XIO Volumes Test

One of the primary capabilities of the XtremIO Storage Array is to provision volumes (LUNs) to the connected servers. Each volume is a defined quantity of disk space which is provisioned to the servers so that you can enable the servers to treat the volume as a SCSI device. Once the volumes are provisioned, you can create instantaneous copy images of volume data called snapshots so as to ensure availability of the original copy of the volume data without interruption. In an EMC XtremIO cluster, you can define various quantities of disk space as volumes. For an administrator to efficiently utilize the volumes, it is essential to provision the volumes prudently and monitor the processing ability of the volumes round the clock. If a sudden decrease in the I/O processing is noticed, administrators need to analyze what exactly has brought down the I/O processing capability of the volumes. To address the needs of the administrators and keep an eye on the volumes, eG Enterprise provides you with the XIO Volumes test.

This test auto discovers the volumes of the target storage array and helps administrators to figure out the volume that is busy processing I/O requests, detect irregularities in the distribution of I/O load across the volumes, analyze the space utilization of each volume and thus enables administrators to initiate pre-emptive measures when I/O processing capability decreases gradually.

Target of the test : An EMC XtremIO Storage array

Agent deploying the test : A remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each volume of the target EMC XtremIO being monitored.

Configurable parameters for the test

Parameter	Description
Test Period	How often should the test be executed.
Host	The IP address of the storage device for which this test is to be configured.
Port	The port number at which the storage array listens. The default is NULL.
XtremIO User and XtremIO Password	Provide the credentials of a user who has read only privileges to access the XtremIO storage array in the XtremIO User and XtremIO Password text boxes.
Confirm Password	Confirm the password by retyping it here.
XMS IP	This parameter is applicable only for EMC XtremIO 4.x. By default, None will be chosen from this list. If the target EMC XtremIO storage array is within a XMS Management Server that is auto-discovered, then the IP or host name of that XMS Management Server will be displayed in this list. Select that particular XMS IP to configure this test. If you wish to monitor an EMC XtremIO Storage Array that is either not an integral part of the auto-discovered XMS Management Server or a brand new EMC XtremIO Storage Array, choose the Other option. This will enable you to add a new XMS Managament Server. To know how to add a new XMS Management Server, refer to Adding a new XMS.
SSL	The eG agent collects performance metrics by invoking Restful APIs on the target Storage array. Typically, the Restful APIs can be invoked through the HTTP or the HTTPS mode. By default, the eG agent invokes the Restful APIs using the HTTPS mode. This is why, the SSL flag is set to Yes by default. If the target storage array is not SSL-enabled, then the Restful APIs can be accessed through the HTTP mode only. In this case, set the SSL flag to No.
Detailed Diagnosis	To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG Enterprise 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
Bandwidth	Indicates the amount of data handled while performing I/O operations per second on this volume.	MB/Sec
Read bandwidth	Indicates the amount of data utilized for read I/O operations per second on this volume.	MB/Sec
Write bandwidth	Indicates the amount of data utilized for write I/O operations per second on this volume.	MB/Sec
IOPS	Indicates the rate at which I/O operations were performed on this volume during the last measurement period.	IOPS	Compare the value of this measure across the volumes to know which volume handles the maximum number of I/O operations
Read IOPS	Indicates the rate at which read operations were performed on this volume.	IOPS
Write IOPS	Indicates the rate at which write operations were performed on this volume.	IOPS
Read latency	Indicates the time taken to perform read operations on this volume.	msec
Write latency	Indicates the time taken to perform write operations on this volume.	msec
Average latency	Indicates the average time taken to perform I/O operations on this volume.	msec
Reads	Indicates the number of reads performed on this volume per second during the last measurement period.	Reads/sec	Compare the values of this measure across the volumes to know which volume handles the maximum number of read requests.
Data written	Indicates the amount of data written to this volume during the last measurement period.	MB/sec	Ideally, the value of this measure should be high. A steady dip in this measure value could indicate a potential writing bottleneck. By comparing the value of this measure across the volumes, you can quickly identify the volume that is the slowest to process write requests.
Number of LUN mappings	Indicates the number of LUN mappings defined on this volume.	Number
Number of destination snaps	Indicates the number of snapshots that were snapshotted from this volume.	Number	By default, volumes are snapshotted at equal intervals and these snapshots are distributed to various clients whereas the original volume is maintained as the source copy. If the value of this measure is high, then administrators may be required to correlate this value with that of the Bandwidth measure. The higher the value of this measure, the greater is the bandwidth utilized. Therefore, for the bandwidth to be maintained in an optimal range, the value of this measure should be maintained within the permissible limits. If too many snapshots are created within a short period of time, then the optimization of the storage array may fail leading to severe processing bottlenecks.
Used volume size	Indicates the total amount of space utilized for writing data to this volume before deduplication process.	GB
Free volume size	Indicates the amount of space that is available for use in this volume.	GB	A high value is desired for this measure. A gradual/sudden decrease in the value of this measure indicates that the volume is running out of space.
Used volume	Indicates the percentage of space that is already utilized in this volume.	Percent	A value close to 100% indicates that the volume is running out of space.
Free volume	Indicates the percentage of space that is available for use in this volume.	Percent	A high value is desired for this measure.