Install
iWatch ships as a small set of native binaries plus a repository schema. The typical first install runs to under an hour, on one host, by one operator.
Prerequisites
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Host OS | Linux (RHEL / Oracle / Rocky / SuSE / Debian), AIX (Power), Solaris (SPARC or x86), or Windows Server. See Database Support for exact versions. |
| CPU / RAM | For a co-resident install: one additional core's worth of CPU available, 2 GB additional RAM. For a separate-host install: 4 cores, 16 GB, sized for traffic volume. |
| Disk | Repository sized to retention policy. Rule of thumb: 1 GB per million statements at full detail, much less after aggregation. |
| Network | Co-resident install: nothing. Separate-host install: a SPAN/mirror port carrying the database listener traffic. |
| Repository database | iWatch can write its repository to any of the databases it monitors. A small Informix or PostgreSQL instance is the typical choice. |
Steps
- Receive the iWatch distribution from Oninit. It is a single archive per supported OS.
- Extract on the chosen host. The binaries are self-contained — no package manager, no shared library installation step.
- Provision the repository database (a one-time, scripted step shipped with the distribution).
- Edit iwatch.conf to declare the monitored targets: host, port, database flavour, and an optional friendly name.
- Start the iWatch capture and writer processes (iwatchctl start).
- Run a known statement against one of the monitored databases. Confirm it appears in the repository within a few seconds.
Per-database notes
| Database | Notes |
|---|---|
| IBM Informix / HCL OneDB | SQLI wire protocol. iWatch captures both SQLI and DRDA where present. No sqlhosts changes. |
| IBM Db2 LUW / Db2 z/OS DDF | DRDA wire protocol. Standard install; nothing required inside the Db2 instance. |
| SAP ASE / Sybase ASE | TDS wire protocol. Standard install; works against ASE 12.0 through 16.x. |
| SAP IQ / Sybase IQ | TDS wire protocol with IQ-specific extensions decoded by iWatch. |
| Microsoft SQL Server | TDS wire protocol. Works against 2008 R2 through 2022. Encrypted endpoints require the co-resident install. |
| PostgreSQL | PostgreSQL frontend/backend protocol. Works against 8.x through 15.x. |
| MongoDB | Wire-protocol capture of OP_QUERY / OP_MSG; query text and response counts are reconstructed at the operator level. |
First five minutes after start
A reasonable smoke test, in order: run a SELECT, confirm it appears within five seconds in the repository with non-zero elapsed time; run an INSERT, confirm the row count is captured; deliberately issue a syntax error, confirm the error message lands against the correct session.