3.10 Using HP Reporter Data with PlateSpin Recon

PlateSpin Recon features a specialized HP Reporter connector. It enables PlateSpin Recon to connect to an HP Reporter 3.8 database to import performance and resource utilization data for charts, reports and consolidation planning.

You can use any HP Reporter-collected data to generate PlateSpin Recon charts and reports. However, for consolidation planning you must configure Reporter to collect specific utilization data that correlates to data collected by specific PlateSpin Recon counters. For detailed information, see Section 3.9.1, Required Performance Counters.

You need to specify appropriate formulas to transform the data from Reporter-collected metrics to PlateSpin Recon counters because HP Reporter does not collect data in exactly the same format as PlateSpin Recon.

The HP Reporter data summarization interval is specified during the creation of the HP Reporter Metric List.

3.10.1 Using Formulas to Convert Metrics to Counters

You can use a formula to provide the following information to the PlateSpin Recon HP Reporter Connector:

  • Which Reporter metric list contains metrics required by PlateSpin Recon

  • How to convert data from measurement units used by Reporter units to those required by PlateSpin Recon

A valid HP Reporter Connector formula consists of the name of the required HP Reporter metric list, followed by a dot character, followed by an arithmetic expression that converts the metric into a PlateSpin Recon counter. Arithmetic expressions can contain any of the collected Reporter metrics, numeric constants, and arithmetic operations.

NOTE:Only metrics collected by the same metric list can be used in one formula, although different formulas can use different metric lists.

For example, PlateSpin Recon requires memory utilization data expressed in the number of free bytes available to the operating system, while Reporter collects the same data by using two separate metrics:

  • Percentage of memory utilized (GBL_MEM_UTIL)

  • Total size of the memory in gigabytes (GBL_MEM_PHYS)

In this case, the appropriate formula for converting collected metric data into the PlateSpin Recon counter format would be:

GBL_MEM_PHYS*(100-GBL_MEM_UTIL))*1024*1024*1024/100

3.10.2 Example Formulas

The following are examples of HP Reporter metrics that you can collect using CODA agents, along with corresponding conversion formulas. Note that To do consolidation planning, PlateSpin Recon requires data for all four counters. Because HP Reporter can collect metric data with several different agents, and the same PlateSpin Recon counters can be calculated using different HP Reporter metrics, this list is not exhaustive and serves only as an example.

Table 3-6 Example HP Reporter Metrics

PlateSpin Recon Counter

HP Reporter Metrics

Conversion Formula

Processor Utilization

GBL_CPU_TOTAL_UTIL

<MetricList>.GBL_CPU_TOTAL_UTIL

BYCPU_CPU_TOTAL_UTIL

<MetricList>.BYCPU_CPU_TOTAL_UTIL

Memory Utilization

GBL_MEM_PHYS and

GBL_MEM_UTIL

<MetricList>.(GBL_MEM_PHYS*(100-GBL_MEM_UTIL))*1024*1024*1024/100

GBL_MEM_FREE

<MetricList>.(GBL_MEM_FREE)*1024*1024

Disk Utilization

GBL_DISK_PHYS_BYTE_RATE

<MetricList>.GBL_DISK_PHYS_BYTE_RATE

BYDSK_PHYS_READ_BYTE_RATE

<MetricList>.BYDSK_PHYS_READ_BYTE_RATE

Network Utilization

BYNETIF_OUT_BYTE_RATE and

BYNETIF_IN_BYTE_RATE

<MetricList>.BYNETIF_OUT_BYTE_RATE + BYNETIF_IN_BYTE_RATE

Data for certain HP Reporter metrics and PlateSpin Recon counters is collected separately for each device instance. For example, the BYCPU_CPU_TOTAL_UTIL metric gives a separate utilization figure for each CPU in the system. To distinguish among different device instances, include a metric with a device identification string in the list when you set up the HP Reporter metric lists.

The PlateSpin Recon HP Reporter connector identifies the following metrics as containing device instance names:

Table 3-7 PlateSpin Recon HP Reporter Metrics

Functional Area

Metric

Processors

BYCPU_ID

Disks

BYDSK_DEVNAME or BYDSK_ID

Network Interface Cards

BYNETIF_NAME or BYNETIF_ID

File Systems

FS_DIRNAME, FS_DEVNAME or FS_DEVNO

3.10.3 Working with HP Reporter Data

  1. Configure your HP Reporter to collect data in the required performance and utilization measurement categories. For more information, see Section 3.9.1, Required Performance Counters.

  2. (Conditional) If you are using Oracle with HP Reporter, install Oracle client software on the PlateSpin Recon Server host. For detailed information, see the Oracle documentation.

  3. Create a new Remote site for connecting to the HP Reporter database:

    1. Right-click in the Data Center Explorer, click Sites, then click Add Site.

    2. In the Add Site dialog box, specify a name and, optionally, a description.

    3. In the Type drop-down, select Remote.

    4. In the Connector Type drop-down list, select HP Reporter.

      The HP Reporter-related Settings and Counters fields are displayed.

    5. On the Settings tab, provide the following information required to connect to the HP Reporter database:

      • Database hostname

      • Database or database instance name

      • Connection timeout and the Query timeout.

        When you synchronize a large data set from HP Reporter, you might need to set the Connection timeout and the Query timeout values to 0, which means infinite/unlimited timeout.

      • Database type

      • Port number, if a non-default port number is used

      • Valid credentials for accessing the database

    6. On the Counters tab, for the four required performance and utilization data categories, provide counter formulas for the system to use when converting HP Reporter metrics to PlateSpin Recon counters. For more information, see Section 3.10.1, Using Formulas to Convert Metrics to Counters.

    7. Click OK.

      The new site is added to Sites node in the Data Center Explorer.

  4. Inventory the machines:

    1. In the Data Center Explorer, right-click the remote site you created in Step 3, click Sites, then click Inventory Machines.

      The Inventory Machines in Site site_name dialog box is displayed.

    2. Select the check boxes next to the machines you want to inventory.

    3. Select the required credentials or select <New Credential> to add new credentials.

    4. Click OK.

  5. Synchronize site data:

    1. In the Data Center Explorer, right-click the required site, click Sites, then click Synchronize Data.

    2. Select the check boxes next to the required machines. To select all machines in a site, select the check box next to the site.

    3. Select required data range, scheduling, and recurrence options.

    4. Click OK.

For in-depth information about using PlateSpin Recon in conjunction with HP Reporter, see Knowledge Base article Q7920889.