5.10.2 Notes on displaying reports
- Organization of this subsection
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(3) Maximum number of report windows displayed in the PFM - Web Console
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(10) Displaying realtime reports that contain large numbers of fields
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(11) Outputting reports with large amounts of table data to a file in HTML format
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(12) Displaying reports in which a large number of data items have drilldown available
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(14) Temporary files created when displaying or outputting a graph image
(1) About stacked area graph
If multiple series of records are stacked in a stacked area graph, only the records that have exactly the same time will be stacked.
Therefore, if you want to display stacked records from more than one agent in a historical (multiple agents) report, set the collection interval and offset value so that they match all of the agents.
If this condition is satisfied, a collection time difference might occur due to a delay caused by collection load and the stacked area graph might not display as expected. To avoid this, you can use an optional PFM - Web Console function to adjust the record collection time for the graph display.
For details, see the description of the <graph-time-correction> tag of the Windows initialization file (config.xml) in an appendix of the manual JP1/Performance Management Reference.
(2) About pie graphs
If a report contains a large number of pie graphs, the data labels below the pie graphs might be displayed over several lines, reducing the size of the graphs themselves. In this case, take one of the following steps to resolve the issue:
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Increase the magnification of the graph
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Reduce the number of pie graphs in the report
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Reduce the number of characters displayed in data labels
The following describes how to reduce the number of characters in data labels. Perform this process in the window where you edit the report definition.
- If By row is specified for Series direction in the Edit > Graph window
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In the Edit > Graph window, specify a string in Data label that is short yet sufficient to identify the instance.
- If By column is specified for Series direction in the Edit > Graph window
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In the Edit > Components window, specify a short character string in Display name.
For example, to avoid data labels from being displayed over several lines in a report where nine pie graphs are displayed at 100% magnification, make sure that the labels contain no more than 19 single-byte or 18 double byte characters.
(3) Maximum number of report windows displayed in the PFM - Web Console
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Display no more than four View Report windows in the PFM - Web Console.
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In one Performance Management system, display no more than 10 View Report windows that present PFM - Agent or PFM - RM information in real time. If 11 or more windows are displayed, you might fail to retrieve data.
(4) Maximum number of data items displayed in a report
In realtime reports, data from 30 collection times can be displayed. When displaying data over 31 collection times, the data will be deleted in the order from oldest to newest data. If you want to change this maximum number, change the maxRealtimeCache in config.xml.
For historical reports, the maximum amount of displayed data of a data group is up to the maximum number of records or the maximum number set in the Windows initialization file (config.xml). If you want to change this maximum number, change the maxFetchCount (under the <vsa> tag).
Note that you cannot use the Web browser to change a report that has too many records to display. Use the CSV output function of the jpcrpt command for such a report.
(5) About data acquisition performance
If multiple realtime reports are displayed at the same time, data acquisition performance might be degraded.
If you specify multiple agents and display multiple reports concurrently, data acquisition performance might be degraded.
(6) Limitation of realtime report display
If multi-instance records are collected in PFM - Agent or PFM - RM, the maximum number of instances handled by a collection is 32,767. Therefore, when displaying a realtime report of multi-instance records in the Web browser, you can display no more than 32,767 instances. You cannot display 32,768 or more instances.
(7) Displaying a report with a large number of records
When you attempt to display a report with a large number of records in the Web browser, you might be unable to display the report if the PFM - Manager View Server service or the PFM - Web Console service has insufficient memory. Consider the following approaches to displaying reports with a large number of records.
(a) Enabling the report cache filing function
PFM - Web Console is able to minimize the use of physical memory by temporarily storing report data in a file on disk. This function is called the report cache filing function, and the files it creates are called report cache files.
With this function enabled, PFM - Web Console references the data in report cache files when displaying reports, allowing it to keep less data in memory and reduce the likelihood of a memory shortage.
The services where a memory shortage occurs depends on whether the report being displayed contains graphs. The following describes how to avoid a memory shortage in each scenario.
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When a report contains a large amount of data and does not contain graphs
Memory shortages occur in the View Server service of PFM - Manager, and can be avoided by enabling the report cache filing function.
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When a report contains a large amount of data and contains graphs
Memory shortages occur in the View Server service of PFM - Manager and the PFM - Web Console service. You can avoid memory shortages in the View Server service of PFM - Manager by enabling the report cache filing function. For the PFM - Web Console service, review the contents of the report definitions with reference to 5.10.2(8) Taking memory requirements into consideration when planning definitions for reports that contain graphs.
- Note:
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You cannot use the report cache filing function with the baseline data used when displaying a combination report. To avoid a memory shortage, do not register a report that contains a large amount of data as a baseline.
