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  The I/O Performance Monitor

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hIOmon WMI Browser Screen Shots -
 File I/O Summary Display Examples for Fragmented Files

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The hIOmon WMI Browser additionally supports the hIOmon "Physical Device Extended Metrics", including the physical device "split I/O" operation metrics that can represent actual file I/O operation activity to fragmented files.  Specific sort-order sequence options provided by the hIOmon WMI Browser "Top Ten" File I/O Summary Displays enable you to easily and quickly identify those particular files that are experiencing "split I/O" operations and the exact extent to which these files are incurring such operations.  This can be a great aid in helping you evaluate and understand the specific performance impact of file fragmentation, once again based upon empirical metrics directly related to the individual files that you are actually using.

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The optional "Physical Device Extended Metrics" reflect “physical device” I/O operations (within the operating system) that were required to complete file I/O operations for those files that were also being monitored by hIOmon.  Included are several metrics related to physical device "split I/O" operations (which can occur, for example, when the data requested by a file I/O operation resides upon noncontiguous areas of the physical device so that multiple physical device I/O operations must be performed to satisfy the file I/O operation).  These new metrics can provide, for instance, empirical data that helps show the actual performance impact of accessing fragmented files and of file fragmentation overall.

NOTE:

Please note that these empirical metrics can reflect the actual file I/O operations performed through the normal, everyday use of your very own applications and associated files!

The following screen shots show two examples of the hIOmon WMI Browser File I/O Summary displays that can help you better understand your particular issues with file fragmentation.  The first example shows the real-time summarized I/O operation performance metrics for a "Top Ten" list of files based upon the maximum number of "physical device split I/O operations" incurred for a single file I/O operation.  The second example below shows the real-time summarized I/O operation performance metrics for another "Top Ten" list of files, in this case based upon the percentage of file I/O operations that incurred a "physical device split I/O operation" (that is, basically the percentage of "fragmented" file I/O activity actually experienced by the file).

Maximum Fragmented I/O Count for a Single FILE I/O Operation

Maximum Split I/O Count

As shown in the screen shot above, the hIOmon WMI Browser "Top Ten Files" menu option display can be used to show the names of the current "Top Ten Files" based upon a sort order sequence regarding the maximum number of "physical device split I/O operations" that were incurred by a single file I/O operation.  In the display above, the "rt.jar" file had a single read file I/O operation that required 82 separate physical device I/O operations to satisfy the respective file I/O operation, as observed by the hIOmon I/O Monitor.  The "pagefile.sys" file had a read file I/O operation that required 2 separate physical device I/O operations along with a write file I/O operation that required 44 separate physical device I/O operations, for a combined total of 46 which placed this file second within the displayed list.  Sort-order sequence options are also provided for a "read" and a "write" maximum separately.       

The "Refresh" button can be used to refresh the display table (i.e., update the table contents with the most recent metric values).

Actual Percentage of "Fragmented" I/O for an Individual File

Actual Percentage of File I/O Operations that were "Fragmented"

As shown in the screen shot above, the hIOmon WMI Browser "Top Ten Files" menu option display can also be used to show the names of the current "Top Ten Files" based upon a sort-order sequence regarding the percentage of a file's read I/O operations that incurred "physical device split I/O" operations.  In the display above, the hIOmon I/O Monitor observed a total of 475 read file I/O operations for file "OUTLLIB.DLL", with nearly half (specifically 46.7%) of which required two (or more) physical device I/O operations (i.e., physical device "split I/O" operations) as observed by the hIOmon I/O Monitor.  Sort-order sequence options are also provided for the "write" percentage and the combined "read/write" percentage.

Please note that the information shown in both displays above can also be displayed by the hIOmon Presentation Client as well as the hIOmon CLI Support.  In addition, the "Physical Device Extended Metrics" (including the counts shown above) can all (or selectively) be exported to a hIOmon Manager Export File.  

hyperI/O^sm -  improving the performance of storage I/O in computer servers