This documentation supports releases of BMC Helix Continuous Optimization up to December 31, 2021. To view the latest version, select the version from the Product version menu.

Collecting additional metrics using the Azure Monitor agent

Microsoft Azure provides a set of guest OS metrics for Azure virtual machines. Guest OS metrics are not available by default. You can use the Azure Monitor agent to collect metrics of your guest virtual machines. The metrics are useful for investigating the capacity-related issues that might occur in your Azure environment. When you run the Microsoft Azure API ETL, these metrics are imported into Capacity Optimization.

  1. Install the Azure Monitor agent
  2. Configure and run the ETL. For more information, see Microsoft Azure - Azure API Extractor.
  3. Verify that the metrics are displayed in the Workspace.

Performance metrics for Linux virtual machines 

The following tables list the metrics that are available when the Azure Monitor agent is installed on your Linux virtual machines:

BMC Helix Continuous Optimization metric

Azure MetricFormula
CPU_UTIL_GUEST

cpu/usage_active

(cpu/usage_active)/100
CPU_UTIL_IDLE

cpu/usage_idle

(cpu/usage_idle)/100

CPU_UTIL_USER

cpu/usage_user

(cpu/usage_user)/100

CPU_UTIL_SYSTEM

cpu/usage_system

(cpu/usage_system)/100

CPU_UTIL_WAIT

cpu/usage_iowait

(cpu/usage_iowait)/100

MEM_FREE

mem/available

Not applicable
MEM_CONSUMED

mem/used

Not applicable
MEM_UTIL

mem/used_percent

(mem/used_percent)/100

MEM_PAGE_RATE

kernel_vmstat/total_pages

(kernel_vmstat/total_pages)/period

MEM_PAGE_IN_RATE

kernel_vmstat/pgpgin

(kernel_vmstat/pgpgin)/period

MEM_PAGE_OUT_RATE

kernel_vmstat/pgpgout

(kernel_vmstat/pgpgout)/period

SWAP_SPACE_FREE

swap/free

Not applicable
SWAP_SPACE_USED

swap/used

Not applicable
SWAP_SPACE_UTIL

swap/used_percent

(swap/used_percent)/100

DISK_IO_RATE_GUEST

diskio/total_transfers

(diskio/total_transfers)/period

DISK_IO_READ_RATE_GUEST

diskio/reads

(diskio/reads)/period
DISK_IO_WRITE_RATE_GUEST

diskio/writes

(diskio/writes)/period
DISK_TRANSFER_RATE_GUEST

diskio/total_bytes

(diskio/total_bytes)/period

DISK_WRITE_RATE_GUEST

diskio/write_bytes

(diskio/write_bytes)/period
NET_OUT_BYTE_RATE_GUEST

net/bytes_sent

(net/bytes_sent)/period
NET_IN_BYTE_RATE_GUEST

net/bytes_recv

(net/bytes_recv)/period
NET_BYTE_RATE_GUEST

net/bytes_total

(net/bytes_total)/period
NET_OUT_PKT_RATE

net/packets_sent

(net/packets_sent)/period

NET_IN_PKT_RATE

net/packets_recv

(net/packets_recv)/period

NET_PKT_RATE

net/packets_sent

net/packets_recv

(net/packets_recv + net/packets_sent)/period
NET_IN_ERROR_RATE

net/err_in

(net/err_in)/period
NET_OUT_ERROR_RATE

net/err_out

(net/err_out)/period
NET_ERROR_RATE

net/drop_total

(net/drop_total)/period

DISK_READ_RATE_GUEST

diskio/read_bytes

(diskio/read_bytes)/period
TOTAL_FS_UTILdisk/used_percent(disk/used_percent)/100

Performance metrics for Windows virtual machines 

The following tables list the metrics that are available when the Azure Monitor agent is installed on your Windows virtual machines:

BMC Helix Continuous Optimization metric

Azure metricFormula
CPU_UTIL_GUEST\Processor(_Total)\% Processor TimePERCENT_PROCESSOR_TIME/100
CPU_UTIL_SYSTEM\Processor(_Total)\% Privileged TimePERCENT_PRIVILEGED_TIME/100

CPU_UTIL_USER

\Processor(_Total)\% User TimePERCENT_USER_TIME/100
MEM_VIRTUAL_USED_PCT\Memory\% Committed Bytes In UsePERCENT_COMMITTED_BYTES_IN_USE/100
MEM_FREE\Memory\Available BytesNot applicable
MEM_UTIL\Memory\Available Bytes(TOTAL_REAL_MEM - AVAILABLE_BYTES)
/TOTAL_REAL_MEM
MEM_VIRTUAL_ACTIVE\Memory\Committed BytesNot applicable
MEM_VIRTUAL_TOTAL1\Memory\Commit LimitNot applicable
MEM_VIRTUAL_FREE

\Memory\Commit Limit - \Memory\Committed Bytes

COMMIT_LIMIT - COMMITTED_BYTES
MEM_CACHE_FAULTS1\Memory\Cache Faults/secNot applicable
MEM_PAGE_FAULT_RATE\Memory\Page Faults/secNot applicable
MEM_PAGE_IN_RATE1\Memory\Page Reads/secNot applicable
MEM_PAGE_RATE\Memory\Pages/secNot applicable
MEM_PAGE_OUT_RATEDerivedPAGES_PER_SEC - PAGE_READS_PER_SEC
MEM_POOL_PAGED\Memory\Pool Paged BytesNot applicable
MEM_NONPOOL_PAGED\Memory\Pool Nonpaged BytesNot applicable
MEM_TRANSITION_FAULTS1\Memory\Transition Faults/secNot applicable
DISK_IO_RATE_GUEST1\PhysicalDisk\TransfersPerSecondNot applicable
DISK_IO_READ_RATE_GUEST1\PhysicalDisk(_Total)\Disk Reads/secNot applicable
DISK_IO_WRITE_RATE_GUEST1\PhysicalDisk(_Total)\Disk Writes/secNot applicable
DISK_TRANSFER_RATE_GUEST1\PhysicalDisk(_Total)\Disk Bytes/secNot applicable
DISK_READ_RATE_GUEST1\PhysicalDisk(_Total)\Disk Read Bytes/secNot applicable
DISK_WRITE_RATE_GUEST1\PhysicalDisk(_Total)\Disk Write Bytes/secNot applicable
LDISK_FREE\LogicalDisk(_Total)\Free MegabytesFREE_MEGABYTES*1024*1024
TOTAL_LDISK_USED\LogicalDisk(_Total)\Free Megabytes((FREE_MEGABYTES*1024*1024)*100/
LDISK_PERCENT_FREE_SPACE)-
(FREE_MEGABYTES*1024*1024)
TOTAL_LDISK_UTIL\LogicalDisk(_Total)\% Free Space(100-LDISK_PERCENT_FREE_SPACE)/100

1 - To view these metrics in BMC Helix Continuous Optimization, perform the following steps:

    1. Log in to the Azure portal.
    2. In the left pane, select Monitor.
    3. In the Settings tab, click Data Collection Rule.
      A list of your data collection rules is displayed. 
    4. Select the data collection rule for which you want to get additional metrics.
    5. In the left pane of the Data Collection Rule, click Data sources.
    6. From the Data source type dropdown, select Performance counters.
    7. From Configure Performance Counters, choose the Custom option.
    8. Type the name of the performance counter, and click Add.
      Repeat this step for each performance counter and then click Save.
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