Installing T4 Version 4.0
29 June 2005
WELCOME TO T4 VERSION 4.0
Thank you for downloading the latest T4 kit
from the public web site located at:
http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/products/t4/index.html
To get maximum benefit from the T4 data you
will be able to collect with this kit, you will want to download the TLViz and
CSVPNG kits which are available from the same web site. TLViz and CSVPNG are specifically designed to
save you time when you are analyzing the CSV (Comma Separated Value) files that
the T4 collector creates.
If you have questions about T4, TLViz, CSVPNG
or other Friends of T4, or if you would like to be on the mailing list,
please send mail to T4@hp.com.
This document contains the following sections
to help you get started with T4
INSTALLING THE KIT
THE T4 V4.0 KIT
PRIVILEGES
REQUIRED FOR T4 INSTALLATION
RESET FILE
ATTRIBUTES
DEASSIGN T4$SYS
LOGICAL NAME
INSTALL THE LATEST
T4 KIT
MAKING THE T4
LOGICAL NAMES PERMANENT
CREATING A T4$DATA
STORAGE AREA
SET UP A LOCAL
BATCH QUEUE TO RUN T4
RUNNING T4
REQUIRED QUOTAS TO
RUN THE T4 COLLECTION
PRIVILEGES NEEDED
TO RUN T4 COLLECTION
DISK SPACE
ESTIMATING DISK
SPACE REQUIREMENTS
RUNNING A T4 V4.0
TRIAL SESSION
LAUNCHING T4 IN
LONG TERM HISTORY MODE
TYPES OF FILE
CREATED IN T4$DATA
TERMS & CONDITIONS FOR USE OF T4 V4.0
INSTALLING THE KIT
THE T4 V4.0 KIT
Your zipped up T4 kit includes the following
files:
1) HP-VMS-T4-V0400--1.PCSI$COMPRESSED;1 - The T4 V4.0 PCSI Kit
2) How-to-install-T4.PDF The PDF version
of this document
3) How-to-install-T4.TXT The text file
version of this document.
PRIVILEGES
REQUIRED FOR T4 INSTALLATION
You will need the
SYSNAM privilege to establish the logical names required to successfully
install T4 and make it ready to run.
RESET FILE
ATTRIBUTES
Once you have moved this PCSI kit to your
OpenVMS system, you may need to RESET the FILE ATTRIBUTES. These can sometimes be altered in transit
depending on how the transfer was accomplished.
If necessary, the appropriate reset can be accomplished with the
following command:
$ set file/att=(rfm:fix,lrl:512) HP-VMS-T4-V0400--1.pcsi$compressed
DEASSIGN T4$SYS
LOGICAL NAME
If you are already running T4 V3.3 or T4
V3.4, be sure you DEASSIGN your current T4$SYS system wide logical name before
installing the new kit.
$ DEASSIGN T4$SYS /SYS
INSTALL THE LATEST
T4 KIT
You can now install the latest T4 v4.0 kit using:
$ PRODUCT
INSTALL T4
This installs the kit to: SYS$SYSDEVICE:[VMS$COMMON.T4$SYS]
To install to a different directory use the
/DESTINATION option
$ PRODUCT INSTALL T4/DESTINATION=disk$somewhere:[dir.tree]
If you install the T4 kit to a disk drive that
is common to an OpenVMS cluster, then all the nodes on that cluster will be
able to launch T4 sessions from that common location.
Once you have installed the T4 V4.0 kit, you
will find many more files of additional reference material.
MAKING THE T4
LOGICAL NAMES PERMANENT
This is a very important step that helps make
sure you get full use out of T4 on your systems. By making key T4 related logical names
permanent, you enable interrupted T4 sessions to restart following a system
reboot and make sure that you dont miss any vital data.
Define the T4$SYS logical and make it
permanent by adding the definition to the system startup SYLOGICALS.COM command
procedure. For example, try the
following command.
$ DEFINE
/SYSTEM /EXEC T4$SYS SYS$SYSDEVICE:[VMS$COMMON.T4$SYS]
CREATING A T4$DATA
STORAGE AREA
When you run T4 collections you will need a
convenient and suitably sized disk location to store the T4 generated
performance data. Set up your data disk in
advance and point to it with the T4$DATA logical name. Its equally important to make this logical
name permanent by adding the definition to the system startup code
SYLOGICALS.COM command procedure which allows T4 sessions to resume following system
reboots.
$ DEFINE
/SYSTEM /EXEC T4$DATA Your_Data_Disk:[000000.T4$DATA]
You can establish a separate T4$DATA area for
each OpenVMS system or you can set up a single T4$DATA disk that is available
to all nodes on your OpenVMS cluster.
WARNING: Do not use your
system disk for T4$DATA.
