performance and scalability guidelines...performance and scalability guidelines p/n 300-007-581 rev...

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This document contains guidelines that will help you design and configure EMC® IT Performance Reporter—Network Edition to optimize performance and scalability. Use this document in conjunction with EMC Smarts deployment guides and IT Performance Reporter documents. Topics include:

◆ Revision history .................................................................................... 2◆ Introduction........................................................................................... 2◆ Guidelines for IT Performance Reporter........................................... 5

EMC® IT Performance Reporter—Network Edition

Version 2.0

Performance and ScalabilityGuidelinesP/N 300-007-581

REV A02February 6, 2009

2 EMC IT Performance Reporter—Network Edition Version 2.0 Performance and Scalabilty Guidelines

Revision history

Revision history

IntroductionEMC IT Performance Reporter—Network Edition collects asset, performance, and availability data from EMC Smarts applications. IT Performance Reporter displays historical and real-time performance data in a browser-based user interface and generates reports that provide asset information, performance metrics, and system availability.

IT Performance Reporter collects data for the elements listed in Table 1 on page 2.

IT Performance Reporter also includes the following features:

◆ Performance policies that create notifications when thresholds are exceeded.

Revision Changes

A01 First version.

A02 Fixed typograhical error.

Table 1 Managed elements collected by IT Performance Reporter

EMC Smarts IP Management Suite EMC Smarts Service Assurance Management Suite

Systems• Firewall• Host• Load Balancer• Router• Switch

Business elements• Business Process• Business Unit• Customer• Department• Line of Business• Selective and Hierarchical groups• Service Subscribers• Service Offerings

Components• CPU (Processor)• File System• Network Adapter (ports and interfaces)

Notifications

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Introduction

EMC IT Performance Reporter—Network Edition Version 2.0 Performance and Scalabilty Guidelines

◆ Ability to import new classes and attributes from EMC Smarts applications.

◆ Ability to set the data collection (polling) interval for each class of managed element.

Important concepts

EMC Smarts applications monitor the availability and performance of network and system elements. Network elements include ports and interfaces. System elements include routers, switches, firewalls, hosts, load balancers and their components such as memory, processors, and file systems.

Gathering data IT Performance Reporter collects data from the EMC Smarts IP Management Suite and the EMC Smarts Service Assurance Management Suite:

◆ Business elements and group data are imported from Service Assurance Manager on a daily basis.

◆ IT Performance Reporter receives notifications from Service Assurance Manager and persists notifications to its database.

◆ Managed element configuration, system element information, and performance statistics are collected from IP Managers.

• Managed system and network element configuration information is collected on a daily basis. System element configuration can also be collected on demand.

• Performance statistics for system elements are collected every 4 minutes by default. The collection interval can be configured by an administrator.

• Automatic discovery is scheduled for 12 A.M. The automatic discovery interval can be configured by an administrator.

Data display Reports—IT Performance Reporter’s reporting capabilities are built using the Eclipse BIRT reporting tool. Existing report templates can be configured for multiple types of assets. New report templates, built by an administrator using BIRT Report Designer, can be imported into IT Performance Reporter.

Viewlets—A customizable dashboard contains viewlets that provide at-a-glance information about managed assets and network health in the form of graphs, charts, and tables. Viewlets enable you to quickly determine whether there are critical network management issues that


Introduction

require action. Each viewlet provides a link to a resource view that provides in-depth information about the selected asset(s). New viewlets can be created or imported, and existing viewlets may be exported. Individual users may rearrange the layout of the dashboard to suit business requirements. You can also print viewlets.

Resource view—Resource views are used to examine the state of assets and network components in your environment. Resource views are sorted by category and include groups, business elements, hosts, and network resources.

Repository The IT Performance Reporter repository comprises of a database and raw data files. You can choose between two database options:

◆ Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise 15.0.2 is provided as an embedded database. The embedded database is self-maintaining and includes built-in scripts for database backup, automation, and optimization. Maintaining the IT Performance Reporter with the embedded database does not require a database administrator.

