Uptime - OS Test

In most environments, it is essential to monitor the uptime of cloud-based virtual desktops hosting popular desktop applications in the infrastructure. By tracking the uptime of each of the physical desktops, administrators can determine what percentage of time a desktop has been up. Comparing this value with service level targets, administrators can determine the most trouble-prone areas of the infrastructure.

In some environments, administrators may schedule periodic reboots of their physical desktops. By knowing that a specific desktop has been up for an unusually long time, an administrator may come to know that the scheduled reboot task is not working on a physical desktop.

This test included in the eG agent monitors the uptime of each desktop.

Target of the test : A Amazon Cloud Desktop Group

Agent deploying the test : A remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for every user_on_poweredondesktop

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter Description

Test Period

How often should the test be executed.

Host

The nick name of the Amazon Cloud Desktop Group component for which this test is to be configured.

Port

Refers to the port at which the specified host listens to. By default, this is NULL.

Inside View Using

To obtain the 'inside view' of performance of the desktops - i.e., to measure the internal performance of the cloud-based virtual desktops - this test uses a light-weight eG VM Agent software deployed on each of the desktops. Accordingly, this parameter is by default set to eG VM Agent.

Report Powered OS

If this flag is set to Yes (which is the default setting), then the 'inside view' tests will report measures for even those desktops that do not have any users logged in currently. Such desktops will be identified by their name and not by the username_on_desktopname. On the other hand, if this flag is set to No, then this test will not report measures for those desktops to which no users are logged in currently.  

Report By User

This flag is set to Yes by default. The value of this flag cannot be changed. This implies that the cloud-based virtual desktops in environments will always be identified using the login name of the user. In other words, in cloud environments, this test will, by default, report measures for every username_on_desktopname.

IsCloudVMs

Since this test runs for a 'Amazon Cloud Desktop Group' component, this flag is set to Yes, by default.

Report Manager Time

By default, this flag is set to Yes, indicating that, by default, the detailed diagnosis of this test, if enabled, will report the shutdown and reboot times of the physical desktops in the manager’s time zone. If this flag is set to No, then the shutdown and reboot times are shown in the time zone of the system where the agent is running (i.e., the system on which the remote agent is running).

DD Frequency

Refers to the frequency with which detailed diagnosis measures are to be generated for this test. The default is 1:1. This indicates that, by default, detailed measures will be generated every time this test runs, and also every time the test detects a problem. You can modify this frequency, if you so desire. Also, if you intend to disable the detailed diagnosis capability for this test, you can do so by specifying none against DD frequency.

Detailed Diagnosis

To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG suite embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test for a particular server, choose the On option. To disable the capability, click on the Off option.

The option to selectively enable/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled:

  • The eG manager license should allow the detailed diagnosis capability

  • Both the normal and abnormal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Has the system been rebooted?

Indicates whether the system has been rebooted during the last measurement period or not.

Boolean

If this measure shows 1, it means that the guest was rebooted during the last measurement period. By checking the time periods when this metric changes from 0 to 1, an administrator can determine the times when this guest was rebooted.

Uptime of system during the last measure period

Indicates the time period that the system has been up since the last time this test ran.

Secs

If the guest has not been rebooted during the last measurement period and the agent has been running continuously, this value will be equal to the measurement period. If the guest was rebooted during the last measurement period, this value will be less than the measurement period of the test. For example, if the measurement period is 300 secs, and if the guest was rebooted 120 secs back, this metric will report a value of 120 seconds. The accuracy of this metric is dependent on the measurement period - the smaller the measurement period, greater the accuracy.

Total uptime of the system

Indicates the total time that the system has been up since its last reboot.

Mins

Administrators may wish to be alerted if a guest has been running without a reboot for a very long period. Setting a threshold for this metric allows administrators to determine such conditions.