SUMMARY: disk load balancing

From: Donald McLachlan (don@mars.dgrc.doc.ca)
Date: Mon Feb 24 1992 - 18:26:18 CST


All in all, it looks as though there are no quick solutions to this
problem.

I got a very quick reply from: ssgltd!joe@uunet.UU.NET (Joe Berry).
He provided some info on a product called PROBE/X. This info is quite long
so I will provide it at the end of the replys, just before a copy
of my original request.

I received a few pleas for info from:
        <malte@techfak.uni-bielefeld.de>
        <kirk@kalalau.berkeley.edu>

One that sounded deject that no such tools exist as far as he knew, but
he wanted to be kept informed from:
        Mike Raffety <miker@sbcoc.com>

JanBerger.Henriksen@ii.uib.no recommended nfswatch. I haven't checked it out
yet, since it sounds specific to NFS mounted file systems. I would like a
tool for both the NFS and non-NFS partitions.

I think someone else (I deleted that message) recommended bringing up
sa, and tooling through the output of files accessed.

----- Begin Included Message -----
>From ssgltd!joe@uunet.UU.NET Sun Feb 16 07:27:24 1992

Don, I read about your disk balancing requirements on the Sun. Our new
online performance monitor, PROBE/X, is exactly what would solve your
problem. I've enclosed a copy of our 'email brochure'. If you have any
questions, please contact me or our sales office.

Joe

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Joe Berry |
| Strategic Software Group, Ltd., 3402 Shelburne Rd, Baltimore, MD 21208 |
| E-mail: joe@ssgltd.com or uunet!ssgltd!joe |
| Phone: 410-764-5668; Fax: 410-358-2106; Pager: 410-796-6861 |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

==========================================================================

                          PROBE/X
                          -------

Strategic Software Group, Ltd. has developed PROBE/X to deliver the
information you need for the complete performance picture of your UNIX
computer system. PROBE/X gives you the information necessary to
effectively manage your system in a variety of helpful formats that
guide you towards informed decisions about today's concerns while
providing planning input for tomorrow's needs.

PROBE/X Can Help You At the System Level:
-How busy is the CPU
-Disc subsystem activity
-Main memory utilization
-Response time distribution
-Transaction rates
-Filesystem balancing
-Device configuration

PROBE/X Can Help You At the Program Level:
-What programs are being run
-How much of each system resource are they using
-What transaction rates are they generating
-What response times are they experiencing
-Why are they getting the response that they are

PROBE/X Can Help You At the User/Process Level:
-Which users are running what programs
-How much of each system resource are they using
-What transaction rates are they generating
-What response times are they experiencing
-Why are they getting the response that they are
-Which processes are runnable
-Per process disc statistics

PROBE/X Can Help You During Software Development Evaluation:
-Evaluate the impacts before going into production
-Debug using open file information
-Investigate the efficiency of alternative algorithms
-Investigate I/O characteristics
-Display internal process structure/hierarchy

PROBE/X Can Help You Track UNIX Internal Mechanisms:
-Filesystem I/O
-Filesystem Utilization
-Cache buffers
-System resource utilization
-Streams

PROBE/X Gives You Even More:

As practicing performance consultants and trainers, we understand what
people want and need from their performance tools. PROBE/X presents
the information in logical groupings that assist you in quickly
highlighting the critical factors within your system, focusing on
those areas and allowing you to easily refine your research.

At Strategic Software Group, we not only develop and sell performance
management tools, as consultants we use these tools ourselves. This
means that when we support you, we are able to contribute our
practical experience. Additionally, you are confident that the
product will keep pace with your evolving needs.

Where practical, PROBE/X presents the information in a graphical
format. No longer must you search through matrices of data to
determine what is happening. With a single glance at the screen, the
significance of the information quickly and easily becomes apparent.

>From its inception, we have designed PROBE/X for user convenience. We
provide a multi-level menu structure for display selection using
labelled softkeys. We also provide single keystroke "hot keys" as a
method for quickly moving directly to any of the available displays.
No matter what your preference or degree of familiarity with PROBE/X,
you will find it simple to navigate among the available displays.

Our written documentation is provided as a supplement to an extensive,
context-sensitive help facility within the program itself. The
reference material includes samples of all of the available displays
complete with detailed explanations for each of the fields.

PROBE/X provides a multi-level data logging feature that makes it
painless for you to collect and store information reflecting
various activity levels within your computer system. As a
supplement, SSG offers its package for trend analysis and
forecasting based on your logged data and customized to your
reporting needs and time frames.

Bottom Line Benefits Include:
-Detection of problems as they evolve.
-Maximization of existing resources.
-Protection of your investment.

For more information, including pricing and platforms, contact

               Strategic Software Group, Ltd
               11050 5th Avenue, N.E., Suite 101
               Seattle, WA 98125

               phone: (206) 362-2231
                 fax: (206) 362-2177
               email: uunet!ssgltd!sales
                      sales@ssgltd.com

-------------------------------------------------------------------

----- End Included Message -----

> I have exhausted the news-groups that might respond so I am sending to
> sun-managers.
>
> I want to balance the load across my 2 disks. I have several active
> partitions on each disk.
>
> iostat -D will only give me the traffic on a per disk basis. I would like to
> find the same info on a per partition/filesystem basis.
>
> Any ideas?



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