Carrying
on from this post of two months ago -
-
here we expand the section ‘Use Cases’
Some
Use Cases of OnCommand Balance:
Use Case 1: Find All Servers That Share Groups or Aggregates
Balance
> Storage Arrays tab > Select the Storage Array
Performance
Summary tab > Select the Disk Group or Aggregate
At the bottom of the disk group summary
page, notice the breakdown of all the workloads that share the disk group or
aggregate.
Data
Topology tab >
For a more visual understanding of the
workloads that share the disk group.
Use Case 2: Identify Application Workloads That Are Limited by CPU,
Memory, or I/O Availability
Balance
> Applications tab >
This page list all the workloads and
status indicators for their CPU, Memory, and Storage (I/O) resources. View the
resource status icons.
Balance
> Applications tab > Select the Application
To get a more detailed look at a
specific application. The infrastructure response time graph shows the
end-to-end response time for a workload, including its CPU and storage.
Data
Topology tab >
This provides a visualization of the
application workloads path to storage. If the workload is a database
application (Microsoft SQL or Oracle), click the schema check box to view the
full data path for each database element.
Balance
> Reports > Scorecard Reports > Application Scorecard
The Application Scorecard provides response time, CPU,
memory, and storage utilization information for application workloads.
Generally, overall response times should not exceed 100ms!
Use Case 3: Identify Bully and Victim Servers
Open and read the Balance predictor
email.
For further analysis, click the View full analysis link and view the workload
breakdowns.
Use Case 4: Reclaim Storage and Identify Storage That Is Nearing
Capacity
Balance
> Reports > Standard Reports > Server Volume Capacity Forecast
Balance
> Reports > Scorecard Reports
Balance
> Reports > Reports Scheduling
To see volumetric capacity at the array
level, use the Array
Utilization Report.
To see capacity at the disk group or aggregate
level, use the Storage
Scorecard.
To see current capacity from the
perspective of each server volume, use the Server Storage Utilization Report.
To see capacity from the perspective of
application workloads, use the Application Storage Trend Report.
The Server Volume Capacity Utilization Forecast Report provides the calculated number of
weeks before server volumes hit 80%, 90%, and 100% capacity.
Capacity information is available
throughout the UI as you view an array with its disk groups, or drill down for
data on a specific disk group, or analyze the server volume for detailed
capacity information. Balance array performance reports show volumetric
capacity information in addition to high-level array information, and detailed
statistics and analysis of the arrays disk groups, ports, and controllers.
Use Case 5: Identify Servers That Are Causing Resource Contention
At
the host level:
Balance
> Servers > Virtual Hosts > select a virtual host
The Summary page provides quick access
to contention information for the shared CPU and memory.
Tick the CPU ‘Show VM breakout’ box - to access the VM breakout for CPU usage.
The display includes hyperlinks to access the summary page for each VM.
Tick the Memory ‘Show VM breakout’ box - to access the VM breakout for Memory usage.
The display includes hyperlinks to access the summary page for each VM.
At
the disk group (aggregate) level:
Balance
> Storage > select an array
Disk
Groups tab > select a disk group
The workload breakdown at the bottom of
the Summary page, displays the performance characteristics for each contending
workload (sort by: Most IO, Worst RT, Highest disk utilization.)
See the Contention tab - this display includes the disk utilization
percentage, response time and throughput.
See the IO by Workload tab.
Also, see the Scorecards and Reports,
for example - the Virtual
Machine Scorecard report, the
Application Scorecard
report …
Note:
Keep in mind that reports can be scheduled!
Use Case 6: Identify Storage Hotspots
Balance
> Dashboard
The Balance Dashboard proactively
identifies storage hotspots. Click the link for Arrays and check the Status
column for anything that is in red. The dashboard also lists the most recent
abnormal storage events.
Balance
> Storage > select an array
Data
Topology tab >
Red symbols indicate hotspots. For a
specific element you can right-click and choose ‘Re-orient Topology’. Or,
right-click and choose ‘Open Summary Page’.
Balance
> Reports > Scorecard Reports > Storage Scorecard
Use to identify disk groups with
excessive disk utilization, response times, and IOPs; in addition to capacity
information.
Use Case 7: Identify Servers That Have Misaligned LUN Partitions
Balance
> Servers
The top of the page indicates the total
number of servers that have misaligned partitions. Click ‘View the report’ and
use the ‘Servers With
Misaligned Partitions’ report to focus your efforts on those servers
that are misaligned and driving the most IOPS.
Balance
> Reports > Standard Reports > Server Reports > Servers With
Misaligned Partitions
Use Case 8: Use the Performance Index to Identify Virtual Hosts That
Need Optimization
Balance
> Servers > Virtual Hosts
View the entire list and look at the
Performance Index (PI) values. Hosts with a PI > 125 are
currently experiencing degraded performance - they are either over-utilized
with too many VMs, or under-provisioned for their current workload. Hosts with
a PI well
below 75 are not being
sufficiently utilized and are wasting datacenter resources. As a general rule,
strive to have all virtual hosts operating with PI values between 75 and 125, this provides the best
possible balance between resource utilization and performance.
Balance
> Servers > Virtual Hosts > select a host > PI tab
Balance
> Reports > Standard Reports > Server Reports > Virtual Host Server
Performance Index
Balance
> Reports > Reports Scheduling > (to schedule the report on a regular
basis)
Use Case 9: Display a Baseline View of Your Storage Environment
Balance
> Reports > Scorecard Reports > Storage Scorecard
The Storage Scorecard report provides a baseline view
of your storage environment with notable columns:
Percent
Capacity - watch for anything > 75% used.
Disk
Utilization - watch for anything averaging >
60%, or maximum >
75%
Also, watch for abnormally high response times, IOPS, or read and write
throughput values (additional workloads could degrade the performance of
all servers that share the storage!)
Notable Reports
Among
all the excellent reports available in Balance, the below are highly
recommended for having a look at, and all (except the Servers With Misaligned
Partitions - which you are probably not going to look at that often) are worth
putting on a schedule too:
- Application Storage Trends
- Array Utilization
- Server Volume Capacity Forecast
- Servers with Misaligned Partitions
- Storage Scorecard
- Virtual Host Server Performance Index
- Virtual Machine Scorecard
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