Version & Recent Enhancement Information

The current version of SarCheck for AIX is: 7.00.12

Enhancements to version 7.00.12 include:
(This is a beta for subscription holders only)

• Fix a typo in the fs1, ps1, and ps2 scripts
• Change references in SarCheck's text file from vmsparse to scaixagent
• Change parsing of lsps -a to allow for the syntax changes in AIX 6
• Check the validity of the data before reporting on paging space utilization

Enhancements to version 7.00.11 include:
(This is a beta for subscription holders only)

• Read filesystem & LVM data from /opt/sarcheck/fs
• Report on dio/cio mounted filesystems
• Create a separate disk table for EMC powerdisk disks
• Create fs1 script and fsaixagent
• Add -fs and -fsd switches to specify location of fsagent data
• Add FSDIR and PSELFDIR keywords to specify default fs & ps data directories

Enhancements to version 7.00.09 include:
(This is a beta for subscription holders only)

• Get MTU size from agent, include in analysis
• Start making recommendations for various networking parameters
• Fix minperm recommendation wording if os is 5.2 and pre52tune enabled
• Tweak decimal precision in table for network stuff
• Add a warning to the recommendations for maxrandwrt and j2maxRandomWrite that the likelihood of a performance improvement is application dependent

Enhancements to version 7.00.06 include:
(This is a beta for subscription holders only)

• Add parmsfile entries to suppress various tunable parameter recommendations
• Calculate default large process and memory leak thresholds from agent data
• Don't complain about small paging spaces if there's no (or trivial) paging activity
• Collect mtu data from netstat -in, non loopback interfaces
• Add parmsfile entries to customize the agent's search for MTU size

Enhancements to version 7.00.05 include:
(This is a beta for subscription holders only)

• Expand the explanation preceding the memory stats graph
• Simplify the y-axis scaling in the paging space activity, paging space used, cycle/s, and blocked I/O graphs
• Tweak wording of disk analysis if multiple %busy peaks are seen
• Change memory leak detection threshold to be 1/2% memory size if mem size is between 1-32gb
• Fix a bug in the cyclegraph when multiday data is analyzed
• If present, use clockhandrevs data in the cycle graph & text
• If > 3 clockhandrevs per interval, calculate mb/sec scanned
• Change (TM) to (R) or ® at the start of the report
• Update dkbusy graph to shows peaks as well as averages
• Fix runaway process & memory leak detection for multiday process data
• Remove "RS/6000" hardcoded in front of the model name
• Get memsize from rmss field in vmsparse output
• Support the analysis of data from one system on another
• Do some basic analysis of networking (no) parameters
• Add network stats to -t table
• Add support for parmsfile keywords WIDE PRP PML PLP DBRP DBML DBLP
• Add -newkey switch
• Tweak 2006 recs to prevent recommending maxperm 90->80, etc.
• Fix start/end reporting in multiday process (ps) analysis
• Change wording for bad sar -d data
• Increase max length of a -diag word
• Mention that j2maxrandwrt changes don't always work
• Use better decimal precision for sema/s and msg/s averages
• Fix timestamp problems in graphs of ps or agent data
• Change color of maxperm line on vmtune graph
• Make change decimal precision of cswch/s peak zero to match sar
• Make change decimal precision of %busy peak zero in text to match sar
• Fix HTML code if -html and no valid sar report found
• Calculate coefficient of correlation for cpu and %wio
• Fix code to allow multiple graphs to use multiple graph data files
• Fix the display of NOARP, NOTCP, NOUDP parms
• Add a -cs switch & CS parm to suppress cust settings

Enhancements to version 6.03.08 include:
(Subscription holders: If you'd like this version, ask your sales rep)

• Change vmsparse to collect numclust, j2_nPagesPerWriteBehindCluster, j2_nRandomCluster
• Change analyze to process numclust, j2_nPagesPerWriteBehindCluster, j2_nRandomCluster data
• Change vmsparse to collect maxrandwrt and numclust from vmtune as well as ioo
• Add recommendations for numclust, maxrandwrt, j2_nPagesPerWriteBehindCluster, j2_nRandomCluster, j2_maxRandomWrite
• Clean up the code to characterize I/O
• Don't consider device names starting with cd* for disk balancing
• Recommend changing maxfree and minfree together
• Improve wording for %wio analysis
• Add clockhandrevs to cycle graph if the data is present

Version 6.03.07 was a beta test version

Enhancements to version 6.03.06 include:
(Subscription holders: If you'd like this version, ask your sales rep)

• Correct the problem of providing an incorrect example (for example, vmstat vs. vmo) when making maxperm/maxclient/maxpin/minperm recommendations
• Fix a problem parsing the output of oslevel when "oslevel -s" is used.
• Fix the message that the values of maxperm and minperm were 0.
• Enhance the disk table to only use Queue and Service Time columns when valid data is present in sar -d
• Correctly distinguish between maxperm and maxperm% metrics on newer operating systems
• Enhance warnings of likely problems when a sar report from one system is analyzed on another

