprise SQL Server quickly becomes difficult to manage -- especially the SQL Server jobs," the judge said. "Event Manager is indispensable for managing jobs and for providing alerting."

SQL Sentry Event Manager is licensed per individual monitored instance. First-year annual software maintenance is required and provides technical support via e-mail and phone, fixes and updates and free version upgrades.

For the Enterprise Edition of SQL Sentry Event Manager, prices range from $2,995 for the SQL Server and Windows Task Scheduler, Quick Start 5 Pack to $5,990 for the Oracle Server, Quick Start 10 Pack.

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