Multi-Host analyzing is simpler than Single-Host analyzin and a good point to start.

NOTE: some screenshots may not be 100% up to date and don't matching exactly the latest dim_STAT version.

Main point: as we want to see several hosts at the same time and on the same graph, we cannot show more than one single stat-value per graph, however there can be several graphs viewed on the same page.

In general:

• Choose STAT collects
• Choose the time interval you are interesting in
• Choose Graph size/mode attributes
• Choose STAT data you want to analyze
• Go!! :-)

Select Multi-host

Choose Collect(s) and Time interval

Collects - Let's assume there are three hosts I want to see together. OK, these collects are only used as examples and not to give demo data. Time Interval - I described before the advantages of using LOG messages. Here is one of the better examples. I've simply selected the begin and the end of the time slice I'm interested in for my production workload. NOTE: you may select several intervals and compare them all together on the same graph. For example, to compare today's and last week's activity during a similar workload.

Choose STATs

Graphics - This is a quite intuitive section, isn't it? You simply choose the style of your graphical presentation: Java Applet/ PNG Image - graph output format Histogram - one comment: histograms are only supported with Java output. Real Graph - in case there was no data during any time period for some stat components, the graph line will be stopped for this period and will continue once this component came back. Example: while collecting, one user was disconnected for a while and re-connected again. So, the graph will represent both "real" activity and "inactive" periods will be represented by holes. The only problem occurs when the observed component switched too often from/to "live"-"dead"-"live" states. In this case, instead of a graph, you may see a set of dots, which isn't much less fun. Continuous Graph - as opposed to Real Graph, ContGraph will replace the "holes" by zero. So there will never be "dots" on your graphics and each graph line will stay perfectly continuous. However, there is no more a visual difference between an "inactive" and a "dead" component. Force Graph alignment - this is useful only for Java graphs and done automatically for static PNG images. Force Data Gap completion - this may help you to see continuity in time scale graphs, when you have short periods of data missing (host reboot, etc.). If you don't use this option, a data hole is made visible by a red vertical bar in the graph. Be careful with this option, because if your time gap is large (days, weeks, etc.), you may wait for a few hours to get your graph. In the meantime the tool will try to refill all missing data with zero, and you will just see a big hole in the middle of graph. Auto-Sync: with version 8.1 a new auto-time-sync feature was implemented to avoid the problem of time shift with some Solaris and Linux commands. This is done by automatically re-syncing every hour the collected data with the current time. But the red bar may still be present on your graphs even when there was no stop time on the service, etc. Finally, to accommodate your preference, there is an option to choose between Normal and Bold lines for drawing your graphs. Note: all Graphics parameters are saved and kept with cookies. They will be used again the next time you use this function. Next, you just choose the STAT values you want to see on your graph (example: CPU and Net packets/sec)...

Go!

Once you set "content" and "presentation", you can also set some other parameters: Show LOG: In case you want to see LOG messages at the same time as graphs, so that you can analyze better the events that happened. There are also two modes to view logs: Static and Dynamic. In Static Mode all messages are presented inside of a simple HTML table. In Dynamic Mode they are all inserted into a small scrollable window and if you click on any message in that window you will set/unset a red bar crossing all graphs that correspond to the message timestamp... Show Tasks: print a table of all running/finished tasks corresponding to the current time period Refresh: this will refresh the result page every number of seconds. A function, very useful for on-line monitoring. You can do the same through browser options in Opera or Firefox) Let's START!!

Result with Static Log

(Sorry, there was no more place on screen for the LOG :)))

Result with Dynamic Log

If you use dynamic logs and applet output, single clicking on a message line will set on / off a vertical red bar on the graph. This bar shows you exactly the place that corresponds with the message timestamps. As you see, at any moment you may add another Log message.