Displaying I/O Metrics from a hIOmon Manager Export File

The hIOmon WIOP and WIOPF both support the option of displaying a broad set of summary I/O operation metrics that have been saved within a hIOmon Manager Export File.  These metrics include the various hIOmon "Performance Threshold Range Metrics".  The hIOmon Manager Export File is a "Comma-Separated-Values (CSV)" or "Tab-Separated-Values (TSV)" formatted file, which can also be used as an input file for an Excel worksheet, a database, etc.

The hIOmon Disk I/O Ranger Display can retrieve the summary metrics from a selected hIOmon Manager Export File.  The metrics are then shown within the "Main Display" in accordance with the display options that have been selected within the "Settings" configuration window (see, for example, the WIOP display options).  Note that these metrics can also be optionally displayed within the hIOmon "I/O Trender Display".

Overall, the metrics retrieved from hIOmon Manager Export Files are shown by the hIOmon Disk I/O Ranger Display and the hIOmon I/O Trender Display in a manner identical to the display of real-time I/O operations metrics (e.g., the same display options for both real-time and historical I/O operation metrics).

As illustrated by the annotated screenshot below, the steps required to retrieve and display summary I/O metrics from a hIOmon Manager Export File are:

After first performing the two steps above, click on the "Browse..." button (shown within the screenshot below).  Then select the particular hIOmon Manager Export File whose I/O operation performance metrics are to be retrieved for display.

hIOmon Manager Export Files are typically located within the "Support\hIOmonGr\ExportFiles" directory where the hIOmon software was installed.  Regardless, you can also select a hIOmon Manager Export File that resides within some other folder.

As highlighted within the screenshot below, the "Retrieve metrics from file:" text box displays the hIOmon Manager Export File from which I/O operation performance metrics are to be retrieved.  This text box is automatically updated with the full file path name of the hIOmon Manager Export File chosen by means of the "Browse..." button.  Any text manually entered into this text box is ignored.

The hIOmon Disk I/O Ranger will extract the names of the monitored items from the selected hIOmon Manager Export File.  These names will be placed within the drop-down list box containing the names of the monitored items (e.g., the "Device names" in the screenshot above).

Simply select the monitored item of interest from the drop-down list box, select the particular I/O metric types to be included within the display, and then click on the "OK" button to display the retrieved summary I/O metrics associated with the selected name.

NOTE: A "List Remote" button (or "List Files" button with the "On-The-Web (OTW)" version of the hIOmon Disk I/O Ranger Display) is additionally displayed when connected to a remote computer using the hIOmon REST API.  Click on this button to display a drop-down list box that appears above upon the "Retrieve metrics from file:" line.  As indicated within this drop-down list box, select a hIOmon Manager Export File from the list. 

By default, these hIOmon Manager Export Files are present upon the remote computer within the "...\hIOmonGr\ExportFiles" folder where the hIOmon software is installed.

In addition, a "Get Coalesced" checkbox is displayed.  The drop-down list box will contain the file name (and associated file extension) of the coalesced hIOmon Manager Export Files when this checkbox is checked/enabled and the "List Remote" button is then clicked.  This list of coalesced hIOmon Manager Export Files reflects those present within the "...\hIOmonGr\ExportFiles" folder where the hIOmon software is installed.

To list the coalesced hIOmon Manager Export Files that reside within a different folder upon the remote computer, enter the full file path of the directory into the input text box located to the right of the "Get Coalesced" checkbox, then click the "List Remote" button.

The hIOmon Disk I/O Ranger Display will retrieve from the remote computer (using the hIOmon REST API) the metrics contained within the selected hIOmon Manger Export File.

As highlighted within the screenshot below, a "Coalesce" button appears within the "Settings" window when the "Retrieve from hIOmon Manager Export File" checkbox is selected.  Clicking this button will aggregate (combine) the existing hIOmon Manager Export Files.

The export files are coalesced in the following fashion:

• All currently-existing "Device Summary", "DTS Device Summary", and "Process Summary" hIOmon Manager Export Files residing within the "hIOmonGr\ExportFiles" folder (located where the hIOmon WIOP or WIOPF software was installed) are coalesced.  Note that these files are not modified.

   

• A "hIOmonWIOP\ExportFiles\Coalesced" folder (for the WIOP) or "hIOmonWIOPF\ExportFiles\Coalesced" folder (for the WIOPF) is created within the "My Documents" folder.  All of the resulting coalesced export files noted below are saved/written to this folder.  Please note that any already-existing coalesced export file within this folder will first be deleted prior to the start of the following coalescing process.

   

• A "Devices_Daily" export file is generated from the aggregation.  This file reflects the summary I/O metrics upon a daily basis for each of the individual monitored devices.

  Similarly, a "DTSdevices_Daily" export file and a "Processes_Daily" export file are generated from the aggregation based upon a daily basis.

   

• A "Devices_Totals" export file is generated from the aggregation.  This file reflects the overall total summary I/O metrics for each of the individual monitored devices.

  Similarly, a "DTSdevices_Totals" export file and a "Processes_Totals" export file are generated from the aggregation based upon an overall totals basis.

  Note that the "Processes_Totals" export file contains a row for each process instance (i.e., each separate execution of an application will result in an individual process instance). A "Processes_Totals_PIDless" export file is also generated; this export file reflects the combined total of all process instances for the same application.

   

• An informational message is shown at the bottom of the "Settings" window display to indicate the current progress in the coalescent process.  The coalescing process might take some time.  As a result, warning messages might be issued indicating that the DIOR appears stalled. To continue coalescing, respond to these warning messages by allowing the script to continue.

The resulting coalesced export files can be used as a hIOmon Manager Export File input source for metrics display by the hIOmon Disk I/O Ranger Display.

A "Remote Coalesce" button is additionally displayed when connected to a remote computer using the hIOmon REST API.  Click on this button to display a drop-down list box that appears above upon the "Retrieve metrics from file:" line.  As indicated within this drop-down list box, select a particular file from the list of "coalesce parameters files".  These files contain parameters associated with the requested operations to be performed when coalescing the specified hIOmon Manager Export Files (e.g., whether these export files should be coalesced upon a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis).  See the "hIOmonManagerExportFilesCoalesceWorkspaceParmFile" description within the hIOmon REST API documentation for specific details regarding the Coalesce Parameters File.

Selecting a Coalesce Parameters File from the drop-down list box will cause the hIOmon DIOR Display to issue a hIOmon REST API request to the associated computer to perform a coalesce operation based upon the selected Coalesce Parameters File.  Note that an "Enter Permission Code:" input text box will also be displayed if a permission code must be supplied in order to perform the remote coalesce operation.  Enter the proper permission code within this text box before selecting the particular Coalesce Parameters File.

Note that the hIOmon "Remote Coalesce" capability provides for a faster, more configurable option for coalescing hIOmon Manager Export Files.