IBM Tivoli Monitoring for Virtual Environments Dashboard, Reporting, and Capacity Planning

IBM Tivoli Monitoring for Virtual Environments
Dashboard, Reporting, and Capacity Planning
Beta Drop 2, June 2013
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This document contains late-breaking information about this version of the Tivoli
Monitoring for Virtual Environments Beta code. Because this is early beta level code, the
product documentation, code, and online help contain inconsistencies about function and
nomenclature. This document attempts to clarify what to expect in this version.
Read this document prior to installing this version of the Beta code.
Prerequisites
The following prerequisites are required for installing the capacity planner, dashboard,
and reports components of Tivoli Monitoring for Virtual Environments:





IBM Tivoli Monitoring 6.3 or later fix packs or Tivoli Monitoring 6.3 Fix Pack 2
development drivers
Jazz for Service Management 1.1
Tivoli Common Reporting 3.1
DB2 10.1 / 9.7
IBM JRE 1.6
Installation and configuration
For installation and configuration instructions, see the “Dashboard, Reporting, and
Capacity Planning User's Guide” in the Tivoli Monitoring for Virtual Environments 7.2
Information Center
(http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v61r1/topic/com.ibm.tivoli.itmvs.doc_7.2/dashbo
ards_reports/drcp_landing_user.html).
New functions available in this Beta
The following key functions are provided in this version of the Beta code. Additional
details for each function are provided later in the document.
Capacity Planner for PowerVM

Ability to copy or clone managed systems and logical partitions (LPARs). It is
now possible to copy existing managed systems or LPARs and create new workloads
with similar configuration and utilization profiles for what-if analysis.

Ability to define policies for setting resource usage based on application
parameters using Application Sizing Rules. With previously available sizing rules
you were able to update computed usage data for LPARs that matched the rule
criteria. With Application Sizing Rules, you can set the resource usage values that you
want for CPU, memory, network, or storage parameters for LPARs based on the
matching criteria.

Multi-user access conflict addressed. With Capacity Planner, you can now acquire
a lock on the tool to prevent other Jazz for Service Management users from modifying
planning data while they are using the tool. The lock can be released after a planning
scenario is complete and also, can be forcefully released by providing the user with
iscadmin privileges.
Capacity Planner for VMware

Support added for creating fictitious Server or VM by cloning data from existing
Server or VM. Earlier versions of the Capacity Planner provided the ability to create
fictitious servers and VMs, but you were required to provide all details for the added
server and VM. Creating a server and VM from an existing server and VM is now
easier and quicker.

Support added to define a rule that can be used as the basis for setting the
sizing of a VM without editing the usage of each VM. A specific type of VM might
have a prerequisite demand for resources, which can be defined in the form of a rule.

Cluster Level Actionable Recommendation. The Cluster Summary table was
added to Capacity Planner Optimized Environment Plan report. A report that drills
down further is also provided to display the details of actionable recommendations for
the selected cluster.

Multi-user access conflict addressed. You can now use Capacity Planner to
acquire a lock on the tool to prevent other Jazz for Service Management users from
modifying planning data while they are using the tool. The lock can be released after a
planning scenario is complete and also, can be forcefully released by providing the
user with iscadmin privileges.
Reports for VMware



New report: VMware VI Top or Bottom Host Servers Weekly Comparison report
displays a comparison of key metrics of Top or Bottom N host servers from week to
week.
Enhanced report: VMware VI Top or Bottom Workload Consumers Clusters report
displays Network and Disk IO metrics.
Enhanced reports: VMware VI Host Server Heat Chart and VMware VI VM Heat Chart
reports are used to customize the threshold status colors in heat charts.
Capacity Planner for PowerVM
Multi-user access conflict addressed.
By default, the Tivoli Monitoring for Virtual Environments V7.2 Capacity Planners support
only one user working at a time. If any other user logs in and starts working on the
Capacity Planner, the previous user’s work was deleted or overridden. A mechanism to
control this overriding of work did not exist.
The Capacity Planner Multi-User Access Conflict Removal feature provides a mechanism
whereby when a user starts working on a particular Capacity Planner, the system
acquires a persistent lock on the Capacity Planner for this user automatically. No other
user can work on the Capacity Planner during the time this user has the lock. The user
retains this lock, even across sessions, until the lock is explicitly released by the user or
the Dashboard Application Services Hub admin forces the release of the lock. The
administrator (with the iscadmin role) can release the lock for any user.
Benefits
 Data or work being overwritten by another user as they share the same data is
prevented.
 The user can hold the lock until the work is finished across the sessions.
Procedure
1. When you launch the Planning Center, you automatically acquire the lock and the
following message is displayed on top of the Planning Center page as
shown.
2.
For other users to use the Planning Center, you must explicitly click Release Lock
(or the administrator can force releasing the lock as explained in Step 3.
3.
Any other user who tries to access the Planning Center sees the following message
indicating which user holds the lock and the time the Planning Center was locked.

