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  The I/O Performance Monitor

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hIOmon Add-Ons Support

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The "hIOmon Add-Ons" are auxiliary software utilities and support that are typically targeted towards specific tasks and which leverage the extensive functionality of the hIOmon I/O Performance Monitor (hIOPM) software.

Such tasks include characterizing the I/O operation performance of specific files (and their associated logical and physical devices), assessing the "I/O profile" of your particular applications, and determining the actual file I/O operation performance impact incurred by file fragmentation and/or the applicability and benefits of SSDs.

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As briefly described below, the hIOmon Add-Ons include the:

• Device and File I/O Performance Analysis Add-On

• Process I/O Performance Analysis Add-On

• Disk I/O Ranger Display Add-On

• Solid State Disk (SSD) I/O Performance Analysis Add-On (and the SSD TRIM Metrics Display Gadget)

• Benchmarking Support Add-On

• Add-On Support for the Intel® NAS Performance Toolkit (NASPT)

• Add-On Support for IBM® Tivoli® Monitoring

• Fragmented File I/O Operation Performance Analysis Add-On

The hIOmon Add-Ons make use of the various interfaces provided by the hIOmon I/O Performance Monitor software.  The hIOmon WMI Support, for instance, is used to configure and manage the operation of the hIOmon software.  Similarly, the hIOmon export capabilities (such as the CSV-based "hIOmon Manager Export File") are used to gather the I/O operation performance metrics collected by hIOmon for subsequent analysis by several of the hIOmon Add-On utilities.  Please see the "hIOmon User Guide" document for a detailed description of the variety of interfaces provided by the hIOmon I/O Performance Monitor software.

NOTE that all of the hIOmon Add-Ons described below are included as part of the hIOmon I/O Performance Monitor software installation package.  Complete information can be found within the "hIOmon Add-On User Guide" document. 

hIOmon Device and File I/O Performance Analysis Add-On

The hIOmon "Device and File I/O Performance Analysis Add-On" enables you to characterize the I/O operation performance of specific files (and their associated logical and physical devices) that are of particular interest to you. This I/O operation performance characterization can highlight key metrics, including read and write I/O operation counts, I/O operation (IOPS) rates, amount of data transferred along with MB/s rates, average and maximum response times, random and sequential access counts, average and maximum queue lengths, system file cache "hit" and "miss" statistics, physical device I/O operation activity, etc.

Through the use of the hIOmon "Device and File I/O Performance Analysis Add-On" you can now quickly and easily perform such file (and device) I/O operation performance characterizations, moreover based upon empirical metrics that have been collected by hIOmon and which reflect the normal, everyday use of your very own files (even within production environments).  In addition, this Add-On provides charting and graphing support (through the use of the Microsoft® Office Excel program) that enables you to perform file and device comparisons, various "Top Ten" rankings, "Hot Spot" analyses, problem diagnosis, capacity and performance analyses, and much more.

Please refer to the hIOmon "Device and File I/O Performance Analysis Add-On" description page and tutorial for additional information about this hIOmon Add-On.

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Process I/O Performance Analysis Add-On

The hIOmon "Process I/O Performance Analysis Add-On" enables you to quickly and easily configure the hIOmon software so as to collect "I/O Summary" (i.e., aggregated) file and device I/O operation performance metrics for those particular processes that you select.  The collection of "Physical Device Extended Metrics" along with the export of the collected I/O operation performance metrics to a "hIOmon Manager Export File" can also be optionally configured.

In addition, this Add-On enables use of the hIOmon Microsoft® Office Excel template/macros that can be optionally used to easily coalesce the process I/O operation performance metrics that have been exported to the "hIOmon Manager Export File", which is a Comma-Separated-Values (CSV) disk file to which the hIOmon Manager can directly export/save a specific set of I/O operation performance metrics that have been collected by and retrieved from the hIOmon I/O Monitor component.  The hIOmon Manager Export File can then be used by the hIOmon Excel template/macros to generate various charts and graphs based upon the metrics contained within the export file.

The hIOmon "Process I/O Performance Analysis Add-On" further extends the capabilities of the hIOmon "Device and File I/O Performance Analysis Add-On" by enabling you to limit the collection of file and device I/O operation performance metrics to only those particular processes that are of interest to you.

This unique Add-On provides a quick and easy way to help you assess and verify the particular "I/O profile" of your specific processes/applications in normal, everyday use and in production environments.

Please refer to the hIOmon "Process I/O Performance Analysis Add-On" description page and tutorial for additional information about this hIOmon Add-On.

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Disk I/O Ranger Display Add-On

The hIOmon "Disk I/O Ranger Display" Add-On application enables you to both display and export in real-time the “Performance Threshold Range Metrics”, which are a selected set of summarized I/O operation performance metrics that are specifically focused upon the ranges of I/O operations per second (IOPS), megabytes-per-second (MB/s) data transfer rates, response time, and I/O operation queue depths/lengths actually observed by the hIOmon I/O Monitor for individual files, devices, and processes.