SET UP A LOCAL
BATCH QUEUE TO RUN T4
For each OpenVMS node that you will want to
monitor with T4, you will need to use a local
batch queue to run the T4 jobs on that node. This can be an existing queue (assuming it
has available job slots) or you can set up a special T4 batch queue for that
node as shown below.
First, start the queue manager if not already
started
$
start/queue/manager/new
Create and start up a new batch queue
$ init/que/start/batch
T4$batch /job=10
$ sho queue/batch/full
Batch queue T4$BATCH, idle, on NODEX::
/BASE_PRIORITY=4 /JOB_LIMIT=10 /OWNER=[SYSTEM]
/PROTECTION=(S:M,O:D,G:R,W:S)
You will need one batch queue and one T4
collection session for each OpenVMS node you are interested in. As noted above, all the collected and
processed data from these sessions will be saved to the T4$DATA directory.
RUNNING T4
REQUIRED QUOTAS TO
RUN T4 COLLECTION
The User Account (e.g. T4_USER) that you plan
to use to run T4 will require the following QUOTAS.
PRCLM must be at least 20.
TQELM must be at least 100.
PGFLQUOTA must be at least 500000.
$ mc authorize
UAF> mod T4_USER
/prclm=20/tqelm=100/pgflquota=500000
UAF> exit
PRIVILEGES NEEDED TO
RUN T4 COLLECTION
For the user who will
be launching T4 history creation sessions, the ALTPRI privilege is needed so
that the OpenVMS Monitor Utility can run at the recommended process priority of
15.
DISK SPACE
ESTIMATING DISK
SPACE REQUIREMENTS
For your most
important and performance sensitive systems, we suggest that you launch T4 in
long term history mode by answering yes when asked to the question:
Re-Submit data collection job
daily [N] : Y
This way it will
build up a detailed performance history for you day by day.
The actual size you
will need for your T4 history area depends on several key factors:
* the number of nodes under
measurement,
* the number of hours of measurement
each day,
* the number of devices to be
measured
* the number of processes on each
system,
* the sampling rate (default = 60
seconds)
* the OpenVMS version
To gauge the amount
of disk space that you will require, we suggest you start with at least 500,000
blocks. Run a trial session (see quick
instructions below) of 1 to 2 hours and determine how much disk space is needed
for that run.
Then adjust the size
of the T4$DATA storage area as necessary to meet your needs.
WARNING: Do not use your
system disk for T4$DATA
T4 includes some
rudimentary capabilities for assisting you in the management of your T4$DATA performance
history area. Since the data that T4
helps you collect may prove invaluable to you in the future, you will want to
think through and apply your standard local site policies for backing up,
archiving, and preserving this potentially priceless historical system
information.
RUNNING A T4 V4.0 TRIAL SESSION
Once you have
installed T4, set up your T4 user account with the appropriate privileges and
process limits, established a T4 Batch queue on each node you will be
monitoring, and created a T4$DATA area, you are now ready to launch your first
T4 V4.0 collection session.
We suggest you run a
trial session to help calculate the disk space that you will require to run T4
in its recommended long term history mode (see the OpenVMS Technical Journal
Article at http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/journal/v3/t4.pdf
for a full
explanation of the benefits of long term performance histories
To help estimate the
amount of disk space you will require, run the following command and respond to
the questions you are asked following the guidelines shown below in answering
the questions poses to you.
$ @T4$SYS:T4$CONFIG.COM
Start Time pick a time that is 5 minutes in the future as this will give you
enough time to work your way through all the questions. That way the T4 collection session will be
launched prior to the time you specify and you can make sure that you get a
full hour of data..
End Time pick a time that will give you a total run time of one hour.
Batch queue remember to use your T4$BATCH queue that is local to the node you
are measuring
Network Interface Device Enter ? to get a list of all available
network interface devices. Then,
highlight that list, and paste it in as the answer to the question. This will cause T4 to monitor each and every
one of your Network adapters.
Sampling Interval use the default 60 seconds
Data Directory use T4$DATA
Automatically manage T4 data storage answer YES to this question and then use
the default values. This will give you a
preview of the rudimentary file storage management capabilities that are part
of T4 V4.0.
Re-submit data collection
job daily answer NO to this question as you are using
this run to help you determine storage needs before launching T4 in long term
history collection mode.
Email Address if you can send email from the VMS node
being measured, fill this in so it sends email notifying you that the data has
all been collected and processed.
Once the run is
complete, check the sizes of the files created in the T4$DATA directory to
discover the approximate storage costs per hour for this OpenVMS node. See
the sections below describing the types of files created during a T4 session
and the suggested retention periods of each type of data.