◆ Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition is supported as an external database. The external database can run on the same host system as IT Performance Reporter or run on a separate host. Using an external database requires a database administrator to perform repository backups and standard database maintenance tasks.

The database can store element configuration information, notifications, and data aggregated on an hourly, weekly, and monthly basis. The database has an open schema so that you can run custom reports against the data repository.

The raw data files contain detailed element performance metrics. This data is used for chart viewlets and then saved to the database.

Using the guidelines

The performance and scalability guidelines in this document can help you determine:

◆ The hardware requirements to support different sizes of EMC Smarts environments

◆ IT Performance Reporter database and raw data file sizing

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Guidelines for IT Performance Reporter


◆ How to deploy IT Performance Reporter to reduce the impact of network latency on data collection

◆ How often to schedule data collection from IP Managers

◆ How to deploy Standalone Data Collection Managers (DCMs) to handle notifications and notification persistence

◆ Resource utilization of a Remote Collector when deployed on the same host as an EMC Smarts application

Guidelines for IT Performance ReporterThe performance and scalability guidelines outlined in this document are based on factors that have a significant impact on the performance and scalability of IT Performance Reporter. These factors are:

◆ The number of managed network elements in the EMC Smarts environment such as ports, interfaces, processors, memory, and file systems. Ports and interfaces are of particular importance.

◆ Amount of network latency between IT Performance Reporter and the IP Managers.

◆ The frequency at which performance statistics data are collected from IP Managers.

◆ Number of notifications to be processed.

◆ Frequency and type of reports (long- or short-running).

◆ Number of concurrent active consoles.

◆ Number of physical servers and hardware specification for the IT Performance Reporter host system; including number and speed of processors and amount of memory.

Note: IT Performance Reporter collects only data for elements that are managed by an IP Manager. Elements that are not managed by an IP Manager are not collected by IT Performance Reporter. The EMC Smarts IP Management Suite Discovery Guide describes how an IP Manager determines the managed state of an element.



Guideline 1 Estimate the size of the network environment and measure the network latency between IT Performance Reporter and IP Managers to determine the appropriate hardware configuration

Calculate the size your network environment to determine the number of managed elements for each IP Manager. Calculate the total number for each of the following elements:

◆ Interfaces—all managed by default

◆ Ports—trunk ports and ports connected to managed hosts are managed by default

◆ Memory—all managed by default

◆ Processors—all managed by default

◆ File systems—all managed by default

For new environments, use the EMC Smarts IP Management Suite Deployment Guide to estimate the number of managed elements.

Use Table 2 on page 6 to determine if the size of your EMC Smarts deployment is small, medium, or large.

Determine the amount of network latency between the IP Managers and IT Performance Reporter. If the network latency is greater than 15 milliseconds, use a distributed configuration or Remote Collectors to maintain a satisfactory data collection interval. “Guideline 4” on page 13 describes distributed configurations for environments that exceed 15 milliseconds of network latency.

Use the following tables to determine the minimum hardware requirements for your IT Performance Reporter deployment:

Table 2 Size of EMC Smarts deployment

Network sizeNetwork adapters Memory Processors File systems Notifications

Small 60,000 17,000 10,000 490,000 12,000

Polling interval 4 min 4 min 4 min 60 min 4 min

Medium 120,000 34,000 20,000 980,000 12,000


Large 210,000 55,000 35,000 1,960,000 12,000


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◆ Table 3 on page 7 lists the minimum hardware requirements for a small EMC Smarts deployment

◆ Table 4 on page 8 lists the minimum hardware requirements for a medium EMC Smarts deployment

◆ Table 5 on page 9 lists the minimum hardware requirements for a large EMC Smarts deployment



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Table 3 Minimum hardware requirements for a small network

Network size Deployment architecture

Minimum hardware configuration

Number of CPUs

CPU speed (GHz)

RAM (GB)

Disk or partition

Disk space (GB)

