Performance views

Gain insight into the performance of the resources that are monitored in your storage environment. Use performance charts and tables to analyze trends, identify bottlenecks, and investigate performance issues.

You can compare performance metrics across storage systems and their components for the same time period by viewing multiple charts on a single page. For example, you can compare the I/O rate of a storage system with the I/O rate of its nodes to quickly identify performance relationships and pinpoint the source of issues.

Try it out! From the modern UI of IBM Storage Insights Pro, Go to Main menu > Performance (under Insights).
Note: The modern UI currently supports fleet-level performance analysis for storage systems. Performance views on device details pages and individual component pages remain in the classic UI.
Get a head start on how to use the performance charts to detect and investigate performance anomalies:
Table 1. Actions and features of performance charts
Tiles Description
Performance Use breadcrumbs to navigate. Select the storage system type from the Device type list. The modern UI currently supports fleet-level performance charts for block storage systems only.
Storage systems View all available storage systems. By default, 6 systems are selected to simplify the view. You can select up to 10 storage systems. Click the expand icon to view, export, or schedule the report for the maximum, minimum, and average values for selected metrics.
  • Use the search box to find storage systems.
  • Select IO rate, Data rate or Response time from the list to view the metric with the storage systems.
  • Click the overflow menu beside the list to view and export cumulative performance for components of selected storage systems.
  • Use the overflow menu for each storage system to view its internal components performance or add it to general groups.

    If you explore a performance path such as Storage Systems → Pools → RAID arrays, and then navigate another path such as Storage Systems → Nodes → Device adapters, IBM Storage Insights saves both paths for you.

    You can quickly revisit any previously explored path without rebuilding or memorizing it. To switch paths, click Visualize paths and select the path that you want to continue investigating. This helps you to troubleshoot and analyze performance more efficiently by letting you resume your earlier exploration instantly.
Toolbar Select your time zone, customize the chart period by changing start and end dates, and choose the granularity (sample, hourly, or daily). These toolbar settings are applied across all storage system components and are retained as you navigate between components such as nodes and pools. You can also export performance data in CSV, PNG, or JPG format, or click the expand icon to view the chart in full screen.
Performance graph The graph shows storage system performance trends over time.
  • The y-axis shows the unit of measurement for each metric. The x-axis shows time.
  • Click Edit to select storage systems for the performance graph. Click Add metrics to add or change performance metrics. You can add up to 6 metrics, with each metric displayed in a separate chart. Each graph displays one metric for up to 10 storage systems (default is 6). For example, selecting 2 metrics and 3 storage systems displays 2 graphs with 3 lines each. Each line represents a metric for one storage system.
  • When multiple charts are displayed, you can drag and rearrange them to organize related metrics in a way that best supports your analysis. For example, you can place node-level performance charts above storage system charts to compare their behavior more easily. Click the chevron icon to hide and show the charts.
  • Performance deviations, such as unusual spikes and dips, are highlighted on the x-axis of the performance charts when the Sample granularity is selected. Click a deviation marker to open the NOC dashboard and investigate the selected storage system. The dashboard displays a filtered view that helps you understand how frequently performance deviations occurred during the last 14 days. For more information , see NOC dashboard.
  • Hover over a data point to view metric values at a specific time. When multiple charts are displayed, the tooltip is synchronized across charts, allowing you to compare related metrics for the same storage system at that point in time.
  • Zoom in on a specific time range to investigate performance behavior in greater detail. Charts that display the same duration are automatically synchronized, allowing you to compare related metrics across resources without manually adjusting each chart.
  • Each graph supports full-screen view, restore, zoom and reset zoom, data view, exporting to CSV, and saving the data as image.
  • Click Show details under each graph to view minimum, maximum, and average values of metrics in tabular form.

If you are in the classic UI of IBM Storage Insights Pro, go to Resources > Block Storage Systems and click Performance.

On the Performance page, performance metrics for storage systems are displayed in a chart and related information for all storage systems is displayed in the performance chart legend.

By default, the 10 storage systems with the highest overall total I/O rate over a 12-hour period are displayed in the chart. These storage systems are listed under Resources on the left and are highlighted at the top of the performance chart legend, which is sorted by the Total I/O Rate - overall (ops/s) column.

The performance information is displayed in the following format:

Viewing Performance Information
The performance information can be viewed in a line graph (default) and a table format. Users can switch between these modes as needed.Chart icon
Chart icon Line Graph (Default)
  • The line graph visually represents storage system performance trends over time.
  • The y-axis indicates the unit of measurement for each metric, while the x-axis represents time.
  • Each line on the graph represents a metric and a storage system. For example, selecting two metrics and three storage systems will display six lines on the graph.
  • To view a snapshot of performance information at a specific time, hover the mouse pointer over points on a line in the graph.
Table icon Table Format
  • The table displays performance information for the storage systems.
  • Each row represents a storage system and a timestamp. For example, if a graph has six data points during the selected time range, there will be six rows for each storage system in the table.
  • Each metric is displayed as a column in the table.
  • To view additional metrics and information for a storage system, right-click anywhere in the header row of the table and select "extra column".
Performance chart legend
The bottom section of the performance view is a table that shows more information about the storage systems. Each row represents a storage system, and each column provides extra asset and performance information about the storage system.