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HP Insight Capacity Advisor 6.2 User Guide

HP Part Number: T8670-90019Published: November 2010Edition: 2


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Copyright 2006, 2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.

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Computer Software, Computer Software Documentation, and Technical Data for Commercial Items are licensed to the U.S. Government under

vendor's standard commercial license.

Theinformationcontained hereinis subjectto changewithoutnotice. Theonly warranties forHP products and services areset forth in theexpress

warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP

shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

Acknowledgments

HP-UX Release 10.20 and later and HP-UX Release 11.00 and later (in both 32 and 64-bit configurations) on all HP 9000 computers are Open

Group UNIX 95 branded products.

UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group.

Intel and Itanium are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.

Microsoft and Windows are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

Revision history

Publication DateSupported Operating SystemsSoftwareVersion

EditionDocument PartNumber

November 2010See the HP Insight Software 6.2 Support Matrix.6.2.02T8670-90019

October 2010See the HP Insight Software 6.2 Support Matrix.6.2.01T8670-90019
http://docs.hp.com/en/vse.htmlhttp://docs.hp.com/en/vse.htmlhttp://docs.hp.com/en/vse.htmlhttp://docs.hp.com/en/vse.html


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Table of Contents

1 Introduction...................................................................................................................11Setup considerations.............................................................................................................................12

Licensing requirements...................................................................................................................12Installation.......................................................................................................................................12

Collection methods..........................................................................................................................12Disk space requirements..................................................................................................................12Credentials.......................................................................................................................................13Dependencies...................................................................................................................................13

Upgrades and reinstallation.................................................................................................................13Upgrading agents on HP-UX or OpenVMS managed systems............... ........ ........ ........ ........ .......13

Navigating within HP SIM, Virtualization Manager, and Capacity Advisor.......... ........ ........ ........ ....13

2 Features.........................................................................................................................15Data collection.......................................................................................................................................16

Data collection infrastructure..........................................................................................................16

Supported collection configurations...............................................................................................17Comparison of agentless and UP data collection............................................................................18HP PMP data differs from Utilization Provider data......................................................................19

Differences in memory data ......................................................................................................19Differences in network data ......................................................................................................19

Related topics........................................................................................................................19Experimentation....................................................................................................................................20Sizing for service level objectives..........................................................................................................21Modeling considerations......................................................................................................................22Capacity Advisor commands...............................................................................................................22

3 Key Capacity Advisor concepts..................................................................................23Capacity planning goals.......................................................................................................................23

Quality of service ............................................................................................................................23Utilization monitor, calculator, and simulator.....................................................................................23

Data handling for virtual machines.................................................................................................23Data normalization..........................................................................................................................24

Resources for which Capacity Advisor collects data............................................................................24Upper bounds..................................................................................................................................24

Measuring and analyzing resource utilization.....................................................................................25Peaks and sums................................................................................................................................25Sampling interval.............................................................................................................................25

Headroom........................................................................................................................................25Headroom star rating.................................................................................................................26

Interpreting the headroom star rating..................................................................................26Missing or invalid data....................................................................................................................27

The affect of invalid data on HP Smart Solver solution finding........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........27Utilization limits .............................................................................................................................27

Specifying utilization limits.......................................................................................................28Sustained time limits.............................................................................................................28Percentage of time limits.......................................................................................................28

Understanding utilization limit messages.................................................................................29Percentage of allocation........................................................................................................29

With sustained limits............................................................................................................29

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With percentage of time limits..............................................................................................29Scope of utilization limits...........................................................................................................29

Adjusting power...................................................................................................................................30Power cap data.................................................................................................................................30

Automating solution generation: HP Smart Solver..............................................................................31HP Smart Solver: Types of solutions...............................................................................................31

Determining trends in Capacity Advisor.............................................................................................31Aggregation of points in business interval bins..............................................................................32

Choosing an appropriate business interval...............................................................................32Exclusion of data points..................................................................................................................32Factors that affect data validity..................................................................................................32

Linear regression.............................................................................................................................33Error analysis...................................................................................................................................33

Forecasting growth...............................................................................................................................33The forecast model hierarchy..........................................................................................................33Forecast model attributes................................................................................................................34

4 Planning with Capacity Advisor.................................................................................35Getting ready........................................................................................................................................35

Task: Understand current resource usage............................................................................................35Task: Plan server consolidation.............................................................................................................36

Understanding the consolidation task............................................................................................36Example consolidation: Stacking applications on an existing server.......... ........ ........ ........ ......36

Step 1: Determine which systems to consolidate........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ..37Step 2: Create a scenario.......................................................................................................37Step 3: Edit the scenario........................................................................................................38

Automating the consolidation task.................................................................................................46Example consolidation: Automating stacking on a what-if server........... ........ ........ ........ .....47

Step 1: Determine which systems to consolidate........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ..47Step 2: Create a scenario.......................................................................................................47

Step 3: Edit the scenario........................................................................................................48Task: Estimating the effect of adding or moving processors........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........51Task: Determining where to put a workload using automated solution finding.................................52

Example: Determining where to put a workload............................................................................52

5 Procedures....................................................................................................................55Accessing Capacity Advisor.................................................................................................................55Gathering data for Capacity Advisor...................................................................................................55

Impact of data collection on managed system performance............. ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ......56Data collection options....................................................................................................................56First data collection (or the automated nightly collection)............ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ .58

Interpreting task results...................................................................................................................59Error notification on the standard out tab.................................................................................59

Scheduling a data collection............................................................................................................60Modifying a collection schedule......................................................................................................61Removing a collection schedule......................................................................................................61Updating collected data...................................................................................................................61

Updating collected data on all systems......................................................................................62Updating collected data on selected systems.............................................................................62Updating data displayed in a profile viewer.............................................................................62

Collecting data without using an agent..........................................................................................62Listing systems currently in the configuration file....................................................................62

Setting advanced options in the agentless data collection file............. ........ ........ ........ ........ ......63

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Data collection and the HP Insight Capacity Advisor Consolidation software..............................63Using Capacity Advisor with consolidation software server data.............. ........ ........ ........ ......64Viewing the licensed servers in HP SIM....................................................................................64

Importing data for use in Capacity Advisor...................................................................................64From the Optimize menu Import HP OVPA data.................................................................64From the Optimize menu Import HP PMP data...................................................................65From the command line.............................................................................................................66Ascertaining the data collection availability for a set of servers........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........66

