Scaling factor for performance counters?

[bsteer]

I'm collecting performance data for ESX servers. Some of the integer values that are returned obviously need to be scaled (e.g., percentages over 100), but I can't find anyplace that specifies the scaling factor. I've looked in PerfSampleInfo, but that doesn't seem to have it (or I missed it).

Can anybody tell me where I can find those scaling factors?

[admin]

Each performance counter contains information in the following categories:

• unit: The statistic's units. Some examples of possible types of units include percent, millisecond, or KB.

• description: A textual description of the performance counter, potentially including information about what value it reports.

• type of statistic: Describes the nature of the statistical value that is collected or calculated for this counter. Statistics may indicate an amount of change, an absolute value, or a rate value.

• rollup type: Identifies the type of statistic rolled up during the performance interval. The value may be no value, an average, a minimum, a maximum, a summation of all of the statistics, or the latest statistic.

• entity: Entities from which the performance counter is collected. This can include virtual machines, hosts, clusters, or resource pools.

The sdk reference guide will be providing answers to specific counters. E.g. In case of Performance Counter Group Name: CPU, there are various counters present e.g. usage, usagemhz etc. The reference guide will provide more details on the unit, the statistic type and the rollup type for the specific counter, which should answer your questions.

[bsteer]

Yes, I've read all that in the documentation. I also read somewhere, don't remember where, about the need for scaling some values, such as the percentages. I'm getting four-digit percentage values, for example, that obviously need to be scaled. I'm also getting two-digit percentages (e.g., "59"). Is there a fixed scale factor of, say, 100 for percentages, or is there a variable scale factor that's stored in one of the performance classes?