1. technology and computing

SIOS iQ Freeview
Manual
2.2 — Last update: 2015/06/26
SIOS TECHNOLOGY CORP
Table of Contents
Release Notes............................................................................................................................................. 1
Quick Start Guide: Install and Configure .................................................................................................. 5
SIOS iQ Documentation ............................................................................................................................. 7
Product Overview.................................................................................................................................... 8
Product Features ............................................................................................................................. 13
System Requirements...................................................................................................................... 17
Install .................................................................................................................................................... 19
License ............................................................................................................................................ 30
Configure .............................................................................................................................................. 31
User Management ........................................................................................................................... 32
Network ........................................................................................................................................... 36
Services........................................................................................................................................... 38
Manage................................................................................................................................................. 39
Environments................................................................................................................................... 40
Virtual Machines .............................................................................................................................. 46
Hosts ............................................................................................................................................... 49
Datastores ....................................................................................................................................... 52
Policies ............................................................................................................................................ 54
Users and Permissions .................................................................................................................... 57
View Dashboards .................................................................................................................................. 60
PERC .............................................................................................................................................. 61
Efficiency ......................................................................................................................................... 79
Host-Based Caching ........................................................................................................................ 82
Performance Root Cause................................................................................................................. 84
Update SIOS iQ .................................................................................................................................... 93
About SIOS iQ ................................................................................................................................. 96
Troubleshoot SIOS iQ ........................................................................................................................... 97
Event Log ........................................................................................................................................ 98
Support Log ..................................................................................................................................... 99
Audit Log ....................................................................................................................................... 100
Use SIOS iQ Day to Day ..................................................................................................................... 101
Third Party Applications ...................................................................................................................... 102
Application Performance Analytics via WMI with SIOS iQ .............................................................. 103
FAQs .................................................................................................................................................. 106
Glossary ............................................................................................................................................. 108
Contact Support .................................................................................................................................. 109
SIOS TECHNOLOGY CORP
SIOS iQ Freeview - 2.2
Release Notes
SIOS iQ
Release Notes
Version 2.2.0
Introduction
SIOS iQ is a single, easy-to-use resource that brings intelligence and simplicity to IT operations. It
continuously analyzes your VMware environment leveraging powerful machine learning technology. SIOS iQ
also offers a mobile, touch-optimized user interface that delivers insights that will help you make smarter,
better, and faster decisions. SIOS iQ enables you to optimize the performance of business critical
applications while minimizing the costs.
SIOS iQ Freeview Edition showcases patented machine learning technology to identify wasted resources
across the infrastructure. It also improves the performance of storage and applications by identifying virtual
machines that are ideal candidates for host-based caching.
The Freeview Edition can be easily accessed on your laptop, desktop, or tablet through the responsive user
interface without needing to set up any rules, thresholds, or dashboards.
New Features of SIOS iQ v2.2.0
Feature
Description
Virtual Machine Properties Page
Users can now view their Virtual Machine properties
Host Properties Page
Users can now view their Host properties
Datastore Properties Page
Users can now view their Datastore properties
Features:
• PERC
◦ The PERC™ dashboard provides a comprehensive view of your environment. It displays
aggregated trends of Performance, Efficiency, Reliability, and Capacity across your compute,
storage, and network layers.
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• Host-Based Caching Analysis
◦ Using Solid State Disks (SSDs) is a simple solution to performance issues caused by storage
resource contention in the host machine. SSDs are used to offload storage and network traffic,
improve storage performance, increase the density of the virtualization environment, and
improve the application response time. The Host-Based Caching dashboard identifies the
workloads that are best suited for host-based caching, recommends the total cache and cache
block size, and predicts the resulting performance benefits and cache-hit rate.
• Efficiency – Idle VM Detection
◦ The Efficiency dashboard identifies idle VMs in your infrastructure by continuously analyzing the
environment, defining the normal conditions specific to that environment, and identifying idle
VMs that may be deleted to free resources and save money. The analysis is continually
updated without the need for manual intervention to set thresholds or run reports.
• Efficiency – Snapshot Sprawl
◦ The Efficiency dashboard lists the snapshots in the environment along with their age, size,
number of siblings under the same VM, and potential cost savings that can be obtained if
snapshots are deleted or collapsed.
• Quick Start Guide
◦ The Quick Start Guide helps you get started by highlighting the simple steps required to use
SIOS iQ Freeview Edition.
• Simple Product Update
◦ New features and enhancements will continuously be added to SIOS iQ to help you better
optimize your virtual environment. The product update process is simple so that you can take
advantage of the new features and capabilities within minutes.
• Multiple User Support
◦ Multiple users may be added to SIOS iQ Freeview Edition with the option of setting each user
as an admin or read-only.
• Inventory Console
◦ The Inventory console provides you an easy way to view quick stats of your environment as
well as a list of all virtual machines, datastores, and hosts within your environment.
• Touch-optimized, Responsive User Interface
◦ You can easily access SIOS iQ from your desktops, laptops, and tablets. The user interface is
built to be touch-optimized and responsive to simplify navigation and improve user experience.
This includes a collapsible side menu to enlarge the main viewing area and table columns that
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can dynamically be adjusted to better view data. It also includes dynamically loaded data within
the tables to improve the user interface performance.
• Export Data to CSV
◦ You may export the data within the tables into CSV files to perform further analysis and
reporting.
• Policies
◦ Policies provide you with an option to change some of the parameters that are used by the
analytics engine in relation to cost, Idle VM detection, and Host-Based Caching analysis.
• Audit Log
◦ The Audit Log captures the administrative actions of the users, along with the outcome of the
action.
• Event Log
◦ The event log highlights changes or errors relating to SIOS iQ’s connection status in your
environment.
• Support Log
◦ The support log enables users to export and send product logs, in normal mode or detailed
debug mode, to SIOS support to help debug issues.
System Requirements
Prior to installing the product please refer to System Requirements.
Components
SIOS iQ Release 2.2.0 includes the following installed packages:
cloud-orchestrator_2.2.0-517
cloud-orchestrator-ui_2.2.0-735
Quick Start Guide
To get started using SIOS iQ, refer to the SIOS IQ Quick Start Guide.
Known Issues
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Issue
Workaround
IE9 users may experience the ‘OK’ and ‘Apply’ buttons not working on the Properties Pages
(Environment, Policy, Users).
Close and
reopen your
browser.
When using IE10 or IE11 the SIOS iQ license file opens in a new tab instead of
downloading.
Save the license
file and install
the license.
After the appliance is deployed the following 2 events will always appear in the event log.
This will not affect your environment.
No workaround
is needed.
The SIOS iQ Appliance may become inaccessible after reconfiguring network settings via
vCenter Virtual Machine properties. After reconfiguring the network settings of the appliance
(in vCenter, Edit Settings… > Options > vApp Options > Properties) the appliance may be
inaccessible following the first boot after the reconfiguration.
Reboot the
appliance a
second time
following the
network
reconfiguration
to ensure that
the appliance is
accessible.
Update may not be automatically detected (icon may not be orange)
Follow the
instructions for a
Manual Update
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Quick Start Guide: Install and Configure
The Quick Start Guide provides step-by-step instructions for installing and configuring SIOS iQ.
Step 1: Review System Requirements
Prior to installing please refer to System Requirements.
Step 2: Download SIOS iQ
Download the OVA file from https://repo.us.sios.com/release/latest.php. The MD5 checksum of the OVA will
appear on the page that can be used for verification that the OVA file is not corrupted.
Step 3: Install SIOS iQ
Refer to Install for screen-by-screen installation details.
Step 4: First Time Login
The first time you log into SIOS iQ you will be required to change the default admin password. For more
details refer to User Management.
After successfully changing your default password you must install a license before you can use SIOS iQ.
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Step 5: Configure
After installation Network, Services, and User Management can be viewed and edited.
• To view and edit Network settings refer to Configure > Network.
• To view and edit Services settings refer to Configure > Services.
• To view and edit User Management settings refer to Configure > User Management.
Step 6: Update
After initial installation (which installs OVA 2.0.2-390) SIOS iQ will check for Updates every hour on the half
hour.
*
Please ensure that you update to the latest version before continuing. Refer to
Updates. If you do not have internet access please refer to Manual Update.
Step 7: Set Up Environment
After installation and configuration refer to Environments to add and view your environment.
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SIOS iQ Documentation
This documentation includes product release notes and information on how to install and use the SIOS iQ
v2.2.0 release. Recognizing that not everyone learns in the same way, we have provided you with a number
of starting points. You can use the panels on the left to find information, use the search option above, or go
directly to our FAQs page.
If you prefer to have these documents in PDF format for offline usage, use the “Download as PDF” option
located on the bottom of the left navigation pane.
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Product Overview
Introduction
SIOS iQ is a powerful tool that helps optimize and enables automation of a continuously self-adjusting and
optimizing virtual infrastructure. Its unique approach focuses on having a comprehensive and converged
view of workloads, compute, storage, and network components in an infrastructure. The data collected from
the converged view is used by its unique self-adaptive analytics engine. The engine leverages advanced
machine learning techniques that provide correlation, forecasting, prediction, and simulation of the
infrastructure and key metrics. SIOS iQ leverages the analytics engine to help optimize virtual and cloud
environments for performance, resources, and availability.
• Performance Optimization – This includes features that help maintain predictable performance and
service levels, improve performance of environment, and help diagnose and mitigate anomalies or
other problems impacting workload performance.