The table below lists the types of reports that the report cache filing function supports for display in the PFM - Web Console. The function also works with reports output by the jpcrpt command.
|
Displayed from |
Report |
|---|---|
|
PFM - Web Console GUI |
Historical report |
|
Event history |
|
|
Combination report |
|
|
Print window (HTML output) |
|
|
CSV output |
|
|
Tiling display |
|
|
Realtime report (when automatic refresh is disabled or stopped) |
|
|
jpcrpt command |
Historical report (HTML output) |
|
Combination report |
The report cache filing function does not apply to historical reports output in CSV format by the jpcrpt command. However, this scenario does not typically cause a memory shortage when outputting a report with a large number of records, because the command reads the report data as it outputs the file, not all at once.
Report cache files are stored in the following directories by default.
|
Type of report output |
OS |
Directory |
|---|---|---|
|
Displayed in PFM - Web Console |
Windows |
PFM-Web-Console-installation-folder\reportcache\serv\ |
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UNIX |
/opt/jp1pcwebcon/reportcache/serv/ |
|
|
Output in HTML format by jpcrpt command |
Windows |
PFM-Web-Console-installation-folder\reportcache\cmd\ |
|
UNIX |
/opt/jp1pcwebcon/reportcache/cmd/ |
Ordinarily, report cache files are deleted from the directory as soon as the report output process is complete. If a file could not be deleted for some reason, the system tries again with the following timing:
|
Directory |
Timing of deletion |
|---|---|
|
The next time the PFM - Web Console service starts#1 |
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Not deleted#2 |
- #1
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Because the system deletes all files and subdirectories, do not store any files in the directory.
- #2
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The files will not be deleted automatically. Delete the files manually after making sure that the jpcrpt command is not running.
- Note
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For details on how to estimate the disk space occupied by report cache files, see the section describing the disk space usage when using report cache files in the appendixes of the JP1/Performance Management Planning and Configuration Guide.
To enable the report cache filing function, specify true for the useReportCacheFile parameter in the initialization file (config.xml). Specify the directory in which to store report cache files in the reportCacheFileDir parameter of the initialization file (config.xml).
- Note:
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As the storage directory for report cache files, specify a directory on a local disk. If you specify a directory on the network, the Web browser and the jpcrpt command will operate more slowly than if the directory were on a local disk.
For details on how to configure the initialization file (config.xml), see the chapter describing installation and setup of Performance Management in the JP1/Performance Management Planning and Configuration Guide.
(b) Outputting reports in CSV format using the jpcrpt command
When a report contains a large number of records, consider outputting the report to a CSV file instead of viewing it in PFM - Web Console.
You can use the jpcrpt command to output reports in CSV format. For details on the jpcrpt command, see the chapter on commands in the manual JP1/Performance Management Reference.
(8) Taking memory requirements into consideration when planning definitions for reports that contain graphs
When displaying reports that contain graphs, a memory shortage might occur if the amount of memory required to display the report exceeds the amount available to PFM - Web Console, preventing the report from being displayed. The memory required to display a report depends on the maximum number of records (data lines) and fields to be displayed.
You can avoid a memory shortage by keeping to the values shown below. Regardless of the graph type, a memory shortage will not occur if the data falls within these values. When displaying multiple reports simultaneously, make sure that the total data across all the reports does not exceed the values.
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Maximum number of records (data lines): 50,000
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Number of fields: 5 (when the number of records is 50,000)
Consider the above as an integrated value. That is, if the maximum number of records multiplied by the number of fields is less than 50,000 × 5 = 250,000, a memory shortage will not occur. Another example is as follows:
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Maximum number of records (data lines): 100,000
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Number of fields: 2
In this case, because 100,000 × 2 = 200,000, a memory shortage will not occur.
The following tables describe examples of report definitions that meet the criteria for avoiding a memory shortage.
|
Definition item |
Contents |
|---|---|
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Report type |
Historical (single agent) |
|
Agent |
PFM - Agent for Platform (Windows) |
|
Records |
PI (single-instance record) |
|
Selected fields |
Available Mbytes Cache Faults/sec Cache Mbytes Page Faults/sec Pages/sec |
|
Graph fields |
|
|
Graph type |
Area |
|
Report display period |
Within the past month |
|
Report interval |
Minutes |
|
Definition item |
Contents |
|---|---|
|
Report type |
Historical (single agent) |
|
Agent |
PFM - Agent for Platform (Windows) |
|
Records |
PD_PDI (multi-instance record) |
|
Selected fields |
CPU % Page File Kbytes |
|
Graph fields |
CPU % |
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Graph type |
Area |
|
Report display period |
Within the past day |
|
Number of monitored processes# |
30 |
- #
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This number is the number of processes (number of record instances) for which data is displayed in the report. It is not an item in the report definition.
|
Definition item |
Contents |
|---|---|
|
Report type |
Historical (multiple agents)# |
|
Agent |
PFM - Agent for Platform (Windows) |
|
Records |
PI (single-instance record) |
|
Selected fields |
Available Mbytes Cache Mbytes |
|
Graph fields |
Available Mbytes |
|
Graph type |
Line |
|
Report display period |
Within the past month |
|
Report interval |
Minutes |
- #
-
This example assumes that the report is displayed with two agents selected.