Small Single host deployment with embedded database

IT Performance Reporter with:• DCM for IP Manager• Standalone DCM for Service

Assurance Manager• Embedded database

2 dual core

3.0 6 Main 430

Raw data 15

DB temp 15

DB index 96

DB logs 3

DB backup 551

Total 1,114 GB

Single host deployment with remote database

IT Performance Reporter with:• DCM for IP Manager• Standalone DCM for Service

Assurance Manager

2 dual core

3.0 3 Main 3

Raw data 15

Total 18 GB

Remote database host 2 dual core

3.0 6 Main 600

DB temp 15

DB index 96

DB logs 3

DB backup 650

Total 1364 GB

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Table 4 Minimum hardware requirements for a medium deployment



Number of CPUs

CPU speed (GHz)

RAM (GB)

Disk or partition

Disk space (GB)

Medium Distributed deployment with embedded database

IT Performance Reporter with:• 1 DCM for Service Assurance Manager• Embedded database

2 dual core

3.0 6 Main 870

Raw data 25

DB temp 15

DB index 193

DB logs 3

DB backup 1,084

Total 2,190 GB

Standalone DCM host:• 2 DCMs for IP Managers

2 dual core

3.0 3 DCM total 6 GB

Distributed deployment with remote database

IT Performance Reporter with:• 1 DCM for Service Assurance Manager

2 dual core

3.0 3 Main 3

Raw data 25

Total 28 GB

Standalone DCM host:• 2 DCMs for IP Managers

2 dual core



3.0 6 Main 1200

DB temp 15

DB index 96

DB logs 3

DB backup 1400

Total 2714 GB



Table 5 Minimum hardware requirements for a large deployment



Number of CPUs

CPU speed (GHz)

RAM (GB)

Disk or partition

Disk space (GB)

Large Distributed deployment with embedded database

IT Performance Reporter with:• 1 DCM for IP Manager• Embedded database

2 dual core

3.0 6 Main 1,532

Raw data 25

DB temp 15

DB index 336

DB logs 3

DB backup 1,876

Total 3,787 GB

Standalone DCM host:• 3 DCMs for IP Managers• 1 DCM for Service Assurance Manager

2 dual core


Distributed deployment with remote database

IT Performance Reporter with:• 1 DCM for IP Manager

2 dual core

3.0 3 Main 3

Raw data 40

Total 43 GB

Standalone DCM host:• 3 DCMs for IP Managers• 1 DCM for Service Assurance Manager

2 dual core



3.0 6 Main 2,100

DB temp 15

DB index 336

DB logs 3

DB backup 2,300

Total 4,754 GB

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Important considerationsConsider the following when determining your hardware requirements:

◆ In very large installations, careful planning is needed to maintain an acceptable level of service for polling and console performance. Contact the Solution Validation Center ([email protected]) for assistance if the following condition applies to your environment:

• Your total EMC Smarts configuration contains more managed elements than listed in Table 5 on page 9. For example, more than 210,000 network adapters.

◆ Disk space requirements include:

• Default data retention policy of 2 days for raw data

• Default data retention policy of 8 weeks for hourly data

• Default data retention policy of 104 weeks for weekly data

• Default data retention policy of 84 months for monthly data

• Maximum of 1 database backup residing on the host system

Note: Database backup files will accumulate if the user does not copy the files to a secure location or remove them from the host system.

• IT Performance Reporter infrastructure and log files.

◆ Disk space requirements do not include disk space for the operating system or other software components.

◆ Best practices for database performance include distributing data, index, log files, and temporary space to separate disks. IT Performance Reporter provides minor scalability improvements in a multidisk configuration.

◆ For system performance, a RAID controller is the minimum recommendation for disk mirroring

◆ Default data collection policies:

• Non-performance attributes are collected once daily.

• Service Assurance Manager group data is collected once daily.

• Performance attributes are collected every 4 minutes.

• IT Performance Reporter subscribes to notifications from Service Assurance Manager. IT Performance Reporter polls Service Assurance Manager for each notification received.



◆ Recommended data collection policies:

• Schedule default database maintenance scripts to run at 2:00 A.M.

