HP 3PAR Controllers Test

The controller of the HP 3PAR storage system enables the administrator in serving the purpose of the following:

  • binding LUNs
  • execute CLI commands
  • perform read/write operations from external server to SAN

Excessive usage of or heavy I/O load on a single controller can cause deterioration in the overall performance of the Storage system, as it is indicative of severe deficiencies in the load-balancing algorithm that drives the controllers. Using the HP 3PAR Controllers test, administrators can easily monitor the current state, usage, and load on each of the controller on the Storage system, quickly detect an overload condition, precisely point to the controller that is overloaded, and promptly initiate measures to resolve the issue, so as to ensure the optimal performance of the Storage system.

Note:

This test will not report metrics for a target SSL-enabled HP 3PAR Storage system.

Target of the test : A HP 3PAR Storage system

Agent deploying the test : A remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each controller on the HP 3PAR Storage system.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter Description

Test Period

How often should the test be executed.

Host

The IP address of the Storage system.

Port

The port number at which the Storage system listens. The default is NULL.

User and Password

Specify the credentials of a user who has the right to execute API commands on the storage device and pull out metrics. To monitor the HP 3PAR Storage system,  you will have to provide the credential of a user who has been assigned the Browse role. To know how to create a user with Browser role, refer to How to Create a New User with Browser Role?

Confirm Password

Confirm the password by retyping it here.

SSL

Set this flag to True, if the storage system being monitored is SSL-enabled. By default this flag is set to False.

Using REST API

By default, this flag is set to False indicating that the eG agent by default, executes CIM API commands on the target storage server to collect the required metrics. However, to collect the required metrics from an SSL-enabled HP 3PAR Storage server, the eG agent is required to execute REST API commands on the target storage server. To enable the eG agent to execute REST API commands, set this flag to True.

IsEmbedded

This flag is not applicable when you set the Using REST API flag to True. By default, the target HP 3PAR Storage system is embedded within the storage platform. Therefore, this flag is set to True, by default.

Serial Number

If the SMI-S provider has been implemented as a proxy, then such a provider can be configured to manage multiple storage devices. This is why, if the IsEmbedded flag is set to False, you will have to explicitly specify which storage system you want the eG agent to monitor. Since each storage system is uniquely identified by a Serial Number, specify the same in this text box. The format of this number and where you can find it will differ from one storage system to another. You are hence advised to contact the storage administrator to know what to enter against this parameter. For example, the serial number for a HP 3PAR Storage system can be:16990.

CIM Server Port

This parameter is not applicable when you set the Using REST API flag to True. The SMI–S provider of the HP 3PAR Storage system provides access for monitoring and management via the HTTP and HTTPS protocols for CIM API request/response semantics. To enable the eG agent to access the SMI-S Provider, invoke the CIM API commands, and collect the required metrics, you need to specify the service port on the SMI- S provider in the CIM Server Port text box that listens for HTTP/HTTPS requests for CIM API semantics. By default, this is port 5988. If the service port on the SMI-S Provider listens only to HTTPS requests, then specify the port as 5989.

Jar

This flag is not applicable when you set the Using REST API flag to True. By default, this test uses the wbem.jar for metrics collection. This is why, the wbem option is selected by default. If you want the test to use the sblimCIMClient.jar for collecting metrics, choose the sblim option here.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Operational status

Indicates the current operational state of this controller.

 

The values that this measure can report and their corresponding numeric values are discussed in the table below:

Numeric Value Measure Value
0 OK
1 In Service
2 Power Mode
3 Completed
4 Starting
5 Dormant
6 Other
7 Unknown
8 Stopping
9 Stressed
10 Stopped
11 Supporting Entity in Error
12 Degraded or Predicted Failure
13 Predictive Failure
14 Lost Communication
15 No Contact
16 Aborted
17 Error
18 Non-Recoverable Error

Note:

By default, this measure reports the Measure Values discussed above to indicate the operational state of a controller. In the graph of this measure however, operational states are represented using the numeric equivalents only.

Detailed operational status

Describes the current operational state of this controller.

 

This measure will be reported only if the API provides a detailed operational state.

Typically, the detailed state will describe why the controller is in a particular operational state. For instance, if the Operational status measure reports the value Stopping for a controller, then this measure will explain why that controller is being stopped.

The values that this measure can report and their corresponding numeric values are discussed in the table below:

Numeric Value Measure Value
0 Online
1 Success
2 Power Saving Mode
3 Write Protected
4 Write Disabled
5 Not Ready
6 Removed
7 Rebooting
8 Offline
9 Failure

Note:

By default, this measure reports the Measure Values discussed above to indicate the detailed operational state of a controller. In the graph of this measure however, detailed operational states are represented using the numeric equivalents only.

Data transmitted

Indicates the rate at which data was transmitted by this controller.

MB/Sec

 

IOPS

Indicates the rate at which I/O operations were performed on this controller.

IOPS

Compare the value of this measure across controllers to know which controller handled the maximum number of I/O requests and which handled the least. If the gap between the two is very high, then it indicates serious irregularities in load-balancing across controllers.

You may then want to take a look at the Reads and Writes measures to understand what to fine-tune – the load-balancing algorithm for read requests or that of the write requests.

Reads

Indicates the rate at which read operations were performed on this controller.

Reads/Sec

Compare the value of this measure across controllers to know which controller handled the maximum number of read requests and which handled the least.

Writes

Indicates the rate at which write operations were performed on this controller.

Writes/Sec

Compare the value of this measure across controllers to know which controller handled the maximum number of write requests and which handled the least.

Data reads

Indicates the rate at which data is read from this controller.

MB/Sec

Compare the value of these measures across controllers to identify the slowest controller in terms of servicing read and write requests (respectively).

Data written

Indicates the rate at which data is written to this controller.

MB/Sec

Average read size

Indicates the amount of data read from this controller per I/O operation

MB/Op

Compare the value of these measures across controllers to identify the slowest controller in terms of servicing read and write requests (respectively).

Average write size

Indicates the amount of data written to this controller per I/O operation.

MB/Op

Read hits

Indicates the percentage of read requests that were serviced by the cache of this controller.

Percent

A high value is desired for this measure. A very low value is a cause for concern, as it indicates that cache usage is very poor; this in turn implies that direct controller accesses, which are expensive operations, are high.

Write hits

Indicates the percentage of write requests that were serviced by the cache of this controller.

Percent

A high value is desired for this measure. A very low value is a cause for concern, as it indicates that cache usage is very poor; this in turn implies that direct controller accesses, which are expensive operations, are high.