eG Enterprise typically monitors every component of a type, separately. However, sometimes, administrators might want to receive an aggregated view of the performance of two/more components of a type. For instance, Citrix administrators might want to know the total number of users who are currently logged into all the Citrix servers in a farm, so that sudden spikes in the load on the farm (as a whole) can be accurately detected. Similarly, Windows administrators might want to figure out the average CPU usage across all the Windows servers in an environment, so that they can better plan the capacity of their Windows load-balancing clusters.

To provide such a consolidated view, eG Enterprise embeds a license-controlled Metric Aggregation capability. This feature, when enabled, allows administrators to group one or more components of a particular type and monitor the group as a single logical component, broadly termed as an aggregate component. The eG Enterprise system then automatically aggregates the metrics reported by the components in the group by applying pre-configured aggregate functions on them, and reports these metrics as if they were extracted from the managed aggregate component. Separate thresholds need to be set for the aggregated metrics to track deviations in the consolidated performance. The state of the aggregate component is governed by these exclusive thresholds, and not by the state of the components within the group.

Moreover, since only remote agents can perform metric aggregation, one/more premium agent licenses would be required for implementing this capability.

Using this Metric Aggregation capability, administrators can perform the following:

• Effectively assess the collective performance of a group of components of a particular type
• Easily study load and usage trends of server farms (or groups) as a whole
• Accurately detect resource inadequacies or unusual load conditions in the component group or farm
• Compare and correlate the performance of the member components with that of the aggregate component, so that the reasons for performance issues with the aggregate component can be precisely determined;

The very first time the administrator manages/adds a component of a type, the eG Enterprise system dynamically creates a corresponding aggregate component type. For instance, if an IIS web server component is added to the eG Enterprise system for the first time, a component type named, IIS Web Aggregate is automatically created alongside.

To add a component of the dynamic aggregate component type, do the following:

• In the eG administrative interface, follow the menu sequence: Infrastructure -> Aggregates -> Add / Modify.
• The ADD/MODIFY AGGREGATE COMPONENTS page then appears. This page is characterized by a tree-structure in the left panel, and a context-sensitive right panel, which changes based on the node chosen from the tree. Each node in the tree represents a category of infrastructure elements, namely - managed components, segments, services, (component) groups, and zones - which typically provide the components that can be aggregated. Expanding the Segments node for instance will display all the fully-configured segments in the environment as sub-nodes. Likewise, you can expand the Services, Groups, or Zones node in the tree to view the services, groups, and zones (respectively) that have been registered with the eG Enterprise system. While clicking on the Expand All link below the tree will expand all nodes at one shot, the Close All link, when clicked, will close all expanded nodes simultaneously.

By clicking on the nodes of the tree, you can create an aggregate component using any managed component across the environment, or using the components that are included in a particular segment, service, zone, or component group.

By default, the Components node is chosen from the tree in the left panel of this page. With the Components node chosen, you can create aggregate components using any of the managed components from across the environment. This is why, by default, the Aggregate type list in the right panel of this page will display all the aggregate component types that were dynamically created by the eG Enterprise system whenever components of the corresponding ‘individual’ types were added/managed using the eG administrative interface.

In other words, if an Active Directory server was added/managed using the eG administrative interface, it would have resulted in the automatic creation of an Active Directory Aggregate component-type; this aggregate component type will be available for selection in the Aggregate type list in the right panel of this page.

To begin creating an aggregate component, do the following:

• Pick an Aggregate type from the right panel of the ADD/MODIFY AGGREGATE COMPONENTS page. If too many components of various component-types are managed in an environment, then the Aggregate type list in such environment will be very long; this is because, for every individual component-type that is managed, a corresponding Aggregate type will be automatically created. Selecting an Aggregate type from this long list will obviously be difficult. To condense this list, you can choose to view in the list only those Aggregate types for which at least a single aggregate component has already been created/managed. For this, select the Show managed aggregate component types only check box.
• Once an Aggregate type is selected, all the aggregate components of that type will be displayed therein. If no such components pre-exist, then a message to that effect will appear.
• To add a new aggregate component of the chosen type, click on the Add New Aggregate Component button. This will invoke the AGGREGATE COMPONENTS page, where you can provide the details of the new aggregate component.
• To modify an exisiting aggregate component of a chosen type, click on the Modify button available next to the aggregate component that is displayed in this page.

If you want to aggregate the components of a type that are included as part of a segment/service/zone/component group, then expand the corresponding node in the tree and click on the segment/service/zone/component group of interest to you.