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  • 1.  Load testing Nimsoft implementation by generating lots of random alarms

    Posted Apr 29, 2011 10:49 AM

    Hi all,

     

    We would like to load test Nimsoft implementation by generating lots of random alarms.

     

    Is there a way (command line executable / API) to do this ? I can use nimbus.alarm() API in a perl code in a loop or nimalarm executable multiple times but I feel there could be better way for this.

     

    Please suggest.

     

    Thanks & Regards,

    Amit Saxena



  • 2.  Re: Load testing Nimsoft implementation by generating lots of random alarms
    Best Answer

    Posted Apr 29, 2011 04:45 PM

    Amit,

     

    We ran through a series of stress tests on our environment to ensure the level of scale we were trying to reach.

     

    Probably the best way to generate alarms would be to use the SYSLOGGTW probe. Simply use a syslog generator and point it to the server with SYSLOGGTW probe deployed.

     

    Here is what we did:

     

    1. Deploy SYSLOGGTW probe to the hub or robot you wish to stress test

    2. Open the SYSLOGGTW probe and verify the following boxes are checked:

                "Activate syslogd"

                "Generate NimBUS Alarm"

                "Generate SYSLOG-IN message"

    3. Open up the hub probe on the hub the robot is pointed to

    4. Create a new queue called SYSLOG-IN

               "Name: SYSLOG-IN"

               "Type: Attach"

               "Subject: SYSLOG-IN"

    5. At this point we have the probe configured to look for any syslog data and generate an alarm for any and all syslog data. Now we just have to generate a ton of syslog data!

    6. Download kiwi syslog generator: http://www.kiwisyslog.com/kiwi-sysloggen-download/

    7. Install it on the server with the SYSLOGGTW probe deployed

    8. Run the kiwi syslog generator

    9. Configure it to generate continuous syslog messages and point it to localhost or 127.0.0.1

    10. After this point you should see alarms start generating

     

    To further stress test the machine, install the genorator on multiple machines and point it to the server with the SYSLOGGTW probe deployed.

     

    Please let me know if you need me to be more clear on any of the steps.

     

    Jeff Young

    IntelliNet Corporation



  • 3.  Re: Load testing Nimsoft implementation by generating lots of random alarms

    Posted Apr 29, 2011 07:06 PM

    Thanks Jeff,

     

    It worked for me. I need one more help in this regard. Can we generate different syslog messages at one time through this approach ? Also how to increase the counter in this case ?

     

    Thanks & Regards,

    Amit Saxena



  • 4.  Re: Load testing Nimsoft implementation by generating lots of random alarms

    Posted May 14, 2011 01:59 AM

    Amit,

     

    Glad to hear it worked and sorry for the delay getting back to you.

     

    The generator has the ability to push completely random syslog messages. I am not possitive how the SYSLOGgtw probe interprets the syslog data, but it should create a multiple messages with random supression keys which should take care of number of messages being created.

     

    amit_saxena wrote:

    Thanks Jeff,

     

    It worked for me. I need one more help in this regard. Can we generate different syslog messages at one time through this approach ? Also how to increase the counter in this case ?

     

    Thanks & Regards,

    Amit Saxena



    Are you refering to how to increase a particular alarm's counter?

     

    I also attached a picture of how we typically configure Kiwi Syslog.

     

    Thank You,

     

    Jeff Young

    IntelliNet Corporation



  • 5.  Re: Load testing Nimsoft implementation by generating lots of random alarms

    Posted May 15, 2011 02:00 PM

     

    Thanks Jeff for the information.

     

    I did checked all the options including generating complete different syslog messages. There is one major issue in this approach. If you go for this approach, then the alarm text generated in the alarms is not always in complete text format. It seems like unicode / binary text.

     

    I always go for "generate continuously" as the option. In my test system of Windows XP SP3 with 2 GB of RAM, i am able to generate messages of the order of 60 MPS (messages per second). However if I implement the same configuration on another test machine with Windows Server 2008 64-bit with 4 GB of RAM, the number of messages per second does not differ much. That means the kiwi syslog generator does not take full advantage of the hardware resources available to generate syslog messages.

     

    I did get lots of messages generated when I deactivated suppression key in nas which resulted in every syslog alarm as a differnet message. I was able to get more than 1 lakhs alerts in my alarm console.

     

    So If I summarize my concerns, the same are mentioned below.

     

    1) Syslog messages generated by syslog generator does not take advantage of hardware resources.

    2) Syslog messages generated by syslog generator under random message text generates binary / unicode alarms which are impossible to be read.

    3) Syslog messages generated by syslog generator does not generate syslog messages under same rate.

     

    Please suggest some other alternative which can take care of these issues.

     

    Regards,

    Amit Saxena