If the administrator logs in, the administrator also sees the release lock and can
forcefully release the lock on any user.
Cloning managed systems and logical partitions
With this feature, you can create clones of existing managed systems and logical
partitions in the Capacity Planner. The cloned entries have the same configuration and
utilization profile as the original entries. This feature can be helpful in what-if analyses
where you want to analyze the impact of having new workloads that are similar to existing
workloads in the environment.
Benefits
 You are not required to add managed systems or logical partitions and fill in various
required mandatory fields.
 All field values from the managed system or logical partition entry that is being cloned
is automatically copied to cloned entries.
 You can associate all clone logical partitions to a managed system that is available in
the working set.
 You can choose whether to clone sizing data for logical partitions that are being
cloned.
 You can choose whether to copy tags for the clone entries that are being created.
Procedure
Use the following steps to clone a managed system:
1.
Launch the Planning Center page for PowerVM.
2.
Go to the Edit Current Environment page.
3.
On the menu, click Actions > Clone Managed Systems.
The Clone Managed Systems window is displayed.
4.
Move the managed system from the Available Managed Systems list to the
Selected Managed Systems list.
5.
Click Next.
The second pane of the Clone Managed Systems window is displayed.
6.
Set a value for the Number of Instances field.
 The number indicates the number of clone entries for the managed system that
you want to create.
 The default value is 1.
7.
Provide a value in the Clone Name Prefix field.
 Each clone entry must be prefixed with the string value provided in this field and
with a unique timestamp value.
 The default value is Clone_MANAGED_SYSTEM_NAME.
9.
Select the Copy Server Tags check box to enable the tags.
 If enabled, all tags for the selected managed system are copied to clone entries.
 By default, this check box is enabled.
10. Click Clone.
Steps to clone a logical partition:
1. Launch the planning center page for PowerVM.
2.
Go to the Edit Current Environment page.
3.
Click Views > Inventory > Logical Partitions.
4.
Click Actions > Clone Logical Partitions.
The Clone Logical Partitions window is displayed.
5.
Move the logical partition from the Available Logical Partitions list to the Selected
Logical Partitions list.
6.
Click Next.
The second pane of the Clone Logical Partitions window is displayed.
7.
Set a value for the Number of Instances field.

The number indicates the number of clone entries for the
selected logical partition that you want to create.

The default value is 1.
8.
Provide a value in the Clone Name Prefix field.

Each clone entry is prefixed with the string value that is
provided in this field and with a unique timestamp value.

The default value is Clone_LOGICAL_PARTITION.
9.
Select the Copy Server Tags check box to enable the tags.

If enabled, all tags for the selected managed system are
copied to clone entries.

By default, this check box is enabled.
10. Select a managed system in the Managed System Name field.

By default, the managed system that is displayed is the one to
which the selected logical partition is pointing.

All managed systems that are there in the working set are
populated in this drop-down list.
11. Select the Copy Sizing Data check box to enable the copying of sizing data.

If enabled, sizing data values for selected logical partitions
are copied to clone entries.

