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This page documents Hyperic's GemFire plugin.

GemFire Plugin Overview

Hyperic's GemFire plugin manages a GemFire Distributed System (DS) and the servers and services it comprises. The indented list of resource types below illustrates the hierarchical relationships among that managed components of a GemFire DS. Each resource type is described below in GemFire Resources and the HQ Inventory Model.

GemFire Distributed System
     JMX Agent
     Cache Server 6.5
          Cache Server 6.5 Region
     Application Peer 6.5
          Application Peer 6.5 Region
     Gateway Hub 6.5
          Gateway Hub 6.5 Gateway
          Gateway Hub 6.5 Region

Supported Versions and Requirements

The GemFire plugin supports GemFire v6.5, and requires HQ Agent v4.5.

GemFire Resources and the HQ Inventory Model

The table below has a brief description of each GemFire resource type; the right column indicates the inventory level for a type in the HQ inventory model.

Note: For more information about the managed resource hierarchy, see HQ Inventory Model.

Configuration Overview

The GemFire plugin uses the GemFire JMX Agent to obtain inventory properties and metrics for the GemFire components in a GemFire Distributed System (DS). You configure an HQ Agent to communicate with the DS's JMX Agent. The HQ Agent can run on the same platform as the JMX Agent, or on another platform.

The key requirements for successfully managing GemFire components with HQ are:

• The HQ Agent must be able to connect to the JMX Agent. If the HQ Agent is on a different platform than the JMX Agent for the DS, you must ensure that the HQ Agent can connect to the JMX Agent's RMI service.

• Each GemFire member's statistic-sampling-enabled property (in its gemfire.properties file) must be set to true. The default value for the property is false.

Resource Types and Management Functions

Management Functions for GemFire Distributed System

Management Functions for JMX Agent

Management Functions for Cache Server 6.5

Management Functions for Cache Server 6.5 Region

Management Functions for Gateway Hub 6.5

Management Functions for Gateway Hub 6.5 Gateway

Management Functions for Gateway Hub 6.5 Region

Management Functions for Application Peer 6.5

Management Functions for Application Peer 6.5 Region

Configuration Instructions

Perform these steps for each DS to be managed.

Step 1 - Enable GemFire Member Discovery and Monitoring

Follow these steps to ensure that the GemFire plugin can discover and monitor GemFire components:

1. If you plan to run the HQ Agent on the same platform as the JMX Agent for the DS, skip to Step 2. If you plan to run the HQ Agent on a different platform than the JMX Agent for the DS, you must ensure that the HQ Agent can connect to the JMX Agent's RMI service — you can do this by specifying the JMX Agent's rmi-bind-address when you start it:
   ./agent start rmi-bind-address=IP_Address -dir/AgentHome
2. Enable statistics sampling for each GemFire member in the DS — by default, statistics sampling is not enabled. To enable it, edit each member's gemfire.properties file to set the statistic-sampling-enabled property to true.

Step 2 - Configure HQ Agent for the DS

If you have not already done so, either:

• install an HQ Agent to monitor the DS, either on the same platform as the JMX Agent, or on another platform (see Installing an Agent-Only Package for instructions), or
• Select an existing HQ Agent on a remote platform to monitor the DS.

Step 3 - Configure a Platform for the DS

These instructions assume the HQ Agent that will monitor the DS is up and running.

1. Resources > Browse.
2. Click New Platform on the Tools menu.
3. On the New Platform page:
   1. In the "General Properties" section, enter a meaningful name for the DS, and as desired, a description and its location.
   2. In the "General Properties" section,
      1. Select Gemfire Distributed System from the Platform Type pulldown.
      2. If the HQ Agent is on a different platform from the JMX Agent, select its address:port combination from the Agent Connection pulldown.
      3. Enter the FQDN of the platform where the JMX Agent runs.
      4. Enter the IP Address of the platform where the JMX Agent runs.
      5. Click OK.
   3. In the "Configuration Properties" section of the Inventory page for the new platform:
      • jmx.url — If the HQ Agent and the JMX Agent are on different platforms, edit the default JMX URL shown to include the IP address of the JMX Agent.
        • The default jmx.url is:
          service:jmx:rmi:///jndi/rmi://localhost:1099/jmxconnector
        • In the correctly modified jmx.url, localhost is replaced by the hostname or address of the JMX Agent, and the valid JMX connector listen port is specified:
          service:jmx:rmi:///jndi/rmi://Host:Port/jmxconnector
      • jmx.username — Enter the username for accessing the JMX Agent.
      • jmx.password — Enter the password for accessing the JMX Agent.

Step 4 - Set Event Tracking Options

To enable log tracking, click the Enable Log Tracking box in the Monitoring section of the Configuration Properties page for the DS. HQ will log events of level "ERR" for the alert types listed in GemFire Events.

For information about HQ log tracking functionality and configuration options, and how to view log events, see Log Tracking.

Step 5 - Tailor Plugin Monitoring Defaults

You can enable and disable metrics, select indicator metrics, and change the collection interval for a resource type on its Monitoring Defaults page. To navigate to a resource type's Monitoring Defaults page:

1. Click the Administration tab.
2. Click Monitoring Defaults.
3. Scroll down to the resource type and click Edit Metric Template.

Step 6 - Configure Alert Definitions

Create alert definitions as desired for your managed vSphere components.

Metric Documentation

The following sections define the metrics for each Gemfire resource type.

GemFire Distributed System Metrics

Member Metrics

The table below defines the metrics available for the server resources in a GemFire deployment.

• Gateway Hub 6.5
• Cache Server 6.5 Metrics
• Application Peer 6.5

Region Metrics

The table below defines the metrics available for the region service resources in a GemFire deployment:

• Cache Server 6.5 Region
• Application Peer 6.5 Region
• Gateway Hub 6.5 Region

Gateway Hub 6.5 Gateway Metrics

GemFire Events

HQ GemFire View

The GemFire plugin provides a live data user interface for viewing metrics in real-time.  (As opposed to the Monitor tab for a GemFire component, which presents metrics that have been saved to the HQ database.)  

• GemFire View for a DS
• GemFire View for a Cache Server or Application Peer
• GemFire View for a Gateway Hub

GemFire View for a DS

The HQ GemFire View for a Distributed System displays the following information.

• Servers in the DS — The number of Cache Servers, Gateway Hubs and Application Peers in the DS.
• Gateways in the DS — If the DS is part of a multi-site deployment, the number of Gateways in the DS's Gateway Hub.
• Clients connected to the DS — The number of clients (Cache Servers, Gateways, or Application Peers) in other Distributed Systems that are connected to the DS.

The table in the middle of the GemFire View for a DS displays inventory properties and last reported metric values for each server (including Cache Servers, Gateway Hubs and Application Peers) the DS.

GemFire View for a Cache Server or Application Peer

The GemFire View for a Cache Server or Application Peer displays server and region inventory properties and metrics:

• Server metrics — The single row table presents last reported metric values for the Cache Server or Application Peer.

• Region metrics — The multi-row table presents inventory properties and the Entry Count metric for each region the server contains.

GemFire View for a Gateway Hub

The HQ GemFire View for a Gateway Hub displays inventory data and live measurements for the Gateway Hub, the Hubs and Regions it contains, and any clients connected to the Hub.