VM Details - OpenStack Test

In OpenStack, virtual machines (VMs) are created and managed within the projects. The OpenStack KVM hypervisor mapped to the projects allocates the resources to the VMs in the projects. This test monitors the virtual machine (VM) instances and reports the current status of each VM. This test also reveals the CPU time, memory related statistics such as memory utilization, swap in/swap outs, memory faults that were detected etc. Using the metrics reported by this test, administrators can easily figure out which VM is waiting for a longer time to receive CPU allocation, which VM is generating the most network traffic, which VM is over-utilizing memory, and which VM is encountering more errors/packet drops while trasmission/reception.

Target of the test : An OpenStack KVM

Agent deploying the test : A remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each virtual machine on the target hypervisor.

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 number at which the specified Host listens to.

Project Name

To enable this test to access the target hypervisor and pull out the performance metrics, you should specify the name of the project that is mapped to the target hypervisor in this text box. To know how to find out the project name from the OpenStack console, refer to Obtaining Project Name and Domain Details from OpenStack Console.

Domain Name and Domain ID

Specify the name and ID of the domain to which the specified project belongs to against the Domain Name and Domain ID parameters. To know how to find out the domain name and domain ID from the OpenStack console, refer to Obtaining Project Name and Domain Details from OpenStack Console.

User Name, Password and Confirm Password

To enable this test to pull out the performance metrics, you should configure the test with credentials of a user who is assigned with 'reader' role to access the above-mentioned project. Specify the credentials of such a user in the User Name and Password text boxes.

Then, confirm the password by retyping it in the Confirm Password text box.

Identity Version

Specify the version of the Identity service API that is being used in the OpenStack environment. By default, this parameter is configured with the latest version of the API i.e. v3.

SSL

By default, the target controller is not SSL-enabled. This indicates that by default, the eG agent communicates with the target controller using HTTP. Accordingly, the SSL flag is set to No by default. If you configure the target controller to use SSL, then make sure that the SSL flag is set to Yes, so that the eG agent communicates with the target controller using HTTPS.

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

Power state

Indicates the current power state of this VM.

 

The values this measure reports and their numeric equivalents are provided in the table below:

Measure Value Numeric Value
NoState 0

Running

 1

Paused

 3

Shutdown

 4

Crashed

 6
Suspended 7

Note:

Typically, this measure reports one of the Measure Values listed in the table above. In the graph of this measure however, the power state of each VM is indicated by its corresponding numeric equivalent only.

VM state

Indicates the current state of this VM.

 

The values this measure reports and their numeric equivalents are provided in the table below:

Measure Value Numeric Value
Active 100
Building 90
Error 85
Paused 80
Suspended 75
Resumed 70
Resized 60
Shelved_Offloaded 50
Shelved 40
Soft_Deleted 30
Deleted 20
Stopped 10

Note:

Typically, this measure reports one of the Measure Values listed in the table above. In the graph of this measure however, the power state of each VM is indicated by its corresponding numeric equivalent only.

CPU time

Indicates the amount of time that the vCPU of this VM is waiting for the hypervisor to allocate a physical CPU to it.

Seconds

The value of this measure should be low.

VDA errors

Indicates the number of errors logged in the event log while performing operations on this VM via the VDA.

Number

Ideally, the value of this measure should be 0.

Total memory

Indicates the total amount of memory available to this VM.

MB

 

Free memory

Indicates the amount of free memory available for use to this VM.

MB

Compare the value of this measure across VMs to know which VM is running out of free memory.

Used memory

Indicates the amount of total memory that is currently being used by this VM.

MB

 

Memory usage

Indicates the percentage of total memory currently being utilized by this VM.

Percent

Compare the value of this measure across VMs to know which VM is using memory excessively.

Memory swap in

Indicates the amount of memory swapped in to the disk on this VM from the hypervisor.

MB

 

Memory swap out

Indicates the amount of memory swapped out from the disk on this VM to the hypervisor.

MB

 

Memory major fault

Indicates the number of major page faults occurred on this VM.

Number

A major page (memory) fault is an exception that occurs when a process attempts to access memory in a way that exceeds its permissions.

A very low or zero value is preferred for this measure.

Memory minor fault

Indicates the number of minor page faults occurred on this VM.

Number

The minor page (memory) faults mostly occur due to either a bad sector on the disk, which causes the operating system to stop reading data from the hard drive, starting over again or a corrupted file.

A low value is preferred for this measure

VDA read requests

Indicates the number read requests received by this VM.

Number

 

VDA write requests

Indicates the number of write requests received by this VM.

Number

 

VDA disk reads

Indicates the amount of data read from the disk on this VM.

KB

 

VDA disk writes

Indicates the amount of data written on the disk on this VM.

KB

 

Data received rate

Indicates the rate at which the data was received by this VM.

Kbps

A sudden increase or decrease in the value of this measure could be a cause of concern.

Data transmitted rate

Indicates the rate at which the data was transmitted by this VM.

Kbps

A sudden increase or decrease in the value of this measure could be a cause of concern.

Packets received

Indicates the number of packets received by this VM.

Number

Compare the value of this measure across the VMs to find out which VM is handling more traffic.

Packets transmitted

Indicates the number of packets transmitted by this VM.

Number

 

Received errors

Indicates the number of errors occurred while data was received by this VM.

Number

Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero.

Transmitted errors

Indicates the number of errors occurred while data was transmitted by this VM.

Number

Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero.

Received packets dropped

Indicates the number of packets dropped by this VM during reception.

Number

Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero.

Transmitted packets dropped

Indicates the number of packets dropped by this VM during transmission.

Number

Ideally, the value of this measure should be zero.