Data Collection Process

Before installing and using the software to generate reports, you should have an understanding of how data collection occurs. The Performance Reporting Manager add-on uses the history logging capability for agent machines that is provided by the Sun Management Center 3.5 software. A data collection service is created on the server layer. The following types of data are collected:

• Hardware system data

• Hardware configuration data

• Software package data

• Software patch data

• Performance data

• Process data

The data is logged on the agent machines. The data collection service on the server layer collects this data from the agent machines and then stores it. The data returned in reports comes from the data stored on the server or stored on the agent machine.

Raw Data

Raw data is the term given to data that is logged in the history log files located on the agent machines. The ability to log raw data is a feature of Sun Management Center 3.5 base product. This data can be logged either on a single machine or on a group of machines by using the grouping capability. If you use the grouping capability, the data is logged at the time interval that you specify. For more information about the grouping capability, see Data Properties, and “Managing Group-related Jobs” in Sun Management Center 3.5 User's Guide.

Raw data is retained on the agent machine for eight days. This limit is necessary because the total volume of raw data is very large. Data is purged after eight days. For example, on the ninth day, the first day of raw data is purged from the agent machine. At any given time on the agent machine, the last eight days of raw data is available. Before this data is purged, summary records are preserved. For more information regarding this process, see Roll-up Process.

Roll-up Process

Before raw data is purged, the data is summarized or “rolled-up” at predefined intervals. Roll-up data is the term given to the data that has been summarized. Before any raw data is purged, the minimum, maximum, and average values are calculated. These values can be preserved in several ways.

Hourly data is data that is summarized or rolled-up every hour. The raw data for each hour is processed to create a summary record for that hour. For example, if raw data is logged every five minutes, a total of twelve raw records are available in one hour. When data is rolled-up after one hour, the twelve raw records are processed to find the minimum, maximum, and average values during that hour. One summary record is generated for the twelve raw records. The hourly data is first computed on the agent machine. The data is then brought over to the server machine, where the data is added to the database.

The daily, weekly, and monthly values are calculated in a similar manner. The maximum, minimum, and average values are also calculated for each period.

Data is retained in the following manner:

• Hourly data is kept for 7 days.

• Daily data is kept for 5 weeks.

• Weekly data is kept for 12 months.

• Monthly data is kept for 24 months.

Depending upon the time range specified in a report request, the most granular data is returned in a report. For example, if the specified date range is seven days, then hourly data is returned. If the specified date range is beyond the last seven days but within the last five weeks, then daily data is returned.

Data For Reports

Data polling starts after the Performance Reporting Manager software is installed and set up, and once the server is started. The Sun Management Center 3.5 server starts polling the agent machines every hour to collect the data logged on those machines. Logged data is available for reports at the following intervals:

• Hardware system data – 90 minutes after the server is started.

• Patch and package data – 30 minutes after the server is started.

• Hardware configuration data – 90 minutes after the server is started.

• Performance data – 90 minutes after the server is started.

Data on the agent machines is collected at different times. Data is logged on an agent machine after the following time intervals:

• Hardware system and hardware – configuration data Every 12 hours.

• Patch and package data – Every 12 hours.

• Performance data – According to the logging interval specified in the Property Logging Setting dialog box. This data is stored in the history log files.

• Process data – Every 15 minutes.

The data collection service on the server layer collects the data in the following manner:

• Agent machines – Data is collected from those machines that are in the current server context and have the Performance Reporting Manager software installed. The agent machine must be in the server's topology.

• Performance data – Roll-up data is collected every hour.