Possible sources of discrepancies in collected data.........................................................................66No data collected for a managed node......................................................................................66Data timestamp appears to be incorrect....................................................................................66Dynamic memory in HP Integrity virtual machines.................................................................67

Producing graphs and reports..............................................................................................................67Using the Profile Viewer..................................................................................................................67Using the report wizard..................................................................................................................71

The report wizard.......................................................................................................................71Creating an historic utilization report........................................................................................72Creating a scenario utilization report........................................................................................73Using the report wizard to create a scenario comparison....... ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ..74

An example scenario comparison report..............................................................................74Calculating a virtualization consolidation ratio...................................................................75

Creating a consolidation candidates report...............................................................................76Creating a cost allocation report................................................................................................76Creating a peak summary report...............................................................................................76Creating a population report.....................................................................................................77Creating a trend report...............................................................................................................77Creating a power report.............................................................................................................78

Setting utilization limits........................................................................................................................78Setting global utilization limits.......................................................................................................79

Adding a utilization limit...........................................................................................................79Removing a utilization limit......................................................................................................79

Setting workload utilization limits..................................................................................................80Adding a utilization limit...........................................................................................................80Enabling or disabling the limit...................................................................................................80Removing a utilization limit......................................................................................................80

Setting scenario-wide utilization limits...........................................................................................80Adding a utilization limit...........................................................................................................80Enabling or disabling the limit...................................................................................................81Removing a utilization limit......................................................................................................81

Setting scenario workload utilization limits....................................................................................81Adding a utilization limit...........................................................................................................81Enabling or disabling the limit...................................................................................................81

Removing a utilization limit......................................................................................................82Forecasting utilization..........................................................................................................................82Defining forecast models.................................................................................................................82

Accessing the Global Forecast Model........................................................................................82Defining the Global Forecast Model.....................................................................................83

Accessing the forecast model for a workload or system............ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........83Defining the forecast model for a workload or system............ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ....84

Accessing the forecast model for a scenario..............................................................................84Accessing the forecast model for a workload within a scenario............ ........ ........ ........ ........ ....85Defining a forecast model..........................................................................................................85Disabling a forecast model.........................................................................................................85Enabling a forecast model..........................................................................................................85

Generating forecasts........................................................................................................................85

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Viewing forecast data in a profile viewer..................................................................................86Viewing forecast data in a utilization report.............................................................................86

Working with scenarios........................................................................................................................86Creating a planning scenario...........................................................................................................86Editing a scenario............................................................................................................................88Controlling the data display............................................................................................................88

Change the meter style selection................................................................................................88Change the data collection period by setting the data range......... ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ....88

Change the meter representation...............................................................................................90Copying a scenario..........................................................................................................................90Renaming a scenario........................................................................................................................90Undo/edit/review applied what-if actions in a scenario........... ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ......91

To view applied what-if actions.................................................................................................91To edit applied what-if actions...................................................................................................91

Modifying resource utilization values..................................................................................92Deleting a scenario..........................................................................................................................92

Working with systems..........................................................................................................................93Creating a system............................................................................................................................93Adding an existing system..............................................................................................................94Editing a system..............................................................................................................................94Changing VMs to be servers............................................................................................................94

Change VMs to server................................................................................................................95Changing servers to be VMs (manually).........................................................................................95

Change servers to be VMs..........................................................................................................95Assigning VM hosts to a VMware DRS cluster in a scenario........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ..96

Initially converting VM hosts to simulate a VMware DRS cluster............... ........ ........ ........ .....96Adding VM hosts to a converted cluster...................................................................................97Removing a VM host from a VMware DRS cluster...................................................................97Removing a VMware DRS cluster from a scenario............ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........97

Moving a virtual machine...............................................................................................................98Removing a system..........................................................................................................................99

Editing network and disk I/O capacity...........................................................................................99Getting there...............................................................................................................................99Setting the upper bound values.................................................................................................99

Working with workloads....................................................................................................................100Introduction...................................................................................................................................100Creating a workload......................................................................................................................100Editing a workload........................................................................................................................101Moving a workload........................................................................................................................102

Move considerations.................................................................................................................102Parking a workload........................................................................................................................104Deleting a workload......................................................................................................................104

Working with power...........................................................................................................................104Calibrating power within Virtualization Manager........... ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ .....105Calibrating a single system......................................................................................................105Calibrating multiple systems at once.......................................................................................107

Calibrating power within a scenario.............................................................................................107Getting there.............................................................................................................................108Calibrating a single system......................................................................................................108Calibrating multiple systems at once.......................................................................................109

Automating time-consuming simulations..........................................................................................109Automated solution finding: System consolidation to VMs......... ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........109

Begin with a scenario................................................................................................................110Choose the systems to consolidate...........................................................................................110

Step 1 of 3: Define the destination system(s) and attributes........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ....110

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Step 2 of 3: Set level of effort for Smart Solver calculation........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ .......111Step 3 of 3: View Smart Solver solutions..................................................................................111

Results: Automated consolidation to VMs.........................................................................112Automated solution finding: Load balance of servers or VM hosts .... ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ .113

Begin with a scenario................................................................................................................113Choose the VM hosts or servers to load-balance.....................................................................113Step 1 of 3: Define the solution constraints..............................................................................114Step 2 of 3: Set level of effort for Smart Solver calculation........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ .......114

Step 3 of 3: View Smart Solver solutions..................................................................................114Results: Automated load balancing of servers or VM hosts.......... ........ ........ ........ ........ .....114Automated solution finding: Workload stacking............... ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ...115

Begin with a scenario................................................................................................................116Choose the workloads to stack.................................................................................................116Step 1 of 3: Stack the specified workloads onto servers............. ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ......116Step 2 of 3: Set level of effort for Smart Solver calculation........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ .......117Step 3 of 3: View Smart Solver solutions..................................................................................117

Results: Automated workload stacking..............................................................................117Getting more detail........................................................................................................................118

6 Using Capacity Advisor with HP Serviceguard......................................................119Using Serviceguard to migrate HP Integrity VM guests.............. ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ ......119Data collection in a Serviceguard environment..................................................................................120

7 Support and other resources....................................................................................121Contacting HP.....................................................................................................................................121New and changed information in this edition....................................................................................121

New and changed information in Edition 1..................................................................................121Related information............................................................................................................................121

Related technical papers................................................................................................................122

A Calculation assistance..............................................................................................123Cost calculation...................................................................................................................................123

