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Sun Management Center 3.0 Performance Reporting Manager User's Guide

Chapter 1 Introduction to Performance Reporting Manager

This chapter discusses the following topics:

About Performance Reporting Manager

Performance Reporting Manager is an add-on to Sun Management Center 3.0 that enables you to create reports detailing the status of your machines. Performance data is gathered by the history logging capability that is part of Sun Management Center 3.0. Performance reports generated with Performance Reporting Manager use the data collected in this manner.

The product includes 12 standard reports for which the report options are predefined. History logging of the data properties used in standard reports is automatically started by the software. You can also create your own custom reports by selecting options from the report templates that are provided. Performance Reporting Manager can generate the following types of reports:

Reports can either provide information about one host, or all hosts, or a set of hosts that you designate. In general, data is collected on the agent machines and is then transferred to a database on the server machine. You can request a report for any agent machine for which data has been collected. A host must be in the Sun Management Center 3.0 server context to be included in a report. For more information about how the data in reports is collected, see Data Collection.

The host name in a report usually refers to the agent machine. One exception is in the case of alarm reports. Alarms resulting from an agent machine that is down or is otherwise not responding will list the name of the server machine.

To use Performance Reporting Manager, the first step is to install and set up the add-on software. For information about the installation and setup of Performance Reporting Manager, see Chapter 2.

After the Performance Reporting Manager add-on is installed and set up, you can generate any of the standard reports that are included with the software. For more information about standard reports, see Chapter 3, Standard Reports .

You can also create your own custom reports. You select the format for your report from the available report formats given. Performance Reporting Manager includes four possible format options for viewing reports. For information about creating custom report requests, see Chapter 4, Custom Reports.

Any standard or custom report can be scheduled to generate automatically at a regular interval. Additionally, you can save reports in other file formats for either viewing in a web browser, or for using tools to analyze data. For more information regarding these report options, see Chapter 5, Report Options.

Performance Reporting Manager automatically logs a number of data properties. These are predefined for you. For more information regarding this feature, and for other reference information, see Appendix A, Reference.

Data Collection

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 3.0 software. A data collection service is created on the server layer. The following types of data are collected:

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 contained of Sun Management Center 3.0 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 you specify in the Property Logging dialog box for the data property. The grouping capability is a feature of the Premier Management Applications add-on to Sun Management Center 3.0. For more information about the grouping capability, see Data Properties and Sun Management Center 3.0 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 will start purging 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 the 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 and can be preserved in several ways.

Hourly data is the term given to 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 this data is rolled-up after one hour, the twelve raw records are processed in order 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, and is then brought over to the server machine where it is added to the database.

This method is the way raw data is rolled-up into hourly data at the end of each hour.

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

Report Data

Polling starts after the Performance Reporting Manager software is installed and set up, and once the server is started. The Sun Management Center 3.0 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:

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

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

Report Manager

The Report Manager GUI is linked to the Sun Management Center 3.0 JavaTM console only, and is opened from the Tools menu. You manage all report activity through the Report Manager GUI. For example, from Report Manager you can generate a report, or create a new custom report, or schedule a report to generate at regular intervals.

For more information, see Report Manager GUI.

Report Requests

You can either use any of the standard reports included with Performance Reporting Manager, or create your own custom system management reports. For all standard reports, the report specifications and report format are already predefined and saved for your repeated use.

A custom report enables you to specify the content you want included in your reports, as well as the report output format. The saved report specifications are called a report request. The report request is based on one of several report templates. A report request is used to generate either a standard or a custom report. The report request is also used to schedule reports to run regularly.

For more information about using standard report requests, see Chapter 3, Standard Reports . For more information about creating custom report requests, see Chapter 4, Custom Reports.

Categories and Subcategories

The reports in the Report Manager GUI are organized by category and subcategory name. The left pane of Report Manager displays the hierarchy view that shows all the reports by name, both for standard and custom reports.

The first level of the hierarchy contains the category names. The second level of the hierarchy contains the subcategory names. The report requests themselves are found at the third level of the hierarchy. All standard reports are organized in the hierarchy view under predefined categories and subcategories.

You can place any type of custom report under the category or subcategory of your choosing. This ability enables you to control the organization of your reports.

Performance Reporting Manager has the following predefined categories and subcategories:

Report Output Format Options

Performance Reporting Manager provides four possible output formats for its reports:

All four format options are not available for every report. The type of report determines the format options available. Certain formats do not make sense for particular reports, so they are not always given as an option. When creating a custom report request, you choose from the available format options given at that time.

Once a report request is saved, an icon depicting the report format option that is selected appears in the hierarchy view in the Report Manager GUI. Each icon is representative of the format chosen for the report. A lock symbol is added to the icon when the request is for a standard report that comes with Performance Reporting Manager. Standard reports have predefined reporting options that you cannot change.

Tabular

The tabular report option returns data in table format. The distinctive icon for the tabular option is a table. The table icon is a grid with rows and columns. The cells of the table contain the numerical values for the data properties specified in the report request. You change the column sizing by dragging either edge of the column heading. If the title to a column heading appears truncated, or is followed by several dots, you can resize the column in order to view all information. Tabular reports can be sorted by clicking on a column, except for performance reports. Performance reports are presorted according to the time field.

When the Real Time range is selected for a tabular report, the information is updated by clicking the Refresh button located on the right top of the table. The new data is added to the top of the table.

Line Graph

The line graph report option returns data as graphs with line plots. The line graph icon is a graph with a climbing, jagged line. The number of graphs contained in each report depends on the Graph Orientation option selected in the report request.

When the Real Time range is selected for a report, the graph refreshes according to the refresh interval of the properties being logged. For Real Time reports only the last hour of data is visible on the graph at any point in time.

Each line graph report has several viewing options. For example, you can use the Zoom button to highlight a particular point on a data line. Zoom enables you to view finer, more granular data for any point on a line. The Alarms button enables you to obtain the alarm detail for any host included in the report. The Processes button similarly enables you to obtain the top ten CPU processes and the top ten memory processes for any host in the report. For more information, see Line Graph Report Viewing Options.

The following figure shows a sample line graph report. The results returned after running a standard performance report are shown. The report title is at the top, which in this example is CPU Utilization For Last 24 Hours. The host name included in this report is below the report title. The eight lines contained in the report are plotted in a graph with both an X-axis and Y-axis defined. Each line is marked with symbols that represent data points. The legend at the bottom of the graph identifies the characteristics of each line. The legend further identifies what each line represents. The Zoom radio button is activated. Once a point on the graph is selected, detail about that point will be displayed.

Figure 1–1 Sample Line Graph from a Standard Performance Report

Dialog Box titled Report: CPU Utilization. The context describes the graphic.

Bar Chart

The bar chart report option returns data as one or more graphs with bar lines. The bar chart icon is a graph that contains three horizontal bar lines. The number of graphs contained in each bar chart report is controlled by the Graph Orientation option selected in the report request. This format enables you to create a report that provides a visual comparison of data values.

Each bar chart graph has the same viewing options as discussed for the line graph report option.

Pie Chart

The number of pie chart reports returned depends upon whether or not the data property hostname is included in the report request. The report returns data as one pie chart per host, if hostname is specified in the report request. If the data property hostname is not specified in the report request, only one pie chart is generated in the report. Pie chart reports are not available for performance and hardware configuration reports when the Level of Detail:Summary option is selected. The pie chart icon is a circle with a single line that depicts the radius.

For more information about the selection of data properties in a report request, see Data Properties.