Hosts page in the AIX PowerVM view

The Hosts page in the AIX PowerVM view provides an overview of all available hosts in the AIX virtualization environment belonging to a selected domain, including details about CPU, pool and memory utilization, memory usage trends, unused resources and more. It also displays data collected from HMC-only terminals and supports LPAR instrumented with Capacity Agent data collection.

Scenario

Teresa is an AIX Technology Specialist in an IT organization. She manages and monitors the AIX infrastructure to make sure that there are sufficient resources (CPU, memory, and storage) to meet the current and future capacity requirements.

Teressa wants to add new partitions to the existing infrastructure. She would like to get the following information:

Know the residual capacity of the hosts to be able to determine which host can accommodate them.
Check the health of the hosts in the AIX infrastructure to make sure the resources are efficiently utilized by the partitions.

Alan, an administrator, installs the AIX views and provides the required permissions to Teresa to access the view. With AIX views, Teresa can quickly get the information that she wants. She can use the Hosts page in the AIX PowerVM view to get an overview of all the available hosts in the AIX virtualization environment. To know the residual capacity of the hosts, she can review the metrics in the Allocated Capacity page. This page provides the unassigned cores and memory information for a host.

By reviewing and analyzing the metrics related to unused resources and trend of resource utilization on the Used Capacity page, Teressa can evaluate the health of the hosts in the infrastructure.

To access the page, select Views > Virtualization > AIX Views > PowerVM.

The page shows the following details:

Related topics

Virtualization-views

Out-of-the-box-capacity-views

Filtering-data-displayed-in-Views

Allocated capacity

The Allocated Capacity table lists all metrics that are available through HMC-only and fully instrumented collection modes. By default, some columns are hidden. You can show or hide columns using the action menuthat is located next to the Allocated Capacity table title. For more information, see Managing-charts-and-tables-in-Views.

Each row corresponds to a PowerVM Frame and shows the following information:

Column	Description	Statistical Type	Metrics
Host	Name of the host.	Last value	NAME
CPU Cores	The total number of physical CPU cores in the frame.	Last value	(1) CPU_NUM_HMC (2) CPU_NUM
Unassigned Cores	Number of cores that are not assigned to any PowerVM Partition on the host.	Last value	CPU_CORES_UNASSIGNED
CPU Configured for Partitions [Cores]	Number of cores assigned to all PowerVM partitions on the host.	Last value	CPU_NUM - CPU_CORES_UNASSIGNED
CPU Allocated [cores]	The amount of CPU that is allocated to the partitions by the hypervisor, expressed in cores.	95th percentile	(1) CPU_ALLOC_CORE_FRACTION_HMC(2) CPU_ALLOC_CORE_FRACTION
CPU Allocated [%]	The percentage of CPU that is allocated to the partitions by the hypervisor.	95th percentile	(1) CPU_UTIL_HMC (2) CPU_ALLOC_CORE_FRACTION_HMC/CPU_NUM_HMC (3) CPU_ALLOC_CORE_FRACTION/CPU_NUM
CPU Allocated Trend [cores]	Daily growth rate of CPU Allocated of the AIX frame, measured in cores/day.	Trend	Trend value computed based on CPU_UTIL_HMC
Pool - Entitlement Configured	The sum of entitlement configured for the partitions that belong to the frame.	Last value	(1) CPU_ENTC_HMC (2) CPU_ENTC
Pool - Entitlement Allocated Util [%]	The CPU utilization of the pool normalized by its total entitlement. The total entitlement of the pool is the sum of the entitlement of the SPLPARs in the pool.	Computed metric - based on 95th Percentile	(1) CPU_ALLOC_CORE_FRACTION_HMC/CPU_ENTC_HMC (2) CPU_ALLOC_CORE_FRACTION/CPU_ENTC
Total Memory [GB]	Total physical memory available for the host.	Last value	TOTAL_REAL_MEM
Unassigned Memory [GB]	Memory that is not assigned to any PowerVM partition on the host.	Last value	MEM_UNASSIGNED
Firmware Memory [GB]	Memory consumed to manage PowerVM virtualization by host.	Last value	MEM_OVERHEAD
Memory Configured for Instrumented Partitions [GB]	Memory configured for all instrumented PowerVM partitions on the host.	Last value	SUM (TOTAL_REAL_MEM of partitions with LPAR_INSTRUMENTED = true)
Configured Partitions	Number of partitions that are configured on the PowerVM host, both ACTIVE and IN_ACTIVE.	Last value	GM_NUM
Instrumented Partitions	Number of partitions on which Agents are installed for a PowerVM host.	Last value	Count of partitions with LPAR_INSTRUMENTED = true
Memory Configured for Partitions	Memory configured for all the partitions in the frame	Last value	TOTAL_REAL_MEM - (MEM_UNASSIGNED + MEM_OVERHEAD)
HMC Access	This metric indicates, with a True or False value, if HMC access is available for at least one partition in the PowerVM frame. HMC access is required for collecting certain key configuration metrics. If you cannot view certain metrics, check if HMC access is enabled.	Last value	HMC_CONNECTION

