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Compute_layer

Compute_layer

Owned by Dominik Karch
Last updated: 15.01.25 by Thomas Sikora
9 min read
1 IBM PowerVM | 2 OS Agent for AIX & Linux | 3 VMware vSphere | 4 Kubernetes

 

IBM PowerVM

A user is required for the operation of the BVQ PowerVM Scanner who should at least have read-only (hmcviewer) access to the HMC.

Please create this user before configuring the BVQ Scanner. We recommend to name the user "bvq"

Please open the user properties dialogue and select "Allow remote access via the web"


Enable performance data collection

BVQ can only collect performance statistics if "Data Collection" is enabled on the managed systems and all LPARs.

 

Adjust System settings

Enable "Performance Monitoring Data Collection for Managed Servers"

To lower the system load and storage capacity usage on the HMC, we recommend to reduce the number of days to store performance data below the title "Performance Data Storage" to its minimum value of "1". BVQ takes over the role to store a longer history of that data.

Adjust LPAR settings

Switch on "Enable Performance Information Collection" on all LPARs

You can check the state of the "Performance Collection" enablement per LPAR easily. Run the following script on the HMC to show all LPARs without enabled collection:

bvq@hmc3:~> for SYS in $(lssyscfg -r sys -F name); do lssyscfg -r lpar -m $SYS -F name,allow_perf_collection ; done | grep ",0" rju_viot,0 IOS74DHP,0 HABS74D,0 HAQS74D,0 HAMS74D,0


BVQ Scanner configuration

To configure a PowerVM scanner in BVQ the following information is required:

  • IP address or hostname of the HMC

  • User and password of the HMC user for BVQ

Starting with BVQ 2023.H1: Redundant HMCs managing the same systems must be configured in the same PowerVM scanner. Otherwise, the managed systems will appear twice in BVQ. Define the most powerful HMC first, because the order of HMCs determines the order in which they are scanned by BVQ. Additional HMCs managing other systems should be configured in an additional PowerVM scanner.

Up to BVQ 2022.H2: Typically, two redundant HMCs manage the same IBM Power systems. Please ensure that only one scanner is created for one of the HMCs to avoid duplication in BVQ.

 

OS Agent for AIX & Linux

 

AIX and Linux are the first BVQ platforms where data is not pulled from the systems by the BVQ scanner. Instead, data is sent (pushed) from the OS on the LPARs to the BVQ Server by an BVQ OS Agent using SCP/SFTP. This means, an ssh-server on the BVQ Server is receiving data from the OS instances. Once an AIX or Linux BVQ Scanner is configured, the ssh-server is being started automatically and is listening on port 2222.

Important

Please ensure that port 2222 is not blocked by a firewall!

 

BVQ Scanner configuration

To configure an AIX or Linux BVQ scanner the following information is required:

  • NAME - Name of the AIX or Linux scanner

  • INSTANCE GROUP NAME - Select a name which is used to group all AIX or Linux Instances (=partitions) together that are running the BVQ OS Agent for AIX or Linux. The number of instances per instance group should not exceed 50.

  • USERNAME - This user authorizes the SCP/SFTP transfer from the AIX or Linux Instances to the BVQ Server. It will be configured during the installation process

  • SSH PUBLIC KEY - Optional. Leave empty if you want to use the default ssh key-pair included in bvq_agent.tar.gz. If you want to use a different ssh key-pair type, then enter the content of the public ssh key file here and adjust bvq_config.sh on the OS agent accordingly.
    Supported key types are:

    • ssh-rsa (default)

    • ecdsa-sha2

    • rsa-sha2-256

    • ssh-ed25519

 

OS Agent installation

The BVQ Agent for AIX or Linux RPM installation package is automatically generated once a new BVQ AIX or Linux scanner configuration is being created in the BVQ WebUI. After the "Save"-button is pressed, the RPM package is automatically generated and can be downloaded directly. Further installation instructions can be found in the scanner configuration page or the readme included in the RPM download package.

OS User requirements
OS User Group Restrictions
AIX root system none
AIX other system No stats for FC adapters
AIX other staff No stats for FC adapters and LV, VG objects
Linux root root none (other uid / gid not supported)

Alternatively, the BVQ AIX agent can be rolled out automatically to many systems using an AIX NIM server. The download package for AIX includes a script that helps configuring the NIM server.

Important

It is essential that BVQ Server and AIX/Linux clocks are in sync. Please ensure that NTP is configured and active on all monitored systems and the BVQ Server!

The OS Agent cannot be installed or upgraded as long as NTP is not configured!

 

VMware vSphere

A user is required for the operation of the BVQ VMware Scanner, who should at least have read-only access to the VMware vCenter system. The read-only permission for the user must be defined at the vCenter level. Permissions in a lower level (e.g. Datacenter, Cluster, ...) will lead to scan errors.

Please create this user before configuring the BVQ Scanner. We recommend to name the user: bvq

Create or select the right user role

  • Go to user roles

     

  • Duplicate (1) the read-only role and store it as BVQ-Read-only (2) and add the following privileges (3)
    Datastore - browse datastore
    Profile driven storage - view
    Storage views - view

     

Create the BVQ User for the vCenter

  • Create the bvq user with the role "BVQ-read-only"
    create it as vsphere.local or as AD user - please remember to add it correctly into the scanner dialog later

     

  • Add the user to the vCenter
    Add the  user to the vCenter (4) and do not forget to define it for all children

     

Add the right vCenter Statistics

  • Interval duration has to be 5 minutes

  • Level 2 is sufficient for standard VMware
    Level 3 should be used for VSANs


    High vCenter CPU usage during BVQ Performance scan

    During the BVQ performance scan of a vCenter server the CPU usage of the vCenter server will increase. Please monitor the vCenter server utilization depending on the workload to avoid performance degradation.

Gather information for BVQ Scanner configuration

BVQ scanners need the following information to be configured for each vCenter system:

  • vCenter IP address or hostname

  • vCenter user domain

  • vCenter ID and password of the bvq user

Preparation for the BVQ Server

For BVQ Servers which are gathering information from NetApps and vCenters, the correct DNS configuration is important.
Make sure that the BVQ Server, NetApp systems and vCenters are in the same domain and have the same DNS server configured. 

This is required to match the DNS-Name of the NFS Datastores to the corresponding IP Adresses of the NFS file shares on NetApp systems.