Analyzing Historical Performance Data

This chapter provides an overview of historical performance data and discusses how to:

View completed PMUs.
View event history.
View user session history.

Historical Performance Data

This section provides an overview of historical performance data and lists the pages used to analyze historical performance data.

Historical Performance Data

The system stores historical data from the moment a PMU finishes processing or an event occurs. When the archive program runs (PSPM_ARCHIVE), it either deletes the historical data or moves it to the archive tables.

Analyzing historical data can help you:

Identify trends.

By comparing historical data, you can spot upward and downward performance trends.
Investigate past user complaints.

For example, a user may complain that performance was slow during the previous week. You search historical performance data to find the PMUs that were generated by the user at a specific time a week ago.

Pages Used to Analyze Historical Performance Data

Note. The charting pages appear under the History menu; however, those pages are covered in a separate chapter.

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Completed PMUs	PSPMTRANSHIST	PeopleTools, Performance Monitor, History, Completed PMUs	Enables you to search for and display PMU details and trees.
Event History	PSPMEVENTHIST	PeopleTools, Performance Monitor, History, Event History	Enables you to search for and display event details.
User Session History	PSPMHISTUSERS	PeopleTools, Performance Monitor, History, User History	Enables you to view a user's signon and signout activity within a specified interval of time.

Viewing Completed PMUs

Access the Completed PMUs page.

Note. The search result of completed PMUs includes history information collected by agents even if they are currently marked inactive.

Note. If a "clone table" warning appears at the top of the page, the archive program is either currently running or has abnormally terminated. If this is the case, all new incoming information that is being sent to the monitoring system is currently being inserted into the clone tables. New performance data is not inserted into the current data tables until the archive program finishes successfully.

Entering Search Criteria

Before you can view information about completed PMUs, you need to enter criteria so that you can locate the appropriate completed PMUs.

Use the Advanced Search link to expose all search criteria.

The maximum rows that are returned by the search depends on the value in the Search Row Limit field on the Global Administration page.

See Setting Global System Options.

System ID	Identifies each monitored system. PeopleSoft automatically generates this value incrementally. System definitions are created automatically when the first agent of a monitored system registers with the monitoring system.
Database Name	The name of the PeopleSoft application database running on the monitored system. The monitoring system automatically inserts this value when it recognizes and creates a monitored system.
User ID	If you want information for a particular user, enter the user ID of the user for which you want to track completed PMUs. This field prompts against the PSPMOPRDEFN table.
Process ID	Enables you to search completed PMUs by the process ID.
Performance Trace Name	If a user has launched a performance trace in the Performance Trace Console, the system labels every PMU that is generated in a business process with a performance trace name. Select the appropriate trace name to view its results. The Performance Trace Name field prompts against the PSPMPERFTRACE table, which the Lookup program (PSPM_LOOKUP) populates.
Component	If you want information for a particular component, enter the name of the component for which you want to track completed PMUs. This field prompts against the PSPMPNLGRPDEFN table. Note. Searching on a component is equivalent to searching on Context 1 for application server PMUs.
Market	Enter the market that is associated with the component.
PMU Definition Set	Indicates the set to which the PMU definition belongs. A PMU definition set is similar to a message set. This is required if you want to generate metric and duration charts.
PMU Identifier	Identifies the PMU definition within a PMU definition set. This is required if you want to generate metric and duration charts.
Context 1, 2, 3	PMU metrics contain data that is specific to that PMU. Context values, on the other hand, are common to the entire user request or a specific tier. For example, the component name is stored in a context. The system uses contexts to "flatten" a PMU tree. For example, you do not have to navigate up from a SQL PMU to an ICPanel PMU to see what component generated that SQL statement. In some cases, PMU types are shared across different user request types. In such cases, the label for the PMU will be generic. Use the Context Help button to view the context definitions for a PMU set ID and ID that you've entered.
PMU Status	Displays the PMU status. See Completed PMU Status.
Top Instance	Each PMU that is reported by an agent has a unique instance ID. The instance identifier of the first PMU generated by a particular user request is the top instance. The value of the top instance is then stored with every child PMU within a request. The top instance is the associating value for all PMUs that are generated by the same user request.
Statement Number	This search field applies only when you are searching for PeopleCode SQL PMUs, which are PMU 406 (PeopleCode SQL Execute) and PMU 407 (PeopleCode BuiltIn SQL Execute). The Context 2 field contains the PeopleCode program name and Metric 2 contains the statement number in the PeopleCode where the SQL was executed. To search by statement number, you must enter the following search criteria: PMU Definition Set = 1, PMU ID = 406 or 407, and Context 2 must have the name of a PeopleCode program.
From Date/Time To Date/Time	Specify a range of time in which the system should search for completed PMUs. The system searches on the monitor date and time, not the agent date and time.
Duration	Specify criteria that is related to the duration of a PMU in milliseconds.
Domain Name	Select the application server domain to generate the PMUs.
Domain Host/Port	Select the name and port number of the server machine on which the domain that generated the PMU resides.
Agent Identifier	Identify the specific agent that monitored a PMU.
Agent Type	Identify the type of agent that monitored a PMU.
Search	The Search button performs a search based on the search criteria that is defined on the page. If you want to view the most current information, use the Refresh button after running the initial search. If you click Search repeatedly, the system returns the same results from the same time range for each search.
Refresh	Updates the value in the To Time field to equal the current time and performs a search. This enables you to view the most current results of a search.

