HP Network Node Manager iSPI Performance for Quality Assurance System and Device Support Matrix

Software Version: 9.20

Publication date: January 2014

This document provides an overview of the system requirements and supported devices for HP Network Node Manager iSPI Performance for Quality Assurance Software (NNM iSPI Performance for QA) version 9.20.

This document is intended to augment the Release Notes. You can find both the Support Matrix (nmQAispi_supportmatrix_en.html) and the Release Notes (nmQAispi_releasenotes_en.html) at the root directory of the installation media.

You can find information about the following in this document:

Installation Notes
Installation Prerequisites
Hardware and Software Requirements
   Hardware
     CPU, RAM, and Disk Space Requirements / Maximum Supported Managed Environment
       Single System Managed Environment
       Global Network Managed Environment
       Network Performance Server (NPS)
       Intelligent Response Agent (iRA)
   Operating System
       Windows
       HP-UX
       Linux
       Solaris
       Virtual Memory / Swap space
   Database
   High Availability
   Web Browser
   Tuning the jboss Memory Size
Internationalization and Localization
Integration with Other Products
Supported Network Devices
HP Software Support

Installation Notes

Pre-installation requirements, as well as instructions for installing the NNM iSPI Performance for QA, are documented in the installation guide provided in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format. The document file is included on the product's installation media as: nmQASPI_InstallGuide_en.pdf. After installation, this document can be found from the NNM iSPI Performance for QA User Interface by selecting Help → NNM iSPI Documentation Library → iSPI Performance for QA Install Guide.

Installation Prerequisites

You must install HP Network Node Manager i Software (NNMi) 9.20 and the NNM iSPI Performance for Metrics 9.20 before you start installing the NNM iSPI Performance for QA.

Hardware and Software Requirements

Before you install the NNM iSPI Performance for QA, make sure that your system meets the following minimum requirements:

Hardware

CPU, RAM, and Disk Space Requirements / Maximum Supported Managed Environment

Single System Managed Environment

The following table shows the requirements for the single system managed environment size. These requirements are in addition to the requirements for NNMi server:

Single System Managed Environment Size Recommended Hardware System Requirements 1
Approximate managed environment tier Max number of ping latency pairs Max number of probes Max number of CBQoS interfaces Max number of iRA Probes Max number of combined probes, iRA probes, and CBQoS interfaces Number of concurrent users CPU (64-bit) IPF x86-64 AMD64 SPARC 2 Additional RAM

Recommended Java heap size (Tuning the jboss Memory Size)3

 

Disk space for application installation ($NnmInstallDir)4 Disk space for operational database (data during execution) ($NnmDataDir)5
Entry 1,000 5,000 2,000 1,500 5,000 2 2 CPU Cores 4 GB 3 GB 2 GB 20 GB
Medium 3,000 30,000 12,000 10,000 30,000 10 4 CPU Cores 8 GB 6 GB 2 GB 60 GB
Large 5,000 50,000 20,000 40,000 50,000 15 4 CPU Cores 12 GB 8 GB 2 GB 80 GB

Global Network Management Environment

The following table shows the requirements for the global network management environment size. These requirements are in addition to the requirements for NNMi server:

Global Network Management Environment Size Recommended Hardware System Requirements 1
Approximate managed environment tier Number of Regional Servers Max number of probes Max number of CBQoS interfaces Max number of ping latency pairs Max number of combined probes, iRA probes, and CBQoS interfaces Number of concurrent users CPU (64-bit) IPF x86-64 AMD64 SPARC2 Additional RAM

Recommended Java heap size (Tuning the jboss Memory Size) 3

Disk space for application installation ($NnmInstallDir)4 Disk space for operational database (data during execution) ($NnmDataDir)5
Medium 4 120,000 50,000 10,000 120,000 10 4 CPU Cores 16 GB 12 GB 2 GB 80 GB
Large 9 250,000 100,000 20,000 250,000 15 8 CPU Cores 24 GB 20 GB 2 GB 100 GB

These values are approximate and reflect levels tested by HP. The number of currently discovered QA probes is displayed in the NNM iSPI Performance for QA "Help for NNMiSPI --> System information for iSPI Performance for QA" dialog. Managed environments bigger than these are not supported without additional HP approval.

