Extracting and viewing performance data with the IBM Storage Tier Advisor Tool

You can use the IBM Storage Tier Advisor Tool, hereafter referred to as advisor tool, to view performance data that is collected by Easy Tier ® over a 24-hour operational cycle. The advisor tool is the application that creates a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) file that you use to view the data when you point your browser to the file.

To download the Storage Tier Advisor Tool, click Downloads at this website:

http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/products/servers/lenovo-storage

To extract the summary performance data, follow these steps using the command-line interface (CLI):

  1. Find the most recent dpa_heat.node_name.date.time.data file in the clustered system by entering the following command-line interface (CLI) command: 
    lsdumps node_id | node_name
    where node_id | node_name is the node ID or name to list the available dumps for.
  2. If necessary, copy the most recent summary performance data file to the current configuration node.
    Enter the following command:
    cpdumps -prefix /dumps/dpa_heat.node_name.date.time.data node_id | node_name
  3. Use PuTTY scp (pscp) to copy the summary performance data in a binary format from the configuration node to a local directory.
  4. From a MicrosoftWindows command prompt, use the advisor tool to analyze the binary file (the results are stored in HTML files put into a local directory).
  5. Point your browser to the HTML file in your local directory.
The advisor tool displays the below statistical reports:
System summary report
  • The number of volumes that are monitored
  • The estimated total hot data capacity
  • An estimated time the migration process will take to move hot data to the flash drives
  • A summary recommendation for flash drive capacity and estimated performance improvement
  • The number of storage pools that are monitored
  • The number of volumes that are monitored
  • The toal capacity that are monitored
  • The estimated total hot data capacity
  • List of storage pools that are monitored, including pool ID, capacity, tier configuration, tier status and data management status.
System recommendation report
  • A sorted list of suggested flash MDisks to add to the storage pools (sorted by estimated performance improvement)
  • For each suggested MDisk: the target storage pool and estimated performance improvement
  • A sorted list of suggested flash MDisks to add to the storage pools( sorted by estimated performance improvement )
  • A sorted list of suggested Enterprise MDisks to add to the storage pools( sorted by estimated IOPS improvement )
  • A sorted list of suggested Nearline MDisks to add to the storage pools( sorted by estimated Bandwidth improvement )
  • For each suggested MDisk: the estimated improvement
Storage pool recommendation report
  • List of storage pools that were monitored by the Easy Tier function.
  • For each storage pool: a sorted list of suggested flash MDisks to add to that storage pool (sorted by estimated performance improvement)
  • For each suggested MDisk: the estimated performance improvement
  • For each storage pool: list MDisk's current IOPS utilization and projected IOPS utilization
  • For each storage pool: show the workload distribution on each tier.
  • For each storage pool: A list of suggested flash MDisks to add to the storage pools
  • For each storage pool: A list of suggested Enterprise MDisks to add to the storage pools
  • For each storage pool: A list of suggested Nearline MDisks to add to the storage pools
  • For each suggested MDisk: the estimated improvement
Volume heat distribution report
  • The distribution of hot data and cold data for each volume copy
  • The configured capacity of a volume copy, along with the volume ID, copy ID, and the storage pool ID
  • The portion of the capacity of each volume copy already on flash drive
  • The distribution of hot data and cold data for each volume copy
  • The configured capacity of a volume copy, along with the volume ID, copy ID
  • The percentage of each volume copy's IO workload within the storage pool
  • The capacity of each volume copy already on each tier
You can view this information to analyze workload statistics and evaluate which logical volumes might be candidates for Easy Tier management. If you have not enabled the Easy Tier function, you can use the usage statistics gathered by the monitoring process to help you determine whether to use Easy Tier to enable potential performance improvements in your storage environment.
Parent topic: Easy Tier function