How does eG Enterprise Monitor KVM Environments?

To monitor virtual infrastructures, eG Enterprise uses a patented In-N-Out monitoring approach that is designed to address the requirements outlined in Introduction chapter. The eG Single Agent not only monitors the KVM kernel, but also uses the libvirt APIs and commands to report real-time resource usage of each of the guest VMs. The metrics collected report on the percentage of the KVM server’s resources that each the VMs on the server are using - i.e., the relative loading of the guest VMs.  This represents the view of how a guest VM and its applications are doing - from the “outside” - i.e., from outside the guest VM.

In addition, the eG agent also connects to each guest VM that is currently powered on and determines the guest OS version, the name(s) of the users who are logged on (in the virtual desktop scenario), and the resource usage of the guest and the applications running inside the guest (as seen from within the guest operating system). This represents the view from within the guest operating system - i.e., the “inside” view. 

With the In-N-Out monitoring approach, eG Enterprise allows administrators of KVM environments to answer several key questions. Some of these include:

  • How many guest VMs are running on each KVM server, what is the IP address of each of guests, what operating system is each guest running, and when was the guest powered on?
  • Which user is logged in to the guest VM, and when did he/she login?
  • How much memory is allocated to each guest and does each guest VM have sufficient free memory?
  • Does the KVM server have sufficient memory available to support the guest VMs that it is hosting?
  • What is the CPU utilization of the KVM server and which of the guest VMs is taking up excessive CPU?
  • Which application(s) running on each of the guest VMs is taking CPU, memory, and disk resources?
  • Is there sufficient disk space in each of the disk partitions of the guest operating system?
  • Which of the guests is seeing the highest and lowest network traffic?
  • Is there excessive queuing for disk access on any of the guest VMs?
  • What are peak usage times of the virtual desktops?
  • Who are the most resource intensive users of a virtual desktop environment?

Before attempting to monitor the KVM server, a set of pre-requisites should be fulfilled to make the eG agent to communicate with the KVM server and collect metrics pertaining to performance of the server. These requirements are explained in the following topics;