Cost per kilowatt-hour...................................................................................................................123Cooling calculation.............................................................................................................................123

Cooling multiplier.........................................................................................................................123Adjusting for platform changes..........................................................................................................123

Memory multiplier........................................................................................................................124Adjusting for change in a workload...................................................................................................124

CPU workload multiplier..............................................................................................................124Memory workload multiplier........................................................................................................125

Network I/O workload multiplier.................................................................................................125Disk I/O workload multiplier........................................................................................................125Determining estimated utilization assumptions for a workload......... ........ ........ ........ ........ ........ .125

Adjusting for virtualization changes..................................................................................................127CPU Virtualization Overhead %....................................................................................................127

CPU Virtualization Overhead %..............................................................................................128Hypervisor memory overhead......................................................................................................128

Hypervisor memory overhead.................................................................................................128Doing the math for hypervisor memory overhead..................................................................128

HP Virtual Machine............................................................................................................128VMware ESX 3.....................................................................................................................128VMware vSphere (ESX 4)....................................................................................................129Microsoft Hyper-V..............................................................................................................129

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Power calibration calculations............................................................................................................129Determining idle/max values for non-Blade servers ....................................................................129Determining idle/max values for Blade servers............................................................................130

P-class HP Blades and HP Blade system sizer:........................................................................130C-class HP Blades and HP Blade system sizer:........................................................................131

B Command reference..................................................................................................133

capagentlesscfg (1M)...........................................................................................................................134capcollect (1M)....................................................................................................................................136capcustombenchmark(1M).................................................................................................................139capcustombenchmark (4)....................................................................................................................141capovpaextract (1M)............................................................................................................................142capprofile (1M)....................................................................................................................................144capprofile (4).......................................................................................................................................148cappmpextract ....................................................................................................................................151

C Units and terminology...............................................................................................153

D Snapshots of Capacity Advisor reports...................................................................157Consolidation candidate report..........................................................................................................157Scenario comparison report................................................................................................................157

E Graphed data in Capacity Advisor reports............................................................161

F Example of the Undo/Edit/View Applied What-If Actions screen.......................163

G Troubleshooting in Capacity Advisor ....................................................................165When there is no connection...............................................................................................................165Data is not being collected..................................................................................................................166Data may appear to be old when it is not...........................................................................................167Data seems to be incorrect or lost.......................................................................................................168Data cannot be imported.....................................................................................................................170Out-of-memory errors in the Java heap..............................................................................................170When working with reports................................................................................................................171When working in the scenario editor..................................................................................................171When working with power.................................................................................................................172Workload and system relationships may not match when comparing Capacity Advisor andVirtualization Manager information...................................................................................................173

Miscellaneous user interface issues....................................................................................................173

H Capacity Advisor messages.....................................................................................175Command error messages..................................................................................................................175Command warning messages.............................................................................................................176HP Smart Solver error messages.........................................................................................................180

When available systems lack sufficient capacity...........................................................................180When the threshold for invalid data is exceeded..........................................................................181

HP Smart Solver informational messages...........................................................................................182

Glossary.........................................................................................................................1838 Table of Contents


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Index...............................................................................................................................191

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1 IntroductionThis document describes how to use Capacity Advisor to plan for changes in resource usage ina virtualized server environment. Checklists and examples help you with common planningtasks. This document is for technical professionals working in data center operations,administration, and planning. Some understanding of system administration is assumed.

HP Insight Capacity Advisor software is a program that allows you to monitor and evaluatesystem and workload utilization of CPU cores, memory, network and disk I/O, and power. Withthis information, you can load your systems to make best use of the available resources.

You can monitor and evaluate one or more systems that are connected in a cluster configurationor to a network. A single system can include multi-core or hyper-threaded processors.

Capacity Advisor helps you evaluate system consolidations, load balancing, changing systemattributes, and varying workloads to decide how to move workloads to improve utilization. Thequantitative results from Capacity Advisor can aid the planner in estimating future systemworkloads and in planning for changes to system configurations. With Capacity Advisor, youcan perform the following tasks within an easy-to-navigate, clearly notated graphical userinterface:

Collect utilization data on CPU cores, memory, network and disk I/O, and power. View historical resource utilization for whole-OS and monitored workloads on HP-UX and

OpenVMS systems andwhole-OS workloadresource utilization on MicrosoftWindows andLinux systems.

View historical workloadresource utilization andaggregate utilization acrossthe partitioningcontinuum (see the HP Insight Software 6.2 Support Matrix for a complete list of supportedplatforms).

Generate resource utilization reports.

Plan workload or system changes, and assess impact on resource utilization.

Assess resource utilization impact for proposed changes in workload location or size.

Evaluate trends for forecasting resource needs.

Capacity Advisor canbe used to simulate changes in system configuration,such as the following:

Consolidating several systems into one system

Re-sizing a system for an upgrade

Re-sizing the demands on a system to reflect a forecast

Replacing older, small to mid-sized systems with virtual machines

Capacity Advisor can use data collected over time to show the results of these configurationchanges in many ways. Graphical views are available so you can see what the effects of thechanges are over time. Tables are available that give the percentage of time and the degree towhich the system is busy; this information is valuable in comparing resource utilization andquality of service before and after a change. Other tables show how many minutes per month the

system is unacceptably busya measure valuable for both quality of service and for estimatingTiCAP bills. Because Capacity Advisor works from data traces collected over time, it is muchmore accurate than using only peak data or average data in understanding your systems and theworkloads they support.

The significant advantage in using Capacity Advisor, rather than ad hoc processes or guesswork,is that it provides a quantitativebasis for examining the usage of current resources. Additionally,it provides the capability to try simulations (what-if scenarios) for moving workloads or otherresources before you actually implement a move.

Capacity Advisor incorporates numerical values of several components in its analysis andmodeling, including:

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Number of CPU cores

CPU benchmark data

Memory size

Network I/O bandwidth

Disk I/O bandwidth

Power usage

Platform multiplier for memory (see Adjusting for platform changes (page 123))

Virtualization adjustments (see Adjusting for virtualization changes (page 127))

Setup considerationsTo prepare to use Capacity Advisor, consider the following:

Licensing requirements

Installation

Upgrade and reinstallation

Credentials

Dependencies

Licensing requirementsCapacity Advisoris installed when HP Insight Dynamics suite is installed.Forspecific informationabout trial and LTU (License To Use) licensing onsupported platforms, see the HP Insight Dynamics6.2 Getting Started Guide at http://www.hp.com/go/insightdynamics/docs . For added informationon using the HP Insight Capacity Advisor Consolidation software license, see Data collectionand the HP Insight Capacity Advisor Consolidation software (page 63). Capacity Advisor andCapacity Advisor Consolidation Software licenses cannot be used on the same system at thesame time.

