Tunable Parameters Test

This test will work on AIX hosts only. The test reports how well the AIX system is utilizing the virtual memory.

Target of the test : An AIX Host

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for the AIX host being monitored

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.
Measurements made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Real memory pages:

Indicates the size of the real memory in KBytes.

 

Kbyes

4 Kb equals to 1 page.

Lurable pages:

Indicates the number of 4 KB pages considered for replacement.

Number

This number excludes the pages used for VMM(Virtual memeory manager) internal pages, and the pages used for the pinned part of the kernel text.

Free pages:

Indicates the number of 4 KB pages currently used by the file cache.

Number

 

Memory pools:

Indicates the number of memory pools.

Number

 

Pinned pages:

Indicates the number of pinned 4KB pages.

Number

 

Maximum Pinnable memory

Indicates the tuning parameter (managed using vmo) specifying the percentage of real memory which can be pinned.

Percent

 

Minimum persistent memory:

This measure indicates the tuning parameter (managed using vmo) in percentage of real memory.

Percent

This specifies the point below which file pages are protected from the re-page algorithm.

Maximum persistent memory:

Indicates the Tuning parameter (managed using vmo) in percentage of real memory.

Percent

This specifies the point above which the page stealing algorithm steals only file pages.

 

Persistent file cache:

Indicates the percentage of memory currently used by the file cache.

Percent

 

Currently used file cache memory:

Indicates the number of pages that are currently used by the file cache.

 

Number

 

Memory used by compressed pages:

Indicates the percentage of memory that are relatively compressed.

Number

 

Compressed memory pages:

Indicates the number of unused pages that are relatively compressed and stored in memory.

Number

 

Memory occupied by client pages:

Indicates the number of unused pages that are relatively compressed and stored in memory.

Number

 

Maximum memory for client pages:

Indicates a limit on the maximum amount of memory that should be used to cache non-computational client pages; It is the maximum percentage of memory which can be used for client pages.

Number

Because all non-computational client pages are a subset of the total number of non-computational permanent storage pages, the maxclient limit must always be less than or equal to the maxperm limit.

Client pages:

Indicates the number of client pages.

Number

 

Pageouts scheduled for client file systems:

Indicates the number of pageouts scheduled for client file systems.

Number

 

Pending disk I/O requests blocked:

Indicates the number of pending disk I/O requests that have been blocked since the pbuf are not available.

Number

Pbufs are pinned memory buffers used to hold I/O requests at the logical volume manager layer.

Paging space I/O requests blocked:

Indicates the number of paging space I/O requests that have been blocked since the psbufs are not available.

Number

Psbufs are pinned memory buffers used to hold I/O requests at the virtual memory manager layer.

Filesystem I/O requests blocked:

Indicates the number of filesystem I/O requests blocked because no fsbuf was available.

Number

Fsbufs are pinned memory buffers used to hold I/O requests in the filesystem layer.

Client filesystem I/O requests blocked:

Indicates the number of client filesystem I/O requests blocked because no fsbuf was available.

Number

NFS (Network File System) and VxFS (Veritas) are client filesystems. Fsbufs are pinned memory buffers used to hold I/O requests in the filesystem layer.

External pager client filesystem I/O requests blocked:

Indicates the number of external pager client filesystem I/O requests blocked because no fsbuf was available.

Number

JFS2 is an external pager client filesystem. Fsbuf are pinned memory buffers used to hold I/O requests in the filesystem layer.

Besides the above, hardware monitoring expertise can also be optionally built into the Operating System layer of an AIX host. Please refer to the Hardware Monitoring document for further details