• Schedule long running default reports and custom reports to run daily at 3:00 A.M.

Guideline 2 Allocate disk space for use by the IT Performance Reporter repository

“Guideline 1” on page 5 provides disk space requirements based on the default retention policies and the maximum number of managed elements for which data is collected.

Use Table 6 on page 11 to accurately determine disk space requirements for your IT Performance Reporter deployment when running a Sybase ASE 15.0.2 database. The table lists disk space requirements for:

◆ 4-minute statistics data collection policy

◆ Default data retention policy of 8 weeks for hourly data

◆ Default data retention policy of 104 weeks for weekly data

◆ Default data retention policy of 84 months for monthly data

◆ Does not include disk space requirements for IT Performance Reporter database backup files

Table 6 Disk space requirements for managed elements supporting a Sybase ASE 15.0.1 database

Number of managed elements

Disk space a

Database (GB) DB index (GB) Raw data (MB)

1,000 network adapters 5.12 9 1.28 84

1,000 memory 1.28 .32 32

1,000 processors 0.72 0.18 13

1,000 file systems 2 0.8 20

1,000 notifications 0.006 0 n/a

a. Disk space requirements do not include the operating system.

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Use Table 7 on page 12 to accurately determine disk space requirements for your IT Performance Reporter deployment when running a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 database. The table lists disk space requirements for:

◆ 4-minute statistics data collection policy

◆ Default data retention policy of 8 weeks for hourly data

◆ Default data retention policy of 104 weeks for weekly data

◆ Default data retention policy of 84 months for monthly data

◆ Does not include disk space requirements for IT Performance Reporter database backup files

Guideline 3 Limit the number of active consoles to 10

Limiting the number of active IT Performance Reporter Consoles to 10 helps maintain performance. A console is considered active when it is logged into IT Performance Reporter.

Table 7 Disk space requirements for managed elements supporting a Microsoft SQL Server 2005

Number of managed elements

Disk space

Database (GB) DB index (GB) Raw data (MB)

1,000 network adapters 9.00 1.28 500

1,000 memory 2.00 1.00 400

1,000 processors 3.00 0.50 400

1,000 file systems 1.2 1 20

1,000 notifications 0.002 0.001 n/a



Guideline 4 Understand and minimize the effects of network latency

Network latency can cause performance and scalability issues for data collection when IT Performance Reporter is not properly deployed. Use the following deployment options to reduce the effect of network latency on performance polling.

When deploying a single host infrastructure, Figure 1 on page 13, with more than 15 milliseconds of network latency between the IP Managers and the IT Performance Reporter infrastructure, consider the following:

◆ Network latency between the Remote Collector and the IP Manager should not exceed 5 milliseconds.

◆ If network latency between the IT Performance Reporter infrastructure and the Remote Collector exceeds 200 milliseconds, consider increasing the data collection interval.

Figure 1 Network latency considerations for single host deployment

Web Server

Network latencybelow 200ms


Database

Raw data service

Data CollectionManager

DomainManager

RemoteCollector


GEN-000712

DomainManager

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When deploying a distributed IT Performance Reporter environment, Figure 2 on page 14, with more than 15 milliseconds of network latency between the IP Managers and the Standalone Data Collection Managers, consider the following:

◆ Network latency between the Remote Collector and IP Manager should not exceed 5 milliseconds.

◆ Network latency between the IT Performance Reporter infrastructure and the Standalone Data Collection Manager should not exceed 50 milliseconds.

◆ If network latency between the Standalone Data Collection Manager and Remote Collector exceeds 200 milliseconds, consider increasing the data collection interval.

◆ Network latency between ITPR infrastructure and the remote Microsoft SQL Server should not exceed 8 milliseconds.

Note: Increasing the data collection interval to compensate for network latency will change the data collection interval for all Data Collection Managers.