Used capacity

The Used Capacity table lists all PowerVM hosts in the selected domain. By default, some columns are hidden. You can show or hide columns using the action menuthat is located next to the Allocated Capacity table title. For more information, see Managing-charts-and-tables-in-Views.

Each row corresponds to a PowerVM host and shows the following information.

Important

Metrics marked with ➕️ are displayed only in the LPAR instrumented mode. They are not displayed when HMC Only is enabled. You can configure this option from the Settings page.

Column	Description	Statistical Type	Metrics
Host	Name of the host. An alias for the frame, which is available only if HMC access is available for at least one of the partitions in the frame. If HMC access is not available, Host Hrw ID is displayed here.	Last value	ALIAS_NAME
Host Hrw ID	Hardware ID of the host. This ID is unique for each host.	Last value	NAME
CPU [CORES]	Number of CPU cores in the host.	Last value	CPU_NUM
Unused Cores	Number of unused CPU cores.	Computed metric - based on 95th Percentile	CPU_NUM - CPU_UTIL * CPU_NUM
CPU Util [%]	Percentage of CPU used by the host.	95th Percentile	CPU_UTIL
CPU Trend [%]	The growth rate of the CPU Utilization of the frame.	Trend	Trend based on CPU_UTIL
Pool - Entitlement Configured	Sum of entitlement configured for the partitions in the pool	Last value	CPU_ENTC
Pool - Entitlement Utilization [%]	The CPU utilization of the pool normalized by the total entitlement of the pool. The total entitlement of the pool is the sum of the entitlement of the SPLPARs in the pool.	Computed metric - based on 95th Percentile	(CPU_ENTC_CONS / CPU_ENTC) * 100.0
Pool - Unused Entitlement	Unused pool entitlement expressed in processor units.	Computed metric - based on 95th Percentile	CPU_ENTC - CPU_ENTC_CONS
Memory [GB]	Total physical memory available for the host. This metric is reported only when one of the instrumented partitions has HMC access.	Last value	TOTAL_REAL_MEM
➕️Unused Memory [GB]	Unused memory available to the host.	Computed metric - based on 95th Percentile	TOTAL_REAL_MEM - MEM_CONSUMED
➕️Memory Utilization [%]	Percentage of memory used by the host normalized by the total memory of the host.	95th Percentile	MEM_UTIL
➕️Memory Used Daily Trend [GB]	The growth rate of the memory utilization of the frame.	Trend	Trend based on MEM_CONSUMED
➕️Network Rate [Mbit/s]	Network received/transmitted rate, measured in megabits per second, aggregated from the partitions in the frame.	95th Percentile	NET_BIT_RATE
➕️I/O Rate [MB/s]	Disk input/output rate, measured in megabytes per second, aggregated from the partitions in the frame.	95th Percentile	DISK_TRANSFER_RATE
Total Spec Rating	The total SPEC benchmark performance rating of the host, based on the CPU model and number of CPU cores.	Last value	BYBENCHMARK_VALUE[2006]
Unused Spec Rating	Unused SPEC rating of the host, based on CPU utilization and the total SPEC rating.	Computed metric - based on 95th Percentile	Computed using CPU_UTIL and BYBENCHMARK_VALUE[2006]
Configured Partitions	Number of configured partitions in the PowerVM host.	Last value	GM_NUM
Instrumented Partitions	Number of partitions on which agents are installed for a PowerVM host.	Last value	Count of partitions with LPAR_INSTRUMENTED = true

Detailed information about a PowerVM host

Click the name of a PowerVM host in the PowerVM Hosts Used and Available Capacity view table. The following host details are displayed on the Host Details page:

General details: General host details, such as name, type, description and number of elements within it are displayed at the top of the page.

Tags panel: Displays tags, if any, that are associated with the cluster. For more information, see Filtering-data-displayed-in-Views.
Related Information: The Related Information panel at the top of the page contains the following links:
- Partition Details: Clicking Partition details takes you to the Partitions-page-in-the-AIX-PowerVM-view tab, and displays relevant information on PowerVM Partitions configured on each PowerVM host.
- Pool Details: The Pool details page displays information about all configured Pools in the selected host. See Pools-page-in-the-AIX-PowerVM-view for more information.
- Thresholds: The thresholds page allows you to view and manage threshold settings for the selected AIX logical partition host. See Configuring-and-managing-thresholds-for-metrics-and-indicators for detailed information.

Summary information: The Summary tab, that is displayed by default, displays details for the selected cluster in a horizontal summary table, as well as charts.
For more information, see Data Explorer views for PowerVM Hosts.
Configuration Details: The Configuration Details tab displays the configuration metrics for the cluster.

Disk Controllers in VIO servers

NPIV is a Fibre Channel SAN feature from POWER6, VIOS 2.1 FP 20.1. It allows VMs to access SAN devices using N-Port ID Virtualization, where each LPAR gets its own world-wide port name (WWPN).

NPIV is configured on partition controllers of VIO Servers (VIOS), and WWPNs are assigned to client LPARs, but the physical I/O still passes through VIOS. NPIV assists you with configuring LUN mapping for arrays, and zoning to each LPAR.

Through NPIV, BMC Helix Continuous Optimization counts I/O more accurately for LPARs and VIOSs.

A VIOS is equipped to virtualize disks, Logical Volumes, and files, and each of these is presented as a SCSI disk to the client partition. BMC Helix Continuous Optimization reports reports I/O numbers for each of the following entities:

Instrumented partition (for example, Client Partition A)
Instrumented VIO Server
Virtual or physical adapter

For NPIV storage configurations, VIOS presents a VFC Server Adapter, which is a Fibre Channel pass-through.

The Client partition has a VFC Client Adapter and sees the LUN directly. This enables BMC Helix Continuous Optimization to gather and show the FC adapter configuration and I/O metrics for each instrumented partition, including the VIOS.

Click the WWPN link to view the details page that displays detailed charts for NPIV. These charts are useful to monitor I/O traffic of fibre channel adapters in the VIOS. The Disk Controller in VIO Servers table provides the following information.

Important

The table is displayed only when a VIO Server is configured with Fiber Channel adapters (NPIV).

Column	Description	Statistical Type	Metrics
World Wide Port Number	A World Wide Name (WWN) is a unique identifier used in storage technologies like Fiber Channel or Serial Attached SCSI (SAS). Used on storage area networks, it performs a function equivalent to the MAC address in Ethernet protocol.	Last value
Partition	Name of the partition on which the disk controller resides	Last value	NAME
Interface Name	The name of the interface or the host bus adapter.	Last value	BYHBA_INTERFACE_NAME
Port Type	The type of the interface, such as, f-port (fabric), n-port (node), nl-port (node loop), and so on.	Last value	BYHBA_TYPE
Port Speed Supported [GBits/s]	The highest supported port speed, measured in Gigabits per second	Last value	BYHBA_BANDWIDTH_RUNNING
Port Speed Running [GBits/s]	The current running port speed, measured in Gigabits per second	Last value	BYHBA_BANDWIDTH_SUPPORTED

Shared Ethernet Adapters in VIO servers

Shared Ethernet Adapters (SEA) enable LPARs to connect to external physical Ethernet switches using broadcast and multicast protocols like ARP, DHCP, BOOTP. You can also count network I/O for the virtual adapters, and Used, Available and Unbalanced I/O information is also available.