• Resource Optimization – This includes features that increase utilization rates of hardware, decrease
amount of waste in environment, optimize the use of compute, storage, and network components, and
help to make intelligent forecast and planning decisions.
SIOS iQ makes it possible to analyze the infrastructure and diagnose problems using one common tool
across the organization. It also makes recommendations for and provides an option to automate continuous
optimization of the infrastructure. All of the value is presented through a browser-based, responsive, touch
optimized user interface that may be accessed on desktops, laptops, or tablets. It is this unique approach of
combining a converged view of the infrastructure, industry leading machine learning methods to provide
analytics, a focus on performance and resource optimization, and a strong emphasis on providing a good
user experience through the user interface that enables SIOS iQ to provide real value to organizations (see
figure 1).
Figure 1
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To deliver the full value of optimizing virtual environments, SIOS iQ emphasizes four modes of operation in
which a user interfaces with the product (Analysis, Diagnosis, Recommendations, Automation). These
modes of operation are accessible directly through the user interface components covered below.
• Analysis – This covers the majority of the interaction that the user has with the product. The user can
easily view and report on trends and forecast critical parameters such as storage capacity. The user
can also identify performance bottlenecks that may limit resource utilization (hardware components,
network bandwidth, etc.) in order to fully optimize resources. This allows the user to obtain an
enhanced view of the interaction between all of the components (workloads, compute, storage, and
network) in the infrastructure.
• Diagnosis – SIOS iQ simplifies diagnosis of problems across compute, storage, and network that can
impact the performance and reliability of the applications. In addition, SIOS iQ can identify problems
and recommend solutions to the user (see Recommendations).
• Recommendations (Coming Soon) – In Analysis and Diagnosis the user proactively engages with
the product to manage the optimization of the infrastructure. SIOS iQ recommends actions to the user
such as move VMs to different hosts, resize VMs, shut down VMs, and assign the most optimal
failover hosts. This provides the user with the analysis, the identified issue (or potential issue), and
the solution. The user has the option to manually implement the recommendation or approve SIOS iQ
to implement the solution.
• Automation (Coming Soon) – Users can also set automation levels for specific actions, categories of
functionality, or specific VMs, or environments. In automation mode, SIOS iQ automatically
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implements the recommended solution and provides the user with a history of actions, the impacted
components, and the reason the solution was implemented.
Comprehensive View of the Infrastructure
SIOS iQ is a leading edge analytics tool that allows users to focus on the complete view of their
infrastructure (workload, compute, storage, waste, and network). This allows the user to maximize their
resources across all of the components in their environment.
Delivering Value Through the User Interface
The user interface is a major component of SIOS iQ and has several modes of operation as described
above. The SIOS iQ interface contains several main components as described below.
• Dashboards
◦ PERC (Performance, Efficiency, Reliability, Capacity) Dashboard – This serves as the main
dashboard and as a single point of view into the environment. It gives a high level overview of
performance, resource utilization, service levels, and availability across compute, storage, and
network. It also serves as a starting point to diagnose specific problems or anomalies in the
infrastructure. The user can drill down on individual components and panels within the
dashboard and change the selection filter to a specific area/level to get a more detailed view.
The PERC Dashboard displays information at the aggregate level as well as highlights specific
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problems or warnings in VM(s), host(s), network or storage components within the specified
filter level. It captures current states, displays historical data, and forecasts key trends.
◦ Efficiency Dashboard – The Efficiency Dashboard highlights the wasted resources that can be
reclaimed within the infrastructure along with the source of the waste.
◦ Host-Based Caching Dashboard – Host-Based Caching Analysis enables you to quickly
identify the most appropriate workloads to cache. SIOS iQ displays the VM candidates in the
Host-Based Caching dashboard when the specified policy values are met or exceeded.
◦ System Health Dashboard (Coming Soon) – The System Health Dashboard contains a
summary of health alerts related to PERC across compute, storage, and network. Health alerts
are classified by severity: “Critical”, “Warning”, and “Informational”. The dashboard lists the type
of alert (availability, service violation, anomaly, forecast, etc.), the severity, the impacted
object(s), and details. The alert may be tied to a recommendation and / or general notification.
The user can select a specific health alert for details.
◦ Availability Dashboard (Coming Soon) – The Availability Dashboard summarizes the
availability status of the VMs, the current host, and the failover host (if any is selected). Users
can select a new failover host for any VM through the dashboard. Any VM or host that is not
available is highlighted. If the failover host is no longer optimal it is highlighted.
The specific objects include:
▪ VMs and the availability state
▪ Current Host associated with the VM and its availability state
▪ Failover Host (if any selected) for the VM, its availability state, and its optimality ranking
(ranking of 1 means it is the most optimal failover host for the associated VM)
• Recommendations and Automation (Coming Soon) – SIOS iQ provides recommendations for
specific actions (e.g. move VM, resize VM, shutdown VM, delete VM, add storage capacity). These
actions help optimize the infrastructure for performance and resources as well as maintain service
levels (described under feature). A recommendation includes the category (performance, service
levels, availability, etc.), the severity, a summary, the recommended action, and the impacted
object(s). The user can select a recommendation for more detail. Once selected the user can
acknowledge, implement the action, snooze, or ignore the recommendation. Any recommended action
implemented by SIOS iQ will be captured as a Task. The user can set an automation level for
categories of recommendations for future actions. In automation level, SIOS iQ automatically
implements the action and records it as a Task. The user can view all of the tasks implemented.
• Tasks (Coming Soon) – Tasks capture the actions (e.g. move VM, resize VM, shutdown VM, delete
VM) implemented by SIOS iQ to optimize performance and resources, and maintain service levels and
availability. Each task includes the category (performance, service levels, availability, etc.), the
severity, a summary, and the impacted object(s). Tasks are generated when the user approves an
SIOS iQ recommendation and SIOS iQ implements the action. Tasks are also generated if SIOS iQ
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initiates the action in automation mode (automation level is set in the recommendations settings).
Users can select a task for more detail.
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Product Features
There are two functional areas included in the SIOS iQ features (Resource Optimization, Performance
Optimization).
• Resource Optimization – This includes features that increase utilization rates of hardware, decrease
the amount of waste in the environment, and optimize the use of compute, storage, and network
components. This provides the user with the information needed to help make intelligent forecast and
planning decisions.
• Performance Optimization – This includes features that help maintain predictable performance and
service levels. It also helps improve the performance of the environment and helps diagnose and
mitigate anomalies or other problems impacting workload performance. The specific feature under
Performance Optimization is “Performance and Bottleneck Analysis”.
Features
• PERC Dashboard (PERC > PERC Dashboard) – The following charts are available.
◦ Performance Issues
▪ Critical (Feature Not Available in Freeview Edition)
▪ Warning (Feature Not Available in Freeview Edition)
▪ Information
▪ All Performance Issues
◦ Efficiency Issues
▪ Critical (Coming Soon)
▪ Warning (Coming Soon)
▪ Information
▪ All Performance Issues
◦ Reliability Issues
▪ Critical (Coming Soon)
▪ Warning (Coming Soon)
▪ Information (Coming Soon)
▪ All Performance Issues (Coming Soon)
◦ Capacity Issues
▪ Critical (Coming Soon)
▪ Warning (Coming Soon)
▪ Information (Coming Soon)
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▪ All Performance Issues (Coming Soon)
◦ Compute Performance
▪ Host CPU Utilization
▪ CPU Ready Time
▪ Host Memory Utilization
▪ Memory Ballooning
▪ Memory Swapping
◦ Compute Efficiency
▪ Waste – Compute Cost
▪ Waste – Idle vCPUs
▪ Waste – vMemory
▪ Avg VMs per Host (Coming Soon)
◦ Compute Reliability
▪ Host Uptime
▪ Live Migrations
◦ Compute Capacity
▪ Total CPU Utilization
▪ Total Memory Utilization
◦ Storage Performance
▪ Average Throughput
▪ IOPS – Deviation (Coming Soon)
▪ Average Latency
▪ Latency Deviation (Coming Soon)
▪ Host-Based Caching Candidates
◦ Storage Efficiency
▪ Waste – Storage Cost
▪ Waste – Storage Space
◦ Storage Reliability
▪ Storage Uptime (Coming Soon)
◦ Storage Capacity
▪ Total Storage Utilization
◦ Network Performance
▪ Average Throughput
▪ Avg I/O Latency (Coming Soon)
▪ I/O Latency – Deviation (Coming Soon)
◦ Network Efficiency
▪ Avg VMs per NIC (Coming Soon)
◦ Network Reliability
▪ Dropped Packets (Coming Soon)
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◦ Network Capacity
▪ Combined Avg Usage (Coming Soon)
▪ Avg File Usage (Coming Soon)
▪ Avg Storage Usage (Coming Soon)
• Efficiency Dashboard – The Efficiency Dashboard highlights the wasted resources that can be
reclaimed within the infrastructure along with the source of the waste. The Efficiency Dashboard
includes Idle VMs and Snapshots. Idle VMs are VMs that have a certain amount of CPU, memory, or
storage provisioned or reserved but not utilized. The user can sort the list of Idle VMs by name,
amount of CPU, memory, or potential savings achieved by deleting the VM and reclaiming the
resources to be better utilized elsewhere in the infrastructure. Users are able to identify snapshots
that may be deleted or merged in order to reduce waste and costs as well as improve performance.
