HP OpenView Network Node Manager Performance and Configuration Guide Windows, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems October, 2004 © Copyright 1996-2004 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Legal Notices Warranty. Hewlett-Packard makes no warranty of any kind with regard to this manual, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Hewlett-Packard shall not be help liable for errors contained herein or direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance, or use of this material. A copy of the specific warranty terms applicable to your Hewlett-Packard product can be obtained from your local Sales and Services Office. Restricted Rights Legend. Use, duplication or disclosure by the U.S. Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause in DFARS 252.227-7013. 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Windows® and MS Windows® are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. ii Contents 1 Introduction.......................................................................................................... 1 2 Management System Sizing............................................................................... 3 Network Node Manager Advanced Edition.........................................................................4 Network Node Manager Starter Edition.............................................................................6 Scaling to Larger Standalone Environments ......................................................................8 OVW Sessions......................................................................................................................11 Management Consoles.......................................................................................................12 3 NNM AE Deployment Scenarios ..................................................................... 13 Summary of Environments ...............................................................................................14 Site Details ........................................................................................................................14 4 Managing Large Networks with NNM Advanced Edition ......................... 21 Targeting Your Critical Devices........................................................................................22 Zone Discovery...................................................................................................................25 Incremental Discovery.......................................................................................................27 DNS Performance Issues...................................................................................................27 5 Polling Considerations ..................................................................................... 29 Device Status Polling ........................................................................................................30 Other Polling Types...........................................................................................................31 Device Discovery Polling Times ........................................................................................33 Polling Limits in Large Environments: Test Cases and Results ......................................33 Event Processing Performance..........................................................................................35 Event Reduction ................................................................................................................36 Event Rate.........................................................................................................................39 6 System Tuning.................................................................................................... 43 NNM Advanced Edition System Tuning ...........................................................................44 Disks..................................................................................................................................45 NNM Starter Edition Memory Requirements...................................................................45 7 NNM Application Tuning ................................................................................. 47 The On-Demand Submap Feature ....................................................................................48 The ovwdb -n Option ........................................................................................................48 Filtering.............................................................................................................................49 Reclaiming Memory by Restarting....................................................................................50 Management Consoles.......................................................................................................51 Backup and Recovery Performance...................................................................................52 Using EMANATE SNMP Agent on Windows ...................................................................52 Other Factors Affecting NNM Performance......................................................................53 8 Distributed Management ................................................................................. 55 Topology Synchronization .................................................................................................56 iii Collection Station Synchronization Duration ...................................................................57 9 DIDM Testing and Results ............................................................................... 59 NNM Distributed Environment Test Setup......................................................................60 Data Collected ...................................................................................................................65 Initial Synchronization......................................................................................................65 Resynchronization.............................................................................................................66 Event Rate.........................................................................................................................67 Failover..............................................................................................................................69 10 NNM SE Sizing Considerations....................................................................... 71 Node and Object Calculation.............................................................................................72 Nodes.................................................................................................................................73 The Relationship of Nodes and Interfaces.........................................................................75 Managed Nodes and Interfaces.........................................................................................75 Objects...............................................................................................................................76 Determining the Number of Objects .................................................................................76 Estimating the Number of Objects....................................................................................76 iv 1 Introduction Chapter 1 1 NNM Performance and Configuration Guide Introduction This document contains performance characterization and configuration information for HP OpenView Network Node Manager (NNM) version 7.5, Advanced and Starter Editions. The information in this guide will assist you in sizing systems dedicated to running NNM AE and SE in your environment. This document assumes you are acquainted with the product structure, terminology, and architecture of NNM. If you are unfamiliar with these aspects of NNM, refer to Managing Your Network with HP OpenView Network Node Manager and A Guide to Scalability and Distribution for Network Node Manager. Evaluating scalability and sizing will differ between Network Node Manager Advanced Edition (NNM AE) and Network Node Manager Starter Edition (NNM SE). NNM AE’s Extended Topology enables the management of Layer 2 devices, in addition to providing views for HSRP, VLANs, OSPF backbone, and IPv6 networks. This dramatically changes the landscape for evaluating network complexity. NNM SE, which is restricted to Layer 3 management, views complexity in terms of the number of nodes, where a node would typically have an average of two to four interfaces. The Network Node Manager Advanced Edition section in Chapter 2, Management System Sizing, discusses the key variables that determine the complexity of networks at the Layer 2 level. It also provides guidelines concerning scalability through