(9) Too many graph legends to display
Although there are no restrictions on the number of fields in a report, the system might be unable to display the graph or legend in part or in its entirety if the report contains too many fields.
In PFM - Web Console 10-00 or later, you can display the fields in a graph over multiple pages. This is called report series paging, and allows you to view legends in their entirety. To enable this functionality, specify true for the usingSeriesPagingOnTheGraph parameter in the initialization file (config.xml). For details on how to configure the initialization file (config.xml), see the chapter describing installation and setup of Performance Management in the JP1/Performance Management Planning and Configuration Guide.
If you cannot see a legend in its entirety in PFM - Web Console 09-00 and earlier or in PFM - Web Console 10-00 or later with report series paging disabled, change the magnification of the graph to check whether all the legend information can be displayed. If some still cannot be displayed, add a field to the report table for each item in the legend that is not displayed. We recommended that you limit the number of fields displayed in a graph to approximately 20.
(10) Displaying realtime reports that contain large numbers of fields
If a realtime report is split over several pages by the report series paging functionality, the number of fields might increase or decrease when the report is refreshed. This can cause different fields to be displayed on a given page.
(11) Outputting reports with large amounts of table data to a file in HTML format
When a report output in HTML format contains a large amount of table data, displaying the tables places a considerable processing burden on the Web browser, and can sometimes cause it to hang. You can avoid this issue by limiting the number of lines of table data in reports output in HTML format.
In version 10-00 or later of PFM - Web Console, you can change the number of lines of table data in HTML-format reports by changing the value of the following parameters in the initialization file (config.xml).
|
Report type |
Parameter in config.xml |
|---|---|
|
Output to print window |
printTableMaxRowSize |
|
Output in HTML format by jpcrpt command |
cmdHtmlTableOutputMaxRowSize |
For details on how to configure the initialization file (config.xml), see the chapter describing installation and setup of Performance Management in the JP1/Performance Management Planning and Configuration Guide.
Even when you use these parameters to limit the number of lines of table data in a report, a report that contains a large number of fields can still exceed the tolerances of the Web browser, causing it to become unstable. To avoid this issue, review the number of fields in the report. We recommend no more than 10 fields in an environment where the default value is used for these parameters in the initialization file (config.xml) and Internet Explorer is used to display reports.
(12) Displaying reports in which a large number of data items have drilldown available
When you display a field-level drilldown report, depending on the number of plots, a memory shortage might occur causing the PFM - Web Console service to shut down. You can avoid this issue by enabling the drill-down plot restriction function.
The drill-down plot restriction function restricts the number of plots (number of items of drill-down data) for fields with field-level drilldown enabled. When the number of drill-down data items exceeds a limit, field-level drilldown is disabled on the graph and clicking a field no longer displays a drilldown report. Note that this function does not disable drilldown for table and list items.
You can use the drill-down plot restriction function in version 10-00 or later of PFM - Web Console. Specify the limit in the maxDrilldownPoints parameter in the initialization file (config.xml). For details on how to configure the initialization file (config.xml), see the chapter describing installation and setup of Performance Management in the JP1/Performance Management Planning and Configuration Guide.
(13) When reports take a long time to display
A record that has a large number of instances can take a long time to display. In this case, restrict the number of data items displayed in a graph at any one time by performing all of the following steps:
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Specify By column for Series direction in the Edit > Graph window
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Enable report series paging
Specify true for the usingSeriesPagingOnTheGraph parameter in the initialization file (config.xml).
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Limit the number of fields in graph legends to 14
Specify 14 for the displayLegendCount parameter in the initialization file (config.xml).
For details on how to configure the initialization file (config.xml), see the chapter describing installation and setup of Performance Management in the JP1/Performance Management Planning and Configuration Guide.
(14) Temporary files created when displaying or outputting a graph image
PFM - Web Console version 10-00 and later creates a temporary file approximately 10 to 100 KB in size when it displays or outputs a graph image in the following circumstances:
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A View Report window (also applies to combination report windows) containing a graph is displayed or a graph image is output
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A pie graph is displayed in the System Operational Status Summary window
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Tiling display is performed for a report registered in a bookmark
The temporary files are stored in the following directories:
- In Windows
-
-
When displaying a report in a Web browser
The folder specified in the TMP system environment variable.
-
When outputting a report using the jpcrpt command
The folder specified in the TMP user environment variable for the user who executed the command.
-
- In UNIX
-
The directory specified in the TMPDIR environment variable.
If TMPDIR is not set, the directory /var/tmp or /tmp.
The temporary files are deleted after the graph image has been generated.