InstallationCapacity Advisoris installed withother Insight Dynamics components, so no separateinstallationis required. (See the Insight Dynamics installation guide at http://www.hp.com/go/insightdynamics/docs appropriate for your operating system.) To use Capacity Advisor, youmust have a valid license.

Collection methodsOn installation of HP Insight Dynamics suite, the Insight managed system setup wizardautomatically configures the mechanism used to collect data from managed servers based onthe type of operating system that the managed system is running. (See Supported collectionconfigurations (page 17).)

Some problems with data collection can be diagnosed with vseassist. See the HP Insight

Dynamics 6.2 Getting Started Guide for additional information.

Disk space requirementsPlan to allot the following amounts of memory for each workload to collect and preserve amaximum of four years of data for use by Capacity Advisor:

On a Microsoft Windows CMS: Allot 64.5 MB for each workload oneach Windows or Linuxmanaged node to support agentless data collection. Allot 34.7 MB for each workload oneach HP-UX managed node.

On an HP-UX CMS: Allot 93.1 MB for each workload on each Integrity Linux managednode to support agentless data collection. Allot 34.7 MB for each workload on each Integrity

Windows or HP-UX managed node.

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For additional information on disk space requirements, see the Insight Dynamics installationguide appropriate for your operating system at http://www.hp.com/go/insightdynamics/docs .

CredentialsTo use Capacity Advisor, to collect data, and to run reports, you must have credentials (a validuser name and password) and appropriate toolbox authorization on systems where you plan touse Capacity Advisor. For specifics about setting up user authorizations, see the HP InsightDynamics 6.2 Getting Started Guide at http://www.hp.com/go/insightdynamics/docs.

DependenciesData collection requires that credentials for each managed server be configured in HP SIM.

WBEM/WMI credentials must be configured for all Windows servers, HP-UX servers, andHP Integrity VMs. For agentless data collection on Windows systems, the WBEM/WMIcredentials must be set to Administrator level. WBEM certificate authentication is supportedfor HP-UX servers.

SSH credentials (user-based, host-based key, or by certificate) must be configured for allLinux servers. Linux agentless data collection does not require root-level access. HP SIMPrivilege elevation is supported on HP-UX and Linux servers using a single user account

with sudo or powerbroker with no password required. The Windows or Linux managed node must be configured for agentless data collection by

runningtheInsight managed system setup wizard, or by running Collect Capacity AdvisorData... (capcollect) on the managed server. Administrator or root level permission onthe CMS is required to configure agentless collection on the CMS.

HP Insight Control virtual machine management (VMM) is required to collect data fromProLiant/x86-based hypervisors and their VMs. Hyper-VVMs alsorequire that WBEM/WMIcredentials be configured for Windows VMs and SSH for Linux VMs.

Upgrades and reinstallationWhen upgrading or reinstalling software used with Capacity Advisor, there are differentconsiderations and procedures to follow specific to the operating systems underlying the CMSor running on the managed node. Refer to the appropriate installation guide for instructions.Install guides can be downloaded from http://www.hp.com/go/insightdynamics/docs.

Upgrading agents on HP-UX or OpenVMS managed systems

NOTE: This section does not apply to Microsoft Windows or to Linux systems, for which datais collected by leveraging native instrumentation (agentless data collection).

When upgrading the Utilization Provider to the latest version on a managed node, any datacollected since the last capcollect command execution is lost. To minimize data loss, run the

capcollect command on the CMS to collect from the managed node just before upgrading.

Navigating within HP SIM, Virtualization Manager, and Capacity AdvisorAvoid using your browser Back and Forward buttons (except when navigating in the onlinehelp). When you use these buttons, the user interface cannot tell that you have changed to adifferent view. This can cause problems, including incorrectly displaying which objects areselectedin thecurrent view, losing informationinput into screenfields, and cancelling operations.Instead, use the navigation links, buttons, and tabs provided by the user interfaces within the

browser screen area.

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2 FeaturesCapacity Advisor lets you test configuration changes before actually making them in your datacenter, and helps you to manage existing resources to improve their utilization. For example,Capacity Advisor assists you in answering questions such as the following:

Is there room on this system to support additional work?

Will this workload fit on this system?

Can these servers be consolidated as virtual machines on a single server?

What might my resource demand be in six months or a year?

What are the estimated power costs for cooling a real or simulated system configuration?

What does a comparison of several what-if scenariosrevealabout theanalyzed alternatives?

What is the historic behavior of a system or workload?

Capacity Advisor can display data about the following system resources:

CPU cores (number) and speed

Memory

Network I/O bandwidth

Disk I/O bandwidth Power usage

Capacity Advisor enables you to collect resource data and create visualization graphs with thefollowing views:

Historical utilization and trends

Data peaks

Peak durations

Forecasts

with the following utilization limits:

amount of acceptable resource usage

sustained time percentage of time

Capacity Advisor enables you to create scenarios for what-if planning and forecasting,performing tasks such as the following:

For systems in scenarios:

Create systems based on existing systems or with characteristics that you define

Remove systems

Edit system attributes

Turn systems into virtual machines

Move virtual machines

For workloads in scenarios: Create workloads based on existing workloads or with characteristics that you define

Collect utilization data for workloads

Import existing workload profiles

Edit workload demands

Move workloads between systems

Park workloads

Delete workloads

For scenarios themselves:

View and undo/redo scenario changes

Use the HP Smart Solver technology to perform:

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Automated server consolidation to virtual machines

Automated load balancing of existing VM hosts or existing servers

Automated workload stacking (consolidation)

Create scenario comparison reports

Data collectionData collection is at the heart of Capacity Advisor and a task is created during configuration to

automatically collect utilization data from all resources licensed for Insight Dynamics anddiscovered by HP Systems Insight Manager software (HP SIM). (See First data collection (orthe automated nightly collection) (page 58).)

HP recommends that once you have become familiar with using Capacity Advisor, you shouldreview this scheduled task to understand what it is doing and make sure that it fits your needs.This automated data collection task gathers historical data from all your systems so that the datais available when you need it for analysis.

