Rate of Change(ROC) by Test/Metric Report

Use this report to track the rate of change of measures reported for each component over a chosen period of time. This report helps administrators understand the trend and change pattern experienced by the servers in the target environment over a chosen period of time. This report also helps administrators track sudden spikes or drop in the rate of change in the parameters of the servers which more often than not indicate potential problems and the patterns associated with it.

To generate this report, do the following:

  1. Select the Rate of Change by Test option by following the menu sequence: REPORTS BY FUNCTION -> Analytical Reports -> Analysis of Rate of Changes.

  2. Figure 1 will then appear.

    Figure 1 : Generating the Rate of Change by Test/Metric report

  3. Here, select a criterion for analysis from the Analyze By list box. Using this report, you can analyze the changes tracked for each test:measure combination of one/more components, or those that are part of a zone or service or segment. The options provided by the Analyze By list box are discussed hereunder:

    • Component: Select this option to choose the component(s) from across all the managed components in the environment.
    • Service: If you want to generate a report for one/more components involved in the delivery of a service, select the Service option from Analyze By, and then pick the required Service from the drop-down list that appears
    • Segment: If you want to generate a report for one/more chosen components that belong to a segment, select the Segment option from Analyze By list box, and then pick the Segment from the drop-down list that appears.
    • Group: If you want to generate a report for one/more chosen components that belong to a group, select the Group option from Analyze By list box, and then pick the Group from the drop-down list that appears.
    • Zone: To generate a report for one/more components that are included in a zone, pick the Zone option. A Zone drop-down list will then appear, from which you would have to select the zone to which the components of interest to you belong. A Sub zone flag also appears. Indicate whether the components present within the sub-zones of the chosen zone are also to be to be considered for report generation, by setting the Sub zone flag to Yes.
  4. Next, pick a component type for which the report is to be generated from the Component Type list. By default, All Component Types option is chosen from this list.
  5. In the Components list box, all the components pertaining to the chosen Component Type will be listed. Select the component for which this report is to be generated. If the Components list consists of too many components, then viewing all the components and selecting the ones you need for report generation could require endless scrolling. To avoid this, you can click the Components button next to the Components list. A Components pop up window will then appear using which you can view almost all the components in a single interface and Select the ones to be included in this report. You can narrow your search further by using the Search text box. Specify the whole/part of the component name to search for in this text box, and click the icon next to it.

  6. Next, pick the test for which the report is to be generated from the Test list. By default, System Details test is chosen from this list.

  7. Then, pick a measure from the Measure list. By default, CPU utilization is chosen from this list.
  8. By default, the Include option is chosen from the Descriptor Filter list indicating that all the descriptors of the chosen Test are included for analyzing the rate of changes. However, if you wish to exclude a few descriptors from the scope of generating this report, then, you can choose the Exclude option.
  9. In the Descriptors list box, all the components pertaining to the chosen Test will be listed. Select the descriptor for which this report is to be generated. If the Descriptor list consists of too many descriptors, then viewing all the descriptors and selecting the ones you need for report generation could require endless scrolling. To avoid this, you can click the Components button next to the Descriptors list. A Descriptors pop up window will then appear using which you can view almost all the components in a single interface and Apply the ones to be included in this report. You can narrow your search further by using the Search text box. Specify the whole/part of the descriptor name to search for in this text box, and click the icon next to it.
  10. Specify how the rate of change of measure value should be tracked in the generated report. By default, Increase is chosen from the Metric Change Direction list indicating that the generated report will include only the rate of change for the measures that have increased over the chosen period of time.

  11. Then, specify the Timeline for the report. You can either provide a fixed time line such as Last day, Last month, etc., or select the Any option from the list to provide a From and To date/time for report generation.

    Note:

    For every user registered with the eG Enterprise, the administrator can indicate the maximum timeline for which that user can generate a report. Once the maximum timeline is set for a user, then, whenever that user logs into eG Reporter and attempts to generate a report, the Timeline list box in the report page will display options according to the maximum timeline setting of that user. For instance, if a user can generate a report for a maximum period of 3 days only, then 3 days will be the highest option displayed in the Timeline list - i.e., 3 days will be the last option in the fixed Timeline list. Similarly, if the user chooses the Any option from the Timeline list and proceeds to provide a start date and end date for report generation using the From and To specifications, eG Enterprise will first check if the user’s Timeline specification conforms to his/her maximum timeline setting. If not, report generation will fail. For instance, for a user who is allowed to generate reports spanning over a maximum period of 3 days only, the difference between the From and To dates should never be over 3 days. If it is, then, upon clicking the Run Report button a message box will appear, prompting the user to change the From and To specification.

  12. In addition to the settings discussed above, this report comes with a set of default specifications. These settings are hidden by default. If you do not want to disturb these default settings, then you can proceed to generate the report by clicking the Run Report button soon after you pick the criteria for generating the report. However, if you want to view and then alter these settings (if required), click on the button. The default settings will then appear in the More Options drop down window (see Figure 2). The steps below discuss each of these settings and how they can be customized.

    Figure 2 : The default settings for generating the Rate of Change by Test/Metric report

  13. By default, eG Enterprise computes trend for a measure using the Minimum, Maximum, Average, Sum and Percentile values. This report by default, will be generated based on the Average and 95th Percentile values of the trend computation done for the measures. Therefore, the Average and 95th % option is chosen from the Changes based on list. If you wish to generate the report based on the average value obtained from the trend computation or the 95th Percentile value, then, pick the Average option or the 95th % option respectively, from this list.

