Measures reported by XenCpuCPStateTest

Processor performance states (P-states) and processor operating states (C-states) are the capability of a processor to switch between different supported operating frequencies and voltages to modulate power consumption. The CPU switches to any of the n-number of P and C states based on the tasks it performs. The number of P and C states are defined specific to the processors. When the CPU is in the P-states, the CPU can operate at different voltage and/or frequency levels to modulate power consumption. The C states are the idle states, in contrast to P-states, during which the CPU will not perform any operation. Knowing the time spent by the CPU in each state, administrators can determine how long the CPU was in operating state? and how long the CPU was idle?. If the CPU is found to be in the high power consumption or idle state for prolonged duration, it will directly impact the performance of the target server. Therefore, it becomes inevitable for administrators to continuously monitor the states and find out the issues, if any. This can be easily achieved using the XenCpuCPStateTest test.

This test auto-discovers the states defined for the CPU, and reports the time duration spent by the CPU in each state.

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each state of the CPU of the target XenServer host.

The measures made by this test are as follows: