Defining workloads

Create workload definitions to categorize processes that run applications on your servers. You use these definitions to identify the processes that consume more resources. You can then create workloads based on these definitions and analyze them later to identify capacity-specific issues.

Before you begin

Make sure that the following tasks are complete:

Agents are installed on the servers to be analyzed.
One or more Gateway Servers are installed and configured.

For more information, see Installing-remote-components-to-collect-on-premises-data.

The following flow chart illustrates the steps for creating a workload definition.

23.2_wl_def_process.png

To create a workload definition

Log in to the BMC Helix Continuous Optimization console.
Select Administration > Workload Assurance.
Click Add Workload Definition.
To add servers to the workload for analysis, perform the following steps.
1. In the Select Gateway Server list, select a Gateway Server.
2. In the Select Servers list, select the servers that you want to add to the workload.
  Tip: Use the search filter to quickly locate the servers to be added.
3. Click Add Servers.
  A list of selected servers is displayed.
4. To add additional servers, click Add Servers and then select the servers.
5. To remove servers from selection, perform these steps:
  - To remove a single server, click corresponding to the server that you want to delete.
  - To remove multiple servers, select the servers to be removed, click Remove Selected, and then confirm the deletion.
Define an interval for data that is displayed in the analysis results. For more information, see Defining an interval for analysis.
(optional) Apply filters to customize the workload analysis results. For more information, see Defining-users-and-processes.
Specify a name and an optional description for the workload.
Click Save and Analyze.
The workload definition is saved, and the analysis task starts. After the task is completed, the Preview tab displays the analysis results. For information about these results, see Workload analysis previews.
The workload definition is added to the list of definitions on the Workload Assurance and Optimization page.
Repeat these steps till you get the right workload definition that contains all the required processes that you want to analyze.

Use the Menu option besides the workload name to rename, save, and create a copy of the workload definition.

To specify an interval for analysis

By default, the workload analysis results show data for the last 24 hours. You can change this default interval. The Interval page displays the following details of each selected server.

Column	Description
Server	The host name of a server. Expand to view the processes that are running on the server.
Start	The date and time from when the server workload is processed.
End	The date and time up to when the server workload is processed.
CPU queue length	The number of processes that can be run on the server.
CPU number	The number of CPU cores.
Duration	The difference between the start and end time.
CPU util	The measure of processor load.
In rate	The rate at which the incoming network packets are received.
Out rate	The rate at which the outgoing network packets are sent.
Mem util	The memory usage of the server.
Net rate	The amount of data that is transferred per second over the network.
Disk I/O rate	The number of input and output operations that are performed per second on the disk.

Review this information to determine the interval for the workload analysis results. For example, you can select the interval when the memory usage of any of the processes was greater than 90%.

The following video illustrates how to specify the interval:

When you run the analysis, the Preview tab shows the workload analysis results according to the specified interval.

Where to go from here

Configure an agent list to use this workload definition for creating the workload. For details, see Managing-the-Gateway-Server-agent-list.
Analyze the workload by using analysis. For details, see Creating-an-analysis.