AHV Storage Test

Nutanix combines compute(CPU) resources with storage resources delivered via SSDs and directly-attached (DAS) SATA HDD media drives. The VMs operating on the Nutanix AHV hypervisor use these aggregated storage resources for their operations. The lack of adequate, well-tuned storage resources can therefore severely impair VM operations and availability. To avoid this, a Nutanix administrator has to continuously measure overall storage performance and accurately determine the following:

How is the I/O load on the storage?
Is the storage processing I/O requests quickly ?
Is too much bandwidth being consumed when processing I/O?
Is the AHV sized with adequate storage resources? If not, what type of storage is running short of space - the SSDs? or the SATA HDDs?

The AHV - Storage test helps administrators monitor overall storage health and rapidly leads them to the problem areas by providing quick and accurate answers to the aforesaid.

Target of the test : A Nutanix AHV server

Agent deploying the test : A remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for the Nutanix AHV server 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.
Port	The port at which the specified host listens. By default, this is NULL
Prism Element IP	If the eG manager had discovered the target Nutanix AHV server by connecting to the Nutanix Prism Element, then the IP address of the Nutanix Prism Element server used for discovering this Nutanix AHV server would be automatically displayed against the Prism Element IP parameter; similarly, the Prism Element User and Prism Element Password text boxes will be automatically populated with the Prism Element user credentials, using which Nutanix AHV discovery was performed. If this Nutanix AHV server has not been discovered using the Nutanix Prism Element, but you still want to monitor the Nutanix AHV server via the Prism Element, then select the IP address of the Prism Element server that you wish to use for monitoring the Nutanix AHV server from the Prism Element IP list. By default, this list is populated with the IP address of all Nutanix Prism Element hosts that were added to the eG Enterprise system at the time of discovery. Upon selection, the Prism Element user and Prism Element Password that were pre-configured for that Nutanix Prism Element will be automatically displayed against the respective text boxes. On the other hand, if the IP address of the Prism Element server of interest to you is not available in the list, then, you can add the details of the Prism Element server on-the-fly, by selecting the Other option from the Prism Element IP list. This will invoke the MANAGER DISCOVERY - VIRTUAL PLATFORM SETTINGS page. Refer to the Configuring eG Enterprise to Monitor Nutanix AHV topic for details on how to use this page.
Prism Element User, Prism Element Password and Confirm Password	If the eG manager had discovered the target Nutanix AHV server by connecting to the Nutanix Prism Element, then the IP address of the Nutanix Prism Element server used for discovering this Nutanix AHV server would be automatically displayed against thePrism Element IP parameter; similarly, the Prism Element User and Prism Element Password text boxes will be automatically populated with the Prism Element user credentials, using which Nutanix AHV discovery was performed. If this Nutanix AHV server has not been discovered using the Nutanix Prism Element, but you still want to monitor the Nutanix AHV server via the Prism Element, then select the IP address of the Prism Element server that you wish to use for monitoring the Nutanix AHV server from the Prism Element IP list. By default, this list is populated with the IP address of all Nutanix Prism Element hosts that were added to the eG Enterprise system at the time of discovery. Upon selection, the Prism Element User and Prism Element Password that were pre-configured for that Prism Element server will be automatically displayed against the respective text boxes. On the other hand, if the IP address of the Prism Element server of interest to you is not available in the list, then, you can add the details of the Prism Element server on-the-fly, by selecting the Other option from the Prism Element IP list. This will invoke the MANAGER DISCOVERY - VIRTUAL PLATFORM SETTINGS page. Refer to the Configuring eG Enterprise to Monitor Nutanix AHV topic for details on how to use this page.
SSL	By default, the Nutanix Prism Element server is SSL-enabled. Accordingly, the SSL flag is set to Yes by default. This indicates that the eG agent will communicate with the Prism Element server via HTTPS by default.
WebPort	By default, the Nutanix Prism Element server listens on port 9440. This implies that while monitoring a Nutanix AHV server via the Prism Element server, the eG agent connects to port 9440.
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.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Total I/O latency	Indicates the average time taken by the storage to process I/O requests.	Secs	Ideally, the value of this measure should be very low. A high value or a steady increase in this value could indicate an I/O processing bottleneck on the storage. In such a case, compare the value of the Read IO latency and Write IO latency measures to figure out when the slowness is worst - when processing read requests? or write requests?