Users can sort the list of snapshots based on key metrics such as snapshot size, age, number of
snapshots under the same VM, datastore capacity utilization, and cost savings.
◦ Rogue Snapshots – Users can reduce storage waste and save costs by identifying rogue
snapshots that may be merged or deleted.
• Policies – Users can adjust the default setting for Idle VMs and Cost.
◦ Cost: Calculation Values – Monthly vCPU Cost, Monthly Memory Cost per GB, Monthly Storage
Cost per GB
◦ Waste – Idle VMs: Parameters – Avg Monthly CPU Utilization, Avg Monthly Disk Utilization, Avg
Monthly Network Utilization
◦ Host-Based Caching: Parameters – Read Ratio, Cache Hit Ratio
• Post Installation Configuration – Network and Service configuration information can be updated
after installation.
• Event Log – Users can view informational, warning, and error events in the User Interface (Manage >
Event Log).
• Audit Log – The Audit Log captures the administrative actions of the users, along with the outcome of
the action (Manage > Audit Log).
• Update – SIOS iQ updates are available via the User Interface.
• Environments – Users can view, add, edit, and remove Environments from the Manage > Inventory >
Environments console.
Users can also view their associated virtual machines from the Manage > Inventory > Environments/
Virtual Machines consoles.
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• Health Status – The health status of Environments, VMs, and Hosts can be viewed from Manage >
Inventory > Environments/Virtual Machines consoles.
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System Requirements
SIOS iQ Appliance Requirements
• Storage Requirements – 132GB of space available on the host where the SIOS iQ Appliance will be
deployed
• Virtual Memory – 4096MB
• CPU – 2 vCPU
Hypervisor Technology Requirements
• vSphere – 5.x (5.0 or later)
• vCenter – 5.x
• Storage Type – Any supported by VMware
• Applications – Any
• OS – Any supported by VMware
Client Requirements
• Browsers – IE 9.0 or later; Firefox 18 or later, Chrome 23 or later, Safari 5.0 or later (NOTE: Ensure
that cookies are enabled in your web browser in order to avoid display issues.)
• Tablet Support – iPad and iPad Mini, Android devices with screen size 7’‘ or larger
VMware Environment Requirements
For some of the features SIOS iQ needs to obtain access to the ESXi host via ssh. Please make sure that
the following system requirements are met in order for SIOS iQ to effectively analyze and optimize your
environment:
1. ESXi Lockdown mode must be disabled. For more information on how to disable the Lockdown mode
please refer to http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/
search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1008077
2. ESXi authentication is performed either via provided vCenter credentials or specified Host credentials
during the Environment configuration assuming that all ESXi hosts have the same credentials via
single sign-on or individually. For more information on authentication and authorization for ESXi
please refer to http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/
index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.wssdk.pg.doc_50%2FPG_Ch6_Authenticate_Authorize.8.3.html
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3. ESXi host must have a scratch partition created which is configured by default starting from VMware
4.1x+
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Install
To install the appliance, you will need to perform the following steps:
Download
1. From https://repo.us.sios.com/release/latest.php download the OVA file. The MD5 checksum of the
OVA will appear on the page that can be used for verification that the OVA file is not corrupted.
Install the Appliance OVF
2. Log in to vSphere client, select File > Deploy OVF Template.
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3. On the Source screen browse to the location of the downloaded OVA file from Deploy from a file or
URL.
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4. Click Next on the OVF Template Details screen.
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5. Once you have read the End User License Agreement, Click Accept, then Click Next.
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6. On the Name and Location screen leave the default or rename the SIOS iQ appliance instance and
select the vCenter from the available list.
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7. On the Storage screen select the host for the SIOS iQ appliance.
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8. On the Disk Format screen select the disk format for your environment.
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9. On the Network Mapping screen select the source and destination networks for your environment.
10. On the Properties screen enter the Host Name, Host Domain and Timezone. Enter the IPv4
Address, IPv4 Netmask and IPv4 Gateway. Optionally, enter one or more IPv4 DNS Servers
separated by commas. Optionally, enter one or more DNS Suffixes separated by commas. The
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appliance will not power on until all required properties contain valid values.
11. On the Ready to Complete screen verify the configuration. Select the Power on after deployment
check box to power on the SIOS iQ appliance.
Note: If you select the Back button from this screen please reconfirm property values as they may be
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rearranged.
12. Open a browser and navigate to https://(appliance-fully-qualified-host-name or ip-address)/ to
access the appliance. You will see the SIOS iQ Log In screen (see User Management).
!
Ensure that cookies are enabled in your web browser to avoid display issues.
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*
SIOS iQ Freeview - 2.2
To ensure that you are running the most current version of the SIOS iQ software
see About SIOS iQ
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License
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Configure
This section contains information on configuring Network and Services after installing SIOS iQ. It also
contains User Management information.
• User Management
• Network
• Services
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User Management
After installing or upgrading the product and typing the following URL in your browser https://(enter the
appliance’s fully qualified domain name or IPv4 address)/ enter the user name and password.
!
Ensure that cookies are enabled in your web browser to avoid display issues.
The default credentials for the user are:
User Name: admin
Password: admin
First Time Login
Upon successful login for the first time, the user will be prompted to change the default password.
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After successfully changing your default password you must install a license before you can use SIOS iQ.
The user can change general information in My Settings > General.
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The user can change the password in My Settings > Credentials.
The user can change the permissions in My Settings > Permissions.
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Network
After installation you can view or edit Network settings.
Network Settings
1. Click on the Settings Icon > Configure SIOS iQ.
2. The current Network configuration is displayed. After changing the settings select the Apply button. A
confirmation screen will appear.
When a network configuration change was applied that results in the appliance being unreachable it is
possible to set/re-set appliance configuration properties from the vCenter.
a. The appliance must be shutdown. The properties will reflect the settings applied when the OVA was
first deployed (they will not reflect any subsequent changes that may have been made through the
Configure SIOS iQ page interface). A change must be applied to one or more of the OVF properties. If a
change is not made to any of the vCenter OVF properties, then there will be no changes made for the
appliance. Example scenario: You applied different configuration settings on the Configure SIOS iQ
page which accidentally rendered the appliance unreachable. To fix, simply shutdown the appliance,
enter in the correct changes in the OVF properties, and power on the appliance.
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.
b. Access the VM guest > Edit Settings… > Options > vApp Options:Properties settings.
!
The properties will reflect the settings applied when the OVA was first deployed
(they will not reflect any subsequent changes that may have been made through
the Configure SIOS iQ page interface). A change must be applied to one or more of
the OVF properties. If you change any of these settings, you will be required to log
back in. Based on the changes, your login URL may be different.
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Services
After installation you can view or edit Services.
Services Settings
1. Click on the Settings Icon > Configure SIOS iQ.
2. Click on Services.
3. The current Services configuration is displayed. After changing the settings select the Apply button.
*
For the Time Zone setting all information will be displayed based on the time zone
selected.
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Manage
This section contains information on managing Environments and Policies. It also contains information on
viewing your Virtual Machines.
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Environments
An Environment is a reference to a vCenter server and its associated resources that will be managed and
reported on by the application.
*
SIOS iQ freeview is limited to one Environment.
Add Environment
1. Click on Manage > Environments.
2. Click on the Add button. Add the new environment details. Note: Set the port to 443 unless your
configuration is using a different port.
3. Click Next and add your environment, host and VM Guest OS Credentials.
• Environment credentials are your vCenter credentials.
• Host credentials are the credentials for your ESX servers assigned to your vCenter (SIOS iQ assumes
that all hosts credentials within your vCenter are the same). Host credentials are needed for the HostBased Caching feature.
• VM Guest OS credentials are the Administrator credentials for the virtual machine OS. SIOS iQ
assumes that all virtual machines will use the same credentials. VM credentials are needed to identify
MSSQL issues for the Root Cause Analysis feature (see Application Performance Analytics via WMI
with SIOS iQ for more information).
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*
SIOS iQ Freeview - 2.2
VMs Connection state and OS Credentials in the Environment are necessary for
SIOS iQ to access the VM and identify issues with MSSQL for the Performance
Root Cause Analysis feature.
4. Click OK. Once the environment is added you may notice a slight delay before the environment health
is reflected.
Edit Environment
1. Click on Manage > Environments.
2. Select the environment that you want to edit.
3. Click on the Properties button. Change your environment properties. Click OK.
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Remove Environment
1. Click on Manage > Environments.
2. Select the environment that you want to remove.
3. Click on the Remove button and then confirm the removal.
4. The state of the environment will change to “Removing” as pictured below.
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*
SIOS iQ Freeview - 2.2
Environment removal may take some time. When the removal is complete, the
environment will no longer appear.
View Environment
To view your Environments click on Manage > Environments.
To export your Environment grid click on Export. This will create a CSV file containing the current
Environment grid details.
*
Export is not supported on mobile devices or Internet Explorer 9.
If using Internet Explorer 10 or 11, turn off the popup blocker when using Export.
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*
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VMs Connection state and OS Credentials in the Environment are necessary for
SIOS iQ to access the VM and identify issues with MSSQL for the Performance
Root Cause Analysis feature.
Health/State Legend
Icon
Description
Failing
Degraded
OK
Unknown
Removing
Removing Environment
Connection State Legend
Connection State
Description
Ok
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No Credentials
Credentials are not available/configured for this feature
Failed
Connection could not be made
Unauthorized
User credentials do not have access
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Virtual Machines
View Virtual Machines
To view your Virtual Machines click on Manage > Virtual Machines.
