Notice

This information is extracted from /usr/lpp/perfagent/README.perfagent.tools on a system with AIX 5300-05-00.

Topas Cross-Partition View and Recording

This panel displays metrics similar to the lparstat command for all the AIX partitions it can identify as belonging to the same hardware platform. Dedicated and shared partitions are displayed in separate sections with appropriate metrics. The top section represents aggregated data from the partition set to show overall partition, memory, and processor activity.

Remote enablement for this panel to collect from other partitions requires that latest updates to the perfagent.tools and bos.perf.tools used to support this function. For earlier versions of AIX, the topas command also collects remote data from partitions that have the Performance Aide product (perfagent.server) installed. topas -C may not be able to locate partitions residing on other subnets. To circumvent this, create a $HOME/Rsi.hosts file containing the fully qualified hostnames for each partition (including domains), one host per line.

Besides the display option, the topas -R option will run topas in the background (with no display) and record the Cross-Partition data. Recordings are made to the /etc/perf/ directory, and are of the form topas_cec.YYMMDD. Recordings cover single-day periods (24 hours) and are retained for 8 days before being automatically deleted. This allows a weeks worth of data to be retained on the system at all times. The topasout command is used to covert these recordings into various text-based reports.

Customers using the topas -R function on an LPAR-capable system should identify a single partition for collecting and recording this data. The /usr/lpp/perfagent/config_topas.sh script can be used to automatically update the system /etc/inittab file to execute topas -R on startup.

The following metrics display in the initial Cross-Partition panel. Additional metrics with full descriptive labels can be displayed by using the key toggles identified in the Additional Cross-Partition Panel Subcommands section in the AIX commands manual pages:

Partition totals
   Shr        Number of shared partitions
   Ded        Number of dedicated partitions
Memory (in GB)
   Mon        Monitored partitions total memory
   Avl        Memory available to partition set
   InUse      Memory in use on monitored partitions
Processor
   Shr        Number of shared processors
   Ded        Number of dedicated processors
   PSz        Active physical CPUs in the shared processor pool
                being used by this LPAR
   APP        Available physical processors in the shared pool
   Shr_PhysB  Shared Physical Busy
   Ded_PhysB  Dedicated Physical Busy
Individual partition data
   Host       Hostname
   OS         Operating system level
   M          Mode
                     For shared partitions
                            C - SMT enabled & capped
                            c - SMT disabled & capped
                            U - SMT enabled & uncapped
                            u - SMT disabled & uncapped
                     For dedicated partitions
                            S - SMT enabled
                            ' ' (blank) - SMT disabled
   Mem        Total memory in GB.
   InU        Memory in use in GB.
   Lp         Number of logical processors
   Us         Percentage of CPU used by programs executing in user mode.
   Sy         Percentage of CPU used by programs executing in kernel mode.
   Wa         Percentage of time spent waiting for IO.
   Id         Percentage of time the CPU(s) is idle.
   PhysB      Physical Processors Busy
   Ent        Entitlement granted (shared-only)
   %Entc      Percent Entitlement consumed (shared-only)
   Vcsw       Virtual context switches average per second (shared-only)
   PhI        Phantom interrupts average per second (shared-only)


Note:  At least one partition to be monitored must have Pool Utilization Authority (PUA) configured
       for pool information metrics to be collected.

For cross-partition monitoring/recording, some global data is not available from any partition. The -o options allow users to specify those fields in the command line. Optionally, users can configure a system to allow topas to query the HMC directly for this information. This requires the following steps:

Install OpenSSH at the partition.
Enable remote command support on the HMC for user hscroot to allow ssh connections to be opened from the partition.
Configure ssh on the HMC to not require a password for the HMC user hscroot when queried from the selected partition. This requires the .ssh/authorized_keys2 on the HMC for user login hscroot.
Try "ssh -l hscroot <hmc address> date" from the partition to check whether the date is displayed without entering password.
Utilize the topas -o options described in the usage table to specify the managed system and HMC names when executing topas.

Note: This functionality is currently available only for HMC version 5 and above, and should only be enabled after careful consideration of any security implications.

For customers who have configured the topas hosting partition to query the noHMC (see above), these options are used to specify the managed system and a HMC hostname:

    -o managedsys = managed system name under which this partition is configured
                    available via:  lsrsrc -dx IBM.ManagementServer Hostname

    -o hmc = HMC name under which this partition is configured

The HMC name as a parameter is optional and can be used when the resource class IBM.ManagementServer is not configured in RMC. It is preferred that the IP address of the HMC be provided instead of the host name. The managed system name needs to be specified as a parameter for topas for the query.

If the HMC platform cannot be configured for automatic queries, then the global data fields not available to the local partition may be set via these options:

    -o availmem   = total amount of memory allocated to all partitions, in GB
    -o unavailmem = total amount of memory unallocated from the HMC, in GB
    -o availcpu   = total number of physical processors allocated for all partitions
    -o unavailcpu = total number of physical processors unallocated from the HMC
    -o poolsize   = defined Pool Size required if HMC Processor Utilization Authority restricts access   
    -o partitions = number of partitions defined on the HMC
    -o reconfig   = number of seconds between checking for HMC configuration
                    changes. Allowed values are 30, 60, 90, 120, 180, 240,
                    300 seconds. The default is 300 seconds

Topasout formatted reports

Post-process topas CEC or xmwlm local recordings to generate a text report. The -s option should be used if a standard spreadsheet type is desired, no -R argument is required. Additional options are:

For local recordings generated by xmwlm -L:

   type = detailed [prints a formatted output report similar to the topas main display]
   type = summary [prints a single-line formatted output report of the system]

For recordings generated by topas -R:

   type = detailed [prints a formatted output report similar to the topas CEC monitoring display]
   type = summary  [prints the CEC processor and memory summary report]

   -i MM [split the recording reports into equal size time periods.
          This must be a multiple of the recording interval, which by default
          is 5 minutes.  Allowed values are 5, 10, 15, 30, 60]
   -b HHMM [begin time in hours (HH) and minutes (MM).
            This must be a range between 0000 and 2400]
   -e HHMM [end time in hours (HH) and minutes (MM).
            This must be a time greater than the begin time]

If -b and -e options are not used, the daily recording will be processed from beginning to end.