HP StorageWorks SAN Virtualization Services Platform administrator guide (5697-0204, January 2010)

4 Monitoring the SVSP domain
This chapter describes how to set up monitoring for an SVSP domain using administrative tools.
Array workload concentration
SVSP relies on the back-end arrays to handle the I/O workload. The volume management capabilities
permit focusing the workload of multiple front-end virtual disks onto one back-end virtual disk. The
DPMs can unintentionally concentrate front-end I/O workload from multiple front-end hosts and
front-end paths down a single back-end path. Careful design and monitoring are required to ensure
that the arrays are not running too close to saturation. Following the storage pool configuration best
practices (see “Building basic storage pools” on page 114) is the first step in avoiding array workload
concentration resulting in array saturation. Monitoring the array performance is the second step.
When an array is found to be operating too close to saturation (as defined by the array manufacturer),
SVSP data migration can be used to migrate virtual disks off of the overloaded array and onto an
array with spare capacity and performance. Array-based tools, like EVAperf for the EVA, should be
used to monitor the load on back-end physical LUs. Unless specifically conducting stress testing, storage
should not be run “in the Red-Zone” and should be 80% or less loaded during normal testing. If
maintaining performance is critical during a component failure, this number may be closer to 40%.
Monitoring system performance
There are several ways to monitor SVSP performance:
• Monitor the system with the VSM GUI on a regular basis.
• Monitor the application server-to-array throughput using the Fibre Channel switch vendor perform-
ance tools.
• Monitor the internal VSM data moving performance using a tool for collecting performance data
like Microsoft's Perfmon, which is described below.
• Monitor performance at the array using array-supplied tools.
• Monitor cross sectional bandwidth. This is the sum of the bandwidth of all links between the servers
and the DPMs, or the DPMs and the arrays.
System health monitoring
To help make sure that the VSM and the DPM system has maximum system uptime, it is important to
monitor the system health on ongoing basis using these tools:
• VSM graphical user interface
• VSM event log
• Alerts
• DPM SNMP traps
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