Introduction

Denodo provides real time monitoring of all data service components in an integrated fashion, including Denodo platform components themselves and participating data sources. By analyzing parameters such as query response times, memory usage and CPU usage, etc, Denodo administrators can proactively rectify any potential data flow bottlenecks and determine when servers are at capacity.

In this document we will see how to monitor the CPU usage, the memory usage and the active requests using JMX notifications generated by Denodo in Zabbix.

Zabbix is a software that monitors numerous parameters of a network and the health and integrity of servers, virtual machines, applications, services, databases, websites, the cloud and more.

Creating a host

In Zabbix the hosts are the devices you wish to monitor. In our case, we want to monitor the Denodo Virtual DataPort (VDP) server. To create a host, in the left panel we have to go to Monitoring > Hosts > Create Host. There, we have to introduce the following parameters in the hosts tab:

1. Host name: Denodo
2. Host groups: Applications
3. Interfaces: JMX
4. IP: this is the ip address of the VDP server.
5. Port: 9997. This is the primary port where the JMX connection is established.

Then, in the IPMI tab:

1. Authentication algorithm: Default.
2. Privilege level: User
3. Finally, introduce the username and password of a Denodo user with the proper credentials for monitoring.

Creating the items

Once we have configured a host, we need to add some items to start monitoring data. An item is an individual metric, we will create three items. One item for measuring the CPU usage, another for measuring the memory usage and the final item for monitoring the number of active requests. To create an item, go to the hosts panel and click on the host name (Denodo) and go to Items > Create item.

CPU item

The first item named vdp-cpu will monitor the CPU usage. We have to introduce the following parameters:

1. Name: the name of the item (vdp-cpu).
2. Type: JMX agent.
3. Key: jmx["java.lang:type=OperatingSystem","ProcessCpuLoad"] 

The jmx[] item key contains three parameters:

• object name - the object name of an MBean.
• attribute name - an MBean attribute name with optional composite data field names separated by dots unique short description.
• a unique description that allows multiple JMX items with the same object name and attribute name on the host (optional).

4. Type of information: Numeric (float) it will return a 64-bit floating point number.
5. Host interface: The host and the port defined in the host configuration
6. Username and Password: Denodo login.

Memory Item

The second item named vdp-memory will monitor the memory usage. We have to introduce the following parameters:

1. Name: the name of the item (vdp-memory).
2. Type: JMX agent.
3. Key: jmx["java.lang:type=Memory","HeapMemoryUsage.used"].
4. Type of information: Numeric (float) it will return a 64-bit floating point number.
5. Host interface: The host and the port defined in the host configuration
6. Username and Password: Denodo login.

Also, we will configure a custom multiplier in order to retrieve the results as percentage. We can configure it in the Preprocessing tab of the item configuration. We can view its configuration in the following screenshot.

Active Requests

The third item named vdp-requests will monitor the number of active requests. We have to introduce the following parameters:

1. Name: the name of the item (vdp-requests).
2. Type: JMX agent.
3. Key: jmx[com.denodo.vdb.management.mbeans:type=VDBServerManagementInfo,ActiveRequests]
4. Type of information: Numeric (float) it will return a 64-bit floating point number.
5. Host interface: The host and the port defined in the host configuration.
6. Username and Password: Denodo login.

Creating Graphs

Once the items have been created, we can create some graphs to add them to a dashboard in order to see the results. We will create three simple graphs for the visualization of the item's information.

To create the graphs of the cpu and memory usage, we can go to Dashboard > Add. Then, configure the type of the widget as Graph and select the host pattern (Denodo) and the item pattern (vdp-cpu/vdp-memory respectively). Finally, click on Add and the graph will be added to the dashboard.

To create an item value graph to see the active requests, select the graph type as Item value, select the item vdp-requests and click on Add.

Final Result

Eventually, after generating some data the dashboard will look like the above image.

Conclusion

This document presents a specific example where we create three items in order to create a dashboard where we will monitor Denodo Server using Zabbix. Similar steps can be followed to achieve similar outcomes in different items, using other graphs, hosts, etc.

References

Monitoring Denodo servers with JMX

Zabbix Documentation

Zabbix JMX