System Details – OS Test
This test collects various metrics pertaining to the CPU and memory usage of every processor supported by a guest.
Target of the test : Oracle VM Server
Agent deploying the test : A remote agent
Outputs of the test : One set of results for each processor supported by each powered-on VM of the Oracle VM Server being monitored.
Parameters | 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. |
Oracle VM Manager, Oracle VM Manager User, Oracle VM Manager Password, and Confirm Password |
This test remotely connects to the Oracle VM Manager that manages the monitored Oracle VM Server and uses the web services API of the Oracle VM Manager to pull out metrics of interest. To enable this test to communicate with the web services API, you first need to configure the test with the IP address or host name of the Oracle VM Manager. This can be done using the Oracle VM Manager text box. Then, you need to configure the test with the credentials of a user with Admin rights to the Oracle VM Manager. Use the Oracle VM Manager User and Oracle VM Manager Password parameters to configure these credentials. Finally, confirm the password by retyping it in the Confirm Password text box. |
SSL |
By default, the Oracle VM Manager is SSL-enabled. Accordingly, the SSL flag is set to Yes by default. This indicates that the eG agent will communicate with the Oracle VM Manager via HTTPS by default. |
WebPort |
By default,, the Oracle VM Manager listens on 7002. This implies that while monitoring an Oracle VM server via an SSL-enabled Oracle VM Manager, the eG agent, by default, connects to port 7002 of the Oracle VM Manager to pull out metrics. In some environments however, this default port may not apply. In such a case, against the WebPort parameter, you can specify the exact port at which the Oracle VM Manager in your environment listens so that the eG agent communicates with that port. |
Exclude VMs |
Administrators of some virtualized environments may not want to monitor some of their less-critical VMs - for instance, VM templates - both from 'outside' and from 'inside'. The eG agent in this case can be configured to completely exclude such VMs from its monitoring purview. To achieve this, provide a comma-separated list of VMs to be excluded from monitoring in the Exclude VMs text box. Instead of VMs, VM name patterns can also be provided here in a comma-separated list. For example, your exclude vms specification can be: *xp,*lin*,win*,vista. Here, the * (asterisk) is used to denote leading and trailing spaces (as the case may be). By default, this parameter is set to none indicating that the eG agent obtains the inside and outside views of all VMs on a virtual host by default. By providing a comma-separated list of VMs/VM name patterns in the Exclude VMs text box, you can make sure the eG agent stops collecting 'inside' and 'outside' view metrics for a configured set of VMs. |
Ignore VMs Inside View |
Administrators of some high security Oracle environments might not have permissions to internally monitor one/more VMs. The eG agent can be configured to not obtain the 'inside view' of such ‘inaccessible’ VMs using the Ignore VMs Inside View parameter. Against this parameter, you can provide a comma-separated list of VM names, or VM name patterns, for which the inside view need not be obtained. For instance, your ignore vms inside view specification can be: *xp,*lin*,win*,vista. Here, the * (asterisk) is used to denote leading and trailing spaces (as the case may be). By default, this parameter is set to none indicating that the eG agent obtains the inside view of all VMs on an Oracle VM server by default. Note: While performing VM discovery, the eG agent will not discover the operating system of the VMs configured in the ignore vms inside view text box. |
Inside View Using |
By default, this test obtains the “inside view” of VMs using the eG VM Agent. Accordingly, the Inside view using flag is set to eG VM Agent by default. The eG VM Agent is a piece of software, which should be installed on every VM on a hypervisor. Every time the eG agent runs this test, it uses the eG VM Agent to pull relevant 'inside view' metrics from each VM. Once the metrics are collected, the eG agent then communicates with each VM agent and pulls these metrics, without requiring administrator privileges. Refer to Configuring the Remote Agent to Obtain the Inside View of VMs for more details on the eG VM Agent. |
Domain, Admin User, and Admin Password, and Confirm Password |