LAUNCHING T4 IN
LONG TERM HISTORY MODE
Having established a
reasonable size for your T4$DATA area by following the steps outlined above,
you are now ready to launch T4 in long term history mode. Long term history mode for T4 is explicitly
designed to help you maximize the benefits that T4 can provide. At the same time it helps to minimize how
much time you will have to spend and keep that down to an absolute bare minimum.
Here are some
recommendations for parameter values to use in response to the questions
triggered by running the following command
$ @T4$SYS:T4$CONFIG.COM
Start Time use the default which will be tomorrow at one minute after midnight.
End Time use the default which will be tomorrow at 23:59. These settings for Start Time and End Time
mean that you will have round the clock performance data for the systems that
are most vital to you.
Batch queue remember to use your T4$BATCH queue that you created and that is
local to the node you are measuring.
Network Interface Device type in the names of the devices that are
a regular part of your production environment.
You can Enter ? to get a list of all available network interface
devices. If you want to measure all of
them, you can highlight that list, and paste it in as the answer to this
question.
Sampling Interval use the default 60 seconds. This has proved to be an excellent default compromise
value for long term history creation.
Data Directory use T4$DATA
Automatically manage T4 data storage answer YES to this question.
Number
of days to retain raw data we recommend setting this as long as possible
with a minimum value of 45 days. We
suggest that you consider archiving this data and retaining it for at least 18
months if you are unable to keep it all on-line.
Number
of days to retain intermediate data use the default of 3 days.
Number of days to retain
reduced files we strongly
recommend you use as large a value as possible with a minimum of 500 days. These reduced files are the T4 style CSV
files that contain your complete performance history, minute by minute, day by
day, for the most important performance metrics on your system. They are the prime reason for running T4 in
long term history mode. We strongly
recommend that old data of this type be archived for at least 3 years.
Re-submit data collection
job daily answer YES to this question. When you do this, each time T4 runs, the
first thing it will do is submit a new batch job for the following day. If you have established T4$DATA and T4$SYS as
system wide logical names in your SYLOGICALS.COM file, then this single launch
operation will create a full long term history for this node.
Email Address using this or not using this feature is your
call.
Your T4 collections
will start tomorrow at one minute after midnight and continue collecting and
saving vital performance data for you until the batch jobs are deleted.
Welcome to the world
of T4. We look forward to hearing of
your experiences in using these handy tools.
TYPES OF FILE
CREATED IN T4$DATA
T4 produces a
composite CSV file daily for each node being monitored. The names of these files are of the form:
T4_<nodename>_<Collection_Date>_<start_time>_<end_time>_COMP.CSV
For example, a one
hour run on node PRFE40 might look like:
T4_PRFE40_28JUN2005_1400_1500_COMP.CSV
These *COMP.CSV
files are normally the first thing that we look at.
The output of a T4
collection session includes
CSV files
ZIP files
LOG files
DAT files (for OpenVMS MONITOR and
for T4FCMON)
The key CSV files
are:
*COMP.CSV
*DISK.CSV
*SCS.CSV
*T4FCMON.CSV
The remaining CSV
files are what we refer to as intermediate files and they can be deleted after
a few days.
We recommend that
you retain all the CSV files or their zip files equivalent for at least eighteen
months. We recommend retaining the
MONITOR.DAT files for at least 45 days.
Even beyond eighteen
months, if you find you must remove the
older CSV files, we suggest you send these to a permanent archival storage
location that you can access as needed.
You'll never know when you will have a need to search back 2 or 3 years
to compare what is happening right now to how things used to be. You will only be able to do this if you
carefully guard all of these invaluable performance timeline files.
TERMS
& CONDITIONS FOR USING T4 V4.0
T4 V4.0 is provided to you, subject to the
following terms and conditions. Any
comments or questions regarding T4 V4.0 or its terms and conditions can be
directed to T4@hp.com.
(a) T4 V4.0 is supplied 'as is.' without
warranties, either expressed or implied.
(c) T4 V4.0 is not a Commercial
'Off-The-Shelf' software product.
(d) T4 V4.0 is neither freeware nor
shareware, and cannot be freely distributed other than by Hewlett-Packard
Company, subsidiaries, successors and assignees.
(e) T4 V4.0 remains the sole intellectual
property of Hewlett-Packard Company, subsidiaries, successors and assignees.
(f) T4 V4.0 may not be redistributed or
supplied to any third party, either for commercial gain or otherwise without
the prior written consent of Hewlett-Packard Company.
(g) T4 V4.0 is deemed to be supported *only*
by consulting services purchased directly from Hewlett-Packard Company,
subsidiaries, successors and assignees, specific for this purpose and by prior
agreement.
(h) The recipient must not request any kind
of support from any other Hewlett-Packard Company entity, such as any
WHERE TO GET MORE INFORMATION
If you have questions, suggestions, comments,
or if you want to be on the T4 & Friends mailing list then please send mail
to T4@hp.com.