Figure 2 Network latency considerations for distributed deployment

Web Server



Database

Raw data service

DomainManager

GEN-000713

RemoteCollector

DataCollectionManager


DomainManager

DataCollectionManager





You can also deploy a Remote Collector on the same host as the IP Manager for Windows and Linux platforms. If this deployment option is used and network latency between the Data Collection Manager and the Remote Collector is greater than 200 milliseconds, consider increasing the data collection interval.

Note: When deploying a Remote Collector on the same host as the IP Manager, ensure that the CPU utilization by the Remote Collector does not affect the IP Manager. “Guideline 7” on page 16 provides resource utilization estimates for the Remote Collector.

Guideline 5 Understand the effect of large IP Managers on performance polling.A IP Manager with more than 45,000 network adapters and 20,500 memory and processors can take more than 4 minutes to complete a single polling cycle in either a single-host or distributed deployment. Use an 8-minute data collection interval in this environment.

Guideline 6 Schedule long running reports to run during periods of low console use

To avoid console performance issues, schedule long-running reports for times when console usage is low, such as night.

Care should also be taken not to schedule reports during:

◆ Daily collection of non-performance attributes.

◆ Database maintenance period. For example, when the backup of the database is being taken.

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Guideline 7 Understand resource utilization of Remote Collector when deploying on same host as IP Manager

The effect of a Remote Collector on system resources depends on the:

◆ Data collection interval

◆ Number of elements being managed

Use Table 8 on page 16 to estimate the amount of system resource utilization used by Remote Collector on yourIP Manager.

System resource utilization measurements in Table 8 on page 16 are based on tests conducted on Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition SP 2 with dual 3.0 GHz processors and 2 GB RAM.

Note: Consider the differences in hardware configuration when using Table 8 on page 16 to estimate resource utilization for a Remote Collector.

Table 8 Resource utilization by Remote Collector

IP Manager SizeData collection interval (minutes)

Elements managedEstimated Remote Collector resource utilization a

Network adapters

Processor/memory

Average CPU

Maximum memory

Disk space

Small IP Manager 4 7,200 5,200 > 1% 250 MB 2 GB

Medium IP Manager

4 35,000 15,000 4% 535 MB 2 GB

a. We do not recommend that you deploy a Remote Collector on the same system as a IP Manager that is larger than a Medium IP Manager as specified Table 8 on page 16.



Guideline 8 Determine the hardware configuration

Table 9 on page 17 lists the recommended specification for dual-processor configurations.

Note: Any dedicated server-class system with an equivalent configuration is acceptable.

Table 9 Recommended hardware configuration

Component

Dual core 3.0 GHz forIT Performance Reporter and Standalone Data Collection Managers Single core 3.0 GHz for Remote Collectors

Base unit processor Dual core Intel Xeon 5160 3.0 GHz processor, 4 MB cache, 1330 MHz FSB

Intel Xeon 3.0 GHz, 1 MB cache

Second processor Dual core Intel Xeon 5160 3.0 GHz processor, 4 MB cache, 1330 MHz FSB

Intel Xeon 3.0 GHz, 1 MB cache

Memory 6 GB 533 MHz Dual Ranked DIMMs (6 x 1 GB) 2 GB DDR SDRAM 266 MHz (2 x 1 GB)

Hard drive 146 GB, SAS, 3.5”, 10,000 RPM 73 GB 10,000 RPM, Ultra 320 SCSI disk

Hard drive controller Dell PERC 5/i Integrated RAIDController RAID on motherboard PERC 3/Di 129 MB

Floppy drive 1.44 MB, 3.5” internal 1.44 MB, 3.5” internal

Network interface card Intel PRO 1000PT Dual Port Server Adapter, Gigabit NIC, CU, PCIex4

Dual on-board NICs

Operating system Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP4 Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP4

Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition SP1 Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition SP1

Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition R2

Optical drive 24x IDE CD-RW/DVR-ROM 24x IDE internal CD-ROM

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Copyright © 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Published February 6, 2009

EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date. The information is subject to change without notice.

THE INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION IS PROVIDED “AS IS.” EMC CORPORATION MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION, AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

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