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7 Replies Last post: Sep 11, 2009 3:10 PM by joshuatownsend  

Measure ESXs IOPS usage ... posted: Aug 22, 2008 2:21 PM

Click to view js.opdebeeck's profile Enthusiast 57 posts since
Apr 24, 2006

Hi;

After MD3000i performance issue, I need to calculate the IOPS usage over 5 ESX 3.5 connected to the ISCSI bay.

I don't want to benchmark it, but just to agregate the load and have the total IOPS usage .

Is there a good counter into ESX (or VirtualCenter) that can give me an overview (value or trends) of it ?

I read those links, but no direct info related to IOPS value.

Esxtop manual
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_301_201_resource_mgmt.pdf#page=159

Esxtop Performance Counters
http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-5240

Storage Performance Analysis and Monitoring
http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-5490

Can you help ?

Thanks

Js

Re: Measure ESXs IOPS usage ...

1. Aug 25, 2008 9:49 AM in response to: js.opdebeeck
Click to view drummonds's profile Hot Shot 112 posts since
May 31, 2007

IO counts are reported in VC as disk.numberRead.summation and disk.numberWrite.summation. These can be converted to IOPS by dividing by the sample window (which is 20s in real-time stats.) See vCenter Performance Counters for more info. I've also updated the esxtop wiki document you referenced to include the equivalent esxtop counters.

Scott

Re: Measure ESXs IOPS usage ...

2. May 7, 2009 9:17 AM in response to: drummonds
Click to view fcoa's profile Novice 12 posts since
May 30, 2008
Can someone please verify the correct method for calculating IOPS with VirtualCenter 2.5. If I understood this post correctly, then IOPS can be calculated by dividing "Disk Read Requests" and "Disk Write Requests" by the data sample rate.

In my attachment the data sample rate was 120 seconds. So does this mean that the average IOPS in the attached example is 2.97 (3.65 + 352.58 / 120 seconds)?
Attachments:

Re: Measure ESXs IOPS usage ...

3. May 11, 2009 6:35 PM in response to: fcoa
Click to view drummonds's profile Hot Shot 112 posts since
May 31, 2007

Your math is good, but I think that your sample rate is bad. Unless you know better, the sample rate should be 20s for real time data.

Scott

Re: Measure ESXs IOPS usage ...

4. May 13, 2009 11:30 AM in response to: drummonds
Click to view fcoa's profile Novice 12 posts since
May 30, 2008
The report sample (IOPS.PNG) was not from "Realtime" data, it was older data. Therefore, if I understand this correctly, the sample rate should equate to the relevant Statistics value set in "Advanced\VirtualCenter Management Server Configuration\Statistics", which in our case is 2 minutes (or 120 seconds). Is that correct?

See StatCollectionSettings.PNG attachment for screen shot of our Statistics settings.

Attachments:

Re: Measure ESXs IOPS usage ...

5. Sep 10, 2009 6:37 PM in response to: drummonds
Click to view joshuatownsend's profile Novice 19 posts since
Apr 17, 2006
Is the same true of ESXTOP stats? If I run esxtop in batch mode collecting statistics every 10 seconds, should I divide the Commands/sec value by 10 to get the true IOPS value?

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Re: Measure ESXs IOPS usage ...

6. Sep 11, 2009 2:30 PM in response to: joshuatownsend
Click to view drummonds's profile Hot Shot 112 posts since
May 31, 2007

No math is needed for units whose results are reported "per second". The rate you are seeing has already been normalized for a one second window.

Scott

More information on my communities blog and on Twitter:
http://communities.vmware.com/blogs/drummonds
http://twitter.com/drummonds

Re: Measure ESXs IOPS usage ...

7. Sep 11, 2009 3:10 PM in response to: drummonds
Click to view joshuatownsend's profile Novice 19 posts since
Apr 17, 2006
Thanks Scott! I assumed that was the case from the numbers being reported but wanted to double-check.

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Please visit http://vmtoday.com for News, Views and Virtualization How-To's

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