Data collection infrastructureIn the data collection infrastructure, each component plays a role,as shown in Figure2-1Capacity

Advisor Data Collection Infrastructure. It all begins with data collection.Figure 2-1 Capacity Advisor Data Collection Infrastructure

11 Scenario data is storedautomatically for

6 The Data Collector gathersdata from the agentless

1 The Agentless DataCollector Services run onthe CMS and collect data continued use in the

Scenario Editor.data files, the UtilizationProviders running on thefromMicrosoft Windowsmanaged nodes, andfrom VMM.

and Linux managedsystems.

12 Use the Scenario Editor tomanipulate the collecteddata associated withworkloads and systems.

72 You can import data (HPOVPA and HP PMP) into

Agentless data collected bythe Agentless DataCollector Service is made the historical database for

analysis.

13 Use a Profile Viewer to

examine a graphical

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display of the utilizationof a specific resource for a

available to the CapacityAdvisor Data Collector.

8 Automatic data conversionoccurs when importing

specific workload orsystem.

data into the InsightDynamics database.

3 The Utilization Providerenables the operation ofthe Capacity AdvisorData Collector.

149 Use the Report Generator tocreate reports forunderstandingutilization.

Historical data is stored foruse in Capacity Advisor.

104 The Utilization Calculatoruses historical utilization

HP Insight Controlvirtual machine 15 Use the web browser to

work with Capacitydata and scales, sums, ormanagement (virtual Advisor and exploit itsfeatures.

converts it toapproximate actual or

machine management) datais made available to the

hypothetical systemutilization.

Capacity Advisor DataCollector.

5 Characteristics ofmanaged systems arestored in the InsightDynamics database andused when collectingutilization Data.

Collecting data for a workload with a HP Serviceguard packageYou can associate a monitored workload with a Serviceguard package. This associationallowsVirtualization Manager to show workloads moving from one system to another withinminutes of a Serviceguard migration. It also allows Capacity Advisor to show an uninterruptedhistory of utilization data for a workload across migrations.

Associating monitored workloads and Serviceguard packages requires that Serviceguard andthe corresponding version of the Utilization Provider have been installed on all member systemsof the Serviceguard cluster. For specific version information, see the HP Insight Software 6.2Support Matrix.

Supported collection configurationsTable 2-1 Collection methods by operating system on CMS and managed node types1

Collector for HP-UX CMSCollector for Microsoft Windows CMSManaged node software and/orOS

not supportedVMMVMM host or guest

not supportedVMM and agentless methodVMM Hyper-V VM

HP VM Provider and UtilizationProviderHP VM Provider and agentless methodMicrosoft Windows on HPIntegrity Virtual Machine (HPVM)

HP VM Provider and agentless methodHP VM Provider and agentless methodLinux on HP VM

HP VM Provider and UtilizationProviderHP VMProvider and UtilizationProviderHP-UX on HP VM

Utilization ProviderUtilization ProviderOpenVMS on HP VM

Utilization Provider (Integrity only)agentless methodstandalone Windows

agentless methodagentless methodstandalone Linux

Utilization ProviderUtilization Providerstandalone HP-UX

Utilization ProviderUtilization Providerstandalone OpenVMS

Data collection 17
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1 Data is obtained from some managed system types using more than one collector. This is done where the data from

both collectors provide a broader or more accurate view than can be obtained from using only one collector on that

managed systemtype.For example, where both nativelycollected data (agentless) anddata from theIntegrity Virtual

Machines Provider are used, the HP VM agent provides info about the VM that allows Capacity Advisor to obtain

more accurate CPU data for the VM, and the agentless method provides metrics other than CPU utilization.

NOTE: The supported collection configurations for a managed node are normally set up bytheInsight managed system setup wizard. If thecapcollect command is run beforethewizard

is run on a managed node, and agentless data collection is supported for the managed node, thenode will be configured for agentless collection at that time. Because no agentless data is yetavailable, however, the message:

Error: At the time data collection was run, system "system-name" was not

configured for agentless data collection. It has been configured and data

collection will begin shortly. No utilization data is available now.

Try collecting again in 5 minutes.

will appear in thecommand output. Subsequent collections will retrieve collecteddata beginningat the time the capcollect command was run on the managed node.

Comparison of agentless and UP data collectionTable 2-2 (page 18) compares the operational characteristics of agentless data collection and thatof the Utilization Provider (UP) when used to collect data from systems licensed for CapacityAdvisor.

Agentless Data Collection. This methodleverages nativedata collectionalready occurringon the managed server(s).

WBEM Utilization Provider. This method uses an agent to gather the data and provide itto the CMS.

Table 2-2 A comparison of agentless data collection and use of Utilization WBEM Provider

Utilization Provider (UP)Agentless data collectionEqually useful in data quality and accuracy.

Available for HP-UX and OpenVMS systemsAvailable for Microsoft Windows, Linux, and non-HPsystems

Provides the basic set of resource utilization metrics forCPU, memory, network I/O, and disk I/O.

Provides the basic set of utilization metrics for CPU,memory, network I/O, and disk I/O, plus additionalmetrics for reporting specific activities in the operatingsystem, disk, and network: CPU queue length, pagefaults/second, diskI/Os persecond, LANpackets/second,number of disks, disk space total, disk space used.

Requires hosting and updating the UP agentLeveragesexisting data on thesystem;no additionalagent

hosting or update required

Not susceptible to downtime in the network or the CMS.Collected data is held for a maximum of 30 days by theUP for transfer to the database on the CMS

Susceptible to network or CMS downtime as data iscontinuously collected by the CMS across the networkfrom each managed system

Slightadditional load on CMSCPU or memoryresourcesincurred once per day

Small additional load on the CMS CPU and memoryresources incurred by the ongoing operation of theagentless data collection service

Slightadditional load on managed systemresources, dueto local queries from the UP agent every 5 minutes, andstorage/retrieval of historical metrics on the local filesystem

Slight additional load on managed system resources dueto remote queries from the collector every 5 minutes

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Table 2-2 A comparison of agentless data collection and use of Utilization WBEM Provider(continued)

Utilization Provider (UP)Agentless data collection

Slight additional load on network incurred once per daySmall additional load on the network incurred by theongoing operation of the agentless datacollectionservice

Data collection starts within 24 hours of configuring thesystem using Insight managed system setup wizard.However, if the UP is already running on the managedsystem, the data collected may cover an interval as longas 30 days previous to configuration in Insight Dynamics.

