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  The File I/O Performance Monitor

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hIOmon Presentation Client Screen Shots -- Alert Options

Product Info

hIOmon's unique Alert features enable you to quickly and easily focus in on the I/O performance of your files.  For either a particular file and/or a group of files, hIOmon can optionally watch for the occurrence of specified thresholds for a variety of selected file I/O operation performance parameters.  hIOmon supports fundamental I/O operation performance parameters such as the number of I/O operations performed, the average I/O Operations per Second (IOPS) rate, the maximum file I/O operation queue length,  the amount of data transferred, the maximum data transfer rate, the maximum response time, the Open/Create request count, and more.  You can even limit your focus to a particular type of file I/O operation (read, write and/or control).

Features

Architecture

Screen Shots

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Note that the Alert Feature is only available if the respective hIOmon "Summarized Data Licensing Option" has been purchased as part of the hIOmon service subscription fee.

Below is an actual screen shot of the hIOmon Presentation Client display panel used to specify the particular Alert options to be used for the selected file Filter: 

Setting up the Alerts for a particular filter (which represents a specific file, or a group of files if a wildcard is used) is simple.  Just:

1. Check the "I/O Summary" option as part of defining a filter (as described in the Filter Options screen shot example), then click on the "Options/Alerts" button (which brings up the "Options and Alerts" display).

2. Click on the "Alert" button at the bottom of the "Options/Alerts" display; this brings up the display (shown above) where you can select the particular Alert values of interest to you.

3. Check the "File Summary on File alert" option on the "Options/Alerts" display.

It's as simple as 1-2-3.

Using the "Alerts" filter option causes the hIOmon  I/O Monitor to accumulate file I/O operation performance information for the respective monitored file(s).  When the hIOmon  I/O Monitor detects that a specified threshold has been reached (for example, a Read I/O operation requiring 30 or more milliseconds has just completed for a file within the "T:\Documents" directory), it will generate a record for offload to the hIOmon  Manager.  This record will include the file I/O operation performance information that the hIOmon I/O Monitor had accumulated for the respective file prior to and including the I/O operation that caused the threshold to be reached.  This summarized I/O performance information can then be displayed by the hIOmon Presentation Client (in real-time) and/or saved by the hIOmon Manager in a specified disk file (called a hIOmon "File I/O Log" file) for subsequent "replay" mode display.

The hIOmon  I/O Summary display screen shot shows an example of the rich set of file I/O operation performance information that you can obtain from hIOmon through its Alert feature.

As an added feature for Windows® 7, Windows Vista™, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008/R2, hIOmon also gives you the option of having a System Event Log record generated when an Alert threshold has been detected by the hIOmon I/O Monitor.  As illustrated by the screen shot above, you can even enable this System Event Log record generation on an individual, selected threshold basis (for example, only when the hIOmon I/O Monitor detects a single Read I/O operation whose data transfer rate has reached or exceeded 60 megabytes per second, as shown above).  The generated System Event Log record includes the summarized file I/O operation performance information for the respective file.

The hIOmon "System Event Log on Alert" feature gives you the option of being immediately notified that an Alert condition has occurred (when used in conjunction with your current system management tools that monitor the System Event Log and provide corresponding support for email, pager, etc. notification).     

Here a just a few examples of how the hIOmon Alert feature can help you:

• Top-down performance problem analysis.  The hIOmon Alert feature allows you to take a top-down approach when trying to determine the specific cause of file and device I/O operation performance problems.  You can use the various Alert threshold parameters to quickly start your analysis with an overall bounds-based characterization of the I/O operation performance for a particular file (or simply filter a large range of files and let hIOmon detect and find the specific files meeting or exceeding the particular thresholds that you have set).  You can then adjust accordingly the threshold values based upon the alert conditions actually detected by the hIOmon I/O Monitor.  This allows you to isolate the actual file or files that are actually having the I/O performance problems, and drill-down further to identify the type and nature of those performance problems.  And you can do all of this without having to study and analyze reams and reams of detailed I/O operation traces.  

• Monitor for performance problems overall.  The hIOmon Alert feature can also be used to simply monitor selected files or even (large) groups of files for specific I/O performance problems.  Depending upon the particular Alert threshold values that you select, hIOmon can quickly alert you when file I/O operation performance problems are occurring or might be imminent.  Not only will hIOmon identify the specific files experiencing the I/O performance problems, but hIOmon will also provide you with a complete summary of each problematic file's I/O operation performance prior to the detection of the alert condition.          

• Ensure I/O performance Quality-of-Service (QoS).  Similarly, the hIOmon Alert feature can be used as an automated monitor to ensure that your file and device I/O operation performance expectations are being successfully met.  Moreover, you can use hIOmon to target specific files (and even specific I/O performance criteria for those particular files).

The hIOmon Alert feature allows you to more easily understand, manage and control the I/O performance of your fundamental storage assets --- that is, your files.

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