Periodic monitoring checklist

To help ensure operations run correctly, complete the tasks in the periodic monitoring checklist. Schedule periodic tasks frequently enough so that you can detect potential issues before they become problematic.

Tip: To run administrative commands for advanced monitoring tasks, use the Operations Center command builder. The command builder provides a type-ahead function to guide you as you enter commands. To open the command builder, go to the Operations Center Overview page. On the menu bar, hover over the settings icon and click Command Builder.
Table 1. Periodic monitoring tasks
Task Basic procedures Advanced procedures and troubleshooting
Monitor system performance. Determine the length of time that is required for client backup operations:
  1. On the Operations Center Overview page, click Clients. Find the server that is associated with the client.
  2. Click Servers. Select the server and click Details.
  3. To view the duration of completed tasks in the last 24 hours, click Completed Tasks.
  4. To view the duration of tasks that were completed more than 24 hours ago, use the QUERY ACTLOG command. Follow the instructions in QUERY ACTLOG (Query the activity log).
  5. If the duration of client backup operations is increasing and the reasons are not clear, investigate the cause.
If you installed the client management service on a backup-archive client, you can diagnose performance issues for the backup-archive client by completing the following steps:
  1. On the Operations Center Overview page, click Clients.
  2. Select a backup-archive client and click Details.
  3. To retrieve client logs, click Diagnosis.

For instructions about reducing the time that it takes for the client to back up data to the server, see Resolving common client performance problems.

Look for performance bottlenecks. For instructions, see Identifying performance bottlenecks.

For information about identifying and resolving other performance issues, see Performance.
Determine the disk savings that are provided by data deduplication.
  1. On the Operations Center Overview page, click Pools.
  2. Select a pool and click Quick Look.
  3. In the Data Deduplication area, view the Space saved row.
 For advanced monitoring, to obtain detailed statistics about the data-deduplication process for a specific directory-container storage pool or cloud-container storage pool, complete the following steps:
  1. On the Operations Center Overview page, hover over the settings icon and click Command Builder.
  2. Obtain a statistical report by issuing the GENERATE DEDUPSTATS command. Follow the instructions in GENERATE DEDUPSTATS (Generate data deduplication statistics for a directory-container storage pool).
  3. View the statistical report by issuing the QUERY DEDUPSTATS command. Follow the instructions in QUERY DEDUPSTATS (Query data deduplication statistics).
Verify that current backup files for device configuration and volume history information are saved. Access your storage locations to ensure that the files are available. The preferred method is to save the backup files to two locations.
To locate the volume history and device configuration files, complete the following steps:
  1. On the Operations Center Overview page, hover over the settings icon and click Command Builder.
  2. To locate the volume history and device configuration files, issue the following commands:
    query option volhistory
    query option devconfig
  3. In the output, review the Option Setting column to find the file locations.
If a disaster occurs, both the volume history file and the device configuration file are required to restore the server database. 		 
Determine whether sufficient space is available for the instance directory file system. Verify that at least 20% of free space is available in the instance directory file system. Take the action that is appropriate for your operating system:
  • AIX operating systemsTo view available space in the file system, on the operating system command line, issue the following command:
    df -g instance_directory
    where instance_directory specifies the instance directory.
  • Linux operating systemsTo view available space in the file system, on the operating system command line, issue the following command:
    df -h instance_directory
    where instance_directory specifies the instance directory.
  • Windows operating systemsIn the Windows Explorer program, right-click the file system and click Properties. View the capacity information.
The preferred location of the instance directory depends on the operating system where the server is installed:
  • AIX operating systemsLinux operating systems/home/tsminst1/tsminst1
  • Windows operating systemsC:\tsminst1
Tip: If you completed a planning worksheet, the location of the instance directory is recorded in the worksheet.
  
Identify unexpected client activity. To monitor client activity to determine whether data volumes exceed expected amounts, complete the following steps:
  1. On the Operations Center Overview page, click the Clients area.
  2. To view activity over the past two weeks, double-click any client.
  3. To view the number of bytes sent to the client, click the Properties tab.
  4. In the Last Session area, view the Sent to client row.
 When you double-click a client in the Clients table, the Activity over 2 Weeks area displays the amount of data that the client sent to the server each day.
Monitor storage pool growth over time.
  1. On the Operations Center Overview page, click the Pools area.
  2. To view the capacity that was used over the last two weeks, select a pool and click Details.
Tips:
  • To specify the time period that must elapse before all deduplicated extents are removed from a directory-container storage pool or cloud-container storage pool after they are no longer referenced by the inventory, complete the following steps:
    1. On the Storage Pools page of the Operations Center, select the storage pool.
    2. Click Details > Properties.
    3. Specify the duration in the Delay period for container reuse field.
  • To determine data deduplication performance for directory-container and cloud-container storage pools, use the GENERATE DEDUPSTATS command.
  • To view data deduplication statistics for a storage pool, complete the following steps:
    1. On the Storage Pools page of the Operations Center, select the storage pool.
    2. Click Details > Properties.

    Alternatively, use the QUERY EXTENTUPDATES command to display information about updates to data extents in directory-container or cloud-container storage pools. The command output can help you determine which data extents are no longer referenced and which ones are eligible to be deleted from the system. In the output, monitor the number of data extents that are eligible to be deleted from the system. This metric has a direct correlation to the amount of free space that will be available within the container storage pool.

  • To display the amount of physical space that is occupied by a file space after the removal of the data deduplication savings, use the select * from occupancy command. The command output includes the LOGICAL_MB value. LOGICAL_MB is the amount of space that is used by the file space.
Evaluate the timing of client schedules. Ensure that the start and end times of client schedules meet your business needs. On the Operations Center Overview page, click Clients > Schedules.

In the Schedules table, the Start column displays the configured start time for the scheduled operation. To see when the most recent operation was started, hover over the clock icon.
Tip: You can receive a warning message if a client operation runs longer than expected. Complete the following steps:
  1. On the Operations Center Overview page, hover over Clients and click Schedules.
  2. Select a schedule and click Details.
  3. View the details of a schedule by clicking the blue arrow next to the row.
  4. In the Run time alert field, specify the time when a warning message will be issued if the scheduled operation is not completed.
  5. Click Save.
Evaluate the timing of maintenance tasks. Ensure that the start and end times of maintenance tasks meet your business needs. On the Operations Center Overview page, click Servers > Maintenance.

In the Maintenance table, review the information in the Last Run Time column. To see when the last maintenance task was started, hover over the clock icon.
Tip: If a maintenance task is running too long, change the start time or the maximum run time. Complete the following steps:
  1. On the Operations Center Overview page, hover over the settings icon and click Command Builder.
  2. To change the start time or maximum run time for a task, issue the UPDATE SCHEDULE command. For instructions, see UPDATE SCHEDULE (Update a client schedule).
Related reference:
QUERY ACTLOG (Query the activity log)
UPDATE STGPOOL (Update a directory-container storage pool)
QUERY EXTENTUPDATES (Query updated data extents)