To export your Virtual Machines grid click on Export. This will create a CSV file containing the current
Virtual Machines grid details.
*
Export is not supported on mobile devices or Internet Explorer 9.
If using Internet Explorer 10 or 11, turn off the popup blocker when using Export.
View VM Properties
1. Click on Manage > Virtual Machines.
2. Select the VM that you want to view the properties on.
3. Click on the Properties button. Any changes to your VM properties must be made in your Virtual
Machine hosting environment (not in SIOS iQ).
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Health State Legend
Icon
Description
Failing
Degraded
OK
Unknown
Connection State Legend
Connection State
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Description
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Ok
No Credentials
Credentials are not available/configured for this feature
Failed
Connection could not be made
Unauthorized
User credentials do not have access
WMI Failed
WMI connection could not be made
WMI Unauthorized
User credentials do not have permission to use WMI
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Hosts
View Hosts
To view your Hosts click on Manage > Hosts.
To export your Hosts grid click on Export. This will create a CSV file containing the current Hosts grid
details.
*
Export is not supported on mobile devices or Internet Explorer 9.
If using Internet Explorer 10 or 11, turn off the popup blocker when using Export.
View Host Properties
1. Click on Manage > Hosts.
2. Select the Host that you want to view the properties on.
3. Click on the Properties button. Any changes to your VM properties must be made in your Virtual
Machine hosting environment (not in SIOS iQ).
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Health State Legend
Icon
Description
Failing
Degraded
OK
Unknown
Connection State Legend
Connection State
Description
Ok
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No Credentials
Credentials are not available/configured for this feature
Failed
Connection could not be made
Unauthorized
User credentials do not have access
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Datastores
View Datastores
To view your Datastores click on Manage > Datastores.
To export your Datastores grid click on Export. This will create a CSV file containing the current Datastores
grid details.
*
Export is not supported on mobile devices or Internet Explorer 9.
If using Internet Explorer 10 or 11, turn off the popup blocker when using Export.
View Datastore Properties
1. Click on Manage > Datastores.
2. Select the Datastore that you want to view the properties on.
3. Click on the Properties button. Any changes to your VM properties must be made in your Virtual
Machine hosting environment (not in SIOS iQ).
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Policies
Policies
Policies enable the user to modify certain parameters that may place boundaries around the analytics
engine or serve as inputs for certain features and capabilities.
Cost
Cost calculation values are used to calculate the infrastructure cost of your environments. The default
Monthly Cost values are based on general industry trends in US Dollars. To specify a different Monthly Cost
value or currency, select Custom and enter the desired cost unit. Cost calculation values are global and
apply to all VMs in all environments. These values are used to calculate the potential monthly savings in the
Efficiency dashboard.
Idle VMs
Idle VMs are listed on the Efficiency Dashboard. Idle VMs are identified using the values specified and the
calculated average utilization of CPU, disk and network resources within the environment. Policy values are
global and apply to all VMs in all environments. For more information, see Efficiency > Idle VMs:
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There are 3 parameters that are used to define Idle VMs (Avg CPU Utilization, Avg IO Utilization, Avg
Network Utilization). An Idle VM is identified when ALL THREE of its average utilizations are equal to or less
than the average environment utilization calculated using the values specified. The user can set the time
period used to calculate the utilization and identify Idle VMs directly within the Efficiency Dashboard.
Avg CPU Utilization
1. Idle VMs are displayed on the Efficiency Dashboard when the average CPU utilization for a particular
VM is equal to or less than the parameter set in the policy. (Ex. In this example the Avg CPU
Utilization is set to 10%).
2. Policy values are global and apply to all VMs in all environments.
Avg Disk Utilization
1. Idle VMs are displayed on the Efficiency Dashboard when the average disk utilization for a particular
VM is equal to or less than the idle value for disk utilization as calculated using the current policy
setting. The idle value for Avg Disk Utilization is calculated by multiplying the percent value set in the
policy and the Avg Disk Utilization of all of the VMs in the environment. (Ex: If there are a total of 3
VMs, with Disk Utilizations of 20 KBps, 50 KBps, and 30 KBps respectively, then the Avg Disk
Utilization across all 3 VMs is 33.33KBps. With the policy value set to 10% the dashboard will only
display Idle VMs that have a Disk Utilization of less than 3.33 KBps).
2. Policy values are global and apply to all VMs in all environments.
Avg Network Utilization
1. Idle VMs are displayed on the Waste Dashboard when the average network utilization for a particular
VM is equal to or below the value calculated using the current policy setting. Avg Network Utilization
is calculated by multiplying the percent value set in the policy and the Avg Network Utilization of all of
the VMs in the environments. (Ex: If there are a total of 3 VMs, with Network Utilizations of 10 KBps,
15 KBps, and 5 KBps respectively, then the Avg Network Utilization across all 3 VMs is 10 KBps. With
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the policy value set to 10% the dashboard will only display Idle VMs that have an Network Utilization
of less than 1.00 KBps).
2. Policy values are global and apply to all VMs in all environments.
Default Policy Values
• Waste – These values are percentages. For CPU, it is a straight percentage of CPU usage. For disk
and network usage, the values are percentages of the overall average of all the virtual machines in
the environment.
◦ Avg CPU Utilization (default = 10%)
◦ Percent of Avg Disk Utilization (default = 10%)
◦ Percent of Avg Network Utilization (default = 10%)
• Cost – Cost is assumed per day (user must calculate the cost per unit per day (vCPU, memory in GB,
and storage in GB). These numbers are in 1/1000 of a dollar (milli-dollars). For example if Monthly
Storage Cost per GB is 25 then $0.025 per GB of storage was used for one day.
◦ Monthly vCPU Cost (default = $40)
◦ Monthly Memory Cost per GB (default = $10)
◦ Monthly Storage Cost per GB (default = $.005)
*
The default policy values cannot currently be set per user or environment.
Host-Based Caching
This section contains the parameters (Read Ratio, Cache Hit Ratio) that help define candidates for HostBased Caching. A user may modify the settings to custom values or reset them to the default values. HostBased Caching candidates are identified in the Host-Based Caching Dashboard, when all policy values are
met or exceeded within the specified time period. Policy values are global and apply to all VMs in all
environments.
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Users and Permissions
Add a New User
The User Console is located under Manage > Users.
To add a new user select Add and enter the user information.
Select Next and enter the User Name and Password.
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Select Next and select the user’s permission level. Click OK to complete.
User Permissions
Action
Read/
Write
Add/Modify/Delete Environments
X
View Environments & Properties
X
Add/Modify/Delete Users
X
View Users & Properties
X
Read Only
X
X
Edit User Information
To edit an existing user’s information select the User and Click on Properties. Click OK to complete.
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To edit an existing user’s password select the User and Click on Properties > Credentials. Click OK to
complete.
To edit an existing user’s permissions select the User and Click on Properties > Permissions. Click OK to
complete.
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View Dashboards
This section contains information on viewing the PERC (Performance, Efficiency, Reliability, Capacity),
Efficiency and Host-Based Caching dashboards.
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PERC
The PERC (Performance, Efficiency, Reliability, Capacity) Dashboard is specifically designed to give the
user a single point of view into their environment. It consists of the PERC Issues section and the PERC
Matrix section. The dashboard gives a high level snapshot of performance, resource utilization, service
levels, and availability across compute, storage, and network. It can also serve as a starting point to
diagnose any problem or anomaly in the infrastructure. The user can drill down on individual components
and panels within the dashboard to get a more detailed view. The user can also change the time selection
filter to show issues, statistics, and trends for the time period selected.
The PERC Dashboard displays information at the aggregate level as well as highlights specific problems or
warnings in VM(s), host(s), and network or storage components. Leveraging the unique machine learning
algorithm for continuous optimization, it will capture current states, display historical data, forecast key
trends, and help diagnose and identify specific problems in the infrastructure.
PERC Overview Section
Performance
• Issues In Progress
◦ Critical (Feature Not Available) The ability to see details is not available in SIOS iQ free
edition. To access this feature, sign up for the SIOS iQ beta program by contacting
[email protected].
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◦ Warning – (Feature Not Available) The ability to see details is not available in SIOS iQ free
edition. To access this feature, sign up for the SIOS iQ beta program by contacting
[email protected].
◦ Information – Displays the total count of all the Informational level Performance events that are
in progress for the time period selected.
▪ Example: The number of Host-Based Caching Candidates for the Environment based on
the time filter selected. When it is selected it will drill down to the Host-Based Caching
Dashboard.
• All Performance Issues – The All Performance Issues chart shows the trend of all issues which
started in the current or previous time period, and which were in progress during the time period
selected. The Total Issues number shows the total number of issues that were in progress during the
time period selected. The percent change number shows how much the total number of issues has
changed from the previous time period.
Efficiency
• Issues In Progress
◦ Critical (Coming Soon)
◦ Warning (Coming Soon)
◦ Information – This is the cumulative number of Efficiency > Idle VMs and VM Snapshots. When
it is selected it will drill down to the Efficiency Dashboard.
• All Efficiency Issues – The All Efficiency Issues chart shows the trend of all issues which started in
the current or previous time period, and which were in progress during the time period selected. The
Total Issues number shows the total number of issues that were in progress during the time period
selected. The percent change number shows how much the total number of issues has changed from
the previous time period.
