VMware Performance Metrics

Overview

This article covers the various VMware performance metrics displayed by the Performance Analysis Dashboard and Performance Analysis Overview, and how to interpret different metric values and combinations of values across different VMware metrics for SQL Sentry.

Note:  For Mode: S = Sample and H = History.

VMware Host Metrics

SectionMetricDescription
NetworkINThe percent of network bandwidth across the VMHost used for downloads.
Mode: S, H
Type:Percent
NetworkOUTThe percent of network bandwidth across the VMHost used for uploads.
Mode: S, H
Type:Percent
CPU UsageTotal CPUThe total amount of CPU used across the VM as a percent.
Mode: S
Type:Percent
CPU UsageCo-stop %Co-Stop time measures when a virtual machine is ready to run, but unable to run due to co-scheduling constraints. See blog on VMware Advisory Conditions in SQL Sentry for more information.
Mode: H
Type:Percent
CPU UsageReady Time %Percentage of time when a vCPU is ready to do work, but must wait for the hypervisor to schedule that work on one or more physical CPUs. CPU ready time is a summation, and is dependent on the number of virtual machines on the host and their CPU loads. See the blog on VMware Advisory Conditions in SQL Sentry for more information.
Mode: H
Type:Percent
System MemoryActiveAmount of memory that is actively used, as estimated by VMkernel based on recently touched memory pages.
Mode: S, H
Type:MB
System MemoryConsumedAmount of machine memory used on the host. Consumed memory includes memory used by the service console, the VMkernel, vSphere services, and the total consumed metrics for all running virtual machines.
Mode: S, H
Type:MB
System MemoryOverheadTotal of all overhead metrics (including VM overhead and VMKernel overhead) for powered-on virtual machines, and the overhead of running vSphere services on the host.
Mode: S, H
Type:MB
System MemoryGrantedAmount of machine memory or physical memory that's mapped for the host.
Mode: S, H
Type:MB
System MemoryAvailableAmount of machine memory or physical memory that's available for the host.
Mode: S, H
Type:MB
System MemorySwap InThe percentage of memory read in by the VMkernel swap file from memory to disk across all the virtual machines on the VMHost.
Mode: S, H
Type:Percent
System MemorySwap OutThe percentage of memory written by the VMKernel swap file from memory across all the virtual machines on the VMHost.
Mode: S, H
Type:Percent
Disk IOms/ Read by DatastoreThe amount of time it takes in milliseconds for the VMHost to read data from each Logical Unit Number (LUN) on the datastore.
Mode: S, H
Type:ms
Disk IOms/ Write by DatastoreThe amount of time it takes in milliseconds for the VMHost to write data from each Logical Unit Number (LUN) on the datastore.
Mode: S, H
Type:ms
Disk IOMB/sec Read by DatastoreThe amount of data in megabytes read by the VMHost from each Logical Unit Number (LUN) on the datastore per second.
Mode: S, H
Type:MB
Disk IOMB/sec Write by DatastoreThe amount of data in megabytes written to the VMHost from each Logical Unit Number (LUN) on the datastore per second.
Mode: S, H
Type:MB

VMware Guest Metrics

SectionMetricDescription
Network (VM)IN per GuestThe amount of network bandwidth in megabytes per second used for downloads by the VM Guest(s).
Mode: S, H
Type:MB per second
Network (VM)OUT per GuestThe amount of network bandwidth in megabytes per second used for uploads by the VM Guest(s).
Mode: S, H
Type:MB per second
CPU Usage (VM)

Utilization Per Guest

The percentage of CPU used by the VM per guest.
Mode: S, H
Type:Percentage
System Memory (VM)Utilization per GuestThe amount of system memory in megabytes actively used by each VM Guest.
Mode: S, H
Type:MB
Disk IO (VM)ms/Read per VMThe average amount of time it takes in milliseconds for the VM to read data from the virtual disk.
Mode: S, H
Type:ms
Disk IO (VM)ms/Write per VMThe average amount of time it takes in milliseconds for the VM to write data to the virtual disk.
Mode: S, H
Type:ms
Disk IO (VM)MB/sec Read per VMThe average amount of data used for reads by each VM in megabytes per second.
Mode: S, H
Type:MB per second
Disk IO (VM)MB/sec Write per VMThe average amount of data used for writes by each VM in megabytes per second.
Mode: S
Type:MB per second