1 Apart from the hardware system requirements of NNMi, this table specifies the additional hardware system requirements for the NNM iSPI Performance for QA product to be installed on NNMi management server.

2 Minimum of 2.5GHz for x64 and 1.4GHz for IPF or RISC.

3 These recommendations are based on the environment size and object counts stated in this table. Polling fewer of a given object type might use less Java heap. Polling more of a given object type might require increased Java heap size as well as HP approval.

4$NnmInstallDir is configured during installation on Windows (C:\Program Files (x86)\HP\HP BTO Software by default), or on UNIX (/opt/OV/).

5 $NnmDataDir is configured during installation on Windows Server 2008 (C:\ProgramData\HP\HP BTO Software\ by default), or on UNIX (/var/opt/OV/).

These recommendations only apply to the NNM iSPI Performance for QA running under the default settings. If you intend to run any of the other NNM iSPIs, you must review each iSPI support matrix before determining the hardware you need.

Not more than 5% probes have a polling frequency less than or equal to 1 minute. You can associate a maximum of 500 probes to a source site and 500 probes to a destination site.

To implement CBQoS management, we recommend the following average object count ratio per CBQoS interfaces to CBQoS policies, classes, and actions:

1:5

Network Performance Server (NPS)

The following table shows the requirements for the Network Performance Server (NPS) for different managed environment sizes. These requirements are in addition to the requirements for the NPS for the NNM iSPI Performance for Quality Assurance or any other iSPI that is installed. This is significantly affected by the changes in the configured retention period for the data queried by different extension packs.

Managed Environment Size Network Performance Server Minimum Hardware System Requirements a
Approximate managed environment tier Max number of combined probes, iRA probes, and CBQoS interfaces CPU (64-bit) x86-64 AMD64 RAM Disk space for storing the NNM iSPI Performance for QA data in the Sybase DB (the NPS database)
(<DataDir on the NPS system >)b

Disk space required for archiving the processed data for 2 weeks


(<DataDir on the NPS system >)c

Entry - Single Station 5,000 2 CPU Cores 12 GB

500 GB

30 GB
Medium - Single Station 30,000 4 CPU Cores 16 GB 700 GB 60 GB
Large - Single Station 50,000 8 CPU Cores 32 GB 1 TB 160 GB
Medium - GNM 120,000 16 CPU Cores 64 GB 2.5 TB 600 GB
Large - GNM 250,000 32 CPU Cores 96 GB 4 TB 1 TB

The disk space specifications in the table is meant to retain the data for a maximum period of 400 days. For higher retention period, we recommend you to allot more disk space for <NPS_Data_Dir>. See the NNM iSPI Performance for QA Deployment Guide to calculate the disk space required for <NPS_Data_Dir> by NPS.

a Apart from the hardware system requirements of NPS, this table specifies the additional hardware system requirements for the NPS system to build the NNM iSPI Performance for QA reports.

b Allocate raw disk partition for better performance.

c If the default data archiving period is more than 2 weeks, provision additional disk space proportionately.

Intelligent Response Agent (iRA)

You can configure up to 2500 iRA probes for each iRA instance. The number of HTTP/HTTPS probes must not exceed 10% of the total number of configured iRA probes. You can see iRA-based probes in the Probes inventory in the Quality Assurance workspace.

The following table shows the requirements for the Intelligent Response Agent (iRA) only when it is hosted on an independent server:

Intelligent Response Agent Minimum Hardware System Requirementsd

CPU (64-bit)
x86-64 AMD64

RAM
2 CPU Cores 500 MB

d There is no additional hardware requirement for the iRA when it is hosted on a server along with NNMi, the NNM iSPI Performance for QA, and any other iSPI.

Operating System

Windows

Supported Version Notes

HP-UX

Supported Version

HP-UX 11i v3

Linux

Supported Version

Solaris

Supported Version

Note

Solaris on Intel Architecture is not supported.

For detailed pre-requisites for installing, see NNMi 9.20 Support Matrix

Virtual Memory / Swap Space

Database

NNM iSPI Performance for QA can store its data using the embedded PostgreSQL database that is automatically installed when you install NNMi 9.20 or in the Oracle® database that NNMi uses. You must select the database that NNMi uses (PostgreSQL or Oracle) while installing the NNM iSPI Performance for QA. You cannot change the database type (PostgreSQL or Oracle) after installation.