The Shared Ethernet Adapters in VIO Servers table displays the following information:

Column	Description	Statistical Type	Metrics
Adapter Name	Name of the SEA adapter. Clicking on the adapter name displays the Viewing the Shared Ethernet Adapter – All Layers details pagedetails page.	Last value	BYSEAIF[SUBOBJNAME]
Device Type	The SEA device type.	Last value	BYSEAIF_DEVICE_TYPE
Byte In Rate [MBytes/sec]	The number of Bytes per second received during the interval through the network adapter specified in the subobject.	#DRAFTmeet: Average	BYSEAIF_IN_BYTE_RATE
Byte Out Rate [MBytes/sec]	The number of Bytes per second sent during the interval through the network adapter specified in the subobject.	Average	BYSEAIF_OUT_BYTE_RATE
Packet In Rate [Packets/sec]	The number of successful packets per second received during the interval through the network adapter specified in the subobject.	Average	BYSEAIF_IN_PKT_RATE
Packet Out Rate [Packets/sec]	The number of successful packets per second sent during the interval through the network adapter specified in the subobject.	Average	BYSEAIF_OUT_PKT_RATE
Error In Rate [Errors/sec]	Rate of input errors (errors/sec),per second by network adapter	Average	BYSEAIF_IN_ERROR_RATE
Error Out Rate [Errors/sec]	Rate of output errors (errors/sec),per second by network adapter	Average	BYSEAIF_OUT_ERROR_RATE

Shared Ethernet Adapter – All Layers details page

SEA Adapter summary and the detailed charts on this page help to analyze the network traffic of the VIOS (all network traffic from the AIX host is routed through the VIOS) and detect potential bottlenecks that can affect the performance of all other LPARs in the frame. SEAs contain a hierarchy of adapter layers.

To view the Shared Ethernet Adapter – All Layers details page and detailed charts, click the name of the adapter in the Adapter Name column. The table displays the following information:

Column	Description	Statistical Type	Metrics
Adapter Name	Name of the SEA adapter	Last value	BYSEAIF[SUBOBJNAME]
Partition	Name of the partition the SEA adapter is configured on	Last value	NAME
Host	Name of the host the SEA belongs to	Last value	Host name retrieved using relationship VH_CONTAINS_GM
Device Role	The current role of the SEA adapter: Virtual, Real, Primary, Backup or Control Channel Adapter.	Last value	BYSEAIF_DEVICE_ROLE
Parent Name	Name of the adapter's parent SEA adapter.	Last value	BYSEAIF_PARENT_NETNM
Device Type	The SEA device type.	Last value	BYSEAIF_DEVICE_TYPE
Byte In Rate [MBytes/sec]	The number of Bytes per second received during the interval through the network adapter specified in the subobject.	Average	BYSEAIF_IN_BYTE_RATE
Byte Out Rate [MBytes/sec]	The number of Bytes per second sent during the interval through the network adapter specified in the subobject.	Average	BYSEAIF_OUT_BYTE_RATE
Packet In Rate [Packets/sec]	The number of successful packets per second received during the interval through the network adapter specified in the subobject.	Average	BYSEAIF_IN_PKT_RATE
Packet Out Rate [Packets/sec]	The number of successful packets per second sent during the interval through the network adapter specified in the subobject.	Average	BYSEAIF_OUT_PKT_RATE
Error In Rate [Errors/sec]	Rate of input errors (errors/sec),per second by network adapter	Average	BYSEAIF_IN_ERROR_RATE
Error Out Rate [Errors/sec]	Rate of output errors (errors/sec),per second by network adapter	Average	BYSEAIF_OUT_ERROR_RATE

The Shared Ethernet Adapter – All Layers details page also displays the following charts:

Byte In/Out Rate (Hourly): A chart that graphically depicts the number of Bytes per second received during the interval through the network adapter specified in the subobject.
Packet In Rate (Hourly): A chart that graphically depicts the number of successful packets per second received during the interval through the network adapter specified in the subobject.
Error In Rate (Hourly): A chart that graphically depicts the rate of input errors (errors/sec),per second by network adapter.

Hosts page in the AIX PowerVM view

Disk Controllers in VIO servers

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