Data collection starts within a fewminutesof configuringthe system using Insight managed system setup wizard

HP PMP data differs from Utilization Provider dataDifferences in data imported from HP Performance Management Pack (HP PMP) affect how youshould interpret resultinganalysis andscenariosas compared to data collected from theUtilizationProvider.

Differences in memory data

Capacity Advisor normally measures memory collected from the Utilization Provider, whichreturns the sum of memory allocated to the processes on the system.

HP PMP collection provides the total memory less the zeroed, free, and standby memory.

This means that HP PMP counts memory used by the operating system, whereas the UtilizationProvider does not. The memory use reported by HP PMP is about 20% higher than memory usereported by the Utilization Provider.

Because CapacityAdvisor assumesa differentmemoryamount than HP PMPprovides,CapacityAdvisor may overestimate the memory needed when using HP PMP data to analyze stackingseveral application instances in a system running a single instance of an operating system.

While either the Utilization Provider data or the HP PMP data can be used to plan memory sizein a new configuration, you should not use a mix of HP PMP and Utilization Provider data whenlooking for a trend in memory utilization.

Differences in network data

HP PMP does not report the correct network I/O when network interface cards (NICs) are beingteamed for network fault tolerance (for example, by using HP Network Config utility).

That is, for a system with 2 NICs teamed as one single logical NIC, Utilization Provider reportsthe addition of TX and RX Mbps for the teamed NIC .

HP PMP adds the metrics from the 2 NICs, ignoring that they are working as a teamed NIC.

For a teamed configuration, the HP PMP network utilization curve will be always twice that ofthe Utilization Provider data.

If you know you have teamed NICs, or if you suspect your imported network data is twice as

high as it should be, you will want to instruct Capacity Advisor to ignore the imported data.When logged in as a user authorized to use the Capacity Advisor toolbox on the CMS, you will

be able to mark data as invalid. You can do this from a profile viewer, or by using thecapprofile(1M) command.

Related topics

Data handling for virtual machines (page 23)Using the Profile Viewer (page 67)Command reference (page 133)

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ExperimentationYou can better understand Capacity Advisor by experimenting considering differentconfigurations and workload placement trying them out in what-if scenarios. A scenarioidentifies the workload demand profile that creates your experimental simulations.

When you do workload analysis in CapacityAdvisor, you view graphs andreports that representCPU or memory utilization by time. For example, Figure 2-2 shows a graph of CPU utilizationfor a single system over a one-month period.

Figure 2-2 CPU utilization for managed system puny03v8

1 Peak (highest) value.

Similarly, Figure 2-3 shows CPU utilization for a second system over the same period.

Figure 2-3 CPU utilization for managed system puny03v7

1 Peak value.

Comparing these two graphs shows that workload peaks on the two systems do not occursimultaneously, nordo they require thesame percentage of the allocated CPUcores forprocessing.This suggests an opportunity to consider whether you can consolidate both systems together tosatisfy the needs of the workloads, while reducing the number of CPU cores (originally eachsystem is allocated 2 cores, for a total of 4 cores available to do work).

Figure 2-4 shows the result of using a Capacity Advisor what-if scenario to combine theworkloads onto one system.

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Figure 2-4 Combined what-if CPU utilization forpuny03v8 and puny03v7

1 Peak value.

From the graph, it is evident that the peak of the combined workloads is under 2 CPU cores.Even with utilization limits in place, this system is unlikely to need 4 CPU cores to meet this

workload demand.

Sizing for service level objectivesAs part of planning configuration changes, you can also consider your service level objectivesor quality of service goals.

The following utilization graph shows only one month of data; longer periods of data providean increasingly accurate picture of resource usage.

Figure 2-5 CPU utilization with selected percentiles of utilization

In this example, an allocation of three CPU cores is assumed, rather than the four cores initiallyavailable in this exercise. Even this reduction may not provide the best fit, as the vast majorityof the work (90%) is completed with less than .5 of one core, and 99% of the work is completedwith one core.

For example, as shown in Figure 2-5 (page 21), CPU utilization has one peak at 1.7 CPU cores,with many lower peaks. If you configure your system to always meet the demand of this single1.7-CPU peak, and you do not adjust the CPU allocation, a significant fraction of the CPUallocation in this example would go unused most of the time. Depending on your quality ofservice goals,you may decide that a differentconfiguration canbetter use the resources available.

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Further experimentation in Capacity Advisor with resource allocations, consolidations, andutilization limits will help you arrive at the best fit for these workloads.

With Capacity Advisor's visualization and reporting tools, you can make a considered estimateof server resource utilization using different scenarios and easily refine allocations by tweakingvalues in the scenarios. Such estimates can help you minimize overspending for capacity youuse rarely, and maximizeutilization of your systemsto ensure that your systems have the capacityneeded at the level you require.

Modeling considerationsCapacity Advisor methodology makes certain assumptions in its data analysis.These assumptionsinclude using an automatically determined CPU performance index, with normalization basedon benchmark data or benchmark data in combination with CPU clock speed in special cases.

Memory is not normalized. Scale factors can be set on the Capacity Advisor Edit Workload andMove Workload screens. SeeAdjusting for platform changes (page 123) for more information.

On the Edit Scenario screen, you can select either the System or Workload tab to manipulatethe planning scenario and specify which metric representation to view: average, 90th percentile, peakor max 15-min (maximum 15-minute sustained). The Meter Style can be absolute numbers or inpercentages. By changing the metrics to view, you can explore multiple options for system and

workload deployment. See Controlling the data display (page 88) for more information.

Capacity Advisor commandsIn addition to tasks that you can perform from the Capacity Advisor graphical user interface,Capacity Advisor provides several commands that can be run from the command line on anHP-UXorMicrosoft Windows CMS.Forspecificinformation,see Command reference (page 133).

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3 Key Capacity Advisor concepts

Capacity planning goalsCapacity planners are driven by multiple, sometimes conflicting, goals:

Avoiding surprises

Planning for the future

Maintaining quality of service (see Quality of service (page 23)) Optimizing resource utilization

Meeting internal and external security requirements

Reducing costs

HP Insight Capacity Advisor software can help lessen the conflicts among goals by buttressingdecisions with better information and more robust models. Effective use of Capacity Advisorcan help you to double resource utilization in many situations.

The most important step in accomplishing capacity planning goals is to clearly understand thegoals and the relationship among them. For example, optimizing response time may precludetrying to achieve the most efficient resource utilization, while optimizing resource utilization

can compromise certain types of security. It is critical to understand the requirements as well astheir priorities to provide best overall quality of service.

