EC2 - Instance Uptime Test
In cloud-based environments, it is essential to monitor the uptime of server instances launched on the cloud. By tracking the uptime of each of the instances, administrators can determine what percentage of time an instance has been up. Comparing this value with service level targets, administrators can determine the most trouble-prone areas of the infrastructure hosted on the cloud.
In some environments, administrators may schedule periodic reboots of their instances. By knowing that a specific instance has been up for an unusually long time, an administrator may come to know that the scheduled reboot task is not working on an instance.
This test monitors the uptime of each instance available to the configured AWS user account.
Target of the test: Amazon Region
Agent deploying the test: A remote agent
Output of the test: One set of results for each instance launched by the configured AWS user account in the monitored region
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
|
Test Period |
How often should the test be executed. |
|
Host |
The host for which the test is to be configured. |
|
AWS Access Key, AWS Secret Key, Confirm AWS Access Key, Confirm AWS Secret Key |
To monitor an Amazon instance, the eG agent has to be configured with the access key and secret key of a user with a valid AWS account. For this purpose, we recommend that you create a special user on the AWS cloud, obtain the access and secret keys of this user, and configure this test with these keys. The procedure for this has been detailed in the Obtaining an Access key and Secret key topic. Make sure you reconfirm the access and secret keys you provide here by retyping it in the corresponding Confirm text boxes. |
|
Proxy Host and Proxy Port |
In some environments, all communication with the AWS cloud and its regions could be routed through a proxy server. In such environments, you should make sure that the eG agent connects to the cloud via the proxy server and collects metrics. To enable metrics collection via a proxy, specify the IP address of the proxy server and the port at which the server listens against the Proxy Host and Proxy Port parameters. By default, these parameters are set to none , indicating that the eG agent is not configured to communicate via a proxy, by default. |
|
Proxy User Name, Proxy Password, and Confirm Password |
If the proxy server requires authentication, then, specify a valid proxy user name and password in the proxy user name and proxy password parameters, respectively. Then, confirm the password by retyping it in the CONFIRM PASSWORD text box. By default, these parameters are set to none, indicating that the proxy sever does not require authentication by default. |
|
Proxy Domain and Proxy Workstation |
If a Windows NTLM proxy is to be configured for use, then additionally, you will have to configure the Windows domain name and the Windows workstation name required for the same against the proxy domain and proxy workstation parameters. If the environment does not support a Windows NTLM proxy, set these parameters to none. |
|
Cloudwatch Enabled |
This parameter only applies to the -Aggregated Resource Usage test. This test reports critical metrics pertaining to the resource usage of the server instances launched in the cloud. If you want this test to report resource usage metrics very frequently - say, once every minute or lesser - you will have to configure the tests to use the AWS CloudWatch service. This is a paid web service that enables you to monitor, manage, and publish various metrics, as well as configure alarm actions based on data from metrics. To enable is test to use this service, set the CloudWatch Enabled flag to Yes. On the other hand, to report resource usage metrics less frequently - say, once in 5 minutes or more - this test does not require the AWS CloudWatch service; in this case therefore, set the cloudwatch enabled flag to No. Note that for enabling CloudWatch, you will have to pay CloudWatch fees. For the fee details, refer to the AWS web site. |
|
Exclude Instance |
This parameter applies only to AWS- Instance Connectivity, AWS- Instance Resources , and AWS- Instance Uptime tests. In the Exclude Instance text box, provide a comma-separated list of instance names or instance name patterns that you do not wish to monitor. For example: i-b0c3e*,*7dbe56d. By default, this parameter is set to none. |
|
Report Manager Time |
By default, this flag is set to Yes, indicating that, by default, the detailed diagnosis of this test, if enabled, will report the shutdown and reboot times of the cloud in the manager’s time zone. If this flag is set to No, then the shutdown and reboot times are shown in the time zone of the system where the agent is running (i.e., the system system on which the remote agent is running). |
|
Detailed Diagnosis |
To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG Enterprise embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test for a particular server, choose the On option. To disable the capability, click on the Off option. The option to selectively enable/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled:
|
Measures reported by the test:
|
Measurement |
Description |
Measurement Unit |
Interpretation |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Has the instance been rebooted?: |
Indicates whether this instance has been rebooted during the last measurement period or not. |
Boolean |
If this measure shows 1, it means that the instance was rebooted during the last measurement period. By checking the time periods when this metric changes from 0 to 1, an administrator can determine the times when this instance was rebooted. |
|
Uptime of the instance during the last measure period: |
Indicates the time period that the instance has been up since the last time this test ran. |
Secs |
If the instance has not been rebooted during the last measurement period and the agent has been running continuously, this value will be equal to the measurement period. If the instance was rebooted during the last measurement period, this value will be less than the measurement period of the test. For example, if the measurement period is 300 secs, and if the instance was rebooted 120 secs back, this metric will report a value of 120 seconds. The accuracy of this metric is dependent on the measurement period - the smaller the measurement period, greater the accuracy. |
|
Total uptime of the instance: |
Indicates the total time that this intance has been up since its last reboot. |
Mins |
Administrators may wish to be alerted if an instance has been running without a reboot for a very long period. Setting a threshold for this metric allows administrators to determine such conditions. |
Detailed Diagnosis:
The detailed diagnosis of the Has VM been rebooted? measure reveals when the instance was last shutdown, when it was rebooted, how long the shutdown lasted, and whether the instance was shutdown as part of a routine maintenance exercise.
Figure 1 : The detailed diagnosis of the Has VM been rebooted? measure
