Home / Documentation / First steps
Caché Monitor is running. What next? This document describes the first steps with Caché Monitor: registering servers, organising them in groups and executing ad hoc SQL queries.
Register your server
After Caché Monitor starts you must register one or more Caché servers. Right-click the Caché Server Group node in the Server Navigator and select Add Server. Enter the needed information and press OK.
The values you need are the same as in an InterSystems Caché ODBC data source: host name or IP address, port (1972 by default), user name and password. Caché Monitor lists all namespaces of the server automatically, so you do not have to enter one. See how to take the settings from an existing ODBC data source.

If you already have Caché servers registered on your machine, Caché Monitor can also import them from the Caché Server Manager connection list or from ODBC data sources (Server Navigator context menu). The how-to videos show both ways.
Organise servers in groups
If you have many servers you can group them within server groups. Right-click the Caché Server Group node (the main server group) to add more groups and structure your servers. Try drag and drop to move servers between groups.
Execute ad hoc queries
Executing SQL statements is done with Caché Monitor's Query Analyzer, the SQL editor. You find this tool in many places, for example by right-clicking a Caché server node and selecting Open Query Analyzer on selected Server. After choosing your namespace a Query Analyzer opens and is ready to execute your SQL statements.
Pressing Ctrl+O also opens a new Query Analyzer; in this case you choose server and namespace in a dialog.
In the editor you can:
- execute the whole script (F5), only the statement at the cursor position, or only the selected text;
- use code completion for tables, columns, keys and indexes while typing;
- type SQL abbreviations, for example
seforSELECT * FROM; - view the result as grid or text, and export it to CSV, HTML, XLS, XLSX, XML, SQL, text or JSON;
- look up the SQL history of previously executed statements;
- show the graphical execution plan with index and selectivity information.
Find cached queries that are expensive to execute
Caché keeps compiled SQL statements as cached queries. Caché Monitor lists them under the Performance node of a namespace in the Server Navigator and can load their SQL source. The SQL Scanner (Cached Queries Scanner) checks the cached queries for missing indexes, for example on JOIN columns, and lets you create a suggested index directly from the scan result. Open a statement in the Query Analyzer to look at its execution plan with index and selectivity details.
Where to go next
- Requirements for running Caché Monitor
- FAQ: connection errors and startup problems
- How-to videos
- All feature areas and the edition comparison
In SQL DATA LENS the Query Analyzer is called SQL editor and the Server Navigator is called Navigator. The workflow is the same: register a server, expand it, open an editor on a namespace. Current guide: SQL DATA LENS user guide.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Query Analyzer?
The Query Analyzer was the name of the SQL editor in Caché Monitor. It opens on a server and namespace and executes single statements, selections or whole scripts. In SQL DATA LENS it is simply called the SQL editor.
Can I leave user and password empty when registering a server?
Yes. Caché Monitor then asks for the credentials each time before it connects.
Continue with SQL DATA LENS
SQL DATA LENS is the current release of this tool: native InterSystems IRIS and Caché support, SQL editor, Global Browser, database diagrams, Query Cloud and much more. Free Edition and a full 30-day Pro trial with every download, no registration.