NOTE: You cannot change from an embedded database to Oracle or back after installation.

High Availability

NNM iSPI Performance for QA can run on certain high availability systems with additional configuration. See the Deployment Reference for information about how to install and configure the NNM iSPI Performance for QA with high availability systems. The following configurations are supported on the NNM iSPI Performance for QA Supported Operating Systems

Web browser

General Web Browser Requirements

Supported Web Browsers Running on a Remote Client System (for operational use)

Supported Web Browsers on the Local NNM iSPI Performance for QA Management Server System (for initial installation and configuration use)

Adobe Flash Plug-in Player

The Real-time Line Graphs (Actions → Quality Assurance → Graphs) and the Performance graphs require the Adobe Flash Player Plug-in version 10.2 (or later minor version) or version 11.1 (or later minor version).  For 64-bit Internet Explorer, version 11.1 or later is required. The Adobe Flash Player is available from www.adobe.com/go/getflash/.

Tuning the jboss Memory Size

During installation, the recommended default maximum memory size of the jboss application server is configured in the nms-qa.jvm.properties file to 2GB. For improved performance in larger environments, it is recommended that you can increase this value as documented in CPU, RAM, and Disk Space Requirements.

The current Maximum Attemptable Memory value (adjusted with –Xmx) is available in the NNMi console with Help → System Information for iSPI Performance for QA. It is recommended that this –Xmx value not exceed the amount of unused physical RAM. If the jboss JVM's entire virtual memory space does not fit in physical memory, the operating system thrashes as jboss randomly accesses its memory. For more information about tuning the Java 6 JVM, see http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/gc-tuning-6-140523.html.

You can approximate the amount of unused physical RAM available to jboss as follows: From the amount of physical memory, subtract the following amounts:

To change the jboss Maximum Java Heap Size (–Xmx) or other Java Virtual Machine parameters:

  1. ovstop -c qajboss
  2. Edit the nms-qa-jvm.properties file:
  3. Change the Maximum Java Heap Size to the required amount. For example, a snippet of the ms-qa.jvm.properties file looks like this:
    #
    # JVM Memory parameters
    # –Xms: Initial Java Heap Size
    # –Xmx: Maximum Java Heap Size
    # –Xss: Java stack size (default to OS-supplied value)
    #
    –Xmx2048m
    –Xms1024m

  4. ovstart -c qajboss

Internationalization and Localization Support

NNMi is localized (or translated) to Japanese and Simplified Chinese. When those localized packages are installed, Japanese, Korean or Simplified Chinese are displayed (as output) and NNMi accepts non-English characters as input. With all other locales, English strings appear as output while NNMi accepts non-English characters as input.

The following table lists the localized languages and supported locales for each operating system.

Operating System Localized Languages
Japanese Simplified Chinese Korean

Windows

Japanese Chinese_PRC Korean

HP-UX

ja_JP.SJIS
ja_JP.eucJP
zh_CN.hp15CN ko_KR.utf8

Linux

ja_JP.utf8 zh_CN.utf8 ko_KR.utf8

Solaris

ja_JP.PCK
ja_JP.eucJP
zh ko_KR.EUC

Before using Internet Explorer to access an NNMi management server that is configured to support the Asian Languages, install the East Asian Language with the following procedure:

  1. In the Control Panel, select Regional and Language Option.
  2. On the Languages tab, select Install files for East Asian Languages, and then follow the instructions.

Integration with Other Products

The following products have additional functionality available through an NNM iSPI Performance for QA 9.20 integration:

Supported Network Devices

NNM iSPI Performance for QA supports the NNMi supported devices that match the following MIB specifications:

Note: The recommended Cisco IOS IP SLA version is 12.x or greater.

This device support information is based on the latest information available to HP at the time of publication. Note that device vendors can at any time alter a device's MIB usage (for example, in newer IOS or system software versions) and invalidate the NNM iSPI Performance for QA's interpretation of that device's MIB data.