Read IO latency	Indicates the average time taken by the storage to process read I/O requests.	Secs	If the Total I/O latency measure reports an abnormally high value, then compare the value of these measures to figure out where the slowness is maximum - when processing read requests? or write requests?
Write IO latency	Indicates the average time taken by the storage to process write I/O requests.	Secs
Total IO bandwidth	Indicates the bandwidth per second used by the storage when processing I/O requests.	KB/Sec	A high value for this measure denotes that the storage is processing bandwidth-intensive I/O. In such situations, you may want to compare the value of the Read IO bandwidth and Write IO bandwidth measures to know what type of I/O requests are truly contributing to the excessive bandwidth consumptions - read requests? or write requests?
Read IO bandwidth	Indicates the bandwidth per second used by the storage when processing read I/O requests.	KB/Sec	If the value of the Total IO bandwidth measure is high, then you may want to compare the value of the Read IO bandwidth and Write IO bandwidth measures to know what type of I/O requests are truly contributing to the excessive bandwidth consumption - read requests? or write requests?
Write IO bandwidth	Indicates the bandwidth per second used by the storage when processing write I/O requests.	KB/Sec
Total IOPS	Indicates the number of I/O operations performed currently on the storage.	Number	This measure is a good indicator of the level of I/O activity on the Nutanix storage. A steady and significant increase in the value of this measure could indicate a potential I/O overload. In such situations, you may want to compare the value of the Read IOPS and Write IOPS measures to know what type of IO operations are contributing to the overload.
Read IOPS	Indicates the number of read I/O operations performed currently on the storage.	Number	If the value of the Total IOPS measure is unusually high, then compare the value of these measures to know what is contributing to the unusual I/O activity levels - read requests? or write requests?
Write IOPS	Indicates the number of write I/O operations performed currently on the container.	Number
Disk capacity	Indicates the total storage capacity.	GB
Used space	Indicates the amount of storage space used by the monitored hypervisor and its VMs.	GB	A low value is desired for this measure.
Free space	Indicates the amount of storage space that is still unused.	GB	A high value is desired for this measure.
Disk space utilization	Indicates the percentage of storage capacity currently in use.	Percent	A value close to 100% indicates that the storage resources are being depleted rapidly. To know what type of storage resources are being over-utilized, compare the value of the SSD disk space usage and DAS-SATA disk space usage measures of this test.
Percent free space	Indicates of percentage of storage capacity that is currently free and available for use.	Percent	A value less than 50% indicates that the storage resources are being depleted rapidly. To know what type of storage resources are being over-utilized, compare the value of the SSD disk space usage and DAS-SATA disk space usage measures of this test.
Logical usage	Indicates the amount of logical storage space that is in use currently.	GB
SSD disk capacity	Indicates the total storage capacity across all SSDs.	GB
SSD used space	Indicates the amount of storage space used by all SSDs.	GB	A low value is desired for this measure.
SSD free space	Indicates the amount of storage space that is still unused in the SSDs.	GB	A high value is desired for this measure.
SSD disk space usage	Indicates the percentage of SSD storage capacity currently in use.	Percent	A value close to 100% indicates that the storage space in the SSDs is being depleted rapidly.
SSD free space available	Indicates of percentage of SSD storage capacity that is currently free and available for use.	Percent	A value less than 50% indicates that the storage space in the SSDs is being depleted rapidly.
DAS-SATA disk capacity	Indicates the total storage capacity across all directly attached SATA HDDs.	GB
DAS-SATA used space	Indicates the total amount of storage space used by all directly attached SATA HDDs.	GB	A low value is desired for this measure.
DAS-SATA free space	Indicates the amount of storage space that is still unused in the directly attached SATA HDDs.	GB	A high value is desired for this measure.
DAS-SATA disk space usage	Indicates the percentage of the storage capacity of directly attached SATA HDDs that is currently in use.	Percent	A value close to 100% indicates that the storage space in the HDDs is being depleted rapidly.
DAS-SATA free space available	Indicates of percentage of the storage capacity of directly attached SATA HDDs that is currently free and available for use.	Percent	A value less than 50% indicates that the storage space in the HDDs is being depleted rapidly.