1. A method for generating performance alerts in a relational database management system comprising a relational database supported by a plurality of database nodes, the method comprising: monitoring, with each of the plurality of database nodes, a predefined set of performance data associated with storage and retrieval of information against database objects stored in the relational database; collecting the predefined set of performance data from the plurality of database nodes with a database application; comparing the performance data to one or more predefined thresholds; determining if any of the performance data exceeds the one or more predefined thresholds; and generating an alert if any of the data exceeds one of the predefined thresholds, wherein the relational database management system is a multi-tenant database system, and wherein the monitoring step includes monitoring, with each of the plurality of database nodes, the predetermined set of performance data further associated with the storage and retrieval of information from a plurality of tenants stored in tables of a common database image.