Quality of serviceTypical aspects of quality of service include (but are not limited to):

Availability

Accessibility

Integrity

Performance

Reliability

Regulatory requirements

Security

Quality of service is frequently defined in service level agreements between organizations.

Utilization monitor, calculator, and simulatorAt a fundamental level, HP Insight Capacity Advisor software collects data from utilizationmonitoring daemons on systems and workloads. Using this data, Capacity Advisor can reporton utilization of memory, core processing units, I/O bandwidth, and power. It can calculate whatresource utilization would look like if the load were increased or decreased. Further, it cansimulate what resourceutilization might look like if loads arecombined.This goes beyond simpleaddition of maximum loads to provide a dynamic addition of components based on the time

sequence of utilization measurements taken from the actual loads running on real systems (seePeaks and sums (page 25)).

Data handling for virtual machinesData collected by Capacity Advisor for use in a profile viewer and historical utilization reportscan vary from data reportedby tools that run inside a virtual machine. These tools include HP-UXand Linux commands such as top, ps, and sar, and on Microsoft Windows, the task manageror perfmon.

This data can vary in a couple of ways. For example:

Capacity Advisor usually reports CPU utilization that is greater than what is reported bythe VM guest. The operating system inside a virtual machine only knows about the CPU

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time used by threads that simulate the virtual processors. However, there are also threadsthat simulate the I/O cards and disks in the virtual system. Capacity Advisor collects dataon all of these threads, which can cause the Capacity Advisor data for a specific virtualmachines CPU utilization to be greater than the number of virtual CPU cores (vCPUs)associated with the virtual machine. Under certain load conditions, this can result in CPUutilization of more than 100% being reported for a virtual machine.

Capacity Advisor data for VM host CPU utilization can be lower than what the guestoperating system reports, especially during periods of high utilization. Capacity Advisor

records physical CPU utilization, which is the utilization of the actual cores on the VM host;that is, the total utilization reported by Capacity Advisor is based on the CPU time that theVM host allotted to each virtual machine. In contrast, the guest OS records virtual CPUutilization, which includes time when the VM wants to run, but is suspended while anotherVM is using the resources on the VM host.

Because Capacity Advisor corrects for these effects, the collected data has much less noise init, and better reflects the CPU time that was actually used by any one VM.

Data normalizationCapacity Advisor makes certain assumptions in its data analysis. These assumptions includeautomatically adjusting for CPU platform differences based on a performance index. (The

performance index is constructed by normalizing collected data to selected benchmarks for thesource and destination systems).

If desired, you can add your own benchmark values to the database for use in calculating theperformance index for workload moves among systems with the same or different architectures.(See capcustombenchmark in the Appendix B (page 133) for more information.

Memory, network IO, and disk IO usage are not normalized.

NOTE:Using benchmarks fordata normalization was introduced into the 6.0 release. This changeaffectsworkloads defined with static profiles in previous releases because they use clock speed todetermine performance. Such workloads that are still used for planning should be redefined oredited in Capacity Advisor 6.x to improve the accuracy of the performance measure.

Resources for which Capacity Advisor collects dataHP Insight Capacity Advisor software collects and analyzes data for utilization of the followingresources:

CPU cores

Memory

Network I/O

Disk I/O

Power

Upper boundsUpper bounds represent the maximum capacity of a resource for a given system. The maximumcapacity is used in CapacityAdvisor for items such as the network and disk I/Outilization graphsof systems, the graphs and values shown in a profile viewer, and the Capacity Advisor SmartSolver calculations.

CPU capacity The maximum CPU capacity of a system is the product of the number of CPUcores and the clock speed of the system.

Memory The maximum capacity of memory is the amount of memory on the system.



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Network I/O The maximum capacity for network I/O defaults to the high-water mark (that is,the maximum observed or collected value) for network I/O. However, to set the upper boundto a value you choose, select ConfigureEdit Network and Disk I/O Capacity... from theVisualization tab in Virtualization Manager.

Disk I/O The maximum capacity for disk I/O defaults to the high-water mark (that is, themaximum observed or collected value) for disk I/O. However, to set the upper bound to a valueyou choose, select ConfigureEdit Network and Disk I/O Capacity... from the Visualizationtab in Virtualization Manager.

Power Expected maximum and minimum power values for systems and workloads arecomputed using the CPU and power utilization data collected from HP Insight Control powermanagement (IPM). However, these values can also be set manually from the VirtualizationManager menu bar (select ConfigureCalibrate Power (All Selected Systems)...) for specifiedsystems; or from the Capacity Advisor Edit Scenario: System tab menu bar (selectEditCalibrate Power (All Selected Systems)...) for a specific scenario.

Measuring and analyzing resource utilizationIn using Capacity Advisor, it is helpful to understand how the tool approaches sampling anddata analysis, and the user-provided information that affects these.

Peaks and sumsMeasuring utilization of computing resources is more complex than simply determining themaximum memory or processor utilization.

Sum of peaks An old standby in capacity planning is to simply take the peak of the two loadsand use that to determine the maximum required capacity; this is the sum of peaks. While thiswill definitely provide a robust solution, it does not take into account the timing of the peak ofthe loads and may end up planning for more capacity than is actually used.

Peak of sums A more efficientplanningsolution, which is easily accomplished usingHP InsightCapacity Advisor software, takes into account the timing of the maximum utilization peaks in

the individual loads. By adding together utilization at each measured interval and then takingthe maximum of the resulting time sequence, a more accurate measure of the required maximumresource can be determined. This can lead to cost savings when planning the resources requiredto consolidate loads onto new or existing servers.

Sampling intervalWhere used, the Utilization Provider runs on each monitored system to collect information onresource utilization. At the CPU-clock cycle level, a processor is either busy or idle. For CapacityAdvisor, the average utilization for each 5-minute (300 seconds) interval is stored. Therefore,peaks lasting less than 5 minutes are not visible.

Because each data point is the average of the five preceding minutes of values, this averaging

tends to flatten the graphs, particularly when compared with real-time graphs in which eachdata point is the average of values from the 15 preceding seconds.

For data collected using an agentless solution, collection intervals can vary depending on valuesthat you set and the number of machines in the collection.

