Impact of BMC Server Automation use cases on database size
This topic describes some typical BMC Server Automation use cases and how they could impact the reports data warehouse size.
The BMC Decision Support for Server Automation database size requirements and reports data warehouse performance are impacted by the way that you use BMC Server Automation. Several BMC Server Automation use factors influence the database size. Some factors are domain-specific; others apply to all domains.
The following size factors apply to all product environments, regardless of the domains that you use:
The number of BMC Server Automation databases (sites) from which data is transferred to the reports data warehouse is the foremost sizing factor.
Transferring data from additional sites can result in large increase in the reports data warehouse volume. Therefore, it is important to carefully plan the number of sites included in the initial data transfer and your subsequent site additions for data transfer.
You should use the sizing tools that are provided with the product to determine database size requirements for each BMC Server Automation site and plan your database storage, memory requirements, and CPU capacity requirements. For more information, see Sizing-tools.The number of target servers for which you collect data (and subsequently transfer data to the reports data warehouse) impact your database size requirements.
The data volume resulting from a BMC Server Automation job is impacted by the number of servers for which data is collected. The volume resulting from a job run depends on the type of job. For example, Snapshot, Audit, and Compliance Jobs generate more data than other jobs.If you are collecting data for a large numbers of servers (tens of thousands), the data generated in the job runs and then transferred to the reports data warehouse during each ETL run can be several GB in size.
The frequency at which you run jobs impacts your database sizing requirements and performance. Try to find a balance between your reporting needs and the volume of data handled by the reports data warehouse and run jobs and transfer data only as needed. For example, if you need to generate compliance reports once a week, you might not need to run Compliance Jobs every day and doing so might be an unnecessary burden on your system.
These sizing issues are not specific to reporting domains. The following table lists some domain-specific use cases that can also influence database sizing.
Domain-specific use cases influencing database sizing
Domain | Use case |
|---|---|
Inventory, Change Tracking | Data for these domains is generated in BMC Server Automation using Snapshot Jobs. The data generated by Snapshot Jobs primarily depends on the number of template parts (or assets), such as a service, a file, or a registry entry. The first run of a Snapshot Job generates lot of data because it creates a baseline of the states of the current assets. For example, if a Snapshot Job is using a folder with 10,000 files on all servers, the baseline causes 10,000 incremental ETL runs. The initial run creates a sudden increase in data and entries per target server. The amount of data generated by a Snapshot Job using an Extended Object depends on the kind of output generated by the Network Shell script. It can be a large amount of data. Size requirement increase because this data needs postprocessing in BMC Decision Support for Server Automation for use in reports. Because postprocessing uses a lot of resources, design Extended Objects to include the minimum amount of information that is required to satisfy your reporting needs. When ETL is executed for the first time, the reports data warehouse is only populated with the latest baseline and its delta. This data restriction improves ETL performance and minimizes the use of the reports data warehouse space. |
Compliance | The amount of data generated by Compliance Jobs is directly proportional to the number of rules that are included. A Compliance Job generates the same number of rows per execution (unlike Snapshot Jobs). To control data volume, include only the rules needed for reporting purposes. |
Patch | The amount of data generated by Patch Jobs is directly proportional to the number of patches that are included. A Patch Job generates the same number of rows per execution (unlike Snapshot Jobs). To control data volume, include only the patches needed for reporting purposes. |
Job Activity (Job Run) | This domain includes a variety of event data logged in the BMC Server Automation database by the BMC Server Automation Application Server. There can be several hundred events per job run, resulting in large amounts of data volume. For this reason, the default ETL runs do not transfer this data to the reports data warehouse. If you decide to transfer this data to the reports data warehouse, ensure that it is necessary for your business reporting needs and that your system can accommodate the large sizing and processing requirements. |
Command Usage (agent log) | This domain includes data from logs files generated by BMC Server Automation agents on each managed server. In some cases, data volume can amount to several hundred GB per day. For this reason, the default ETL runs do not transfer this data to the reports data warehouse. If you decide to transfer this data to the reports data warehouse, ensure that it is necessary for your business reporting needs and that your system can accommodate the large sizing and processing requirements. |
For more information about ETL runs, see Running-ETL.