Adaptive Processing Server Performance Test

One of the key factors influencing the performance of the Adaptive Processing Server (APS) is the usage of its JVM memory heap. This is because, APS is a pure Java based process, initialized with 1 GB of Java Heap. Naturally therefore, the lack of adequate free memory to the JVM, faulty and frequent garbage collections, and JVM deadlocks can all have an adverse impact on the health of the APS. Likewise, if critical services hosted on the APS – such as the BEx web application server and the Client auditing proxy server – are not correctly configured to handle the requests they receive, then again APS performance will degrade. This is why, the eG agent periodically runs the Adaptive Processing Server Performance test. This test enables administrators measure JVM health and the correctness of the configuration of the critical APS services, thus helping them rapidly detect dips in APS performance and the possible reasons for it.

Target of the test : A SAP BOBI Node

Agent deploying the test : An internal/remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for the APS running in the node monitored.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter	Description
Test period	How often should the test be executed.
Host	Host name of the server for which the test is to be configured.
Port	Enter the port to which the specified host listens. This should be the port at which the web application server hosting SAP BOBI listens.
JMX Remote Port	Specify the RMI port number of the BOBI monitoring application.To know the RMI port number of the monitoring application, refer to Enabling the Monitoring Application of the SAP BOBI Platform.
JNDI Name	Specify the lookup name for connecting to the JMX connector of the BOBI monitoring application. To know the JNDI name, refer to Enabling the Monitoring Application of the SAP BOBI Platform.
JMX User and JMX Password	Enter the credentials of an enterprise authenticated BOBI user belonging to the default monitoring users group.
Confirm Password	Confirm the password by retyping it here.
Node Name	Specify the name of the BOBI node being monitored.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Free JVM memory	Indicates the amount of memory available to the JVM for allocating new objects.	GB	Ideally, the value of this measure should be high.
Free JVM memory percentage	Indicates the percentage of memory available to the JVM for allocating new objects.	Percent	A value close to 100% is a cause for concern, as it indicates rapid erosion of the JVM memory heap. Without sufficient memory, the APS and its services will not be able to operate optimally.
CPU usage in last 5 mins	Indicates the percentage of time the CPU was used by the APS during the last 5 mins.	Percent	This measure considers all processors allocated to the JVM. A value close to 100% indicates excessive CPU usage, probably owing to CPU-intensive operations performed on the JVM. If more processing power is not allocated to the JVM, the APS may hang.
Stopped system time during GC in last 5 mins	Indicates the percentage of time that APS services were stopped for Garbage Collection in the last 5 minutes.	Percent	A critical stage of garbage collection requires exclusive access and all APS services are halted at this time. This value should always be less than 10. 10 and above indicates a low throughput issue and requires further investigation
Number of page faults during GC in last 5 mins	Indicates the number of page faults that occurred while garbage collection was running during the last five minutes.	Number	Any value greater than 0 indicates a system under heavy load and low memory conditions.
JVM lock contention lock	Indicates the current number of JVM lock contentions.	Number	This represents the number of synchronized objects that have threads that are waiting for access. The average value of this measure should be 0. Consistently higher values indicates threads that will not run again. You may want to take a thread dump to investigate such issues.
JVM deadlocked threads counter	Indicates the number of active sessions within a Business Explorer Web Applications Service.	Number	These threads are indefinitely waiting on each other for a common set of resources. Average value should be 0. Consistently higher values warranties further investigation using thread dumps
BEx web application service sessions	Indicates the number of active sessions within a Business Explorer Web Applications Service.	Number	BEx Web applications are Web-based applications from the Business Explorer (BEx) of SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse (BW) for data analysis, reporting, and analytical applications on the Web. This measure is a good indicator of the load generated by this service on the APS.
Client audit event rate	Indicates the rate of client auditing events received within the last measure period.	Events/Sec	If the event is configured to be audited, the client sends the event information to the web application server, which passes it to the Client Auditing Proxy Service (CAPS) hosted in an Adaptive Processing Server (APS). This measure is used to monitor the configuration and load on the Client auditing proxy service. Values greater than 0 indicate that the service has been configured correctly.
Current number of auditing events queued	Indicates the number of auditing events that the APS has recorded, but which have not yet been retrieved by the CMS Auditor.	Number	If this number increases without bound, it could mean indicate that auditing has not been configured properly or that the system is heavily loaded and generating auditing events faster than the auditor can retrieve them. When stopping servers, It is advisable to disable them first and wait for auditing events to be fully retrieved and this queue becomes empty. Otherwise, they may be retrieved only when this server has been restarted and the CMS polls for them.
Full GCs rate	Indicates the rate of full garbage collections performed in the last 5 minutes.	GCs/sec	A rapid increase in this value may indicate a system under low memory conditions.