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Reliability
• Issues In Progress
◦ Critical (Coming Soon)
◦ Warning (Coming Soon)
◦ Information (Coming Soon)
• All Reliability Issues (Coming Soon)
Capacity
• Issues In Progress
◦ Critical (Coming Soon)
◦ Warning (Coming Soon)
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◦ Information (Coming Soon)
• All Capacity Issues (Coming Soon)
PERC Matrix Section
Display by Environment
Users can select all Environments or a specific Environment display.
Display Time Range:
Users can select from the following time ranges to display.
• Last 24 hours
• Last 7 days
• Last 30 days
The data displayed is derived from the real-time stats collected. The data is then sub-sampled/averaged out
to display the charts as well as derive any trends and metrics.
Dashboard Components
The PERC Dashboard has four columns (Performance, Efficiency, Reliability, Capacity), each of which
consists of (Compute, Storage, Network) as shown in the diagram below.
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In general, the columns are designed to indicate data for the following:
• Performance – This column contains information such as utilization rates, latency, I/O, and
throughput. Most of the data is averaged out across the specific filter level set by the user.
• Efficiency – This section shows waste, density, and other utilizations that help indicate the overall
efficiency of the system. This is also aggregated at the specific filter level set by the user.
• Reliability – This section contains information around service levels and availability. The data is
aggregated across the specific filter level set by the user.
• Capacity – This is the aggregate capacity (compute, storage, network) at the specific filter level set
by the user.
These sections contain panels which consist of trend lines, numbers which outline specific data and trends,
and lists of VMs Groups (as shown below).
A user can drill down on the panels for a more detailed view including graphs and other useful information.
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Each section is described in more detail below.
Compute Section
1. Compute Performance
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a. Host CPU Utilization – The Host CPU Utilization chart shows the average CPU utilization across the
environments selected. The Variance shows the variance of CPU utilization averaged across the hosts
in the environments selected. The percent change shows how much the CPU utilization variance has
changed from the previous time period.
b. CPU Ready Time – The CPU Ready Time chart shows the average number of milliseconds (ms) the
VMs were ready but were not scheduled to run across the environments selected. The ms number
shows the average time the VMs were ready. The percent change shows how much the average ready
time changed from the previous time period.
c. Host Memory Utilization – The Host Memory Utilization chart shows the average host memory
utilization across the environments selected. The Variance number shows the variance of memory
utilization averaged across the hosts in the environments selected. The percent change shows how
much the memory utilization variance has changed from the previous time period.
d. Memory Ballooning – The Memory Ballooning chart shows how much virtual memory (RAM) is
being reclaimed from the VMs to address over-allocation across the environments selected. The MB
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number shows the average amount of reclaimed virtual memory. The percent change shows how much
the average reclaimed virtual memory changed from the previous time period.
e. Memory Swapping – The Memory Swapping chart shows how much physical host memory (RAM) is
being over utilized across the environments selected. The MB number shows the average physical host
memory over-utilization. The percent change shows how much the average physical host memory
utilization changed from the previous time period.
2. Compute Efficiency
a. Waste – Compute Cost – The Waste – Compute Cost chart shows the potential monthly savings
that can be achieved by reducing compute waste across the environments selected. The savings is
calculated based on the time period selected and the Cost policy (See Manage > Policies: Cost). The
Cost number shows the current potential savings that can be achieved. The percent change shows how
much the potential savings changed from the previous time period.
b. Waste – Idle vCPUs – The Waste – Idle vCPUs chart shows the number of idle virtual CPUs that can
be reclaimed across the environments selected. The idle virtual CPUs are identified based on the time
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period selected and the Waste – Idle VMs Policy (See Manage > Policies: Waste – Idle VMs). The
vCPUs number shows how many idle virtual CPUs can be reclaimed. The percent change shows how
much the number of idle virtual CPUs changed from the previous time period.
c. Waste – vMemory – The Waste – vMemory chart shows the amount of idle virtual memory that can
be reclaimed across the environments selected. The idle memory is identified based on the time period
selected and the Waste – Idle VMs Policy (See Manage > Policies: Waste – Idle VMs). The GB number
shows the current amount of idle virtual memory that can be reclaimed. The percent change shows how
much the amount of idle virtual memory changed from the previous time period.
d. Avg VMs per Host (Coming Soon)
3. Compute Reliability
a. Host Uptime – The Host Uptime chart shows the percentage of time that the hosts were up across
the environments selected. The Uptime (%) number shows the average uptime. The percent change
shows how much the average uptime changed from the previous time period.
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b. Live Migrations – The Live Migrations chart shows the number of live migrations that occurred
across the environments selected. The Total Number shows the total number of live migrations that
occurred in the time period selected. The percent change shows how much the total number of live
migrations changed from the previous time period.
4. Compute Capacity – This section summarizes the aggregate compute capacity for the currently
filtered level.
a. Total CPU Utilization – The Total CPU Utilization chart shows the percentage of total CPU MHz
utilized across the environments selected. The Percent number shows the current percentage of CPU
MHz utilized. The percent change shows how much the percentage of CPU MHz utilized changed from
the previous time period.
b. Total Memory Utilization – The Total Memory Utilization chart shows the percentage of total
physical memory (GB) utilized across the environments selected. The Percent number shows the
current percentage of physical memory utilized. The percent change shows how much the percentage
of physical memory utilized changed from the previous time period.
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Storage Section
5. Storage Performance
a. Average Throughput – The Average Throughput chart shows the average storage throughput
(KBps) achieved across the environments selected. The KBps number shows the average storage
throughput. The percent change shows how much the average storage throughput changed from the
previous time period.
b. IOPS – Deviation (Coming Soon)
c. Average Latency – The Average Latency chart shows the average storage latency across the
environments selected. The ms number shows the average storage latency. The percent change shows
how much the average storage latency changed from the previous time period.
d. Latency Deviation (Coming Soon)
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e. Host-Based Caching Candidates – The Host-Based Caching Candidates chart shows the number
of VMs identified as caching candidates across the environments selected. The VMs were identified
based on the time period selected and the Host-Based Caching policy (See Manage > Policies: HostBased Caching). The VMs number shows the current number of VM candidates identified. The percent
change shows how much the number of candidates changed from the previous time period.
6. Storage Efficiency
a. Waste – Storage Cost – The Waste – Storage Cost chart shows the potential monthly savings that
can be achieved by reducing storage waste across the environments selected. The savings is
calculated based on the Cost policy (See Manage > Policies: Cost). The Cost number shows the current
potential savings that can be achieved. The percent change shows how much the potential savings
changed from the previous time period.
b. Waste – Storage Space – The Waste – Storage Space chart shows the amount of storage that can
be reclaimed by deleting unused snapshots across the environments selected. The GB number shows
the current amount of storage that can be reclaimed. The percent change shows how much the amount
of storage that can be reclaimed changed from the previous time period.
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7. Storage Reliability
a. Storage Uptime – (Coming Soon)
8. Storage Capacity
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a. Total Storage Utilization – The Total Storage Utilization chart shows the percentage of total storage
(GB) utilized across the environments selected. The Percent number shows the current percentage of
storage utilized. The percent change shows how much the percentage of storage utilized changed from
the previous time period.
Network Section
9. Network Performance
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a. Average Throughput – The Average Throughput chart shows the average network throughput
(KBps) across the environments selected. The KBps number shows the average network throughput.
The percent change shows how much the average network throughput changed from the previous time
period.
b. Avg I/O Latency (Coming Soon)
c. I/O Latency – Deviation (Coming Soon)
10. Network Efficiency
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a. Avg VMs per NIC (Coming Soon)
11. Network Reliability
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a. Dropped Packets (Coming Soon)
12. Network Capacity
a. Combined Avg Usage (Coming Soon)
b. Avg File Usage (Coming Soon)
c. Avg Storage Usage (Coming Soon)
PERC Dashboard
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Efficiency
Overview
Within every environment there will be resources across compute (CPU, memory), storage, and network
that may be provisioned or reserved, but not utilized. This could be a result of an non-utilized (Idle) VM, an
old snapshot, a stopped VM, or residue from a VM after a failure or migration. The Efficiency Dashboard
highlights the wasted resources that can be reclaimed within the infrastructure along with the source of the
waste.
Potential Monthly Savings
After the user takes the appropriate corrective action based on the type and source of waste, the resources
will be freed up to be utilized more efficiently in the environment. When viewing the wasted resources in the
Efficiency Dashboard, a user can sort the list based on the resources that can be reclaimed or the amount
of money that can be saved without purchasing additional resources (where appropriate).
Waste Source Types and Detection
Several sources can create waste across compute, storage, and network. These sources, along with the
specific source object, and potential savings will be displayed in the dashboard.
For each waste type, the analytics engine will detect if an object is causing waste depending on specific
policy values and definitions. For some waste types, listed below, the user can adjust the internal default
values for the policy values. Also, for all resources that have a monetary value, the user can adjust the
internal default value. The adjustments can be made in the policies panel (Manage > Policies).
Currently Available Waste Types:
Idle VMs
These are VMs that have a certain amount of CPU, memory, or storage provisioned or reserved but not
utilized. The user can sort the list of Idle VMs by name, amount of CPU, memory, or potential savings
achieved by deleting the VM and reclaiming the resources to be better utilized elsewhere in the
infrastructure.
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To export your Idle VMs grid click on Export. This will create a CSV file containing the current Idle VMs grid
details.