By default, this checkbox is enabled

Special Case: The Copy Sizing Data check box is enabled
and the selected logical partition is a discovered partition with no sizing data
values.
In this case, the sizing data values for the CPU Usage [Share] and Memory
Usage [MB] columns in the Logical Partitions Utilization view contain 70% of the
values from the Entitlement and Memory Assignment [MB] columns in the
Logical Partitions view.
12. Click Clone.
Application Sizing Rules
Application Sizing Rules is a new Policy template that can help define resource sizing that
is based on application parameters. Use the sizing rules to adjust computed usage data
for LPARs that match given criteria. By using Application Sizing Rules, you can override
computed usage sizing data for resource parameters for LPARs that match the rule
criteria.
Benefits
 You can define policies to set resource allocation based on discovered attributes or
custom tags with application parameters information.
 You can set target allocation and entitlement values for the following metrics:
◦ CPU Entitlement
◦ Memory Allocation
◦ Storage read/write operations
◦ Network operations
Examples
 For DB2 workloads with one million transactions, set entitlement to 3.5 and memory
to 8GB.
 For WAS workloads with 1,000 users, set entitlement to 2.3.
How to define and use Application Sizing Rules
1. Identify existing attributes for LPARs such as Middleware Name, or define custom
attributes such as Transactions per second by using Actions > Add Custom tag
in the LPAR inventory view.
2.
Set the values for these parameters in the Inventory view and save.
3.
Define the rule (see samples below) and save the RuleDim.csv file.
4.
Import the rules to Capacity Planner by using the Load Knowledge base action in
the Inventory view in the upper right corner.
5.
Navigate to the Planning Center > Edit Recommended Environment settings
page and enable or disable the rule as required.
6.
Complete the Generate plan step to generate recommendations. The enabled rules
guide the sizing of the LPARs that match the rule criteria in the recommendation
generation.
Rule definition
Rule definition is similar to the sizing rules available in Capacity Planner for PowerVM in
Tivoli Monitoring for Virtual Environments V7.2. For information about defining sizing
rules, see the “Detailed reference: Edit Recommended Environment settings” section of
the “Dashboard, Reporting, and Capacity Planning User's Guide” in the Tivoli Monitoring
for Virtual Environments 7.2 Information Center
(http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v61r1/topic/com.ibm.tivoli.itmvs.doc_7.2/dashbo
ards_reports/power_cp_opt.html).
When you are using the Application Sizing Rules, use the following Rule XML format:
<?xml version=1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rule>
<if>
<antecedent operator="AND">
<literal>
<path>Source.ANL_VM_PLACEMENT_SET_V*ANL_VIRTUAL_MACHINE_TAG_MAP.SERVER_TAGS_PK.TAG_TYPE</
path>
<operator>EQ</operator>
<term>WEBSPHERE_USERS</term>
</literal>
<literal>
<path>Source.ANL_VM_PLACEMENT_SET_V*ANL_VIRTUAL_MACHINE_TAG_MAP.SERVER_TAGS_PK.TAG_NAME</
path>
<operator>EQ</operator>
<term>1000</term>
</literal>
</antecedent>
</if>
<!-- set demand in target intermediate target table -->
<then>
<dependent>
<literal>
<path>Target.cpu</path>
<operator>set</operator>
<term>3000</term>
</literal>
<literal>
<path>target.memory</path>
<operator>set</operator>
<term>8000</term>
</literal>
</dependent>
</then>
</rule>
Supported operators in <operator> tag of dependent literal : SET
Supported values in <path> tag of
dependent literal
Description
Target.capacity
Set CPU capacity required for LPAR/VM
Target.memory
Set memory capacity required for LPAR/VM
Supported values in <path> tag of
dependent literal
Description
Target.read_ops
Set number of read operation per second
required for LPAR/VM
Target.read_size
Set read bytes per read operation second
required for LPAR/VM
Target.write_ops
Set number of write operation per second
required for LPAR/VM
Target.write_size
Set write bytes per write operation required
for LPAR/VM
Target.net_ops
Set number of network operation per
second required for LPAR/VM
Target.net_ops_size
Set network transfers in bytes per network
operation required for LPAR/VM
Supported dynamic path in <term> tag
of dependent literal
Description
CFG_VIRTUAL_MACHINE.{any_column_i
n_cfg_virtual_machine}
Values from any of the numeric columns in
CFG_VIRTUAL_MACHINE
Sample Rules
The following sample RuleDim.csv entries are for the example rules given above:
For DB2 workloads with 1 million transactions, set entitlement to 3.5 and memory
to 8GB.
Attributes used: LPAR Inventory view > Middleware name
Custom tags: LPAR Inventory view > Transactions Per Minute
,"For DB2 workloads with 1 million transaction set entitlement to 3.5 and memory to
8GB",1,"General",0,"Application Sizing","No Notes","<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF8"?><rule><if><antecedent
operator="AND"><literal><path>Source.ANL_VM_PLACEMENT_SET_V*CFG_VIRTUAL_MACHINE.MIDDLEWARE_NAME</
path><operator>EQ</operator><term>DB2</term></literal><literal><path>Source.ANL_VM_PLACEMENT_SET_
V*ANL_VIRTUAL_MACHINE_TAG_MAP.SERVER_TAGS_PK.TAG_TYPE</path><operator>EQ</operator><term>TRANSACT
IONSPERMINUTE</term></literal><literal><path>Source.ANL_VM_PLACEMENT_SET_V*ANL_VIRTUAL_MACHINE_TA
G_MAP.SERVER_TAGS_PK.TAG_NAME</path><operator>EQ</operator><term>1000000</term></literal></antece
dent></if><then><dependent><literal><path>target.memory</path><operator>set</operator><term>8192<
/term></literal><literal><path>target.entitlement</path><operator>set</operator><term>3.5</term><
