Memory Utilization Test

This test auto-discovers the stack units of the Dell Switch M-Series and reports the memory utilization of each stack unit. By comparing the memory usage statistics across the stack units, administrators can quickly identify the stack unit that is currently running out of space.

Target of the test : Dell Switch M-Series

Agent deploying the test : An External Agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for every stack unit in the Dell Switch M-Series monitored

The figure below depicts the test configuration page of this test. Click on the parameters in the figure below to know what they are and how to configure them.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter	Description
Test Period	How often should the test be executed.
Host	The IP address of the host for which this test is to be configured.
Port	The port at which the device listens. By default, this will be NULL.
SNMPPort	The port at which the monitored target exposes its SNMP MIB; The default value is 161.
SNMPVersion	By default, the eG agent supports SNMP version 1. Accordingly, the default selection in the SNMPversion list is v1. However, if a different SNMP framework is in use in your environment, say SNMP v2 or v3, then select the corresponding option from this list.
SNMPCommunity	The SNMP community name that the test uses to communicate with the firewall. This parameter is specific to SNMP v1 and v2 only. Therefore, if the SNMPVersion chosen is v3, then this parameter will not appear.
UserName	This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. SNMP version 3 (SNMPv3) is an extensible SNMP Framework which supplements the SNMPv2 Framework, by additionally supporting message security, access control, and remote SNMP configuration capabilities. To extract performance statistics from the MIB using the highly secure SNMP v3 protocol, the eG agent has to be configured with the required access privileges – in other words, the eG agent should connect to the MIB using the credentials of a user with access permissions to be MIB. Therefore, specify the name of such a user against this parameter.
Context	This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. An SNMP context is a collection of management information accessible by an SNMP entity. An item of management information may exist in more than one context and an SNMP entity potentially has access to many contexts. A context is identified by the SNMPEngineID value of the entity hosting the management information (also called a contextEngineID) and a context name that identifies the specific context (also called a contextName). If the Username provided is associated with a context name, then the eG agent will be able to poll the MIB and collect metrics only if it is configured with the context name as well. In such cases therefore, specify the context name of the Username in the Context text box. By default, this parameter is set to none.
AuthPass	Specify the password that corresponds to the above-mentioned Username. This parameter once again appears only if the SNMPVersion selected is v3.
Confirm Password	Confirm the AuthPass by retyping it here.
AuthType	This parameter too appears only if v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. From the Authtype list box, choose the authentication algorithm using which SNMP v3 converts the specified username and password into a 32-bit format to ensure security of SNMP transactions. You can choose between the following options: MD5 – Message Digest Algorithm SHA – Secure Hash Algorithm
EncryptFlag	This flag appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. By default, the eG agent does not encrypt SNMP requests. Accordingly, the this flag is set to No by default. To ensure that SNMP requests sent by the eG agent are encrypted, select the Yes option.
EncryptType	If this EncryptFlag is set to Yes, then you will have to mention the encryption type by selecting an option from the EncryptType list. SNMP v3 supports the following encryption types: DES – Data Encryption Standard AES – Advanced Encryption Standard
EncryptPassword	Specify the encryption password here.
Confirm Password	Confirm the encryption password by retyping it here.
Timeout	Specify the duration (in seconds) within which the SNMP query executed by this test should time out in this text box. The default is 10 seconds.
Data Over TCP	By default, in an IT environment, all data transmission occurs over UDP. Some environments however, may be specifically configured to offload a fraction of the data traffic – for instance, certain types of data traffic or traffic pertaining to specific components – to other protocols like TCP, so as to prevent UDP overloads. In such environments, you can instruct the eG agent to conduct the SNMP data traffic related to the monitored target over TCP (and not UDP). For this, set this flag to Yes. By default, this flag is set to No.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Total memory	Indicates the total amount of memory allocated for this stack unit.	MB
Utilized memory	Indicates the amount of memory that is utilized by this stack unit.	MB	A low value is desired for this measure. A value close to the Total memory measure indicates that the memory resources are depleting rapidly.
Available free memory	Indicates the amount of memory that is currently available for use in this stack unit.	MB	A high value is desired for this measure.
Memory utilization	Indicates the percentage of memory utilized by this stack unit.	Percent	A low value is desired for this measure. A high value or a consistently increasing value is a cause of concern, as it could indicate a gradual erosion of memory in the stack unit. In such cases, you may want to resize the stack unit or investigate the cause of memory erosion and find a way to arrest the memory erosion.