This
document applies to HP Network Node Manager iSPI Performance for Metrics (iSPI
Performance for Metrics) version 9.2x Patch 2. It contains the following
information that is not provided in the product manuals or online help.
Known Problems, Limitations, and Workarounds
NPS stores,
aggregates, and provides reports for collected performance data. It is the
foundation for operational reports on NNMi. Other iSPIs rely on NPS for report presentation functionality.
The iSPI Performance for Metrics adds performance management capability to NNMi by analyzing, processing, and aggregating a range of
standard metrics collected by NNMi from different
network elements.
This release of the iSPI Performance for Metrics includes the following features:
• Interface Health Reports
• Component Health Reports
• ATM PVC Health Reports
• Frame Relay PVC Health Reports
• Path Health Reports
• Custom Polled Reports
• Self
Diagnostics Health Reports
9.2x Patch 2
The NNM iSPI
Performance for Metrics 9.2x Patch 2 provides fixes
for a set of defects that existed with the NNM iSPI Performance for Metrics
9.20 and 9.20 Patch 1. For a complete list of fixes, see the Summary section on the patch download
web site.
9.20 Patch 1
New reports:
•
Top N Frequency
Distribution: This report shows the distribution of metric values for each
collected sample during the selected time range.
•
Top N Table: Like
the Top N report, this report shows Top N network elements, but does not
include bar charts or time series graphs. If you want to view Top N elements in
the least possible time, choose the Top N Table report instead of the Top N
report.
For more
information about the new reports, see the Online Help for the NNM iSPI
Performance for Metrics.
9.20
The primary aim
of this release is to improve usability across the product. There are many
small enhancements that are not listed here individually. However, the major
areas of enhancement are as follows:
Usability
• Addition of the Performance Workbench within NNMi, a real time, operational, graphing tool embedded within the main NNMi console.
• Major changes to the NPS navigation panel and report tree structures allowing easier use of advanced reporting features such as scheduling and user-created report shortcuts.
• Improvements to the support of Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCD) Type 1 and Type 2 grouping constructs.
• Changes to how drillthrough from one report to another occurs. Destination reports now always open in a new browser window, allowing the user to compare the initial report with the newly launched one.
• Custom attributes created within NNM are now supported for reporting.
• Support for incremental backup routines.
• Addition of relative time attributes within the data models, allowing easy creation of relative time reports using Query Studio. Users can now create rolling time period reports such as “Volume for the last 24 hours.”
• Improvements
to the support tools (backup and restore), allowing users to migrate their NPS
environments from Windows 2003 to Windows 2008 (see the Installation Guide
for full details).
Product
Features and Architecture
• Improved data archival and report performance through the addition of a daily aggregate storage area. This is hidden from the report user but can be controlled with the configuration UI.
• The underlying reporting application, from Cognos, has been upgraded to version 10.1.1.
• The underlying database, Sybase IQ, has been upgraded to version 15.4.
• The underlying content store technology has been changed from Apache Derby to Sybase ASE.
• An improved installation routine making it easier to recover from minor configuration issues discovered during installation.
The NNM iSPI
Performance for Metrics 9.20 also includes multiple defect fixes seen in
previous releases.
Uninstallation Notes
This release
contains certain unresolved problems and some limitations, which are listed
below, with available workarounds where applicable. A searchable database of
all known issues is available online at HP Software Support Online.
Performance
Workbench
• In certain deployments, the performance panel in the analysis pane for a selected object in the NNMi console may show a login prompt and a password the first time the user logs in to the NNMi console using Firefox. Workaround: Enter the NNMi username and password.
• When a user clicks on a connection, the Performance Analysis pane will show graphs for each interface. If the names of the interfaces are long, the displayed name may be truncated, making it difficult to distinguish between interfaces. Similar behavior happens with the metric labels for the graphs. Workaround: Pass the mouse over the truncated label to see the full text.
• Newly added nodes to NNMi may show inconsistent Performance Workbench graph data immediately following their addition.
• Selecting the same metric from multiple different collection classes (for example, iSPI Performance for Traffic and iSPI Performance for Metrics) can lead to duplicate graphs being shown and no easy way to distinguish which is which.
• When examining a layer 2 connection, separate graphs are shown for each interface. However, labels may be missing from the graphs, which can make it difficult to determine which interface each relates to.
• Only on a
Windows system where the HP Operations agent was installed prior to installing
the NNM iSPI Performance for Metrics.
If you install the NNM
iSPI Performance for Metrics on a drive different from the drive where the HP
Operations agent was installed, you will see the following error message in the
Performance Troubleshooting window or the Performance tab in the analysis pane:
HP Performance Manager License has expired
To resolve this issue, follow these steps:
a) Go to the %npsdatadir%
directory.
b) Navigate to the folder one level up.
c) Copy the following files
into the %ovdatadir%
conf/perf
directory: Network_GC_Integration.xml, ovpm.tcf, OVPMconfig.ini,
OVPMReportTemplate.htm, OVPMUsers.xml, and OVPMSystems.xml
NPS Reports and Their Use
• The time zone specified in the user preferences in the BI Portal is not used for reporting purposes. Instead, the data displayed in reports is adjusted according to the time zone setting within the time panel of the report controls.