/literal><literal><path>target.capacity</path><operator>set</operator><term>85</term></literal></
dependent></then></rule>"
For WAS workloads with 1,000 users, set entitlement to 2.3.
Attributes used: LPAR Inventory view > Middleware name
Custom tags: LPAR Inventory view > Num Of Users
,"For WAS workloads with 1000 users set entitlement to 2.3",1,"General",0,"Application
Sizing","No Notes","<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rule><if><antecedent
operator="AND"><literal><path>Source.ANL_VM_PLACEMENT_SET_V*CFG_VIRTUAL_MACHINE.MIDDLEW
ARE_NAME</path><operator>EQ</operator><term>WebSphere Application
Server</term></literal><literal><path>Source.ANL_VM_PLACEMENT_SET_V*ANL_VIRTUAL_MACHINE
_TAG_MAP.SERVER_TAGS_PK.TAG_TYPE</path><operator>EQ</operator><term>NUMOFUSERS</term></
literal><literal><path>Source.ANL_VM_PLACEMENT_SET_V*ANL_VIRTUAL_MACHINE_TAG_MAP.SERVER
_TAGS_PK.TAG_NAME</path><operator>EQ</operator><term>1000</term></literal></antecedent>
</if><then><dependent><literal><path>target.entitlement</path><operator>set</operator><
term>2.3</term></literal><literal><path>target.capacity</path><operator>set</operator><
term>100</term></literal></dependent></then></rule>"
Capacity Planner for VMware
Cloning a physical server and VMs
Users can create a fictitious server or VM by using data from an existing server or VM.
In earlier versions of Capacity Planner, you could create a fictitious server and VM, but
you were required to provide all details for the added server and VM. Now, creating a
server and VM from an existing server and VM is easier and quicker. Multiple entities
(multiple servers or VMs) can be cloned at one time. Multiple copies can be created. Tags
and usage data can also be copied, thus; reducing the requirement to manually add them.
Editing the data for a specific update is possible before you save the cloned server and
VM.
Clone physical server
1.
In the Action menu Physical Servers view, select Clone Physical Servers.
Select the servers to be cloned and click Next.
2.
Provide the required number of cloned instances for the selected servers and provide
or modify the other parameters.
Clone Virtual Machine
1.
In the Action menu Virtual Machines view, select Clone Virtual Machines.
Select the Virtual Machines to be cloned and click Next.
2.
Provide the required number of cloned instances for the selected Virtual Machines
and provide or modify the other parameters.
Application Sizing Rule
You can set the resource demand for a VM that is based on application type (Sharepoint
2010).
Rule as seen on UI
The rule applies on the VMm based on the application type.
Rule definition in DB
Cluster level actionable recommendation
You can view placement summary and actionable recommendations at the cluster level.
The existing Capacity Planner Optimized Environment Plan report for VMware is
enhanced to display a summary of cluster level actionable recommendations. In the
Cluster Summary table, clicking on the Cluster name drills down to a new report called
Capacity Planner Optimized Environment Plan Cluster Details, which displays details of
actionable recommendations for the selected cluster.
This report contains the following charts:
 Servers retired chart displays the number of servers retired from the selected cluster.
 VMs moved out of the cluster chart displays the number of Virtual Machines moved
out of the selected cluster.
 VMs moved into the cluster chart displays the number of Virtual Machines moved
into the selected cluster.
 VMs with no change in cluster chart displays the number of Virtual Machines with
no change in the selected cluster.
 In the VMs not placed chart, “No utilization data” indicates that no recommended
CPU and memory reservation exist for the associated Virtual Machine and for all other
cases the reason is “Not determined”.
Reports for VMware: scenarios
Scenario 1: You want to see a weekly comparison of key metrics for the top 5 or
bottom 5 host servers.
Benefit and Usage: You can get this information by running the newly introduced VMware
VI Top or Bottom Host Servers Weekly Comparison report (under the Workload RightSizing and Balancing folder). This report displays a comparison of key metrics for the
Top/Bottom N host servers from week to week.
Scenario 2: You want to see Network I/O and Disk I/O information in the Top or
Bottom Workload Consumers Clusters report.
Benefit and Usage: You can get this information by running the enhanced VMware VI Top
or Bottom Workload Consumers Clusters report (under the Workload Right-Sizing and
Balancing folder). This report now displays two new charts: Top/Bottom Clusters by
Network I/O and Top/Bottom Clusters by Disk I/O (KBps).
Scenario 3: You want to customize the colors to highlight certain thresholds, for
example, you want to highlight both underutilized and overutilized virtual machines
with red.
Benefit and Usage: You can get this feature by running the enhanced VMware VI Host
Server Heat Chart and VMware VI VM Heat Chart reports (under the Performance Trends
and Resource Forecasts folder). In these reports, the default colors for threshold status in
heat charts can be customized by selecting colors on the report parameter page.
Known Issues
Issue 1: For the Capacity Planner for VMware, the filter is not operating properly in the
Clone Physical Server and Clone Virtual Machine windows.
Workaround: None
Issue 2: For the Capacity Planner for VMware, issues are observed in the Cluster Level
Actionable Report:
 The report does not show all Clusters that were added in the working set. The report
shows only the clusters on which placement is taking place.
 The IE9 Cluster Summary table shows older data.


