Oracle ASM Disk Space Test

ASM is a volume manager and a file system for Oracle database files that supports single-instance Oracle Database and Oracle Real Application Cluster (Oracle RAC) configuration. ASM is Oracle’s recommended storage management solution that provides an alternative to conventional volume managers, file systems, and raw devices.

ASM uses disk groups to store datafiles; an ASM disk group is a collection of disks that ASM manages as a unit. Within a disk group, ASM exposes a file system interface for Oracle database files. The content of files that are stored in a disk group are evenly distributed, or striped, to eliminate hot spots and to provide uniform performance across the disks.

To ensure that a disk group always has sufficient space to store the critical organizational data, you will have to continuously track the space usage of the disk group. This will provide you with early pointers to potential space contentions and help you swiftly provide more space to the group by adding more disks. The ASM Disk Space test enables you to achieve this end. This test closely monitors how each disk in a disk group uses the space available to it, points you to the disks that are running out of space, and thus holds a mirror to space contentions on a disk group.

This test is disabled by default. To enable the test, go to the enable / disable tests page using the menu sequence : Agents -> Tests -> Enable/Disable, pick Oracle Database as the Component type, Performance as the Test type, choose this test from the disabled tests list, and click on the << button to move the test to the ENABLED TESTS list. Finally, click the Update button.

Target of the test : An Oracle server

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each DiskGroup:Disk pair on the Oracle server being monitored.

Configurable parameters for the test
TEST PERIOD - How often should the test be executed Host – The host for which the test is to be configured Port - The port on which the server is listening oraclehome - By default, this test auto-discovers the full path to the Oracle installation directory. This is why, the oracle home parameter is set to none by default. USE ASM INSTANCE - By default, this flag is set to Yes indicating that the eG agent extracts the metrics based on the name of the ASM instance. If you want the eG agent to extract the metrics using SID instead of the name of the ASM instance, set this flag to No. User – In order to monitor an Oracle database server, a special database user account has to be created in every Oracle database instance that requires monitoring. A Click here hyperlink is available in the test configuration page, using which a new oracle database user can be created. Alternatively, you can manually create the special database user. When doing so, ensure that this user is vested with the select_catalog_role and create session privileges. The sample script we recommend for user creation (in Oracle database server versions before 12c) for eG monitoring is: create user oraeg identified by oraeg create role oratest; grant create session to oratest; grant select_catalog_role to oratest; grant oratest to oraeg; The sample script we recommend for user creation (in Oracle database server 12c) for eG monitoring is: alter session set container=<Oracle_service_name>; create user <user_name>identified by <user_password> container=current default tablespace <name_of_default_tablespace> temporary tablespace <name_of_temporary_tablespace>; Grant create session to <user_name>; Grant select_catalog_role to <user_name>; The name of this user has to be specified here. If the USE ASM INSTANCE flag is set to Yes, then, the user monitoring the Oracle database server should be vested with an additional SYSDBA privilege. To provide this privilege, do the following: grant sysdba to user <user_name>; The name of this user has to be specified here. password - Provide the password of the user. Confirm password - Confirm the password by retyping it in this text box. ORACLE HOME - By default, this test auto-discovers the full path to the Oracle installation directory. This is why, the ORACLE HOME parameter is set to none by default. SSL- By default, this flag is set to No, as the target Oracle database is not SSL-enabled by default. If the target database is SSL-enabled, then set this flag to Yes. SSL Cipher-This parameter is applicable only if the target Oracle database is SSL-enabled, if not, set this parameter to none. A cipher suite is a set of cryptographic algorithms that are used before a client application and server exchange information over an SSL/TLS connection. It consist of sets of instructions on how to secure a network through SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) or TLS (Transport Layer Security). In this text box, provide a comma-seperated list of cipher suites that are allowed for SSL/TLS connection to the target database. By default, this parameter is set to none. TRUSTSTORE FILE- This parameter is applicable only if the target Oracle database is SSL-enabled, if not, set this parameter to none. TrustStore is used to store certificates from Certified Authorities (CA) that verify and authenticate the certificate presented by the server in an SSL connection. Therefore, the eG agent should have access to the truststore where the certificates are stored to authenticate and connect with the target database and collect metrics. For this, first import the certificates into the following default location <eG_INSTALL_DIR>/lib/security/mytruststore.jks. To know how to import the certificate into the truststore, refer toPre-requisites for monitoring Oracle Cluster. Then, provide the truststore file name in this text box. For example: mytruststore.jks. By default, none is specified against this text box. TRUSTSTORE TYPE-This parameter is applicable only if the target Oracle database is SSL-enabled, if not, set this parameter to none.Specify the type of truststore that contains the certificates for server authentication in this text box. For eg.,JKS. By default, this parameter is set to the value none. TRUSSTORE PASSWORD-This parameter is applicable only if the target Oracle database is SSL-enabled, if not, set this parameter to none. If a Truststore File name is provided, then, in this text box, provide the password that is used to obtain the associated certificate details from the Truststore File. By default, this parameter is set to none.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Used space:	Indicates the amount of space currently used in this disk.	MB	Ideally, the value of this measure should be low. A consistent increase in this value is a cause for concern.
Free space:	Indicates the amount of space in this disk that is currently free - i.e., available for use.	MB	Ideally, the value of this measure should be high. A consistent decrease in this value is a cause for concern.
Space availability:	Indicates the percentage of space in this disk that is currently unused.	Percent	A high value is typically desired for this measure. By comparing the value of this measure across disks and across disk groups, you can quickly isolate the disks/groups that are running short of space. If the free space is alarmingly low for all disks in a group, it indicates that the group requires more space. You can then consider making space by adding more disks to the group.
Space usage:	Indicates the percentage of space in this disk that is currently used.	Percent	A low value is typically desired for this measure. By comparing the value of this measure across disks and across disk groups, you can quickly isolate the disks/groups that are utilizing space excessively. If the used space is alarmingly high for all disks in a group, it indicates that the group is rapidly running out of space. You can then consider making space by adding more disks to the group.
Used space growth:	Indicates the growth in space usage of this disk since the last measurement period.	MB/Sec	If you observe the variations to this measure over time, you will be able to detect early whether the space in the disk is being steadily eroded or not. This way, you can initiate measures to conserve space much before the disk exhausts all the space available to it.