  14. By default, the rate of change (ROC) of measure values are computed based on the Average and Absolute trend computation for the measures over a period of time. Therefore, the Average and Absolute option is chosen by default from the ROC based on list. If the Average option is chosen, the rate of change of the measure is computed based on the average measure value obtained on a daily basis over a period of time. If the Absolute option is chosen, the trend computation of the measures at the start and end of the chosen period of time is alone considered and the resultant value is used for generating the rate of change of each measure in the generated report.
  15. By default, 10 is specified in the Consider changes above (%) text box indicating that this report will be generated only for those measures with a rate of change above 10%. However, you can alter this value according to your needs.

  16. eG Enterprise offers the flexibility of allowing the administrators to view the rate of change for a measure from the generated report at a single glance. This can be achieved by providing the lower/higher threshold limits of your choice i.e., providing the High/Medium/Low values in the appropriate colored text boxes underneath the Categorize based on % of change as section. Doing so, whenever the rate of change violated the specified values, the rate of change of that measure will be highlighted with the corresponding color of the specified text box in the generated report. This way, you can easily identify if the rate of change of the measure has drastically increased or not.

  17. In large environments, reports generated using months of data can take a long time to complete. Administrators now have the option of generating reports on-line or in the background. When a report is scheduled for background generation, administrators can proceed with their other monitoring, diagnosis, and reporting tasks, while the eG manager is processing the report. This saves the administrator valuable time. To schedule background processing of a report, you can either select the Background Save - PDF option or the Background Save - CSV option from the Report Generation list. In this case, a Report Name text box will appear, where you would have to provide the name with which the report is to be saved in the background. To process reports in the foreground, select the Foreground Generation - HTML option from this list.

    Note:

    • The Report Generation list will appear only if the EnableBackgroundReport flag in the [BACKGROUND_PROCESS] section of the eg_report.ini file (in the [EG_INSTALL_DIR]\manager\config directory) is set to Yes.
    • The default selection in the Report Generation list will change according to the Timeline specified for the report. If the Timeline set is greater than or equal to the number of days specified against the MinDurationForReport parameter in the [BACKGROUND_PROCESS] section of the eg_report.ini file, then the default selection in the Report Generation list will be Background. On the other hand, if the Timeline set for the report is lesser than the value of the MinDurationForReport parameter, then the default selection in the Report Generation list will be Foreground. This is because, the MinDurationForReport setting governs when reports are to be processed in the background. By default, this parameter is set to 2 weeks - this indicates that by default, reports with a timeline of 2 weeks and above will be processed in the background.

  18. Click the Done button if any changes were made to the More Options drop down window.

  19. Finally, click on the Run Report button to generate the report.

  20. If the Report Generation list is Foreground Generation - HTML and All Components option is chosen from the Components list, then, clicking on the Run Report button will invoke Figure 3.

    Figure 3 : The generated Rate of Change by Test/Metric report

  21. For the chosen test:measure combination, the generated report (see Figure 3) displays the component for which the chosen test was executed, the descriptor of the test, the average and 95th percentile of the chosen measure, the rate of change of measure and the measure graph. The change percentage in the CHANGES IN (%) column is displayed alongside a progress bar that is color coded based on the values specified in the appropriate colored text boxes underneath the Categorize based on % of change as section. Clicking the icon displays the graph of the measure over the chosen time period (see Figure 4).

    Figure 4 : The measure graph displayed for the chosen test/measure/descriptor combination

    Clicking a value in the CHANGES IN (%) column will reveal Figure 5 where you can analyze the rate of change of the measure for each test descriptor in detail.

    Figure 5 : Viewing the Rate of Change for the chosen descriptor

    • The Summary section (see Figure 5) reveals the average CPU utilization (default measure). This section also offers an at a glance view on the number of days with high/medium/low change priorities. Also, administrators can view at a single glance the average changes that the measure had experienced in the chosen time period.

    • The Metric Trend (see Figure 5) graph in the next section reveals a trend graph where the trend of the chosen test:measure combination is plotted in detail for the chosen descriptor. Using this graph, administrators can figure out the exact day/time during which maximum variation was noticed in the trend for the measure. The Daywise Rate of Changes (see Figure 5) section displays a bar graph that reveals the rate of change of the measure for the descriptor over the chosen time period. This graph displays both the increasing and decreasing rate of change noticed on the chosen measure over the chosen time period.

  22. If the Report Generation list is Foreground Generation - HTML and if you choose a component from the Components list, then, clicking on the Run Report button will invoke Figure 6.

    Figure 6 : The generated report for a chosen component

    The generated report contains the following sections:

    • The Summary section (see Figure 6) displays a bar graph that reveals an at a glance view of the changes in percentage based on high/medium/low change priorities. Using this graph, administrators can figure out which type of rate of change has been frequently noticed on the chosen component - is it high? or medium? or low?.

    • The next section reveals a Top Entities by increased Rate of Change bar graph (see Figure 6) that displays which descriptor of the chosen component encountered a high rate of change. This helps administrators analyze the performance of the chosen component over the last week. Also, administrators can view at a single glance the average changes that the measure had experienced in the chosen time period.

    • For each descriptor of the chosen test:measure combination of the chosen component, the next section (see Figure 6) displays the average and 95th percentile of the chosen measure, the rate of change of measure and the measure graph. The change percentage in the CHANGES IN (%) column is displayed alongside a progress bar that is color coded based on the values specified in the appropriate colored text boxes underneath the Categorize based on % of change as section. Clicking the icon displays the graph of the measure over the chosen time period.