The VMs not Placed section shows erroneous data.
If there are two clusters with the same name but different datacenters, the Cluster
Summary table shows an incorrect list of clusters.
Workaround: None
Issue 3: For the Capacity Planner for VMware, an error is observed when the Tivoli
Integrated Portal server is kept idle for a long time. If the Tivoli Integrated Portal or Tivoli
Common Reporting remain idle for long time, an error is displayed when you click Edit
Recommended Environment settings.
Workaround: Restart Tivoli Common Reporting.
Issue 4: For Capacity Planner for VMware, the Application Sizing Rule name is not
meaningful in the UI.
Workaround- Modify the rule name in the Ruledim.csv file and upload the file.
Issue 5: For Capacity Planner for VMware, you are unable to modify values in the
Custom tags and tag columns if the following characters were used: semicolon (;),
comma (,) and single quotation mark (‘).
Workaround: None
Issue 6: For Capacity Planner for VMware, currently the CPU usage (GHz) in reports is
calculated as CPU Usage (MHz)/1024 instead of as CPU Usage (MHz)/1000.
Workaround: None
Issue 7: The Planning Center is blank for tipadmin (iscadmin user) after acquiring a lock
as administrator.
Workaround: Log out and log in to the Dashboard Application Services Hub again.
Issue 8: for Capacity Planner for PowerVM, values are not cloned properly for usage
data if there is no usage data available for selected logical partitions.
Workaround: None