Hypervisor Resources Test

The Nutanix Acropolis host and the VMs operating on it share the compute and storage resources of the Nutanix platform. This is why, if one/more VMs on a host hog these resources, it will not only impact the performance of the other VMs of that host, but will also degrade the host performance as well. Likewise, a resource contention at the host-level can also adversely impact VM performance. To ensure that the host and VMs perform at peak capacity at all times, administrators should track how the AHV host and its VMs use the physical resources, proactively capture a potential resource contention, and precisely pinpoint the reason for the same - is it because of excessive resource usage by the AHV host? or are one/more VMs on the host resource-hungry? This is what the Hypervisor Resources test helps achieve. This test reports how the physical CPU and memory resources are used by an AHV host , and alerts you to erratic usage patterns. In the event of abnormal resource usage, the test also points you to the resource-starved VMs on the host, and thus reveals what is causing the usage anomaly - the VMs? or resource-intensive processing at the host-level?

Target of the test : A Nutanix Acropolis server

Agent deploying the test : A remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for the Nutanix Acropolis server monitored.

Configurable parameters for the test
  1. Test period - How often should the test be executed
  2. Host - The host for which the test is to be configured.
  3. port - The port at which the specified host listens. By default, this is NULL.

  4. Prism IP - If the eG manager had discovered the target Nutanix Acropolis server by connecting to the Nutanix Prism, then the IP address of the Nutanix Prism server used for discovering this Nutanix Acropolis server would be automatically displayed against the prism ip parameter; similarly, the prism user and prism password text boxes will be automatically populated with the Prism user credentials, using which Nutanix Acropolis discovery was performed.

    If this Nutanix Acropolis server has not been discovered using the Nutanix Prism, but you still want to monitor the Nutanix Acropolis server via the Prism, then select the IP address of the Prism server that you wish to use for monitoring the Nutanix Acropolis server from the prism ip list. By default, this list is populated with the IP address of all Nutanix Prism hosts that were added to the eG Enterprise system at the time of discovery. Upon selection, the PRISM user and prism password that were pre-configured for that Nutanix Prism will be automatically displayed against the respective text boxes.

    On the other hand, if the IP address of the Prism server of interest to you is not available in the list, then, you can add the details of the Prism server on-the-fly, by selecting the Other option from the prism ip list. This will invoke the MANAGER DISCOVERY - VIRTUAL PLATFORM SETTINGS page. Refer to the Configuring eG Enterprise to Monitor Nutanix Acropolis topic for details on how to use this page.

  5. Prism user and prism password - If the eG manager had discovered the target Nutanix Acropolis server by connecting to the Nutanix Prism, then the IP address of the Nutanix Prism server used for discovering this Nutanix Acropolis server would be automatically displayed against the prism ip parameter; similarly, the prism user and prism password text boxes will be automatically populated with the Prism user credentials, using which Nutanix Acropolis discovery was performed.

    If this Nutanix Acropolis server has not been discovered using the Nutanix Prism, but you still want to monitor the Nutanix Acropolis server via the Prism, then select the IP address of the Prism server that you wish to use for monitoring the Nutanix Acropolis server from the prism ip list. By default, this list is populated with the IP address of all Nutanix Prism hosts that were added to the eG Enterprise system at the time of discovery. Upon selection, the PRISM user and prism password that were pre-configured for that Prism server will be automatically displayed against the respective text boxes.

    On the other hand, if the IP address of the Prism server of interest to you is not available in the list, then, you can add the details of the Prism server on-the-fly, by selecting the Other option from the prism ip list. This will invoke the MANAGER DISCOVERY - VIRTUAL PLATFORM SETTINGS page. Refer to the Configuring eG Enterprise to Monitor Nutanix Acropolis topic for details on how to use this page.

  6. confirm password - Confirm the password by retyping it here.

  7. ssl - By default, the Nutanix Prism 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 server via HTTPS by default.

  8. webport - By default, the Nutanix Prism server listens on port 9440. This implies that while monitoring a Nutanix Acropolis server via the Prism server, the eG agent connects to port 9440.

  9. DD FREQUENCY - Refers to the frequency with which detailed diagnosis measures are to be generated for this test. For a Nutanix Acropolis server, this is set to 1:1 by default. This indicates that, by default, detailed measures will be generated every time this test runs, and also every time the test detects a problem.

  10. DETAILED DIAGNOSIS - To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG suite 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

CPU cores

Indicates the number of CPU cores on the host.

Number

 

CPU sockets

Indicates the number of CPU sockets on the host.

Number

 

CPU frequency

Indicates the frequency per CPU core.

GHz

 

CPU capacity

Indicates the total CPU capacity of this host across all cores.

GHz

 

CPU usage

Indicates the percentage of CPU resources used by the host and the VMs.

Percent

A value close to 100% is a cause for concern, as it signals a potential CPU contention on the host. In such a case, use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to view the top-10 CPU-consuming VMs on the host. From this, you can instantly identify the VM that is hogging the CPU resources. If no VM appears to be consuming CPU excessively, then you can conclude that resource-intensive processing at the host-level is causing the contention.

Memory capacity

Indicates the total memory capacity of the host.

GB

 

Memory used

Indicates the total amount of memory used by the VMs and the host.

GB

A low value is desired for this measure.

Available memory

Indicates the amount of physical memory still unused on the host.

GB

A high value is desired for this measure.

Memory utilization

Indicates the percentage of memory used by the VMs and the host.

Percent

A value close to 100% is indicative of excessive memory utilization. In such a situation, use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to view the top-10 memory consuming VMs on the host. From this, you can instantly identify the VM that is hogging the memory resources. If no VM appears to be consuming memory excessively, then you can conclude that memory-intensive processing at the host-level is causing the contention.

Available memory

Indicates the percentage of memory that is still unused on the host.

Percent

Ideally, the value of this measure should be high. A consistent drop in this value is indicative of excessive memory usage. In such a case, use the detailed diagnosis of the Memory utilization measure to isolate the cause of the memory drain.

Oplog disk size

Indicates the current size of the oplog.

GB

The OpLog is similar to a filesystem journal and is built as a staging area to handle bursts of random writes, coalesce them, and then sequentially drain the data to the extent store. A portion of the metadata disk is reserved for the oplog, and you can change the size through the nCLI.

Oplog disk usage

Indicates the percentage of allocated space that is used by the oplog.

Percent

A value close to 100% indicates that the oplog is running out of space. This can happen if data is rapidly written to the oplog but is not drained from the log just as quickly. You may want to consider resizing the oplog to ensure that there is always room for writing more data.

Use the detailed diagnosis of the CPU usage measure to view the top-10 CPU-consuming VMs on the host. From this, you can instantly identify the VM that is hogging the CPU resources.

Figure 1 : The detailed diagnosis of the CPU usage measure

Use the detailed diagnosis of the Memory utilization measure to view the top-10 memory consuming VMs on the host. From this, you can instntly identify the VM that is hogging the memory resources.

Figure 2 : The detailed diagnosis of the Memory utilization measure