IBM Director agent 1

[klunde]

Hi

I'm evaluating if I should use the IBM Director agent and Server on my network. Currently I'm just running the agent on one server. And here comes the question:

Is it normal for the agent to use 5-50 percent CPU almost all the time?

I'm also running the ServeRaid Agent on this server, is that really needed if I'm running the IBM Director agent?

Director Server/Agent is from the 4.2 CD.

I really would like to have some kind of surveillance of my servers, but if it is to use up to 50 percent cpu I can't afford it.

All comments are welcome!

</Morten>

 

[Stiddy]

First of all, every Xseries server comes with a agent license. So you do not have to any extra cost.

ServRaid
You only have to install the ServRaid management program locally on systems if you want to run it directly off of the server. The IBM director console can also run ServRaid manager because the code is embeded with the agent. If you decide that you want to install the ServRaid manager locally on every server, try not installing it as a service, and see if this reduces your processor time.

Director is an great product in my option. Word to the wise though, always upgrade you Raid controller drivers to the latest release within windows before running and BIOS and firmware updates. You should also run UpdateXpress within windows, assuming you are running windows, before updating any firmware.

I have been working with director now for about 3 years. Its kind of funny that I happen to be in TX right now starting a week long class tommorrow on Director 4.20. So, what I have written is purely opinion, but I will sure bring it up in class. HAHA

Stiddy

P.S. -> Also, lookup IBM Updatexpress server which is a cool free product for updating firmware and Bios on remote machines. Yes, director can do that too, but this is kindof like MS$ windows update web server. Very helpful tool if you need to update remote servers which you can't physical put your hands on...

 

[klunde]

Still, I'm a little worried about the high cpu usage from the Director agent. Is it really normal for the "PegasusProvider" process to use up to 50% cpu at all time?

As far as I have tested I must say that IBM Director agent seems to be a huge slowdown for the server.

Isn't there a way to get the agent to not use so much cpu?

</Morten>

 

[lloch]

The pegasus client has a rapid memory leak and causes the processor to go to 100%. This has been reported by a number of people. So far I do not have a precise fix but the one suggestion I have seen is at Bugzilla. See below.

When an enumeration command fails with an exception (enumerateInstances,
enumerateClasses, etc.), if that exception is caught and the enumerate is
attempted again, memory is leaked very rapidly and the processor raises to
100%. I've tracked this down to somewhere in the CIMClientRep::_doRequest().
The call to _dying.value() on line 141 in HTTPConnection::handleEnqueue()
seems to always evaluate to 1 in the retry. This may be an exception safety
issue, and on the retry one of the persistent actors my be in an inconsistent
state.

The work-around is to delete and then recreate the client instance and reissue
the command.

We're currently experiencing similar symptoms on one of our servers. Will keep you posted on anything that we find.

 

[fraseronly]

Does anyone know if the new version of Director 4.21 fixes the memory leak ?

 

[Stiddy]

We are testing it now. Will know more early next week. Will post

 

[Stiddy]

Upon initial testing it appeasrs that the 4.20 to 4.21 did reduce the memory leak some. Unfortunately, the servers which I had to test on also run multiple applications so it is hard to truely tell if this worked. Also, there is a patch for 4.21 already. It may be just the upgrade from 4.20 to 4.21. Check out

http://www.xseries.org

as a good reference

 

[Stiddy]

here is the director link

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-58219

 

[lloch]

Quick update.
We've gone ahead and updated one of the servers to the 4.21 Agent with the patch a little over week ago. We've set-up monitoring on the server and so far we have not seen the processor % go out of control at all.
The recomendation we followed was to completely uninstall any previous versions (that was stressed to us) and then install 4.21 fresh along with the patch. We're still keeping an eye on it but so far so good.

 

[ttran54]

Hi

I setup a odbc link to write data to
AS400
but it doesn't work correctly.

need help

thanks.

 

[Stiddy]

Start another thread please!!!