What is Database activity monitoring (DAM)?
The process of observing, identifying, and reporting the activities carried out within a database with minimal effect on the performance of the system is called Database activity monitoring (DAM). Database activity monitoring is carried out by use of instantaneous security technology tools that give real-time monitored updates, analysis, and information about the activities within a database.
Database activity monitoring tools have evolved from basic activities like monitoring of activities in the database to more complex functionalities like discovery and classification of activities and vulnerabilities, management of vulnerabilities, analysis on application level, prevention of illegal access, identity and access management integration, and also support risk management.
DAM tools are frequently implemented as standalone setups or as software modules installed on database servers. They provide real-time monitoring and data security in any case by capturing, logging, analyzing, and alerting on policy violations without interfering with the systems’ performance. This technology is versatile, and it is frequently utilized by businesses to meet certain compliance requirements as well as protect their most sensitive data from outside hackers and malevolent insiders.
Benefits of Database Monitoring
A thorough evaluation of the activities of users and applications in the database, and constant monitoring leaves you with a complete picture of your database. This complete picture comes with certain advantages which are listed below:
- A reduction of time and resources spent to figure out hidden issues in the database and IT infrastructure
- Improved end-user experience
- More effective capacity planning
- Ability to foresee performance problems on a proactive basis, before they affect the end-user through troubleshooting
- Indicates the performance level. of the database system if it needs to be improved or not.
- Insights into any security flaws.
Approaches to Database Monitoring
There are two main approaches to database monitoring: proactive and reactive.
A proactive approach is to pinpoint issues before they become problems, while a reactive approach is to reduce or remove the effects of those problems once they have occurred.
The reactive approach is commonly used for:
- performance troubleshooting
- major incident reporting
- security breach investigation.
In order to be proactive, the need to constantly monitor the right metrics and alert the relevant people when something seems amiss or out of the ordinary is paramount.
Database Monitoring Software
Listed below are examples of commonly used DAM tools and the link to learn more about them.
