Chapter 4 Performance Reporting Manager (PRM) Enhancements

Sun Management Center 3.5 Update 1 provides a number of enhancements to the Performance Reporting Manager (PRM). For a complete discussion of the concepts and terminology discussed in this chapter, see the Sun Management Center 3.5 Performance Reporting Manager User's Guide.

This chapter discusses the following enhancements to the Performance Reporting Manager in Sun Management Center 3.5 Update 1:

• System Uptime Statistics Reports

• Automated CSV Generation

• Additional Graph Options

• Printing From the Java Console

System Uptime Statistics Reports

PRM System Uptime Reports compute system uptime and downtime based on the records entered in the /var/adm/wtmpx file by Solaris commands like shutdown, init, and so on.

The PRM module on the agent maintains a timestamp updated every five minutes to account for system downtime caused by power outages or by commands that do not update the wtmpx file. When a condition does not put an entry into the wtmpx, then the last known timestamp is used as an approximate downtime record for computing the system downtime.

The PRM 3.5 Update 1 installation is required on the agent and server machines to account for system downtime caused by power outages or by commands that do not update the wtmpx file.

Three new standard reports based on uptime status are provided:

• Uptime Status Reports — Display the date ranges for which the system was up and the date ranges for which the system was down for the specified hosts for the specified date ranges.

• Percentage Uptime Reports — Display the uptime in percentage and the downtime in percentage for the specified hosts for the specified date range. Percentage Uptime Reports can be run in two modes: Detailed or Total.

  • Percentage Uptime (Detailed) — Detailed Percentage Uptime indicates the uptime or downtime in percentage for a system for a particular day, week, or month. Detailed Percentage Uptime indicates multiple values that represent either daily, weekly, or monthly average percentage uptime or downtime values depending on the level of data (daily, weekly, or monthly) that is available in the database for the specified date range.

  • Percentage Uptime (Total) — Total Percentage Uptime indicates the total uptime (or downtime) in percentage for a system for the specified date range. Total Percentage Uptime indicates a single total percentage uptime value.

• Total Uptime Reports — Display total number of uptime hours and downtime hours for specified hosts for the specified date range. Total Uptime Reports can be run in two modes: Detailed or Total.

  • Total Uptime (Detailed) — Detailed Total Uptime indicates the number of hours a system was up or down in a particular day, week, or month. Detailed Total Uptime indicates multiple values that represent either daily, weekly, or monthly summed uptime or downtime values in number of hours, depending on the level of data (daily, weekly, or monthly) that is available in the database for the specified date range.

  • Total Uptime (Total) — Total Uptime indicates the total number of hours a system was up or down for the specified date range. Total Uptime indicates a single total uptime value in number of hours.

Uptime Status Reports, Percentage Uptime (Total) Reports, and Total Uptime (Total) Reports can be generated 90 minutes after the agent is added to the topology of the server host.

Percentage Uptime (Detailed) and Total Uptime (Detailed) reports can be generated one day after the server is started.

Automated CSV Generation

Two new report output formats have been added to the Report Request Creation screen to enable you to automate the generation of CSV (comma separated value) reports:

• Comma Separated Text

• Tab Separated Text

Reports in these formats can be used as follows:

• Saved as text files

• Previewed online

• Scheduled to run at predefined times or intervals

• Posted to the web server and viewed there

• Loaded into other applications such as spreadsheet programs

Additional Graph Options

Three new graph formats are provided:

• Area Chart

• Stacked Area Chart

• Stacked Bar Chart

Printing From the Java Console

You can now print report output directly from the Java Console. The Print Screen menu option prints the current screen or page. For multipage tabular reports, each page must be printed separately.