Adding Additional Tables to ServiceManagement Databsase

David_Allen

If I added a couple of additional tables to the ServiceManagement database where I can calculate and store data for dashboards, would this be supported, and would they get wiped on upgrade?

Similarly, same questions in regards to adding Views?

Thanks,
David

Brett_Moffett

Adding views is supported and would be carried over with any upgrade.
Adding new tables would be hit and miss. We can not guarantee that we will not overwrite tables we don't expect to be there.

What tables are you wanting to add for reporting?
Is it worth adding it as a feature request?

seth_coussens

Just to add a bit more color to this, this isn't something we intend to support currently. It's a matter of performance and expectations for us and how we can support the product. We need to know and understand what is in our database in order to accurately evaluate performance of a given environment.

Additionally, it is the default behavior of the DACPAC process that we use for upgrades to remove tables that are not in the DB schema, and this meets our needs for the stated reasons above.

My recommendation for this, if you have the desire for a custom table is create a secondary DB to put your custom tables in. You can then use the dashboard designer to report on this data. In the current version of the designer you will need this new DB to be on the same instance as the SM db, but in the future you will be able to point at a different server entirely.

Brett_Moffett

Adding views is supported and would be carried over with any upgrade.
Adding new tables would be hit and miss. We can not guarantee that we will not overwrite tables we don't expect to be there.

What tables are you wanting to add for reporting?
Is it worth adding it as a feature request?

David_Allen

I will be adding as a feature request, however had to ask the question as we need certain dashboard reports sooner rather than later.  Tanks for the info regarding the views, very good to know :-)

seth_coussens

Just to add a bit more color to this, this isn't something we intend to support currently. It's a matter of performance and expectations for us and how we can support the product. We need to know and understand what is in our database in order to accurately evaluate performance of a given environment.

Additionally, it is the default behavior of the DACPAC process that we use for upgrades to remove tables that are not in the DB schema, and this meets our needs for the stated reasons above.

My recommendation for this, if you have the desire for a custom table is create a secondary DB to put your custom tables in. You can then use the dashboard designer to report on this data. In the current version of the designer you will need this new DB to be on the same instance as the SM db, but in the future you will be able to point at a different server entirely.

David_Allen

Thanks for the clarification Seth, I now have a clear way forward!

The one issue I have noticed at present when using the SQL Table Widget to return data from other databases is that each row because a link to Search, which obviously it can't find a match on as I'm pulling from another DB.  Is it possible to remove this hyperlinking behaviour when querying a DB other than ServiceManagement?