Configuration of AWSRedShiftTest

By reporting the current health status of each cluster managed by RedShift, this test brings unavailable clusters to light. The resource usage of the cluster is also reported, so that potential resource contentions can be proactively isolated. Optionally, you can also configure this test to report metrics for individual nodes in the cluster as well. If this is done, then administrators will be able to instantly drill-down from a resource-hungry cluster to the exact node in the cluster that could hogging the resources. At the node-level, the latency and throughput of each node is also revealed. This way, when users complain of degradation in the performance of client applications, you can quickly identify the cluster and the precise node in the cluster that is slowing down I/O processing and consequently, impacting application performance.

The default parameters associated with this test are:

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

• Specify the host for which the test is to be configured in the HOST text box.

• To monitor an AWS EC2, the eG agent has to be configured with the "access key" of a user with a valid AWS account. To obtain the access key, follow the steps given below:

  • Sign up for a new AWS account from the http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/ page.

  • Provide the details of the user for whom you wish to create the AWS account.

  • Based on the AWS EC2 Regions, you will be requested to choose the pricing for an instance to be deployed in the AWS EC2.

  • Once the payment is made, the user will be automatically signed in to the AWS account.

  • From the newly created AWS account, you can request for an "access key". You will be provided with an "access key" and a corresponding “secret key”.

  • Provide the access key in the AWS ACCESS KEY text box; this will enable the eG agent to communicate with the AWS API and collect the required metrics.

• Confirm the password by retyping it in the CONFIRM PASSWORD text box.

• Provide the secret key corresponding to the access key that you had obtained through your AWS account in the AWS SECRET KEY text box.

• In the EXCLUDE REGION box, you can provide a comma-separated list of region names or patterns of region names that you do not want to monitor. For instance, to exclude regions with names that contain ‘east’ and ‘west’ from monitoring, your specification should be: *east*,*west*

• By default, this test reports metrics only for each cluster in each AWS region on the cloud. This is why, the REDSHIFT FILTER NAME flag is set to ClusterIdentifier, by default. If needed, you can configure the test to additionally report metrics for every node in every cluster. For node-level metrics, select the NodeIdentifer option from this drop-down. Upon selection, you will be able to view metrics both at the cluster-level and the node-level.

• In some environments, all communication with the AWS EC2 cloud and its regions could be routed through a proxy server. In such environments, you should make sure that the eG agent connects to the cloud via the proxy server and collects metrics. To enable metrics collection via a proxy, specify the IP address of the proxy server and the port at which the server listens against the PROXY HOST and PROXY PORT parameters. By default, these parameters are set to none, indicating that the eG agent is not configured to communicate via a proxy, by default.

• If the proxy server requires authentication, then, specify a valid proxy user name and password in the PROXY USER NAME and PROXY PASSWORD parameters, respectively. By default, these parameters are set to none, indicating that the proxy sever does not require authentication by default.

• If a Windows NTLM proxy is to be configured for use, then additionally, you will have to configure the Windows domain name and the Windows workstation name required for the same against the PROXY DOMAIN and PROXY WORKSTATION parameters. If the environment does not support a Windows NTLM proxy, set these parameters to none.

• 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.