Configuration of SystemTest

The default parameters associated with this test are as follows:

• The TEST PERIOD list box helps the user to decide how often this test needs to be executed.

• In the HOST text box, the host name of the server for which the test is to be configured has to be specified.

• The DURATION parameter is is of significance only while monitoring Unix hosts, and indicates how frequently within the specified TEST PERIOD, the agent should poll the host for CPU usage statistics.

• The SUMMARY attribute is applicable to multi-processor systems only. If the Yes option is selected, then the eG agent will not only report the CPU and memory utilization of each of the processors, but also the summary(i.e., average) of the CPU and memory utilizations of the different processors. If the No option is selected, then the eG agent will report only the CPU usage of the individual processors.  

• The USEIOSTAT parameter is of significance to Solaris platforms only. By default, the USEIOSTAT flag is set to No. This indicates that, by default, SystemTest reports the CPU utilization of every processor on the system being monitored, and also provides the average CPU utilization across the processors. However, if you want SystemTest to report only the average CPU utilization across processors and across user sessions, then set the USEIOSTAT flag to Yes. In such a case, the processor-wise breakup of CPU utilization will not be available.

• The USEPS flag is applicable only for AIX LPARs. By default, on AIX LPARs, this test uses the tprof command to compute CPU usage. Accordingly, the USEPS flag is set to No by default. On some AIX LPARs however, the tprof command may not function properly (this is an AIX issue). While monitoring such AIX LPARs therefore, you can configure the test to use the ps command instead for metrics collection. To do so, set the USEPS flag to Yes.

  Note:

  Alternatively, you can set the AIXusePS flag in the [AGENT_SETTINGS] section of the eg_tests.ini file (in the <EG_INSTALL_DIR>\manager\config directory) to yes (default: no) to enable the eG agent to use the ps command for CPU usage computations on AIX LPARs. If this global flag and the USEPS flag for a specific component are both set to no, then the test will use the default tprof command to compute CPU usage for AIX LPARs. If either of these flags is set to yes, then the ps command will perform the CPU usage computations for monitored AIX LPARs.

  In some high-security environments, the tprof command may require some special privileges to execute on an AIX LPAR (eg., sudo may need to be used to run tprof). In such cases, you can prefix the tprof command with another command (like sudo) or the full path to a script that grants the required privileges to tprof. To achieve this, edit the eg_tests.ini file (in the <EG_INSTALL_DIR>\manager\config directory), and provide the prefix of your choice against the AixTprofPrefix parameter in the [AGENT_SETTINGS] section. Finally, save the file. For instance, if you set the AixTprofPrefix parameter to sudo, then the eG agent will call the tprof command as sudo tprof.

• The INCLUDE WAIT flag is applicable to Unix hosts alone. On Unix hosts, CPU time is also consumed when I/O waits occur on the host. By default, on Unix hosts, this test does not consider the CPU utilized by I/O waits while calculating the value of the CPU utilization measure. Accordingly, the INCLUDE WAIT flag is set to No by default. To make sure that the CPU utilized by I/O waits is also included in CPU usage computations on Unix hosts, set this flag to Yes.

• By default, the ENABLE MEMORY DIAGNOSIS flag is set to NO, indicating that detailed diagnosis will not be available for the Free_memory measure reported by this test by default. If you want to view the detailed diagnosis of the Free_memory measure - i.e., to view the top 10 Processes on the target host that are utilizing memory excessively - you can change this flag to YES.

• The USEGLANCE flag applies only to HP-UX systems. HP GlancePlus/UX is Hewlett-Packards's online performance monitoring and diagnostic utility for HP-UX based computers. There are two user interfaces of GlancePlus/UX -- Glance is character-based, and gpm is motif-based. Each contains graphical and tabular displays that depict how primary system resources are being utilized. In environments where Glance is run, the eG agent can be configured to integrate with Glance to pull out detailed metrics pertaining to the CPU usage of the HP-UX systems that are being monitored. By default, this integration is disabled. This is why the USEGLANCE flag is set to No by default. You can enable the integration by setting the flag to Yes. If this is done, then the test polls the Glance interface of HP GlancePlus/UX utility to report the detailed diagnosis information.

• To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG system 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 against DETAILED DIAGNOSIS. 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 bad and normal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.

• If multiple components of the same component type are awaiting configuration, then an APPLY TO OTHER COMPONENTS check box will appear in this page. Clicking on this check box will allow you to apply the configuration to all/selected components of that type.

• Once the necessary values have been provided, clicking on the Update button will register the changes made.

When changing the configuration for specific servers, a “*” beside the text box corresponding to the parameter signifies that these values have to be manually configured by the user. The parameter values that require to be configured will typically be prefixed with a “$” or contain a series of “*”. A value of "none" in the parameter value indicates that the corresponding parameter value can be changed if required.