Working with Completed PMUs

At the bottom of the Completed PMUs page, the Completed PMUs grid contains the information that is related to the PMUs that are retrieved by your search criteria. The tabs in the Completed PMUs page are discussed in the following sections.

Summary

PMU	Indicates the name of the PMU. Click the PMU name to view the PMU Details page.
Duration	Indicates the duration of the PMU from start to finish in milliseconds.
Complete Tree	Click the tree icon to view the complete PMU tree, including all ancestor and descendant PMUs.
PMU Details	Provides further description of the PMU. The details comprise contexts and metrics that are helpful for identifying the PMU. Each type of PMU displays a different set of details.
User	Indicates the user whose request triggered the PMU.
PMU Status	Displays the PMU status. See Completed PMU Status.
Monitor Received Date/Time	Indicates when the monitor system received notification that a PMU had been started or updated.
Agent Start Date/Time	Indicates that time according to the agent clock that the last update was received.
Domain Name	Indicates the domain that handled the request that is associated with the PMU.

Identifiers

The Identifiers tab presents the following additional information.

PMU Set	Identifies the set to which the PMU ID belongs.
PMU ID	Identifies a PMU definition within a PMU set.
Agent ID	Identifies the agent that reported the PMU.
Process ID	The operating system process ID of the process that generated the PMU.
Instance	A unique identifier that is generated by the system for each PMU.
Parent Instance	The PMU that produced the PMU in this grid row.
Top Instance	Each PMU that is reported by an agent has a unique instance ID. The instance identifier of the first PMU that is generated by a particular user request is the top instance. The value of the top instance is then stored with every child PMU within a request. The top instance is the value that associates all PMUs that are generated by the same user request.

Contexts

The Contexts tab reveals the context definition and value that is associated with each PMU in the grid. To view the details of the contexts in a PMU, examine the context and PMU definitions.

This Description column shows data for the additional description value that is part of the incoming PMU. The description stores large character values and generally stores information that exceeds the 128–character limit of Metric 7 and the 254–character limit of the contexts.

See Context Definitions.

Metrics

The Metrics tab presents the metric values for all of the metrics that are defined for each PMU in the grid.

Metric information appears in a raw format. The values reflect exactly what is stored in the database.

See Metric Definitions.

Trees

The Trees tab enables you to view the PMU within the context of a PMU tree.

View Ancestors

Shows all parent PMUs for the selected PMU. This may be useful in determining the call tree of a child PMU.

Only direct ancestors appear; sibling PMUs do not appear.

View Descendants

Shows all child PMUs for the selected PMU. This may be useful in determining where the time is spent for a PMU.

Complete Tree

Displays the entire tree representing the user request. If verbose or debug filters are set, this tree may contain a large number of nodes and may take a significant amount of time to load.

Metric Charts

When your search criteria includes a PMU set and PMU identifier, all rows in the grid will be of the same type of PMU. In this case, the metric chart displays the metric values of the returned PMUs against one another. This enables you to track metrics over a period of time.

Numeric metrics may be of type Counter, Gauge, or Numeric Identifier. Numeric identifiers do not appear in charts. Gauges and counters do appear in charts, but the chart does not contain a sum value for gauges.

