HP Caliper 5.3 User Guide (5900-1558, February 2011)

6 Using the HP Caliper Advisor
This chapter introduces you to the HP Caliper Advisor and provides some example programs to
show you how to get started using the Advisor from the command line. For information on how to
use the Advisor in the HP Caliper graphical user interface (GUI), see Chapter 7 (page 85).
For details about how to write rules for the Advisor, see the HP Caliper Advisor Rule Writer Guide.
What Is the HP Caliper Advisor?
The HP Caliper Advisor is a rules-based expert system designed to provide guidance about
improving the performance of an application. It does not make any performance measurements
itself. Instead, it analyzes the data collected by previous HP Caliper runs. It can answer questions
such as:
• Where do I begin to understand my program's performance?
• What does a particular metric mean?
• What is the “normal” range for a particular performance metric?
• Which measurement(s) should I make next?
• I know that a particular performance problem is happening, and what can I do to change it?
• I made a change, but did it really improve the performance of my application?
The Advisor analyzes individual executable programs. Future releases of HP Caliper are expected
to provide advice on system and shared library performance issues.
Limitations to Keep in Mind
The HP Caliper Advisor can only analyze the performance data it is given. It is possible that an
existing performance problem might be “hidden” from analysis and, therefore, not reported on.
Some of the advice given might not be applicable in your situation. The performance issue(s) found
are valid, but might be simply a characteristic of your application and not a problem.
Example of an HP Caliper Advisor Report
Example 1 shows an example of an HP Caliper Advisor report.
76 Using the HP Caliper Advisor