System Statistics
- Kevin Wu
- Yong Chee Keong
constantly collects information from the different sub-systems and hosts within the system. Among other things, this information is used for load balancing. Using System Statistics, you can view, export, and import statistical information.
There are three different types of statistics: host, pico instance, and workflow.
Host Statistics
The system collects statistics from the different machines hosting a Platform or Execution Context, e.g. the load of the CPU or the number of context switches. This is called host statistics.
uses the vmstat UNIX command to collect the information. This binary must be installed to have statistics collected and to perform load-balancing work for workflows. The following list holds all values collected from each host. On newer operating systems, some of these may not be available for collection due to changes in the kernel of the operation system.
CPU User Time - This value shows how much time was spent in non-kernel specific code. This value is displayed in percentage. 100% means that all processing power is spent. See CPU System Time as well.
CPU System Time - This value shows how much time was spent in kernel-specific code, such as scheduling of different processes or network transfer. This value is displayed in percentage. 100% means that all processing power is spent.
Context Switches - The number of context switches per second. A context switch occurs when one process hands over information to another process. The more context switches, the less effective and scalable the system will be.
Swapped To Disk - The amount of data that was swapped out. A large value indicates that the system does not have enough RAM to manage the memory requirements of the different processes.
Swapped In From Disk - The amount of data that was read from swap.
Processes Waiting For Run - Shows how many processes that are waiting to run. A high number indicates that the machine is not fast enough to manage the load.
Processes Swapped Out - Processes that have persisted in swap due to insufficient available memory, or due to aggressive management of the memory layer.
Processes In Sleep - The number of processes that are presently not doing anything.
Pico Instance
Every minute, the system collects memory information from the different Java processes defining the Platform and the Execution Context. This information shows how much memory is used and how much memory that is available for the running process.
Used Memory - Shows the amount of memory currently allocated by the running process. As Java is a language utilizing garbage collection, this number may very well get close to the maximum memory limit without being a problem for the running process. However, if the amount of used memory is close to the maximum limit for a long time, the process needs more memory. This value is displayed in bytes. See the -Xmx and -Xms properties defined in the XML file defining the process.
Maximum Memory - Shows the amount of memory that the process can use. This value is displayed in bytes.
Process CPU Time - Shows the percentage of CPU time that has been used.
Open File Descriptors - This is a Unix measurement that enables you to create a statistical diagram over the number of open files during the last minute, hour, or day.
Garbage Collection Count - Shows the number of times the garbage collector has run since the last time statistics was collected.
Garbage Collection Time - Shows the amount of time the garbage collector has run since the last time statistics was collected. This value is displayed in milliseconds.
Thread Count - Shows the number of allocated threads.
Workflow Statistics
The system collects statistical data that is sampled every 5 seconds as long as a workflow is being executed. This information includes:
Throughput - Displays workflow throughput. As long as a workflow is being executed, the system continuously samples the number of processed UDRs, or raw data, per second.
Queue Throughput - Displays queue throughput per second for real-time queues. Statistics for real-time queues are only available when routing UDRs, not raw data.
Simultaneous - Displays the number of simultaneously running workflows.
Queue Size - The size of the queue space that is being used at the time of the sample for each individual queue.
uses Java Management Extensions (JMX) to monitor MIM tree attributes in running workflows. For more information, refer to 7.3 Workflow Monitoring.
Viewing the System Statistics
To open the System Statistics, click the Tools button in the upper left part of the Desktop window, and then select System Statistics from the menu.
To display statistics in System Statistics, you have to use the Search function, see the section below, Searching the System Statistics, or, for Import statistics, see the section below, Importing Statistics.
Searching the System Statistics
To search, either click the Search button to open the Search System Statistics dialog.
In the Search System Statistics dialog, search criteria may be defined in order to single out the Statistics of interest.
