JVM - Uptime /Downtime Analysis

Uptime is a key measure of the general health and availability of the critical JVMs in an IT infrastructure. Periodic uptime values that the eG agent reports for target JVMs can alert you to unscheduled reboots that occurred recently; however, to effectively assess JVM availability over time, accurately determine unexpected and prolonged breaks in availability, and accordingly ascertain service level achievements/slippages, a look at the total uptime of a JVM and the total number of reboots it experienced over a period of time is necessary. To enable such an analysis for one/more critical JVM components of an IT infrastructure, eG Enterprise provides the Uptime/Downtime Analysis report. Using the Uptime/Downtime Analysis reports, you can figure out the following:

• Which JVMs are the healthiest, in terms of availability?

• Which JVMs have been down for the longest period of time? How long was each JVM unavailable during the specified timeline?

• How many times during the designated period did a JVM reboot? How many of these were scheduled reboots? How long was the JVM down before every reboot?

• Which servers had the least uptime/downtime and how many JVMs were available in the target environment?

To generate the JVM - Uptime/Downtime Analysis report for the above-mentioned scenario, do the following:

1. Login to eG Reporter.

2. Follow the menu sequence: REPORTS BY FUNCTION -> Domain Specific Reports -> Web Application Monitoring -> JVM -> Uptime/Downtime Analysis.

3. Using this report, you can analyze the performance of one/more managed components, or those that are part of a zone, service or segment. The options provided by the Report By list box are discussed hereunder:

   • Component: Select this option to choose the component (s) from across all the managed components in the environment.
   • Zone: To generate a report for one/more components that are included in a zone, pick the Zone option. A Zone drop-down list will then appear, from which you would have to select the zone to which the components of interest to you belong to. A Sub zone flag also appears. Indicate whether the components present within the sub-zones of the chosen zone are also to be considered for report generation, by setting the Sub zone flag to Yes.
   • Segment: If you want to generate a report for one/more chosen components that belong to a segment, select the Segment option from Analysis By list box, and then pick the Segment from the drop-down list that appears.
   • Service: If you want to generate a report for one/more components involved in the delivery of a service, select the Service option from Analysis By, and then pick the required Service from the drop-down list that appears.

4. Next, from the Component Type list, select the type for which the report must to be generated.

5. In the Component list box, all the components pertaining to the chosen Component Type will be listed. If the Component list consists of too many virtual servers, then viewing all the components and selecting the ones you need for report generation could require endless scrolling. To avoid this, you can click the button next to the Component list. This will open the Components pop up window using which you can view almost all the components in a single interface and Select the ones for which the report is to be generated. If there are still too many components in the list to choose from, you can narrow your search further by using the Search Components text box. Specify the whole/part of the component name to search for in this text box, and click the icon next to it. The Component list will then be populated with all component names that embed the specified search string. Select the component of your choice from this list.

6. Provide a report Timeline. You can either select a fixed timeline such as 1 hour, 2 days, etc., or choose the Any option from the Timeline list, and then provide a From and To date/time for report generation.

   Note

   For every user registered with the eG Enterprise system, the administrator can indicate the maximum timeline for which that user can generate a report. Once the maximum timeline is set for a user, then, whenever that user logs into eG Reporter and attempts to generate a report, the Timeline list box in the report page will display options according to the maximum timeline setting of that user. For instance, if a user can generate a report for a maximum period of 3 days only, then 3 days will be the highest option displayed in the Timeline list - i.e., 3 days will be the last option in the fixed Timeline list. Similarly, if the user chooses the Any option from the Timeline list and proceeds to provide a start date and end date for report generation using the From and To specifications, eG Enterprise will first check if the user's Timeline specification conforms to his/her maximum timeline setting. If not, report generation will fail. For instance, for a user who is allowed to generate reports spanning over a maximum period of 3 days only, the difference between the From and To dates should never be over 3 days. If it is, then, upon clicking the Run Report button a message box will appear, prompting the user to change the From and To specification.

7. In addition to the settings discussed above, this report comes with a set of default specifications. These settings are hidden by default. If you do not want to disturb these default settings, then you can proceed to generate the report by clicking the Run Report button soon after you pick a Measure. However, if you want to view and then alter these settings (if required), click on the icon. The default settings will then appear in the More Options drop down window. The steps below discuss each of these settings and how they can be customized.

8. If the timeline specified for the report needs to exclude the data collected during the Weekends, then set Exclude weekends to Yes. If not, select No.

   Note

   By default, the weekend constitutes Saturday and Sunday. To override this default setting, do the following:

   • Edit the eg_report.ini file in the <EG_INSTALL_DIR>\manager\config directory.

   • In the [RUM_PGP_REPORT] section of the file, the EXCLUDE_WEEKEND parameter is set to Saturday, Sunday by default. You can modify this by setting the EXCLUDE_WEEKEND parameter to a comma-separated list of other days of the week - say Friday, Saturday.

   • Save the file after making the required changes.

9. Next, specify the start time and end time for report generation against the Time period field.

10. In large environments, reports generated using months of data can take a long time to complete. Administrators now have the option of generating reports on-line or in the background. When a report is scheduled for background generation, administrators can proceed with their other monitoring, diagnosis, and reporting tasks, while the eG manager is processing the report. This saves the administrator valuable time. To schedule background processing of a report, select the Background Save - PDF option from the Report Generation list. In this case, a Report Name text box will appear, where you would have to provide the name with which the report is to be saved in the background. To process reports in the foreground, select the Foreground Generation - HTML option from this list.

    Note

    • The Report Generation list will appear only if the EnableBackgroundReport flag in the [BACKGROUND_PROCESS] section of the eg_report.ini file (in the {EG_INSTALL_DIR}\manager\config directory) is set to Yes.

    • The default selection in the Report Generation list will change according to the Timeline specified for the report. If the Timeline set is greater than or equal to the number of days specified against the MinDurationForReport parameter in the [BACKGROUND_PROCESS] section of the eg_report.ini file, then the default selection in the Report Generation list will be Background. On the other hand, if the Timeline set for the report is lesser than the value of the MinDurationForReport parameter, then the default selection in the Report Generation list will be Foreground. This is because, the MinDurationForReport setting governs when reports are to be processed in the background. By default, this parameter is set to 2 weeks - this indicates that by default, reports with a timeline of 2 weeks and above will be processed in the background.

11. Finally, click the Run Report button to generate the report.

12. If the Report type is Foreground Generation - HTML, then the report will appear as soon as you click the Run Report button.

13. This report provides you the following details:

14. The Overview section reveals you the percentage of uptime and downtime of the JVM with total number of reboots.

15. The JVM Uptime Analysis section reveals you the details of the top 5 JVMs in your environment with least uptime and highest downtime over a time period.

16. The Observations section reveals you the count of unplanned restarts and highest uptime of the JVM.

17. The Deductions/Recommendations section alerts you to the problem information pertaining to the general health and availability of the JVM.

18. On the other hand, if the Background Save - PDF option is chosen from the Report Generation list, then clicking on the Run Report button will not generate the report and display it in this page for your benefit. Instead, a message indicating that the report is being processed in the background will appear. This will be accompanied by a link that will lead you to the page that lists all the reports that are being processed in the background, and their current status. If background report generation fails for a report, you can regenerate that report using this page, or can even delete that report if need be. On the other hand, if background processing successfully completes for your report, then, you can view a PDF of the report by clicking on the icon in that page.