Processes - OS Test

Application processes can be identified based on specific regular expression patterns. For example, web server processes can be identified by the pattern *httpd*, while DNS server processes can be specified by the pattern *named* where * denotes zero or more characters. For each such pattern, this test reports a variety of CPU and memory statistics.

Target of the test : A Windows Systems Group

Agent deploying the test : A remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results per process pattern specified

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 at which the specified host listens.
Inside View Using	To obtain the 'inside view' of performance of the systems - i.e., to measure the internal performance of the systems - this test uses a light-weight eG VM Agent software deployed on each of the systems. Accordingly, this parameter is by default set to eG VM Agent.
Report By User	This flag is set to No by default. This implies that the Windows systems in environments will always be identified using the system name. In other words, this test will, by default, report measures for every systemname. On the other hand, if you want this test to report the measures for every user on a system, then set this flag to Yes. In such a case, this test will report the measures for every username_on_systemname.
Report Powered OS	By default, this flag is set to Yes, then the 'inside view' tests will report measures for even those Windows systems that do not have any users logged in currently. The systems will be identified by their name and not by the username_on_systemname. On the other hand, if this flag is set to No, then this test will not report measures for those systems to which no users are logged in currently.
Is Cloud VMs?	This flag is set to Yes by default. The value of this flag cannot be changed. This implies that the cloud-based Windows systems in environments will always be identified using the login name of the user. In other words, in cloud environments, this test will, by default, report measures for every username_on_systemname.
Process	In the Process text box, enter a comma separated list of names:pattern pairs which identify the process(es) associated with the server being considered. processName is a string that will be used for display purposes only. processPattern is an expression of the form - expr or expr or expr or expr or expr1expr2... or expr1expr2, etc. A leading '' signifies any number of leading characters, while a trailing '' signifies any number of trailing characters. The pattern(s) used vary from one application to another and must be configured per application. For example, for an iPlanet application server (Nas_server), there are three processes named kcs, kjs, and kxs associated with the application server. For this server type, in the Process text box, enter "kcsProcess:kcs, kjsProcess:kjs, kxsProcess:kxs, where * denotes zero or more characters. Other special characters such as slashes (\) can also be used while defining the process pattern. For example, if a server’s root directory is /home/egurkha/apache and the server executable named httpd exists in the bin directory, then, the process pattern is “/home/egurkha/apache/bin/httpd”. Note: The Process parameter supports process patterns containing the ~ character. To determine the process pattern to use for your application, on Windows environments, look for the process name(s) in the Task Manager -> Processes selection. To determine the process pattern to use on Unix environments, use the ps command (e.g., the command "ps -e -o pid,args" can be used to determine the processes running on the target system; from this, choose the processes of interest to you.) Also, while monitoring processes on Windows, if the Wide parameter of this test is set to Yes, then your process patterns can include the full path to the process and/or the arguments supported by the process. For instance, your processpattern specification can be as follows: Terminal:C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost -k DcomLaunch,Remote:C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs To save the time and effort involved in such manual process specification, eG Enterprise offers an easy-to-use auto-configure option in the form of settings icon that is available next to the Process text box. Refer to Auto-configuring the Process Patterns to be Monitored to know how to use the auto-configure option.
Wide	On Windows environments, by default, the eG agent uses perfmon to search for the processes that match the configured patterns. Typically, a process definition in Windows includes the full path to the process, the process name, and process arguments (if any). Perfmon however scans the system only for process names that match the configured patterns – in other words, the process path and arguments are ignored by perfmon. This implies that if multiple processes on a Windows host have the same name as specified against processpattern, then perfmon will only be able to report the overall resource usage across all these processes; it will not provide any pointers to the exact process that is eroding the host’s resources. To understand this better, consider the following example. Typically, Windows represents any Java application executing on it as java.exe. Say, two Java applications are executing on a Windows host, but from different locations. If java.exe has been configured for monitoring, then by default, perfmon will report the availability and average resource usage of both the Java applications executing on the host. If say, one Java application goes down, then perfmon will not be able to indicate accurately which of the two Java applications is currently inaccessible. Therefore, to enable administrators to easily differentiate between processes with the same name, and to accurately determine which process is unavailable or resource-hungry, the eG agent should be configured to perform its process searches based on the process path and/or process arguments, and not just on the process name – in other words, the eG agent should be configured not to use perfmon. To achieve this, by default, the Wide parameter is set to Yes. This will instruct the eG agent to not use perfmon to search for the configured process patterns. Once this is done, then, you can proceed to configure a processpattern that includes the process arguments and/or the process path, in addition to the process name. For instance, if both the Remote Access Connection Manager service and the Terminal Services service on a Windows host, which share the same name – svchost - are to be monitored as two different processes, then your processpattern specification should be as follows: Terminal:C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost -k DcomLaunch,Remote:C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs You can also use wildcard characters, wherever required. For instance, in the above case, your processpattern can also be: Terminal:svchost -k DcomLaunch,Remote:svchost.exe -k netsvcs Similarly, to distinctly monitor two processes having the same name, but operating from different locations, your specification can be: JavaC:c:\javaapp\java.exe,JavaD:d:\app\java.exe Note: Before including process paths and/or arguments in your processpattern configuration, make sure that the wide parameter is set to Yes. If not, the test will not work. If your processpattern configuration includes a process path that refers to the Program Files directory, then make sure that you do not a include a ~ (tilde) while specifying this directory name. For instance, your processpattern specification should not be say, Adobe:C:\Progra~1\Adobe\AcroRd32.exe. However, administrators can set the Wide parameter to No to enable the eG agent to use perfmon to search for the processes that match the configured patterns.
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: 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
Processes running	Number of instances of a process(es) currently executing on a host.	Number	This value indicates if too many or too few processes corresponding to an application are executing on the host.
CPU utilization	Percentage of CPU used by executing process(es) corresponding to the pattern specified.	Percent	A very high value could indicate that processes corresponding to the specified pattern are consuming excessive CPU resources.
Memory utilization	For one or more processes corresponding to a specified set of patterns, this value represents the ratio of the resident set size of the processes to the physical memory of the host system, expressed as a percentage.	Percent	A sudden increase in memory utilization for a process(es) may be indicative of memory leaks in the application.

Note:

The default configurations of the Processes test are applicable for JRun server 4.0. However, if you are monitoring a JRun server 3.0, you would have to modify the default configurations.
In JRun server 3.0, 2 processes are associated with the admin and default servers. They are, "jrun.exe" and "javaw.exe" respectively in Windows and "jrun" and "javaw" in Unix.
Similarly, the JRun Server 4.0 has two default processes, one running for the admin server and the other for the default server. These processes are, namely, "jrun.exe" in Windows and "jrun" in Unix. When you add a new server instance, these processes get created automatically with the same names as mentioned above.
Special characters that are not allowed as part of your manual pattern specifications are as follows:
- ` (Grave Accent)
- | (Vertical bar)
- < (less than)
- > (greater than)
- ~ (tilda)
- @ (at)
- # (hash)
- % (Percent)

Note:

Administrators can extend the built-in auto-correction capabilities to address probable issues with the other measures of the Processes test, by writing their own corrective scripts for the same. The custom-defined script can be associated with the Processes test in the same manner discussed above.
The name of the custom-defined script should be of the following format: InternalTestName_InternalMeasureName. For example, a script that is written to correct problems with the CPU utilization measure (of the Processes test) should be named as "ProcessTest_Cpu_util”, where ProcessTest is the internal name of the Processes test, and Cpu_util is the internal name for the CPU utilization measure. To know the internal names of tests and measures, use any of the eg_lang*.ini file in the <EG_INSTALL_DIR>\manager\config directory. The script extensions will differ according to the operating system on which it will execute. The extensions supported by Windows environments are: .bat, .exe, .com, and .cmd. Scripts to be executed on Unix environments do not require any extension. The most commonly used extension is .sh.
At any given point of time, only one script can be specified in the Corrective Script text box.
As already stated, the sample script for Processes test will be available for every operating system. If the script is uploaded to the eG manager once for an operating system, it will automatically apply to all the agents executing on the same operating system. For example, say that an environment comprises of 3 agents, all executing on Windows 2000 environments. While configuring the Processes test for one of the agents, if the administrator uploads the sample script, then he/she will not have to repeat the process for the other 2 agents.
Once the eG agent downloads a corrective script from the eG manager, any changes made to the script in the manager side will not be reflected in the agent side, immediately. This is because, the eG agent checks the manager for the existence of an updated version of the corrective script, only once a day. If an update is available, the agent downloads the same and overwrites the script that pre-exists.

