Process Pools Test

This test reports a variety of CPU and memory statistics pertaining to every process in a process tree, starting from the root-process to its leaves (i.e. it reports measures related to both parent and child processes).

Target of the test : Any host

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for the server being monitored.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter Description

Test Period

How often should the test be executed.

Process

Enter a comma separated list of names:pattern pairs which identify the process(es) associated with the server being considered. processName is a string that will be used for display purposes only. processPattern is an expression of the form - *expr* or expr or *expr or expr* or *expr1*expr2*... or expr1*expr2, etc. A leading '*' signifies any number of leading characters, while a trailing '*' signifies any number of trailing characters. For example, for an iPlanet application server (Nas_server), there are three processes named kcs, kjs, and kxs associated with the application server. For this server type, in the Process text box, enter "kcsProcess:*kcs*, kjsProcess:*kjs*, kxsProcess:*kxs*, where * denotes zero or more characters. Other special characters such as slashes (\) can also be used while defining the process pattern. For example, if a server’s root directory is /home/egurkha/apache and the server executable named httpd exists in the bin directory, then, the process pattern is “*/home/egurkha/apache/bin/httpd*”.

To determine the process pattern to use for your application, on Windows environments, look for the process name(s) in the Task Manager -> Processes selection. To determine the process pattern to use on Unix environments, use the ps command (e.g., the command "ps -e -o pid,args" can be used to determine the processes running on the target system; from this, choose the processes of interest to you).

PIDFile

Enter a comma separated list of process names:paths to pid files that contain the process ids of the processes that need to be monitored. processName is a string that will be used for display purposes only.  For example, this text box could contain, WebServer:/tmp/pid_file1, Apache:/tmp/pid_file2, where pid_file1 and pid_file2 are the files containing the process ids.  Note that each pid file can contain only one pid. 
Measurements made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Processes running

Number of instances of a process(es)  currently executing on a host

Number

This value indicates if too many or too few processes corresponding to an application are executing on the host.

CPU usage

Percentage of CPU used by executing process(es) corresponding to the pattern specified

Percent

A very high value could indicate that processes corresponding to the specified pattern are consuming excessive CPU resources.

Memory usage

For one or more processes corresponding to a specified set of patterns, this value represents the ratio of the resident set size of the processes to the physical memory of the host system, expressed as a percentage.

Percent

A sudden increase in memory utilization for a process(es) may be indicative of memory leaks in the application.

Note:

If a log file to be monitored is not found or is empty, then the errcount will be 0.