How to create visual graphs from sql server performance counters?

I'm trying to create a visual representation of our SQL Servers performance. I'm would like to make the information as easy to digest as possible for my boss(s). I haven't taken on a task like this before so I'm a little unsure as to how I should proceed. I did a little poking around on google, but didn't see to much data for what I am looking to do. My question more or less is, is there solution开发者_StackOverflow社区s out there currently that will let accomplish this task, if not how would you go about this and how would you determine what data to show your boss. Thanks!

Cacti and rrdtool can be used to graph the data, and NSClient++ is a client that can run on your server and provide data to cacti. You would have to write your own script to gather the data yourself, using the built-in windows performance counters.

So it would look something like:

SQL Server:

• Write a script that gathers data for one iteration of performance data (i.e. 1 minute)

• Install NSClient, which runs as a service and allows remote computer with permission to execute script

Cacti Server:

• Runs NRPE and connects to NSClient and executes remote script, gathering data, and puts it into an rrd graph

Alternately, you could write a script that merely gathers the data and puts it into CSV, and later graph it in Excel. That would be less time consuming if you're on a deadline.