Use the View in Grid link to view the chart information in a grid so that you can download the information to an Microsoft Excel spreadsheet if needed.

Note. If the metrics of a PMU can't be charted, a message appears stating this fact.

Note. To view the metric chart, you must specify a PMU and PMU set ID as part of the search criteria. If you click this link when performance data for multiple PMUs appears, the system displays an error message.

Note. The data appearing on this chart is not manipulated by multipliers, if any are used.

See Metric Definitions.

Duration Charts

The duration charts show all durations for all PMUs appearing in the grid. The chart is time-based.

Use the View in Grid link to view the chart information in a grid so that you can download the information to an Microsoft Excel spreadsheet if needed.

Note. To view the duration chart, you must specify a PMU and PMU set ID as part of the search criteria. If you click this link when performance data for multiple PMUs appears, the system displays an error message.

Completed PMU Status

A completed PMU can be assigned one of the following statuses:

Status	Description
Success	The PMU finished successfully.
Failed	The PMU finished unsuccessfully.
Abort	Instrumentation code terminated a PMU due to an unexpected condition.
Unknown	Assigned in situations when an agent closes a child PMU if the top-level PMU closes out of sequence.
Timeout	Instrumentation code timed out the PMU.
Reaper Timeout	Long running PMU closed by the Reaper.
Admin Timeout	An administrator manually closed the PMU. This is not currently implemented.

The PMU Details Page

You can access the PMU details page from a variety of Performance Monitor pages, such as the Completed PMUs page and the Open PMUs page. You can also access it readily from trees. To access the page, you click the link that is created from the PMU name.

The PMU Details page indicates:

PMU ID and the PMU definition set to which it belongs.
Identification information.
Durations information, including metric values.
Context information.
Additional data.

The information that appears on the PMU Details page varies depending on the type of PMU that is displayed. All metrics are formatted according to information from the metric definition.

See Metric Definitions.

Viewing Event History

Access the Event History page.

Note. The search results of event history include history information that is collected by agents even if they are currently marked as inactive.

See Viewing Agent Definitions.

Entering Search Criteria

Before you can view historical performance data that is related to events, you need to specify search criteria. This section covers the search criteria for event history.

Click the Advanced Search link to expose all of the search criteria options.

System ID	Identifies each monitored system. PeopleSoft automatically generates this value incrementally. System definitions are created automatically when the first agent of a monitored system registers with the monitoring system.
Database Name	The name of the PeopleSoft application database running on the monitored system. The monitoring system automatically inserts this value when it recognizes and creates a monitored system.
Event Definition Set	Enter the event definition set to which the event definition belongs. Currently, only one definition set exists, and it is reserved for PeopleSoft development.
Event ID	Select a particular event that you want to monitor, such as event 300, Host Resource Status.
Process ID	Specify the process ID for which you want to locate event history.
From/To Date/Time	Specify the range of time during which you want to locate event history. The system searches the monitor date and time, not agent date and time.
Domain Host/Port	If you want to monitor events on a particular server, select the server name/IP address and port number on which the domain runs.
Domain Name	If you want to monitor events pertaining to a particular domain, select the application server, web server, or Process Scheduler domain for which you want to view event information.
Agent ID	Enter specific agent information if wanted. Identifies an agent within a domain. This is automatically generated by the monitor the first time an agent registers with it.
Agent Type	Specify the type of server process the agent is monitoring, such as PSAPPSRV, PSQRYSRV, PSQCKSRV, and so on.
Filter Level	To view only the information that is returned of a specific filter level, select the desired filter level. For example, if you want to view only Error alarms, select Error, and the system returns only event information of type Error. Each event definition has a filter level that is set to one of the following levels: error, warning, standard, verbose, or debug. Error and warning levels are associated with alarms, while standard, verbose, and debug levels are associated with informational performance data. The icon that is associated with each category of filter level (alarm or informational) appears in the grid, enabling you to recognize event information easily.
Metric Chart	The system creates a metric chart only when you have selected a single event in the search criteria. The metrics that appear in the charts vary depending on the event definition.
Search	The Search button performs a search based on the search criteria that is defined on the page. If you want to view the most current information, use the Refresh button after running the initial search. If you click Search repeatedly, the system returns the same results from the same time range for each search.
Refresh	Updates the value in the To Time field to equal the current time and performs a search. Enables you to view the most current results of a search.

Working with Event History Information

The Completed Events section contains the results of your event history search.