• Reports
generated by a schedule will be missing the interactive links at the top to
control behavior such as report options, or displaying the bookmark. Only
reports run in real time have these features enabled.
• Help page content regarding the meaning of collected metrics is extensive, but not all metrics are included. For most, the meaning is self-explanatory.
• The Top 10 Task Duration report, part of the Self Diagnostics package for administrative users may have slightly obscured x-axis labels when examining data over a long interval with a fine display grain.
• The Report History tab of the navigation panel records which reports have been run by a user. If the Launch Separately preference is set, report launches may get recorded twice in the history.
• The Self Monitoring reports, and some items within the BI Portal area, are intended for administrative use only. Non-administrative users can see that these items exist but are not able to launch them.
• The Path Health report, launched by identifying a path within NNM and selecting an action from the menu system, may take longer than other reports to render if there are many items in the path. Users can expect render times in excess of 1 minute for a multi-part path.
• The Dashboard report may display with a very wide colored chart if the grain chosen by the user is fine compared to the interval. Workaround: Use the Time Control tab of the navigation panel to select a default grain for the chosen interval. The report will display correctly.
• The Self Monitoring reports allow administrative users to see how long individual reports take to launch. The name of some reports includes a full directory structure. As a result, the name can be long. Long names may appear truncated, making it difficult to determine which report the displayed data relates to.
• Some reports support the idea of filtering the data based on the value of a selected metric; for example, list the top 10 interfaces by volume where discard rate percentage is greater than 5%. Although the numeric filtering will work as expected, the filter display area at the top of the report that describes the filters and grouping currently in place will not inform the user that a filter is in place. This could lead to a report's being misunderstood if the user is not aware that filters were used.
• Report views that are saved into the My Folders area of the BI portal will not have a Bookmark URL available. Workaround: Save the report view into a User Group folder instead, where it will be given a bookmark URL.
• When a report is launched using a bookmarked URL, or as a result of having the Open Separately check box enabled, the Topology Filter area may show some additional parameters that seem unrelated to the choices the user made. These can include, but are not limited to, ‘showNav=1 username=ErsAdmin run.prompt=false’. Workaround: These values can safely be ignored and will vanish the next time a report is launched within the same navigation pane area.
• After launching a report, choosing Alternate Delivery Option > Save Report appears not to do anything. However, clicking the Save Report option will cause the report to run in the background. The report output will be saved later as a new output version associated with the report or ReportView that was launched.
• It
is important that you synchronize the NNMi management
server clock and the NPS server clock. This ensures that the analysis panes
that retrieve data from the NPS server yield accurate results. If you
experience blank analysis panes, check that your clocks are synchronized
between the servers.
Product Maintenance
• The process of starting the BI Server (the reporting application server and web front end) can take longer than in previous releases. Users can expect a startup time of up to 10 minutes.
• Uninstalling an Extension Pack from NPS does not halt the associated collections within NNMi. This can lead to data being collected and stored by NNMi but not processed. Although NNMi will eventually stop collecting the data, the files can take up a substantial amount of disk space. Workaround: Users who uninstall custom collections or those associated with content iSPIs should disable the associated performance collections within NNMi at the same time.
• Uninstalling an Extension Pack from NPS will remove the associated reports and aggregation routines, but will not remove Quicklaunch ReportViews or user-created ReportViews on content within the Extension Pack. Workaround: Users should identify their links and ReportViews that reference no longer available reports and remove them using the BI Portal functions.
• Setting the environment variable JAVA_HOME to point to an unsupported version of Java can cause the BI Server to not operate correctly, but the ‘statusBI.ovpl’ command will display a status of normal.
• In
a High Availability environment, after enabling SSL on the on-line node and
then on the passive node, the passive node will say that SSL is already
enabled. However, if the passive node is subsequently failed over to (making it
active), the NPS report menu and pages will not be available. Workaround: The
originally passive node is reporting (incorrectly) that it has SSL enabled. The
user should run the configureWebAccess.ovpl command
again on that node when it becomes active.
• On a system running https for security, if a user launches the NPS front end, by visiting port 9300, they will be redirected to the authentication screen of NNMi for login. However, when they are redirected, the browser will have switched from https to http. Workaround: Users in an environment running https should always log in through NNM.
• When
finishing a session, users are advised to close ALL browsers of the type they
were using to access NPS, especially if the machine they are using is shared.
Leaving one browser open is enough to maintain the session parameters and allows
another user to begin browsing reports again without needing to log in.
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