Optimizing resource usage with IBM Turbonomic

IBM Turbonomic can be used to optimize the usage of resources by your IBM® Business Automation Workflow deployments. Turbonomic is an AI-powered solution that continuously analyzes workload demand and automates CPU and memory adjustments to keep applications performant and cost-efficient.

Before you begin

Turbonomic connects to your Red Hat OpenShift cluster through Kubeturbo, an agent that collects real-time resource metrics and reports them to Turbonomic for optimization analysis. To use Turbonomic, install and configure the IBM Turbonomic Platform operator and connect your OpenShift cluster as a target. For more information, see the IBM Turbonomic documentation External link opens a new window or tab . The following procedure assumes Turbonomic is installed and Kubeturbo is reporting cluster data.

About this task

Business Automation Workflow deployments are managed by the CP4BA operators through custom resources (CRs). If resource values are changed directly on a deployment, the operator reverts them during its next reconciliation. For this reason, Turbonomic does not modify the Business Automation Workflow deployment directly. Instead, it uses Operator Resource Mappings (ORMs) to write recommended resource values into the corresponding CR, and the CP4BA operator then reconciles the values to the pods.

Turbonomic must be granted access to write to your Business Automation Workflow deployment CRs. Grant access by adding the relevant API groups and resource kinds to the ormOwners section of the Kubeturbo CR.

Procedure

Grant Turbonomic access to the Business Automation Workflow custom resources. Update the ormOwners in the Kubeturbo CR with the Business Automation Workflow API groups and resource kinds.

The following example shows the Business Automation Workflow API groups (icp4a.ibm.com and bai.ibm.com) and the resource kinds (icp4aclusters, contents, and insightsengines) in the Kubeturbo CR.

spec:
  ormOwners:
    apiGroup:
    - icp4a.ibm.com
    - bai.ibm.com
    resources:
    - icp4aclusters
    - contents
    - wfpsruntimes
    - processfederationservers
    - businessautomationmachinelearnings
exclusionDetectors:
    operatorControlledWorkloadsPatterns:
      - bawdeploy-mls-wfi
      - bawdeploy-mls-itp
      - bawdeploy-bastudio-deployment
      - bawdeploy-workflow-server-agent
      - pfsdeploy-pfs
      - workflow-runtime-mcp-server-deploy-ins1
      - bawdeploy-bawins1-baw-server
      - bawdeploy-bawins2-baw-server

Generate and apply the ORM definitions for the Business Automation Workflow components by using the turbo-orm-generator.sh script.

The turbo-orm-generator.sh script generates Turbonomic Operator Resource Mapping (ORM) definitions for Business Automation Workflow components that are deployed in a specified namespace. You can also use the script to apply the generated ORM resources to the cluster. The script is in the Turbonomic directory of the cert-kubernetes-baw repository.

Important: Before you run the script, ensure that the jq and yq utilities are installed.
1. To start the script in interactive mode, run the following command:
```
./turbo-orm-generator.sh
```
  The script detects the available command-line interface and prompts you for the namespace and operation mode.
2. Alternatively, you can specify command-line options:
  - To generate ORM files only:
```
./turbo-orm-generator.sh <namespace> -generate
```
  - To generate and apply ORM resources:
```
./turbo-orm-generator.sh <namespace> -apply
```
ORM definitions are generated based on the Business Automation Workflow workloads that are currently deployed in the specified namespace. The script uses template files in the ORMs/ directory as the basis for generating ORM mappings. Generated ORM files are written to the generated-orms/ directory.

Tip: Review and modify the generated ORM files as needed before you apply them to the cluster.
In the Turbonomic user interface, click Settings > Target Configuration, select the Kubeturbo target, and click Rediscover so that Kubeturbo discovers the newly applied ORMs.
Verify that each ORM is recognized and its mapped resources are found in the cluster by running the following command.
```
oc get orm -n <namespace> <orm-name> -o yaml
```
The status section reports whether the capabilities defined in the ORM are matched in the cluster.

Results

Turbonomic analyzes usage and writes resize recommendations into the Business Automation Workflow CRs rather than to the Deployments themselves. The CP4BA operators reconcile the values and apply them to the running pods.