Note:

The Processes test of LDAP servers takes an additional parameter named ispassive. If the value chosen against this parameter is Yes, then the LDAP server under consideration is a passive server in an LDAP cluster. No alerts will be generated if the server is not running. Measures will be reported as “Not applicable” by the agent if the server is not up.

Auto-configuring the Process Patterns to be Monitored

To save the time and effort involved in manual process specification, eG Enterprise offers an easy-to-use auto-configure option in the form of a button that is available next to the Process text box.

To auto-configure the processes to be monitored, do the following:

Click on the icon next to the process text box in the Processes test configuration page (see Figure 1).

Figure 1 : Configuring the Processes test

Note:

The icon will appear only if the following conditions are fulfilled:
- The Processes test must be executed in an agent-based manner.
- The eG agent executing the test should be of version 5.2 or above.
- In case the eG manager in question is part of a redundant manager setup, then the agent executing the test must be reporting metrics to the primary manager only.
When the icon is clicked, a process configuration page will appear (see Figure 2).

Figure 2 : Auto-configuring the processes to be monitored
Upon clicking the Get Processes button in the process configuration page (see Figure 2), a pop up window with a list of processes that are running on the host will be displayed (see Figure 3).

Figure 3 : List of auto-discovered processes

Note:

The processes that are already configured for monitoring will not be listed in Figure 3.
By default, Figure 3 provides a 'concise' view of the process list - i.e., only the process names will be listed in the pop-up window, and not the detailed description of the processes. You can click on the Detailed View button in the pop up window to switch to the detailed view (see Figure 4).

Figure 4 : The detailed view of processes
As you can see, in the detailed view, the complete process path and process arguments accompany each auto-discovered process.
Regardless of the view you are in, select the process or list of processes that require monitoring and click the Submit button in the pop-up window. Note that you can select processes from both the views. If there are too many processes running in the host to choose from, you can narrow your search further by using the Search text box. Specify the whole/part of the process name to search for in this text box, and click the icon next to it.

Note:

The Processes test includes a wide flag that is set to Yes by default. In this case, your process specification can include the process path and arguments (if any). Therefore, if the wide flag is set to Yes, then, the eG agent will report metrics for the process(es) that are selected in both the concise manner and detailed manner. If the WIDE flag is set to No, the eG agent will collect metrics only for the process(es) that are selected in a concise manner.
Clicking the Submit button in the pop-up will automatically populate the name and pattern of the chosen process in the Process Name and Process Pattern columns available in the process configuration page (see Figure 5).

Figure 5 : One/Multiple auto-discovered processes configured for monitoring
You can add more name:pattern pairs in the process configuration page by clicking on the Add button present at the right corner of the page. To remove a specification that pre-exists, just click on the icon that corresponds to it. You can also modify contents of the Process Name and Process Pattern columns by clicking on the icon that corresponds to it.

Note:

Duplicate processes will appear in the list of processes pop-up, provided the process description is different - for instance, if a 'cmd.exe' process and a 'cmd.bat' process execute on the same host, then both processes will be listed as 'cmd' in the 'concise' view of the process list. If such duplicate processes are chosen for monitoring, then, each process will appear as a separate Process Name and Process Pattern pair in the process configuration page. To proceed, the user must enter a different name for each process using the icon, so that every distinct pattern can be identified in a unique manner.
If you want to clear all the processes that you have added for monitoring, select all the processes by simply clicking the check button provided in the header row and click on the icon at the right-corner of the table. This action will remove all the processes in single click. If you want to remove some of the processes, then select only those processes by checking the check buttons that correspond to them and click on the icon. This will remove the chosen processes alone.