HP P2000 Host Ports Test

A Host Port is a port on a controller module that interfaces with a host computer, either directly or through a network switch. Since host ports facilitate host-controller interactions, any slowdown in I/O processing that a user may complain of can be attributed to an overloaded port or poor I/O performance of a port. To be able to proactively detect such problems with a port and take adequate measures to curb them, administrators need to keep an eye on the level of I/O activity on each host port, measure the I/O processing ability of the ports, and identify the ‘weak links’ of the storage environment – i.e., isolate those host ports that are either overloaded or are slow in processing requests. Such host ports can be identified using the HP P2000 Host Ports test. For every host port on a controller, this test reports the rate at which the port services read and write requests and reveals the count of requests that are pending processing by the port. This way, the test clearly points administrators to a probable overload or a processing delay with the host ports.

Target of the test : A HP P2000 SAN storage system

Agent deploying the test : A remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each host port on each controller of the HP P2000 SAN storage system being monitored.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter	Description
Test period	How often should the test be executed .
Host	The host for which the test is to be configured. Since the storage device is managed using the IP address of its storage controller, the same will be displayed as host. In case of a dual-controller configuration, the IP address of the primary controller will be displayed here.
Port	The port number at which the specified host listens. By default, this is NULL.
Additional Controller IP	By default, this test always connects to the Host to collect metrics. If the Host is unavailable, then the test will not be able to execute. This is because, the Additional Controller IP is set to none by default. If the monitored storage device has two controllers, then you can configure the test to connect to an alternate controller, if the host is unreachable. For this purpose, specify the IP address of the alternate controller in the Additional Controller IP text box.
User and Password	In order to monitor a HP P2000 SAN storage system, the eG agent has to be configured with the credentials of a user who has been assigned the Monitor role. Specify the login credentials of such a user in the User and Password text boxes. To know how to create such a user, refer to Pre-requisites for monitoring the HP P2000 SAN storage system.
Confirm Password	Confirm the password by retyping it here.
ServicePort	The Management Controller of the HP P2000 storage system provides access for monitoring and management via the HTTP and HTTPS protocols for XML API request/response semantics. To enable the eG agent to access the management controller, invoke the XML API commands, and collect the required metrics, you need to specify the service port on the controller that listens for HTTP/HTTPS requests for XML API semantics. By default, this is port 80.
Timeout	Specify the time duration for which this test should wait for a response from the storage system in the Timeout text box. By default, this is 60 seconds.
SSL	By default, HP P2000 SAN system is not SSL-enabled. This is why, this flag is set to False by default. If it is SSL-enabled, then change this flag to True.
Authentication Type	By default, MD5 is chosen from this list indicating that the eG agent uses MD5 authentication algorithm to monitor the target HP P2000 SAN Storage system. However, if you wish to monitor HP MSA 2060 FC Storage system using the HP P2000 SAN monitoring model offered by eG Enterprise, then, choose SHA256 from this list. This indicates that the eG agent uses SHA256 authentication algorithm to collect metrics from the HP MSA 2060 FC Storage system.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Data transmitted	Indicates the rate at which data is transmitted through this host port during the last measurement period.	MB/Sec	This is a good indicator of the load on the port. You can compare the value of this measure across host ports to figure out whether the load has been distributed uniformly across all ports or a few ports are overloaded. In case of the latter, you may have to fine-tune the load-balancing algorithm used.
IOPS	Indicates the rate at which the I/O operations were performed through this host port during the last measurement period.	IOPS	This measure serves as a good indicator of the I/O processing ability of the host port. A consistent drop in this value is hence a cause for concern, as it indicates a processing slowdown.
Reads	Indicates the rate at which the read operations were performed through this host port during the last measurement period.	Reads/Sec	Ideally, the value of this measure should be high. A steady dip in this measure value could indicate a potential reading bottleneck. By comparing the value of this measure across host ports, you can quickly identify that host port which is the slowest in processing read requests.
Writes	Indicates the rate at which the write operations were performed through this host port during the last measurement period.	Writes/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 host ports, you can quickly identify that host port which is the slowest in processing write requests.
Data reads	Indicates the rate at which the data was read through this host port during the last measurement period.	MB/Sec	Comparing the value of these measures across the host ports will clearly indicate which host port is the busiest in terms of data transmission - it could also shed light on irregularities in load balancing across the host ports.
Data writes	Indicates the rate at which the data was written through this host port during the last measurement period.	MB/Sec
Queue depth	Indicates the number of pending I/O operations that are currently being serviced through this host port.	Number	A consistent rise in the value of this measure indicates a processing bottleneck at the port that is causing I/O requests to queue up.