These metrics are automatically included within the summarized I/O operation performance information that can be collected by the hIOmon I/O Monitor - and do not require the collection and post-processing of I/O operation trace information!

The hIOmon “Performance Threshold Range Metrics” together with the hIOmon "Disk I/O Ranger Display" Add-On provide a quick and easy way to assess the actual "speeds and feeds" I/O performance of your particular files, devices and applications in everyday, normal usage! 

Please refer to the hIOmon "Disk I/O Ranger Display" description page for additional information.

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The hIOmon "SSD I/O Performance Analysis Add-On" enables you to collect and optionally export "Manage Data Set Attributes (MDSA)" I/O operation performance metrics, such as those pertaining to the SSD "TRIM" command, during the normal, everyday use of your computer system.  In addition, you can also optionally collect and export both read and write I/O operation metrics for those specific physical devices and Logical Disks of particular interest to you.

Through the use of this hIOmon Add-On, you can now quickly and easily determine, for example, the actual usage and impact of the "TRIM" command based upon empirical metrics that reflect the use of your very own applications and associated files.  Moreover, no file, application, nor operating system changes are required!

Please refer to the hIOmon "SSD I/O Performance Analysis Add-On" description page and tutorial for additional information about this hIOmon Add-On.

Also see the "hIOmon SSD TRIM Metrics Display Gadget" for a simple and quick way to display a selected subset of the SSD TRIM-related metrics that can be captured by the hIOmon I/O Performance Monitor.

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Benchmarking Support Add-On

The hIOmon "Benchmarking Support Add-On" enables you to quickly and easily utilize the hIOmon software so as to retrieve real-time, user-specified "I/O summary" (i.e., aggregated) operation performance metrics for the files, devices, and processes currently being monitored by the hIOmon I/O Monitor.  These metrics can include the "Physical Device Extended Metrics".  Moreover, the retrieved metrics can reflect the actual file and device I/O activity generated as a result of running, as examples, a disk and/or file benchmarking tool, a synthetic application workload benchmarking tool, or even applications in everyday usage.

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hIOmon Add-On Support for the Intel NAS Performance Toolkit (NASPT)

The hIOmon "INASPT Support Add-On" enables you to quickly and easily utilize the hIOmon software so as to capture "I/O Trace" operation information (i.e., a separate trace record for each and every I/O operation being monitored by hIOmon) for those specific files that you select. You can also further limit the collection of I/O trace operation information to those particular processes that you select.

Moreover, the I/O trace information collected by hIOmon can reflect the actual file and device I/O operation activity generated by your very own applications in everyday usage.

The Add-On also allows you to configure the hIOmon software so that the I/O trace operation information collected by hIOmon is written/exported in real-time to a "hIOmon Manager Export File" disk file within the XML trace input file format that is required by the Intel NASPT tools. The resulting hIOmon Manager Export File can be used directly (without conversion) as a NASPT trace input file for both the NASPT Analyzer and the NASPT Exerciser tools.

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hIOmon Add-On Support for IBM Tivoli Monitoring

The hIOmon Add-On "Support for IBM Tivoli Monitoring" enables IBM Tivoli Monitoring solutions access to the summary file and device I/O operation performance metrics that are uniquely collected by hIOmon upon an individual file, device, and/or process basis for those specific files, devices, and processes of particular interest to you.  These empirical metrics reflect the actual file and device I/O operations performed through the normal, everyday use of your very own applications and associated files.  Moreover, no file, application, nor operating system changes are required!

Once retrieved by the IBM Tivoli Monitoring components, these hIOmon metrics can then be viewed, graphed/charted, monitored for specific thresholds (i.e., "situations"), and used for trending analysis, capacity planning, service level agreement (SLA) monitoring along with a variety of other enterprise management tasks supported by the IBM Tivoli Monitoring solutions.

Please note that the hIOmon Add-On "Support for IBM Tivoli Monitoring" has successfully met the IBM specifications for validation as "Ready for IBM Tivoli software" and is included within the IBM Tivoli "Integrated Service Management Library (ISM)".  Moreover, IBM Tivoli Monitoring is the first enterprise solution of its type to retrieve and leverage the unique empirical metrics captured and made available only by hIOmon.

Please refer to the hIOmon "Add-On Support for IBM Tivoli Monitoring" description page for additional information about this hIOmon Add-On; the "hIOmon Add-On Support for IBM Tivoli Monitoring User Guide" document also provides detailed information specific to this hIOmon Add-On.

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hIOmon Fragmented File I/O Operation Metrics Analysis Add-On

The hIOmon "Fragmented File I/O Operation Metrics Analysis Add-On" enables you to determine the actual file I/O operation performance impact incurred by file fragmentation, based upon empirical metrics that have been uniquely collected by hIOmon and which reflect the actual file I/O operations performed through the normal, everyday use of your very own applications and associated files!  Moreover, no file, application, or operating system changes are required!

Please refer to the hIOmon "Fragmented File I/O Operation Metrics Analysis Add-On" description page and tutorials for additional information about this hIOmon Add-On.

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