HeadroomHeadroom is the difference between the observed utilization on a system and the maximumavailable capacity. That is, the headroom of a system is the amount of additional capacity thatcan be used without violating the utilization limits of the applications running on that system.For example, if you have a system with 4 cores where you never want utilization to exceed 75%,and peak utilization is 1.75 cores, then headroom is 1.25 cores.

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Optimum headroom varies depending on size of system. While a single processor system mightrequire 50% headroom to preserve reasonable response times, a 16-way system might havereasonable response times when loaded at 80%.

Adequateheadroom canalso depend heavily on thecharacteristics of the loads; highly interactivesystems requiremuch more headroom than those that can tolerate delays in response time; batchsystems may get by with very little headroom at all.

Headroom star rating

Various reports and results show headroom star rating. Use the following chart to understandthe headroom rating system.

MeaningStar image

Not only do all resources fit, but double the resource usage for any single workload could fit.

All resources fit, and at least 75% headroom for any single workload is available.



This star arrangement (1 green star) means that all resources fit in the system, but no or littleheadroom is available.

One or more resources do not fit in the system; the utilization limits are violated.

Data is not available for this system.

where

resources can be CPU cores, memory, network I/O, and disk I/O. In the case of a virtualmachine, the number of CPU cores considered are those assigned to the VM, not the totalnumber of cores on the VM host. The VM host clock speed, network capacity, and diskcapacity are all inherited by the VM guest when it is moved onto the VM Host.

fit means the utilization limits (see Utilization limits (page 27)) are met

headroom means room for growth

Interpreting the headroom star rating

Headroom star ratings for a host are a weighted average of all of the star ratings of the workloadson that host. The weighting tends to give the highest weight to the lowest rating. One low ratingcan dramatically lower the rating for the entire host.

In the case of a VM host, the star ratings account for how well the workloads fit into their virtualmachines, as well as how well the virtual machines fit on the VM host. The rating for the VMhost will be low if any of the virtual machines are too small for their workloads.

Interpreting the star rating given by the HP Smart Solver

When using the Smart Solver to find a plan to convert physical systems to virtual machines,consider the following factors that can adversely affect the Smart Solver results.

The addition of a virtualization overhead multiplier to a VM will often reduce the numberof stars for that workload by 1 or 2 stars.

The clock speed of the VM host may be slower than the original physical system. Work that

was done by 1 core at 2.6 GHz, may require 2 cores when placed on 2.1 GHz VM host.



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You can avoid having the Smart Solver produce inaccurate or useless results by re-sizing yoursystems before running the Smart Solver. If either of the above conditions exist in your situation,consider increasing the number of cores on your simulated physical systems before running theSmart Solver. (Select What-if ActionsEdit System... on the System tab on the Edit Scenarioscreen.) If you change the number of cores from 1 to 2 before consolidating, for example, theresulting virtual machines will have enough cores to cover thevirtualization overheador a slowerVM host.

Re-sizing the virtual machines after running the Smart Solver can be less effort, as you only have

to re-size the VMs that have fewer stars than your desired goal. After adding more cores to theVMs for which CPU resources are too tight, you can rerun Smart Solver to balance the load onthe VM hosts to improve the solution a bit more.

TIP: Use a Scenariocomparison report to compare the headroom stars rating for saved scenarios.

Missing or invalid dataData collected by Capacity Advisor is used in the scenarios you create and manipulate. Duringan interval when no data was collected, the data is considered missing (data may not have beencollected, for example, because a system was down during data collection). Invalidated (or

invalid) data is data that you have marked as invalid.For each metric about a system or workload, if a significant amount of data is missing or invalid,the metric is followed by asterisks with the following meaning:

[blank] : 91% to 100% of data is valid.

* : 51% to 90% of data is valid.

** : 11% to 50% of data is valid.

*** : Less than 10% of data is valid.

N/A: There is no valid data.

Thus, metrics asterisks are considered useful and reliable for analysis.

NOTE:In some situations, where time or time zones on a server are incorrect, it may appear that onlyold data is available in the data collection. For more information on this topic, see the sectionHandling Old Data in Appendix H (page 175).

The affect of invalid data on HP Smart Solver solution finding

The HP Smart Solver is set to ignore workloads having >25% invalid data; that is, the Solver willnot consider these workloads within an automated solution. This percentage can be adjusted,with a corresponding affect on theSolver's ability to include workloads in its solution calculations.For more information on what to do with workloads that violate this limit, see When thethreshold for invalid data is exceeded (page 181).

Utilization limitsThe default utilization limits used globally acrossCapacity Advisor in theabsence of user-definedlimits are the following:

CPU utilization cannot exceed 70% of the capacity for more than 15 minutes at a time.(Seventy percent is used as a default for CPU utilization as it provides acceptable performancewith a minimum of queuing in jobs.)

Memory utilization cannot exceed 100% of the capacity. Typically memory should be set ata value


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(For more information on howutilization is calculated foreach resource, seeAppendix C (page 153).)

Specifying utilization limits

There are three building blocks to specifying a utilization limit:

The limit The maximum percentage or absolute amount of a resource allowed to be usedby a workload. For example, a CPU utilization limit might be not above 90% utilization.

The resource Utilization limits are applied to specific resources: CPU cores

memory

network I/O bandwidth

disk I/O bandwidth

TIP:

You can specify more than one utilization limit for a resource Using the Utilization LimitsEditor, you can add multiple settings for a resource. For example, you can create multipledifferent utilization limits for CPU cores by varying percentage and allowed duration for

each limit. Multiple limits for CPU cores could look like this: Utilization can exceed 90 percent of assigned cores 0 percent of the time

Utilization can exceed 85 percent of assigned cores for a maximum of 5 minutes duration

Not specifying a limit allows HP Smart Solver to over-provision systems To achieve bestresults with the Smart Solver, it is better to set specific limits, rather than to depend on thedefault settings for limits to provide the best fit.

The time criteria You can specify the time portion of a utilization limit in either of twoways:

Sustained (consecutive) time limits

Percentage of time limits

Sustained time limits

A sustained limit specifies a limit where the resource cannot exceed that utilization limit for Xconsecutive minutes. For example, if X is 20, this means that the resource cannot exceed theutilization limit for 20 consecutive minutes.

Because the Capacity Advisor collects data samples every 5 minutes, the time X for the sustainedlimit must be a multiple of 5 minutes; the minimum for X is 0 minutes.

Percentage of time limits

A percentage of time limit specifies that the resource cannot exceed the limit for more than the

designated percent of time, where percent of time is related to

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