Are certain appliacations running slowly occasionaly? Sometimes things are superfast and then they slow to a crawl. What’s going on?
Any tool that uses SNMP to gather performance metrics can be used to baseline and stress test infrastructure and determine where the bottle necks are.
Basic methodology could go something like this…
1 – identify end to end system components from end user terminal through network to virtual machines, esx hosts, and storage.
2 – configure SNMP for all devices
3 – verify use patterns and confirm data collection over 1 week. Tune alerts for normal use.
4 – schedule stress test for each component to determine performance ceiling and baseline throughput capacity.
5 – make changes as needed to improve end user experience.
6 – verify changes had desired effect.
Performance Troubleshooting for VMware vSphere
vsphere4-performance-troubleshooting.pdf (2.1 MB)
http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-10352
Possible tools that could be used to poll for SNMP performance metrics include:
http://www.scriptlogic.com/Products/perspective/
http://www.vizioncore.com/products/vFoglight/features.php
http://www.whatsupgold.com/technology/network-management/monitoring-technologies/index.aspx
http://www.quest.com/Quest_Site_Assets/PDF/DSA-FoglightNetworkDevice-US-VC.pdf
http://network-optimisation.com/technology/network_monitoring/snmp_monitoring.php
http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/operationsmanager/en/us/default.aspx
http://www.manageengine.com/products/opmanager/index.html
http://www.managementsoftware.hp.com
http://www.solarwinds.com/products/orion/modules.aspx
http://www.veeam.com/vmware-esx-monitoring.html
http://www.monitorsnmp.com/
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk869/tk769/technologies_white_paper09186a008011fde2.shtml
http://www.sage.org/lists/sage-members-archive/2002/msg01878.html