Enhancements to version 6.03.05 include:
(Subscription holders: If you'd like this version, ask your sales rep)

• Fix a capacity planning bug, always saying memory will be used up first
• Fix a bug causing nonsensical maxperm and maxclient recommendations
• Rework parsing of vmsparse data to allow for better data analysis
• Display maxclient, memused, etc on vmtune graph
• Fix gnuplot errors if total paging space size is zero
• Reduced further the y-axis scaling on the ioblk graph
• Change alt text on vmtune graph
• Change description of the on vmtune graph
• Add avg value of numclient to -t table
• Add avg pct of memory used for non-file pages to -t table
• Add avg pct of total memory used to -t table
• Give the memory bar in the cap plan graph a tapered end
• Fix a problem with the -Q and -html switches working together
• Move legend outside the vmtune graph
• Change data & gnuplot scripts for cp and disk bar graphs
• Use a table with vmtune graph to show VMM stats
• Fix a bug in the "ignore short intervals" logic for sar -d data

Enhancements to version 6.03.04 include:
(Subscription holders: If you'd like this version, ask your sales rep)

• The vmsparse agent now reports on iostat reads vs. writes
• Add LPAR name to key algorithm
• Check to see if our jfs/jfs2, seq/random write io guesses agree with the sys admin's thoughts. This is a sanity check in preparation for better recommendations.
• Reduced minimum y-axis scaling on ioblk graph
• Rearrange pieces of the Resource Analysis section
• Fix a rare bug in the maxperm/minperm recommendations
• Fix a bug in printing informarion about the "2006 Tech University recommendations" if we're not actually recommending changes
• Add % to vmo parameter names maxperm, minperm, maxpin, maxclient
• Fix the formatting of total pg space used date
• Changed wording that reported the analysis of multiday ps
• Add text for group of new vmo recs to be implemented together

Enhancements to version 6.03.03 include:
(Subscription holders: If you'd like this version, ask your sales rep)

• Fix a case where we weren't using the latest algorithms in the recommendations
• Fix parsing of lrupollinterval value
• Improve the internal algorithms for deciding if there's JFS and/or JFS2 filesystem activity

Enhancements to version 6.03.02 include:
(Subscription holders: If you'd like this version, ask your sales rep)

• Streamline some code
• Fix "Analysis not requested" msg if one of the -ps switches is picked and no ps data file os found
• Discard minfree of less than 8 pages, not 10. A recommended minfree change of 8 pages is not unlikely on systems without JFS2 filesystems.
• Fix a typo in the text of a recommendation to change the iostat attribute of device sys0
• Fix the precision used to display the value of "peak swap queue" in the summary table
• Do a better job of handling bad data which shows up in the sar -d report when sar's crontab entries have been set up incorrectly

Enhancements to version 6.03.01 include:
(Subscription holders: If you'd like this version, ask your sales rep)

• Change min/maxperm target (old pre-lru_file_repage algorithm) allowed from 10 to 20
• Only consider pgspace < memsize a problem if there's a memory bottleneck
• Remove "calculated entitled CPUs" from cpu2 graph
• If sys0 iostat=false, recommend setting it to true.
• Rewrite minfree recommendation algorithm for 5.3
• Discard minfree chgs of less than 10 pages instead of less than 2 pages
• For low minfree values, recommend up to 4x increase instead of limiting it to 2x

Enhancements to version 6.03.00 include:
(Subscription holders: If you'd like this version, ask your sales rep)

• The following major changes came from our time at IBM's 2006 system p Technical University:
• Add the new recommendations or lru_file_repage, lru_poll_interval, minperm, maxperm, maxclient, strict_maxperm/maxclient
• Use fsioblked data to make better numfsbufs recommendations and add this data to the "ioblk" graph
• De-emphasize the importance of %wio
• Change PARMS warning/error thresholds for WIOAVG from 20/50 to 60/80%
• Report on IO pacing parameters
• Analyze lsps -a data, intelligently scale the y-axis of the "pgused" graph, and make recommendations for paging spaces
• Some other enhancements:
• Remove text in Recommendations section about cpu & disk if there are no recommendations for them
• Look for MB, GB, and TB in sys config line of sar data
• Fix an obsolete "Wrong OS" msg
• Print a note that %busy can be wrong if RAIDs are present
• Calculate average blks/IO to better characterize disk I/O
• Support the ever-changing blks/s, Kbs/s. and Kb/s column in sar -d
• Don't mention system tables in some rarely seen text in the Capacity Planning section

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This information is correct as of May 13, 2008 and is subject to change without notice.