Search System Statistics dialog
Item | Description |
|---|---|
View Mode | Specifies the type of statistics you want to view; host, pico instance, or workflow. |
Resolution | Specifies the time resolution to be used. There are three different time resolutions on which statistics are collected. |
Criteria | The Criteria settings are used for selecting which search criteria you want the displayed statistics to meet. The following criteria are available: Host - Select this option to display the statistics originating from the host selected in the drop-down list. Pico Instance - Select this option to display the statistics originating from the pico instance selected in the drop-down list. Workflow - Select this option to display the statistics originating from the workflow selected in the drop-down list. Period - Select this option to display the statistics from the chosen time interval. Select one of the predefined time intervals; Last Hour, Today, Yesterday, This Week, Previous Week, Last 7 Days, This Month, Previous Month, or select the option User Defined and enter the start and end dates and times of your choice in the From and To fields. Note!If several criteria are enabled, an absolute match is displayed. For instance, if Host and Workflow are specified as well as Period, only the time for which there are both workflow measures and host measures is displayed. |
Options in System Statistics
When you have performed your first Search, see the section above, Searching the System Statistics, or for imported statistics, see the section below, Importing Statistics. System Statistics displays the statistical information.
System Statistics
For each type of statistics you have selected to view, you will see a Value drop-down list displaying the statistical value selected for the statistical type, and one drop-down list displaying the criteria selected. If you select another statistical value or another criteria in one of these drop-down lists, the statistical data in System Statistics is updated instantly.
For each statistics type you can see:
View | Description |
|---|---|
Host View | Each host has its statistics displayed in a separate color. If there are several matching hosts, all are displayed at the same time. |
Pico Instance View | Each pico instance has its statistics displayed in a separate color. If there are several matching pico instances, all are displayed at the same time. |
Workflow View | Each workflow has its statistics displayed in a separate color, and if you have selected to view queue statistics, each queue has its own color. If there are several matching workflows/queues, all are displayed at the same time. If you select to view Queue Throughput statistics and you have more than one route with the same name in a workflow, they are displayed separately by default, and are named in the format route name (source agent name), e.g. r_1 (collection1). If you want to group these queues together, e.g. due to legacy settings, select the Ignore Route Owner checkbox, and the source agent is no longer displayed per route. Note!When the Ignore Route Owner checkbox is selected, and there is more than one route with the same name, if the statistics are displayed in hour or day resolution, the average of all routes with the same name is shown. If the statistics are displayed on minute resolution, the statistics for one of the queues with the same name is shown, and there is no rule for which queue is shown. |
The menus in the menu list contain options for printing, exporting, importing, searching, and refreshing the statistics. Searching, printing and refreshing can also be performed by using the buttons at top of the dialog. To the right of the buttons you can see the current date. For further information about the Export and Import options, see the sections below, Exporting Statistics, and Importing Statistics.
At the bottom of the dialog, there is a scroll bar and two buttons for zooming in and out. With these, you can focus on a particular time window within the search result. The scrollbar enables you to scroll back and forth in time to see the value changes.
At the bottom right corner of the dialog, you have a drop-down list called Value. This list contains three different types of values:
Value Type | Description |
|---|---|
Minimum | Displays the lowest value that was sampled. |
Average | Displays the average value that was sampled. |
Maximum | Displays the highest value that was sampled. |
Exporting Statistics
Exporting statistics may be useful for several purposes, for example if you want to share the statistical information with someone who does not have access to your system.
To export the statistics:
In System Statistics, click Export.
The Save dialog opens.
Browse to the directory where you want to save the file. Enter a file name and click Save.
The statistical information for the selected time period is saved in *.zip format.
Importing Statistics
The Import functionality is used to import statistics that have previously been exported from a system. When using the Import functionality you do not have to perform a search in order to display the statistics.
Note!
An import of statistics does not affect the data in the database, it just displays a snapshot of the statistics at the time it was exported.
To import the statistics:
In System Statistics, click Import.
The Open dialog opens.
Browse to the directory where the *.zip file you want to import is located. Select the file and click Open.
The statistical information is now displayed in System Statistics. The same search criteria that were set in the Search System Statistics dialog when the statistics were exported is displayed.
The date information at the top of the dialog displays the time interval for the imported statistics, and the text "Imported Statistics" also appears in red beside the date information.
Disabling Collection of Statistics
You can disable the collection of statistics on the Platform by setting the following Platform properties to false in platform.conf:
mz.statistics.collect.all- All statisticsmz.statistics.collect.pico- Pico statisticsmz.statistics.collect.workflow- Workflow Statistics
The default value of the properties above is true.
When you set the property mz.statistics.collect.all to false, this overrides the settings of mz.statistics.collect.pico and mz.statistics.collect.workflow.