*
Export is not supported on mobile devices or Internet Explorer 9.
If using Internet Explorer 10 or 11, turn off the popup blocker when using Export.
VM Snapshots
This displays a list of snapshots, along with the relevant VM, datastore, and number of other snapshots
under the VM (siblings). As the number of snapshots grows, it will lead to wasted storage resources and
may also impact the performance of the VMs. The performance impact increases as the number of siblings
grows. To determine which snapshots may be deleted to reclaim waste, a user can also sort the list of
snapshots based on how much storage they occupy, the potential cost savings, the age of the snapshot, or
the utilization percentage of the associated datastore.
To export your VM Snapshots grid click on Export. This will create a CSV file containing the current VM
Snapshots grid details.
*
Export is not supported on mobile devices.
If using Internet Explorer, turn off the popup blocker when using Export.
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Host-Based Caching
Overview
The Host-Based Caching feature:
• Provides the ability to improve performance
• Makes the performance more predictable
• Offloads network traffic
• Offloads network attached storage
• Improves the density of virtualization environment
*
When adding or editing an Environment, for Host Based Caching to work, you must
enable Host-level credentials.
Host-Based Caching Analysis enables you to quickly identify the most appropriate workloads to cache.
SIOS iQ displays the VM candidates in the Host-Based Caching dashboard when the specified policy values
are met or exceeded. Policy values are global and apply to all VMs in all environments.
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There are two parameters that are used to define the Host-Based Caching VM candidates; Read Ratio and
Cache Hit Ratio. Both parameter thresholds must be met in order for a resulting candidate to be displayed in
the Host-Based Caching grid.
Read Ratio
• Host-Based Caching VMs are identified in the Host-Based Caching Dashboard when the Read Rate
policy value for a particular VM is equal to or greater than the value set in the policy. The default
Read Ratio is 70%.
Cache Hit Ratio
• Host-Based Caching VMs are identified in the Host-Based Caching Dashboard when the Cache Hit
Ratio policy value for a particular VM is equal to or greater than the value set in the policy. The default
Cache Hit Ratio is 50%.
To change the parameter defaults please refer to Host-Based Caching Policies.
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Performance Root Cause
SIOS iQ learns the behavior of each individual object in the environment leveraging the principles of
machine learning and topological behavior analysis. SIOS iQ not only identifies the anomalies in the
behavior that potentially cause the performance issues to the application, but it also correlates the
anomalies to derive the relationships and determine the root cause of the problem (such as object or event).
SIOS iQ then presents any infrastructure component events that may affect performance through the
Performance Root Cause Analysis Dashboard.
The Performance Root Cause Analysis Dashboard is split into two sections. The left section is a list of
issues in chronological order that includes Severity, Start Time, End Time, and Issue Type information. The
right section displays Details and Symptoms of the selected issue.
• Details – The Details tab provides additional information including root cause object (datastore, VM,
etc.) name, issue start time, issue type (Storage Contention, Application Impact, Application Storage
Contention), issue end time, layer (application, compute, storage, network) duration, and the
environment.
• Impact Analysis – The Impact Analysis tab shows all the associated objects (host, VM and
datastore) related to the detected issue.
◦ Performance Impact – Performance Impact provides the ability to evaluate the impact on the
object(s) within the infrastructure that have been identified as impacted by accessing symptoms
such as: latencies, IOPS, etc.
• Symptoms – The Symptoms tab provides information about the symptoms associated with this
issue. The symptoms graph provides an overlay of the start and end times of the anomaly.
◦ Example- A Storage Contention provides information about an iO latency peak, iO latency
percentage deviation from the norm, and plots a graph of datastore iO latency statistics for the
duration of the issue.
To view the Performance Root Cause dashboard click on View > Performance Root Cause
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Storage Contention
One of the most common performance issues that affects applications in cloud/virtualization environments is
related to storage. More specifically performance issues are related to datastore contention. A datastore is
an object that is shared with VMs on the same host and/or on different hosts within an environment.
Datastore contention can be caused by many different events within the environment. The datastore
contention will be revealed by an abnormal increase in IO latency. The IO latency affects all of the
applications on that datastore, however with storage contention it is only isolated to the datastore.
Severity
Impacted
Objects
Root Cause
Type
Layer
Symptoms
Datastore
Storage
Contention
Storage
Latency and/or
N/A
IOPS increase
Associated
Objects
Related
Host(s) and
VM(s)
What does that mean? And what should I do with this information?
This issue is a Warning that may indicate that the datastore or the infrastructure that supports the datastore
is experiencing performance degradation (in the case of latency). The Warning may also indicate an
increase in the workload (in the case of IOPS). At this time the issue is not affecting the VMs. This type of
issue should be investigated to determine whether it may lead to potential problems in the future (such as
hardware failures or the first sign of an infrastructure issue that supports the datastore).
• Recommendation:
◦ Verify that the observed increase in workload (in the case of IOPS) is expected and that it is not
the occurrence of malicious activity.
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◦ Continue observing the progress of this event, as it may degrade over time to an Application
Storage Contention issue, impacting VM(s) and related application(s).
Application Impact
Application impact currently indicates that the anomaly has been discovered and isolated to the VM(s) only.
Types of anomalies that fall into this category are: VM CPU % utilization, VM virtual memory utilization, VM
CPU ready time, and VM virtual disk latency and/or IOPS.
Severity
Root Cause
Type
Impacted
Objects
Associated
Objects
Storage
Latency
increase
N/A
Associated
VM(s), Host(s),
and datastore
Compute
CPU Ready
N/A
Associated
VM(s) and
Host(s)
Associated
VM(s) and
Host(s)
Associated
VM(s), Host(s),
and datastore
Layer
Symptoms
VMs
Application
Impact
VMs
Application
Impact
VMs
Application
Impact
Compute
CPU and/or
virtual memory
N/A
utilization
increase
VMs
Application
Impact
Storage
IOPS increase
N/A
What does that mean? And what should I do with this information?
The Critical severity issue indicates that there is high probability that the application that runs on the
identified VM(s) is being impacted. The Warning severity issue indicates that abnormal behavior has been
identified (such as IOPS). This may indicate that the application behavior has changed significantly enough
to be considered an anomaly.
• Recommendation:
◦ Verify that the observed increase in workload (in the case of IOPS) is expected and that it is not
the occurrence of malicious activity.
◦ Continue observing the progress of this event, as it may degrade over time to a Contention
issue, impacting VM(s) and related application(s).
Application Storage Contention
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Application storage contention indicates that SIOS iQ has identified a performance issue caused by:
• An excessive load (IOPS) on the datastore that is caused by the VM(s) that impact the datastore. The
root cause of this type of issue (known in the IT industry as the “noisy neighbor”) points to the VMs
that are identified and responsible for the issue.
• Anomalous latencies have been identified on the datastore that also impact the VM(s) on the
datastore. In this case the VM(s) behavior is considered normal (expected and not anomalous). This
issue indicates that the datastore, or the infrastructure that supports this datastore, is experiencing
some expected behavior (such as an overloaded datastore). Additional capacity related adjustments
may be required such as creating a new datastore and relocating the VM(s) to offload the datastore.
Severity
Root Cause
Type
Layer
Symptoms
Impacted
Objects
Associated
Objects
VMs
Application
Storage
Contention
Storage
Latency and
IOPS increase
Associated
Datastore and/
VM(s) and
or VM(s)
Host(s)
Datastore
Application
Storage
Contention
Storage
Latency
VM(s)
Associated
VM(s) and
Host(s)
VMs
Application
Storage
Contention
Storage
IOPS increase
Datastore
Associated
VM(s) and
Host(s)
What does that mean? And what should I do with this information?
The Critical severity issue when the root cause is a VM(s) indicates that a VM(s) is identified as a “noisy
neighbor”. This event impacts and degrades the performance of the datastore and can potentially impact
related VMs. To determine whether any objects in the configuration related to the root cause are impacted,
navigate to the Impact Analysis tab of the selected issue. To observe the impact, click on the Performance
Impact button after selecting the object.
• Recommendation:
◦ This event is a clear indicator that the datastore is overprovisioned. Rebalance any VM(s)
identified as a “noisy neighbor” to a different host and/or datastore. As this event progresses,
additional VM(s) may be affected and will appear in the list of impacted objects under the
Impact Analysis tab of the selected event.
◦ Offload the current datastore by relocating VM(s) to a different (or newly created) datastore..
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The Critical severity issue when the root cause is a datastore indicates that anomalous latencies were
identified on the datastore and the related VM(s). No anomalous behavior (such as IOPS) has been
identified in the VMs (no “noisy neighbors”). To determine whether any objects in the configuration related to
the root cause are impacted, navigate to the Impact Analysis tab of the selected event. To observe the
impact, click on the Performance Impact button of the selected event. This issue may indicate that the
datastore, or the infrastructure that supports the datastore, is experiencing some performance degradation.
• Recommendation:
◦ Determine whether there was a hardware failure, as the observed degradation in performance
may indicate the first signs of hardware-related issues.
◦ Create a new datastore and relocate VM(s) to offload the datastore.
The Warning severity issue when the root cause is a VM(s) indicates that anomalous workload behavior
(increased IOPS) have been identified on the VM(s) and the datastore,. There is no application impact that
has been identified. To determine the impact on the datastore click on the Performance Impact button on
the datastore selected in the Impact Analysis. This may indicate that the application behavior has changed
significantly enough to be identified as an anomaly.