See Scheduling Performance Data Archiving.

Summary

The Summary tab displays the name of the event as well as the monitor date and time and agent date and time.

The maximum number of rows that are returned by the search is determined by the Search Row Limit on the Global Administration page.

See Setting Global System Options.

Event

Displays the name of the event reported.

Click the event name to view the Event Details page, which provides:

Identification information to ensure that you can locate the exact source of the event.
Metric information containing the metrics that are measured by a particular event and the current assigned values.
Additional information, depending on the event definition.

Note. The Event Details page displays all metrics according to the metric definition.

Monitor Date/Time

The date and time that the monitoring system inserted the row of performance data into the monitoring database according to the database clock.

Agent Date/Time

The date and time according to the agent clock that the domain monitor used when it last sent performance data to the monitor.

Note. The date and the time appearing on this page always applies to the system on which the agent runs. Keep this in mind if you are monitoring systems in other time zones.

Identifiers

The Identifiers tab displays information to help further identify the event and a particular event's origin.

Event Set	The event definition set to which the event definition belongs.
Event ID	The ID for a particular event definition, such as 300 for Host Resource Status.
PID	The operating system process ID of the process that generated the PMU.
Agent ID	The ID of the specific agent sending the event information.
Domain Name	The name of the domain in which the agent operates.
Instance	The system-generated identifier for a specific row of event information.
Filter Level	The filter level that is associated with an event definition.
Description	If applicable according to the event definition, a description appears to place the event in context. For example, with the Event 301 (Tuxedo "pq" Row) the description contains the name of the server process that is associated with a particular queue, such as PSAPPSRV, JSL, PSSAMSRV, and so on. The information corresponds to the Additional Data attribute that is part of the event definition. It stores data that exceeds the 128–character limitation of Metric 7.

Metrics

The Metrics tab displays the metric values of the event definition for a specific reported event. Only metrics that are specified in an event definition contain values. For example, event 300 (Host Resource Status) does not assign values to metric 6 or 7; therefore, those metrics appear on the Metrics page as 0.0000.

Metric information appears in raw form.

See Metric Definitions.

Metric Charts

The system creates a metric chart only when you have selected a single event in the search criteria. The metrics that appear in the charts vary depending on the event definition.

Note. %CPU Used is only one of the charts that appear in the metric charts for Host Resource Status.

Viewing User Session History

Access the User Session History page.

The User Session History page enables you to monitor the signon and signout activity of a particular user within the time range specified.

A row appears for every PMU 109 (User Session Began) and every PMU 108 (User Session Ended) for that user.

Note. If you recycle the web server during this time, the user session is considered closed.

Note. Some signouts may actually be expired sessions on the web server if a user elected to close the browser rather than officially signing out of the PeopleSoft sysem (using the Sign out link).

Entering Search Criteria

Before you can view historical performance data that is related to users, you need to specify search criteria. This section covers the search criteria for user history.

User ID	Specify the user ID of a particular user. This field prompts against the PSPMOPRDEFN table.
From/To Date/Time	Specify a range of time. The system searches on the monitor date and time, not the agent date and time.
Search	The Search button performs a search based on the search criteria that is defined on the page. If you want to view the most current information, use the Refresh button after running the initial search. If you click Search repeatedly, the system returns the same results from the same time range for each search.
Refresh	Updates the value in the To Time field to equal the current time and performs a search. Enables you to view the most current results of a search.

Working with User History Information

The following information appears at the bottom of the User History page after you have completed a search.

Activity

The activity tab presents the following information.

User ID	Identifies a particular user.
User Activity	Shows the signon and signoff activity of the user within the range of time that is specified in the search criteria.
Session	The session ID on the web server. This value is derived from context 1 from PMU 108 (User Session Ended) and PMU 109 (User Session Began).
Monitor Received Date/Time	Indicates when the monitor system received notification that a PMU had been started or updated

Details

The Details tab presents the following additional information.

IP Address

The IP address of the computer from which the user accessed the PeopleSoft system.

User Agent

The Mozilla user-agent string specification for the user's browser.

This value is derived from metric 7 of PMU 116 (Redirect after Login).

Latency

The duration of PMU 116 (Redirect After Login). The latency value enables you to infer the network latency for a user connection.

Note. The values in both the User Agent and Latency fields appear only in the rows reflecting logged on user activity.