By default, these parameters are set to none. This is because, by default, the eG agent collects 'inside view' metrics using the eG VM agent on each VM. Domain administrator privileges need not be granted to the eG agent if it uses this default approach to obtain the 'inside view' of Windows VMs. |
Ignore WINNT |
By default, the eG agent does not support the inside view for VMs executing on Windows NT operating systems. Accordingly, the Ignore WINNT flag is set to Yes by default. |
Enable Memory Diagnosis |
By default, the Enable Memory Diagnosis flag is set to No, indicating that detailed diagnosis will not be available for the Free memory in VM measure reported by this test by default. If you want to view the detailed diagnosis of the Free memory in VM measure - i.e., to view the top 10 processes on the VM that are utilizing memory excessively - you can change this flag to Yes. |
Use Top for DD |
This parameter is applicable only to Linux VMs. By default, this parameter is set to No. This indicates that, by default, this test will report the detailed diagnosis of the Virtual CPU utilization measure for each processor on a Linux VM by executing the usr/bin/ps command. On some Linux flavors however, this command may not function properly. In such cases, set the Use Top For DD parameter to Yes. This will enable the eG agent to extract the detailed diagnosis of the Virtual CPU utilization measure by executing the /usr/bin/top command instead. |
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. |
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:
|
Measurement | Description | Measurement Unit | Interpretation |
---|---|---|---|
Virtual CPU utilization |
This measurement indicates the percentage of CPU utilized by the processor. |
Percent |
A high value could signify a CPU bottleneck. The CPU utilization may be high because a few processes are consuming a lot of CPU, or because there are too many processes contending for a limited resource. The detailed diagnosis of this test reveals the top-10 CPU-intensive processes on the guest. |
System usage of virtual CPU |
Indicates the percentage of CPU time spent for system-level processing. |
Percent |
An unusually high value indicates a problem and may be due to too many system-level tasks executing simultaneously. |
Run queue in VM |
Indicates the instantaneous length of the queue in which threads are waiting for the processor cycle. This length does not include the threads that are currently being executed. |
Number |
A value consistently greater than 2 indicates that many processes could be simultaneously contending for the processor. |
Blocked processes in VM |
Indicates the number of processes blocked for I/O, paging, etc. |
Number |
A high value could indicate an I/O problem on the guest (e.g., a slow disk). |
Swap memory in VM |
Denotes the committed amount of virtual memory. This corresponds to the space reserved for virtual memory on disk paging file(s). |
MB |
An unusually high value for the swap usage can indicate a memory bottleneck. Check the memory utilization of individual processes to figure out the process(es) that has (have) maximum memory consumption and look to tune their memory usages and allocations accordingly. |
Free memory in VM |
Indicates the free memory available. |
MB |
A very low value of free memory is also an indication of high memory utilization on a guest. The detailed diagnosis of this measure, if enabled, lists the top 10 processes responsible for maximum memory consumption on the guest. |
Scan rate in VM |
Indicates the memory scan rate. |
Pages/Sec |
A high value is indicative of memory thrashing. Excessive thrashing can be detrimental to guest performance. |
Note:
For multi-processor systems, where the CPU statistics are reported for each processor on the system, the statistics that are system-specific (e.g., run queue length, free memory, etc.) are only reported for the "Summary" descriptor of this test.
The detailed diagnosis capability of the Virtual CPU utilization measure, if enabled, provides a listing of the top 10 CPU-consuming processes (see Figure 5). In the event of a Cpu bottleneck, this information will enable users to identify the processes consuming a high percentage of CPU time. The users may then decide to stop such processes, so as to release the CPU resource for more important processing purposes.
Figure 5 : The top 10 CPU consuming processes
Note:
While instantaneous spikes in CPU utilization are captured by the eG agents and displayed in the Measures page, the detailed diagnosis will not capture/display such instantaneous spikes. Instead, detailed diagnosis will display only a consistent increase in CPU utilization observed over a period of time.