• Recommendation:
◦ Verify that the observed increase in workload is expected and that it is not the occurrence of
malicious activity.
◦ Continue observing the progress of this event, as it may degrade over time to an Application
Storage Contention Critical performance issue.
Compute Contention
One of the many benefits of virtualization is to provide the ability to host multiple applications on a single
physical hardware reducing capital and operational expenses. The goal is to place as many applications on
the host as possible in order to take advantage of the benefits of the virtualization technology. It is important
at all times to have a good understanding of whether or not the physical host is capable of sustaining the
load. Keeping the balance is challenging especially when workloads are dynamic and no one is protected
from infrastructure failures that would reduce the compute capacity and its availability. As a result, another
common set of issues (in addition to storage) is related to the contention of the compute (CPU and/or
memory) resources. Typically, cloud/virtualization platforms partition a physical host (ESXi in the case of
VMware) to provide compute resources to the hosted VM(s). Any type of compute (CPU and/or memory)
contention starts from the host that attempts to mitigate the risk of affecting the application by leveraging
available mechanisms (such as memory ballooning). If contention is too severe it impacts the applications
that reside on the VM(s). It is important to analyze compute resources at the application, VM, and host
levels in order to understand whether the host is simply under pressure and no applications are affected
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(which is okay), or it is actually experiencing the severe symptoms of contention (such as memory
swapping) that affect the performance of the applications. Below is the list of Root Cause types with
corresponding severities that SIOS iQ will report in cases of the Compute Contention issues.
Severity
Root Cause
Host
Host
Type
Compute
Contention
Compute
Contention
Impacted
Objects
Associated
Objects
Layer
Symptoms
Compute
Increase in
utilization of
CPU and/or
N/A
virtual memory
or Memory
Ballooning
Related VM(s)
Compute
Increase in
CPU Ready
Time and/or
Memory
Swapping
Related VM(s)
N/A
What does that mean? And what should I do with this information?
The Warning type Severity event indicates that an anomalous workload increase is being observed in the
following host counters: CPU, Virtual Memory and/or Memory Ballooning. There is currently no application
impact identified. To determine the impact to the host, click on the host name in the Root Cause Objects
section of the event Details tab. This type of event may occur if new workload(s) (application(s) installed on
the VM(s) or VM(s) themselves) were added to the host or existing application(s) changed its workload(s).
• Recommendation:
◦ Verify that the observed increase in workload is expected and that it is not the occurrence of
malicious activity.
◦ Continue observing the progress of this event, as it may degrade over time to a more severe
Compute Contention or Application Compute Contention issue, impacting VM(s) and related
application(s). This is especially important if Memory Ballooning is observed as one of the
symptoms on the host.
The Critical type of Severity Compute Contention event indicates that an anomalous increase in CPU Ready
Time and/or Memory Swapping is being observed that is likely to impact related VM(s) and applications that
can be found in the Impact Analysis tab of the event. Currently no anomalous behavior was observed for the
related VMs. This could be an early indication of the host that is over provisioned and capacity related
adjustments may be required such as re-balancing of the VMs across available hosts in the data center. To
determine the impact to the host click on the host name in the Root Cause Objects section of the event
Details tab.
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• Recommendation:
◦ This event may be an early indication of a host capacity issue. Continue observing the progress
of this event, as it may degrade over time to an Application Compute Contention issue,
impacting VM(s) and related application(s).
Application Compute Contention
Application compute contention indicates that SIOS iQ has identified an anomalous compute (CPU and/or
memory related) workload increase that is potentially impacting a host and related VM(s). The Root Cause
Objects section presents the list of the object(s) (such as VMs) that experience the anomalous workload
increase and cause excessive pressure on the host impacting objects that can be found under Impact
Analysis tab. The Severity of the event specifies its criticality.
Severity
Root Cause
Type
VM(s)
Application
Compute
Contention
VM(s)
Application
Compute
Contention
VM(s) and
Host
VM(s) and
Host
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Application
Compute
Contention
Application
Compute
Contention
Impacted
Objects
Associated
Objects
Layer
Symptoms
Compute
Increase in
utilization of
CPU and/or
Host
virtual memory
and/or Memory
Ballooning
Related VM(s)
Compute
Increase in
CPU Ready
Time and/or
Memory
Swapping
Related VM(s)
Compute
VM(s) and
Host having
different
(possibly
unrelated)
None
increase in
CPU and/or
virtual memory
and/or Memory
Ballooning
Related VM(s)
Compute
VM(s) and
Host having
different
(possibly
unrelated)
increase in
CPU Ready
Related VM(s)
Host and
related VM(s)
None or
Related VM(s)
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Time and/or
Memory
Swapping
What does that mean? And what should I do with this information?
The first Warning event listed in the table above indicates that an anomalous workload increase was
observed on the VM(s) listed in the Root Cause Objects section, however no impact was observed on the
application(s) and related VM(s). To determine the impact on the host click on the host name under the
Impact Analysis tab. To evaluate the workload increase observed by the VM(s), inspect each individual VM
listed in the Root Cause Objects section under the Details tab for the event. This type of event may occur if
new workload(s) (applications to the VM(s) or VM(s) themselves) were added to the host or existing
application(s) changed its workload(s).
• Recommendation:
◦ Verify that the observed increase in workload (in the case of IOPS) is expected and that it is not
the occurrence of malicious activity.
◦ Continue observing the progress of this event, as it may degrade over time to a more severe
Compute Contention or Application Compute Contention issue, impacting VM(s) and related
application(s). This is especially important if Memory Ballooning is observed as one of the
symptoms on the host.
The second in the list is a Critical severity event. It indicates that an anomalous workload increase was
observed on the VM(s) listed in the Root Cause Objects section. The list of the impacted objects can be
found under the Impact Analysis tab of the selected event. There is a high risk of application impact in this
case that requires immediate attention. To determine the impact click on the impacted objects under the
Impact Analysis tab. To evaluate the VM(s) that caused the issue inspect each individual VM listed in the
Root Cause Objects section under the Details tab for the event.
• Recommendation:
◦ Verify that the observed increase in workload is expected and that it is not the occurrence of
malicious activity.
◦ This event is a clear indicator that the host is over provisioned. To address this issue when the
VM(s) and host are both identified, immediate rebalancing of the VM(s) across the available
hosts in the data center is highly recommended. As this event progresses, additional related
VM(s) may be affected and, along with any change in the symptoms, will appear in the list of
impacted objects under the Impact Analysis tab of the selected event.
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The third event in the list is the Warning severity event. In this case SIOS iQ has identified an anomalous
workload increase on the host and VM(s) that is likely unrelated such as: VM(s) is(are) experiencing
increase in CPU utilization, while the host is experiencing the increase in the virtual memory utilization or
vice verse. This type of event may occur if new workload(s) (application(s) to the VM(s) or VM(s)
themselves) were added to the host or existing application(s) changed its workload(s).
• Recommendation:
◦ Verify that the observed increase in workload is expected and that it is not the occurrence of
malicious activity.
◦ Continue observing the progress of this event, as it may degrade over time to more severe
Application Compute Contention issue, impacting VM(s) and related application(s). This is
especially important if Memory Ballooning is observed as one of the symptoms on the host.
The last Critical severity event listed above indicates that while an anomalous workload increase on the host
and the VM(s) has been identified, it is likely unrelated. VM(s) and host are experiencing symptoms that
indicate that there is a high risk of the application impact. To determine the impact click on the impacted
objects under the Impact Analysis tab. To evaluate the VM(s) and host that caused the issue inspect each
individual object listed in the Root Cause Objects section under the Details tab for the selected event.
• Recommendation:
◦ Verify that the observed increase in workload is expected and that it is not the occurrence of
malicious activity.
◦ This event is a clear indicator that the host is over provisioned. To address this issue when the
VM(s) and host are both identified, immediate rebalancing of the VM(s) across the available
hosts in the data center is highly recommended. As this event progresses, additional related
VM(s) may be affected and, along with any change in the symptoms, will appear in the list of
impacted objects under the Impact Analysis tab of the selected event.
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Update SIOS iQ
For version 2.0.3 and later SIOS iQ automatically checks for software updates every 15 minutes. If an
update is available SIOS iQ automatically downloads the update and the Settings icon in the upper right
corner of the user interface will appear orange.
Before updating the SIOS iQ appliance it is highly recommended that a snapshot be performed. Performing
a snapshot before an appliance update provides an extra layer of assurance should something unexpected
occur. Refer to Understanding virtual machine snapshots in VMware ESXi and ESX for details on creating a
VMware snapshot of the appliance. Complete a successful snapshot and continue with the update.
Click on About SIOS iQ to install the update.
Then, click on Install Update.
Once satisfied that the appliance update was successful, delete the created snapshot.
Manual Update
In the event that SIOS iQ is unable to check for updates due to Internet access issues, follow these steps to
manually download the latest update:
• Download the SIOS iQ upgrade bundle on a system with Internet access:
◦ https://repo.us.sios.com/sqrl-bundles/latest.php
Once the download is complete go to the appliance and click on Settings icon > About SIOS iQ. Then
select the Browse for Update button and select the file (this could take several minutes).
*
The Browse for Update feature does not work in Internet Explorer bundled with
Microsoft Windows Server editions. This is due to the Enhanced Security feature
that is included and enabled on the Server OS specifically for Internet Explorer.
