Evaluate Policies Dialog Box, Policy Selection Page

Use this dialog box to evaluate Policy-Based Management policies. By selecting the Evaluation Results page, you can apply policies to the items in a target set that do not comply with the policies.

You can open this dialog box in several ways.

To open this dialog box

  • In Object Explorer, right-click a server, database, or database object, point to Policies, select Evaluate, and then click Policy Selection.

  • In Object Explorer, expand Management, expand Policy Management, expand Policies, right-click a policy, select Evaluate, and then click Policy Selection.

  • On the View menu, select Object Explorer Details. In the Object Explorer Details page, right-click a server, database, or database object, select Policies, select Evaluate, and then select Policy Selection.

  • On the View menu, select Object Explorer Details. In Object Explorer, expand Management, expand Policy Management, and then select Policies. In the Object Explorer Details page, right-click a policy, select Evaluate, and then select Policy Selection.

  • In Registered Servers, right-click Local Server Groups or any server or server group under Local Server Groups, or any server under Central Management Servers, and select Evaluate Policies. Click the Browse (...) button for Source. In the Select Source dialog box, select a policy file or a policy that is stored on a server, and then click OK. In the Evaluate Policies dialog box, click Evaluate, and then click Policy Selection.

  • On the View Policies Page select a policy, click Evaluate, and then click General.

Options

  • Source
    Specifies the source of the policies. To change the source, click the Browse (...) button to open the Select Source dialog box.

    • Files
      Type the path of a file that contains a Policy-Based Management policy, or use the Browse (...) button to select the file.

    • Server
      Select to connect to an instance of the SQL Server Database Engine that contains the policy that you want.

  • Policies: Policy
    Click to open the policy dialog box for the specified policy.

  • Policies: Category
    The category of the policy. This box is read-only.

  • Policies: Facet
    The facet implemented by the policy. This box is read-only.

  • Evaluate
    Runs the policy in evaluation mode. This generates a compliance report for the target set but does not reconfigure SQL Server or enforce future compliance.

Possible Errors

  • No targets found

    The target set could be empty due to any of the following reasons:

    • There are no targets on the instance of SQL Server of the type specified by the policy.

    • The server restriction might exclude the instance of SQL Server that contains the target.

    • If the policy is on an object in a database (for example a table, view, or user) the database might not subscribe to the category of the policy.

    • The target-set filter might exclude all targets on this instance of SQL Server.

    • The target server type is different from the server type on which the policy is evaluated. For example, in the Database Engine, if you try to evaluate a policy that has been created for Analysis Services, you will receive an empty target set