Observability Features for Network Virtualization and Resource Control

Network virtualization and resource control includes observability features to help you view resource usage before setting up controls such as VNICs and flows. In tandem with Solaris extended accounting, the resource control observability features allow you to accumulate systems statistics into logs. The observability features of network virtualization and resource control include:

• Ability to monitor a running system.

• Ability to log and report statistics.

• Extended accounting features to log historical data

The new flowadm command and extensions to the dladm and netstat commands implement the network virtualization observability features. You can use these commands to monitor current system usage and to gather statistical data into logs.

By analyzing the historical logs, you can determine the following:

• Where network resources can be consolidated from many systems to a single system, possibly with greater bandwidth through the new generation of network interfaces. Do this prior to setting up VNICs and virtual machines or exclusive zones.

• Which applications consume the most bandwidth. This information can help you to set up bandwidth management, so that critical applications are guaranteed the most bandwidth within a particular time slot. For example, you can guarantee a video stream the greatest amount of an interface's bandwidth for 20 hours a day. For a designated four hours a day, you can give highest priority to the system's backup program. Do this as part of bandwidth management implementation.

• How to much bill customers for bandwidth used. Application service providers and other businesses that rent out system space can use the Resource control observability features to determine usage by paying customers. Some businesses offer customers Service Level Agreements, wherein the customer buys a guaranteed percentage of bandwidth from the provider. The observability features let you view how much bandwidth each customer uses and bill for possible overages. Other businesses offer customers bandwidth on a per use basis. Here the observability features directly help in billing. Do this after you have implemented resource control and, possibly, VNICs and virtual machines on a system.

The next chapter, Chapter 10, Planning for Network Virtualization and Resource Control, contains scenarios that show where the observability features are used for planning consolidation and resource control.