The workaround is to disable the Enhanced Security feature using Server Manager.
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Click Close once the upload is complete.
Select the Install Update button at the top right of screen.
Then Click on the Install Now in the dialog box.
Once the update is successfully installed click the Close button and login to the system.
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About SIOS iQ
The About SIOS iQ option can be accessed via the Settings icon in the upper right corner of the user
interface. This page displays the current status of the system. If the Settings icon appears orange there is
an Update available.
You may see one of the three messages below:
1. SIOS iQ is Up to Date – You are running the latest version of SIOS iQ. More features coming soon!
2. An Update is available – The update is ready to be installed.
3. Unable to Check for Updates – SIOS iQ is unable to check for updates due to Internet access
issues.
SIOS iQ Update Available
Before updating the SIOS iQ appliance it is highly recommended that a snapshot be performed. Performing
a snapshot before an appliance update provides an extra layer of assurance should something unexpected
occur. Refer to Understanding virtual machine snapshots in VMware ESXi and ESX for details on creating a
VMware snapshot of the appliance. Complete a successful snapshot and continue with the update. Refer to
Update SIOS iQ for more information.
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Troubleshoot SIOS iQ
This section contains information on troubleshooting issues by using the SIOS iQ Event Log and the SIOS
iQ Support Log.
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Event Log
SIOS iQ logs events (Information, Warnings, and Errors) into the SIOS iQ Event Log.
The Event Log is viewed under Manage > Event Log.
Details are logged for each event and can be viewed by selecting the specific event and clicking on View
Details.
Event Type Legend
Icon
Description
Error
Warning
Info
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Support Log
Support logs can be accessed via the Help icon in the upper right corner of the user interface. These logs
are used to troubleshoot system issues and may be requested by SIOS Support. Several modes exist for
the level of detail that is included in the logs: Standard Mode (default and recommended) and Debug
Mode.
Use the Export Log button to save the Support logs to send to SIOS Support. Use the Purge Log button to
clear the existing Support logs on the system. Purge should only be used when requested by SIOS Support
since this deletes all of the history in the logs.
*
Export Log and Export Database Backup are not supported on mobile devices.
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Audit Log
All user actions such as login, logout, create, modify, and delete an object (Environment, User, Policies,
Network, Services) will be logged in the Audit Log. The results for each event (Success, Failure,
Unauthorized, Unauthenticated) are also logged in the Audit Log.
The Audit Log is viewed under Manage > Audit Log.
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Use SIOS iQ Day to Day
There are several areas in the SIOS iQ User Interface that will show the current status of your environment
and identify potential issues that may need to be resolved.
PERC Overview Dashboard – The PERC (Performance, Efficiency, Reliability, Capacity) Dashboard is
specifically designed to give the user a single point of view into their environment.
Efficiency Dashboard – The Idle VMs and Snapshots tabs show the user the wasted resources and their
associated costs. The columns can be sorted by clicking on the column heading allowing the user to identify
any areas that may need attention.
Environments, Virtual Machines – Each of these tabs are located in Manage > Inventory and display the
health status.
Event Log – The Event Log shows the Information, Warning, and Error events that have been logged by
SIOS iQ.
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Third Party Applications
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Application Performance Analytics via WMI with SIOS iQ
Application Performance Analytics via WMI with SIOS iQ
SIOS iQ has the ability to perform application level analytics and correlation with infrastructure level analysis
for applications residing on Windows Servers running 2008R2 and later. Application performance analysis
uses remote access WMI functionality and currently only supports MSSQL. Application performance
analysis works by using an Active Directory Domain user account that has Local Administrator permissions
on the MSSQL server to be monitored and by entering those credentials in the VM Guest OS Credentials
section of the SIOS iQ Environment properties. In order to use this feature, the following prerequisites must
be met and performed on the MSSQL server(s).
Prerequisites:
• Up to date VMWare Tools must be installed and running on the VMs to be accessed by SIOS iQ for
application performance analysis.
• The MSSQL server must be a member of an Active Directory domain. WMI access to non-domain
servers is not supported.
• Create an Active Directory domain user account with Local Administrator permissions.
• Update the Windows Firewall configuration for remote WMI and DCOM access.
• Enable the Remote Registry service.
• Modify permissions on a Registry Key.
Create an Active Directory Domain user account for WMI access
Create a domain user account and make it a member of the local Administrators group on the MSSQL
server. This is the account that SIOS iQ will connect to on the MSSQL server via WMI. This account does
not need to be a Domain Administrator but must have Local Administrator permissions. To prevent
connection issues set the password on the account to never expire.
Windows Firewall configuration
To allow for remote WMI and DCOM access certain firewall rules must be enabled. Without the following
firewall rules, Connection timeout errors will occur in the SIOS iQ mssql provider log file. The simplest
option is to disable the firewall. If disabling the firewall is not an option, create and modify the following rules
to allow remote WMI and DCOM network traffic.
• Open Windows Firewall with Advanced Security
• Add a new inbound rule:
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◦ Rule Type = Predefined, select Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
◦ Enable all three Predefined Rules
◦ Action = Allow the connection
• Add another new inbound rule:
◦ Type = Program
◦ Program Path = %SystemRoot%\System32\dllhost.exe
◦ Action = Allow the connection
◦ Apply the rule to the Domain profile
◦ Rule Name = SIOS iQ WMI Access
• Enable rule “File and Printer Sharing (NB-Session-In)” for the Domain profile
• Enable rule “File and Printer Sharing (SMB-In)” for the Domain profile
Remote Registry Service
By default, this service is already enabled. Go to Services on the server and verify that the Remote Registry
service is running and starts automatically.
Registry permissions changes
In order for SIOS iQ to use WMI remotely, the WBEM Scripting Locator registry key permissions must be
modified.
*
The Windows Registry is vitally important to the proper operation of the Windows
operating system. It is highly recommended that you back up the registry before
making any registry edits.
• Run regedit, expand HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, right-click CLSID and select Find. In the “Find what”
field type 76A64158-CB41-11D1-8B02-00600806D9B6 and click Find Next.
• Right-click the key and select Permissions.
• Click Advanced and change the owner to the local Administrators group.
◦ (Server 2008R2) Select the Owners tab and click the “Administrators
([servername]\Administrators)” under Change Owner To and click Ok.
◦ (Server 2012R2) Click “Change” link, click Location (you may be required to provide credentials
to make changes), Click the local server name under location and click OK. Type
“Administrators” for the object name and click “Check Names”. The object name should now
show “[servername}\Administrators”, click OK. Click Apply and then OK on the Advanced
Security settings dialog box.
• Under the Security tab, highlight the Local Administrators group and check Allow Full Control and
click OK.
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• Once the permissions on the registry key are updated, repeat the same steps to set the owner back to
“NT Service\TrustedInstaller”.
◦ Right-click the key and select Permissions.
◦ Click Advanced and change the owner.
▪ (Server 2008R2) Select the Owners tab and click “Other users or groups”. Type “NT
Service\TrustedInstaller” and click Check Names. The object name should now show
“TrustedInstaller”, click OK. Click OK on the Advanced Security settings dialog box.
▪ (Server 2012R2) Click “Change” link, click Location (you may be required to provide
credentials to make changes), Click the local server name under location and click OK.
Type “NT Service\TrustedInstaller” for the object name and click “Check Names”. The
object name should now show “TrustedInstaller”, click OK. Click OK on the Advanced
Security settings dialog box.
• Click OK on the Permissions dialog box and close the registry.
Once the above changes are implemented, SIOS iQ is ready to begin the performance analysis of the
MSSQL servers in the Environment.
Helpful Tools and Tips
wbemtest.exe
The wbemtest.exe tool comes pre-installed on Windows servers that have WMI installed. It can be a useful
tool to verify if remote WMI access has been properly configured for a given Windows server.
To verify access to a Windows server:
• On a different server that can access the machine to verify, run the wbemtest.exe program.
• Click the Connect button.
• Change the namespace at the top to \\(servername)\root\cimv2. The default doesn’t contain the
hostname but put your server name in.
• Set the username and password to the domain username and password that will be used to remotely
access WMI data.
• Click Connect.
• Click the Query button.
• Choose WQL for the query type.
• In the query text area type “select * from win32_process” and click execute (or apply).
• Verify that results are displayed in the resulting table.
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FAQs
What are the system requirements for SIOS iQ?
How do I install SIOS iQ?
How do I log in to SIOS iQ?
How do I change my password?
How do I configure SIOS iQ?
How do I add an environment?
How do I edit an environment?
How do I remove an environment?
How do I view an environment?
How do I check the health of my environments?
How do I view VMs?
How do I view policies?
Where do I look to see if there are issues that need to be resolved?
• Event Log
• Manage Environments
• Efficiency Dashboard
How do I change my time zone?
How do I change my network configuration?
How often does SIOS iQ check for Updates?
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How do I update SIOS iQ?
How do I contact Support?
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Glossary
PERC – Performance, Efficiency, Reliability, and Capacity
Environment – An Environment is a reference to a vCenter server and its associated resources that will be
managed and reported on by the application.
Efficiency – Efficiency represents resources across compute (CPU, memory), storage, and network that
may be provisioned or reserved, but not utilized.
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Contact Support
Contact SIOS Technology Corp. Support at [email protected]
You can also contact SIOS Technology Corp. Support at:
• 1-877-457-5113 (Toll Free)
• 1-803-808-4270 (International)
Email: [email protected]
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