eG Administration
 

Configuring Measures for a Perfmon Test

A test of the Perfmon type can be executed only on Windows environments. Various applications and services on Windows environments expose critical performance statistics via perfmon counters. To allow an administrator to monitor any perfmon counter without having to write elaborate programs, the Integration Console includes a Perfmon test type.

The major step in incorporating a new Perfmon test into eG Enterprise is to inform eG Enterprise about the number and types of measurements that will be made by the test. This page will enable the administrator to configure new measures for the Perfmon test. Click the Add New Measure button in the Measure tab of the NEW TEST DETAILS page to add a measure. In the NEW MEASURE DETAILS pop up window that appears, specify the following:

  • The Measure index determines the order in which the measures are to be displayed in the monitor console. For example, if you select 1 as the Measure index then the corresponding measure will appear first in the list of measures displayed in the monitor console. Note that the same Measure index should not be assigned to two different measures of a particular test.

  • The Measure name field indicates the name of the measurement (this will be displayed in the eG monitor interface).

  • The Database column size field indicates the size of each database record corresponding to a measurement value. For example, Number(7,4) indicates that the output of the measurement will be a number in the range 0 to 100, with the fractional value being limited to four decimal places.

  • The Unit (whether %, seconds, requests/sec, etc.) specifies the unit in which the measurement's value is reported. The required unit can be selected from the options available in the list box.

  • In addition to the above, this test type requests the specification of a Process method. By selecting an option from the Process method list box, you can indicate the processing that must be performed on the script / batch file's output before passing the results to the eG agent. The options offered by this list box are:

    Option

    Information
    UNALTERED

    Selecting this option will ensure that no additional information is displayed along with the specified measure in the monitor console. In other words, theCurrent Value of the measure is displayed.
    PERCENT_INCREASE

    Selecting this option will display the percentage by which the current value of the measure exceeds its previous value (i.e. the value of the measure during the previous test execution). While an increase displays a positive value, a decrease will display a negative value. The formula used is:

    [(Current Value − Previous Value) / Previous Value] * 100
    PERCENT_DECREASE

    This option will display the percentage by which the current value of the measure falls below its previous value. While a decrease displays a positive value, an increase will display a negative value.

    [(Previous Value − Current Value) / Previous Value] * 100
    PERCENT_CHANGE

    This displays the percentage change between the current value and the previous value.

    ABS[(Current Value − Previous Value) / Previous Value] * 100
    RATIO

    This displays the ratio of the current value of the measure over its previous value.

    (Current Value / Previous Value)
    RATE

    This displays the result of the following formula:

    (Current Value − Previous Value) / Time since the last measurement
    DIFFERENCE

    This displays the absolute value of the difference between the current value and the previous value.

    ABS(Current Value – Previous Value)

    By default, UNALTERED is selected as the Process method.

  • Sometimes, administrators may want to convert the unit of measurement of a performance metric before displaying the same in the eG monitoring console. For instance, a duration value originally available in ‘milliseconds’ may have to be changed to ‘Secs’ before it is displayed in the console. If you want the unit of the measure being added to be so converted at test run time, then select a Conversion Factor from the list. For example, if a value in ‘milliseconds’ needs to be converted to ‘seconds’, then select /1000 as the conversion factor. By default, 1 is chosen as the Conversion Factor; this implies that, by default, unit conversion does not take place for a new measure at test run time.

    Note:

    The Conversion Factor list comes with a default set of conversion factors. You can however, override this list by adding more conversion factors. For instance, the default Conversion Factor list does not provide the option to convert Bytes to MB at run time. To include this option in the list, follow the steps below:

    • Edit the eg_ui.ini file in the <EG_INSTALL_DIR>\manager\config directory.
    • To include a new conversion factor, you will have to append an entry of the following format to the [CONVERSION_FACTORS] section of the file:
      DisplayName=Value
    • For instance, to support ‘Bytes to MB’ conversion, append the following entry to the [CONVERSION_FACTORS] section:
      /1048576 (Bytes to MB)=0.00000095367431640625
    • In this case, the DisplayName, /1048576 (Bytes to MB), will be displayed as an option in the Conversion Factor drop-down list. If this option is chosen, then, at test run time, the conversion value of 0.00000095367431640625 will be multiplied with the actual measure value that is reported in Bytes to convert it into MB. Care should be taken while specifying the conversion value, as incorrect values will result in wrong measures being reported by the test.
    • Once the new entry is appended to the [CONVERSION_FACTORS] section, save the file.
    • Finally, restart the manager.

    Once this is done, you will find the string /1048576 (Bytes to MB) appear as an option in the Conversion Factor list.

  • The alarm window in the eG monitor interface displays all the currently outstanding alarms. Along with each alarm, the list of tests corresponding to the alarms and a brief description of the problem are displayed. For example, a disk space alarm indicates that the test reporting the problem is DiskTest and the problem description is “High disk utilization {C:}”. The problem description corresponds to the measure - Pct_disk_util- that has violated its thresholds. In this example, the ALARM DISPLAY STRING corresponding to the Pct_disk_util measurement is “High disk utilization”. The alarm display string rather than the measurement name is displayed in the alarm window so as to make it easier for IT infrastructure operators to understand and use the eG product suite. When configuring a measurement for a custom test, specify the text string that must be displayed in the eG alarm window when the corresponding measurement violates its threshold.

  • Against the Counter name text box, enter the name of the perfmon counter associated with the specified measure. The name of the perfmon counter should be the same as that which appears in the Add Counters dialog box of the Performance console in a Microsoft Windows server.

  • By clicking the Add button, the measurements of the test can be added.

  • When the measurement is successfully added, a response page indicating the measurement and its details will appear. Previously added measurements can be deleted using the Delete button that would appear below every measurement that was added. Such measurements can also be modified by clicking the Modify button below the measure name.