esxtop – Tips and Tricks

1. esxtop – Tips and Tricks Rolf Diehl Technical Account Manager 11/01/2008

2. Disclaimer • This session may contain product features that are currently under development. • This session/overview of the new technology represents no commitment from VMware to deliver these features in any generally available product. • Features are subject to change, and must not be included in contracts, purchase orders, or sales agreements of any kind. • Technical feasibility and market demand will affect final delivery. • Pricing and packaging for any new technologies or features discussed or presented have not been determined. • “These features are representative of feature areas under development. Feature commitments are subject to change, and must not be included in contracts, purchase orders, or sales agreements of any kind. Technical feasibility and market demand will affect final delivery.”

3. Agenda • Overview of esxtop • esxtop modes • esxtop Screens • Using esxtop for performance troubleshooting

4. Overview of esxtop Introduction

5. FAQs - esxtop • A performance troubleshooting and statistical tool for ESX • A tool in a exportable format • A tool that can be run interactively or replayed • A toolset that can be run either locally or remotely • A detailed look at how ESX Server uses resources in real time

6. FAQs - esxtop • Where is it? • Is pre-installed with ESX Server • Remote version of esxtop (resxtop) ships with the Remote Command Line (RCLI package) • Why use it? • Retrieve a quick statistical representation of system • Isolate performance bottlenecks • What esxtopis not for? • Long term performance monitoring, data mining, reporting, alerting, etc. • Use the VI Client or the SDK

7. ESXTOP vs. RESXTOP • Fundamentally – resxtop can be run remotely and esxtop must be run at the service console VMKernel Service Console ESX Server VMKernel ESX\ESXi Server Linux client hostd

8. Performance Statistics • Results are either static, dynamic or calculated • Static • MEMSX (memsize), VM Name, etc • Dynamic • CPU Load average, memory over-commitment load average, etc. • Calculated – data between two successive shapshots. Refresh interval (-d) determines the time between successive snapshots • %CPU use = (CPU used time at snapshot 2 – CPU used time at snapshot 1)/ time elapsed between snapshots

9. Modes of esxtop

10. Interactive mode (default) • Shows data in the screen and accepts keystrokes • Requires TERM=xterm

11. Interactive mode (default) • Shows data in the screen and accepts keystrokes • Requires TERM=xterm

12. Batch mode (-b) • Dumps data to stdout in CSV Format • Dumps default fields or fields stored in the configuration file • Esxtop –b >esxtop_output.csv • To select fields • Run esxtop in interactive mode • Select the Fields • Save Configuration (“w” key) • To dump all fields • Esxtop –b –a > esxtop_output.csv

13. Batch mode • Batch mode – importing into perfmon

14. Batch mode • Batch mode – viewing data perfmon

15. Replay mode (-R) • Replays data from vm-support performance snapshot • To record esxtop data • vm-support –S –d <duration> • To replay • tar xvzf vm-support-dump.tgz • cdvm-support-*/ • esxtop –R / (esxtop version should match)

16. Replay mode (-R)

17. esxtop Screens

18. esxtop Interactive Mode - Screens • Screen options • c: cpu (default) • m: memory • n: network • d: disk adapter • u: disk device (ESX 3.5) • v: disk VM (ESX 3.5)

19. Using Screens

20. Using Screens – Expanding Screens

21. CPU Screen (C)

22. Memory Screen (m)

23. Memory Screen (m)

24. Network Screen (n)

25. Disk Adaptor Screen (d)

26. Disk Device Screen (u)

27. Disk VM Screen (v)

28. Using esxtop for Troubleshooting

36. Resources

37. Resources • Resource Management Guide Appendix • VMworld 2008 Presentation – esxtop for Advanced Users: Session TA1440 • Communities - http://communities.vmware.com • h command from interactive mode

38. Summary