List of Metrics Collected by Probes from Different Devices

Probe Type Device Type
Cisco Juniper H3C iRA Node

ICMP

RTT RTT RTT RTT

UDP Echo

RTT
  • RTT
  • Jitter
    • Positive Jitter Destination-to-Source (DS)
    • Positive Jitter Source-to-Destination (SD)
    • Negative Jitter DS
    • Negative Jitter SD
    • Two-way Jitter
  • Packet Lossa
    • Packet Loss SD
    • Packet Loss DS
    • Two-way Packet Loss
RTT
  • RTT
  • Jitterb
    • Positive Jitter Destination-to-Source (DS)
    • Positive Jitter Source-to-Destination (SD)
    • Negative Jitter DS
    • Negative Jitter SD
    • Two-way Jitter
  • Packet Lossb
    • Packet Loss SD
    • Packet Loss DS
    • Two-way Packet Loss

TCP Connect

RTT RTT RTT RTT

UDP

  • RTT
  • Jitter
    • Positive Jitter Destination-to-Source (DS)
    • Positive Jitter Source-to-Destination (SD)
    • Negative Jitter DS
    • Negative Jitter SD
    • Two-way Jitter
  • Packet loss
    • Packet Loss SD
    • Packet Loss DS
    • Two-way Packet Loss

Not Applicable

(The UPD Echo probe collects all Jitter and Packet Loss metrics and RTT).

Not Supported

RTT

(The UPD Echo probe collects all Jitter and Packet Loss metrics and RTT).

VoIP
  • RTT
  • Jitter
    • Positive Jitter DS
    • Positive Jitter SD
    • Negative Jitter DS
    • Negative Jitter SD
    • Two-way Jitter
  • Packet Loss
    • Packet Loss SD
    • Packet Loss DS
    • Two-way Packet Loss
Not Supported Not Supported Not Supported
Oracle
Not Supported Not Supported Not Supported RTT
HTTP and HTTPS
Not Supported Not Supported Not Supported RTT
DNS
Not Supported Not Supported Not Supported RTT

a Packet loss metrics are collected for the UDP Echo probe only if the Jitter measure is published by the device.

b The destination iRA must be configured as a UDP responder.

HP Software Support

This web site provides contact information and details about the products, services, and support that HP Software offers. For more information, visit the HP Support web site at: HP Software Support Online

HP Software support provides customer self-solve capabilities. It provides a fast and efficient way to access interactive technical support tools needed to manage your business. As a valued support customer, you can benefit by being able to: Search for knowledge documents of interest Submit and track progress on support cases Submit enhancement requests online Download software patches Manage a support contract Look up HP support contacts Review information about available services Enter discussions with other software customers Research and register for software training

To access the Self-solve knowledge base, visit the Self-solve knowledge search home page.

Note: Most of the support areas require that you register as an HP Passport user and sign in. Many also require an active support contract. To find more information about support access levels, go to: Access levels.

To register for an HP Passport ID, go to: HP Passport Registration

Legal Notices

Warranty

The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice.

Restricted Rights Legend

Confidential computer software. Valid license from HP required for possession, use or copying. Consistent with FAR 12.211 and 12.212, Commercial Computer Software, Computer Software Documentation, and Technical Data for Commercial Items are licensed to the U.S. Government under vendor's standard commercial license.

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©Copyright 2010-2014 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.

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Google™ is a trademark of Google Inc.

DOM4J® is a registered trademark of MetaStuff, Ltd.

HP-UX Release 10.20 and later and HP-UX Release 11.00 and later (in both 32 and 64-bit configurations) on all HP 9000 computers are Open Group UNIX 95 branded products.

Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

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Programs delivered subject to the DOD FAR Supplement are 'commercial computer software' and use, duplication, and disclosure of the programs, including documentation, shall be subject to the licensing restrictions set forth in the applicable Oracle license agreement. Otherwise, programs delivered subject to the Federal Acquisition Regulations are 'restricted computer software' and use, duplication, and disclosure of the programs, including documentation, shall be subject to the restrictions in FAR 52.227-19, Commercial Computer Software-Restricted Rights (June 1987). Oracle America, Inc., 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood City, CA 94065.

For the full Oracle license text, see the license-agreements directory on the NNM iSPI Performance for QA product DVD.

Acknowledgements

This product includes software developed by the Apache Software Foundation. (http://www.apache.org)

This product includes software developed by the Indiana University Extreme! Lab. (http://www.extreme.indiana.edu)

This product includes software developed by The Legion of The Bouncy Castle. (http://www.bouncycastle.org)

This product contains software developed by Trantor Standard Systems Inc. (http://www.trantor.ca)