Synchro Software

User Guide

Version: 2.2
Release Date: 2012-09-08
Revision History

Version Date Description

1.2.9 2012-09-07 Documentation update.

2.2.7 2012-10-15 Documentation update.

 Table of Contents

Table of Contents
1   Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 1  
1.1   What is Synchro?......................................................................................................................... 1  
1.2   What Synchro Does with Your Data? .......................................................................................... 1  
1.3   Why Use Synchro? ...................................................................................................................... 2  
1.4   Architecture Overview.................................................................................................................. 3  
1.5   Synchro Versions......................................................................................................................... 3  
2   SynchroWeb Interface ........................................................................................................................ 4  
2.1   Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 4  
2.1.1   Views .................................................................................................................................... 4  
2.1.2   Selecting Metrics................................................................................................................... 4  
2.1.3   Selecting Time ...................................................................................................................... 5  
2.1.4   Selecting Statistics................................................................................................................ 6  
2.2   Basic Controls.............................................................................................................................. 8  
2.3   Window Controls.......................................................................................................................... 8  
2.4   Data Controls ............................................................................................................................... 9  
2.5   View Controls............................................................................................................................. 10  
2.6   Formats Description................................................................................................................... 11  
2.6.1   PeriodStatistics Format....................................................................................................... 11  
2.6.2   ByTimeStatistics Format ..................................................................................................... 16  
2.6.3   Miscellaneous Formats ....................................................................................................... 19  
3   Synchro Administration..................................................................................................................... 21  
3.1   SynchroServer Installation ......................................................................................................... 21  
3.1.1   Pre-Requisite ...................................................................................................................... 21  
3.2   Installation Instructions .............................................................................................................. 21  
3.3   SynchroServer Start/Stop Procedures....................................................................................... 22  
3.4   SynchroClient Solaris Installation .............................................................................................. 22  
3.5   SynchroClient Linux Installation................................................................................................. 23  
3.6   SynchroClient Windows Installation........................................................................................... 25  
4   SynchroServer Configuration............................................................................................................ 26  
4.1   Basic Admin Controls ................................................................................................................ 26  
4.2   Action Menu ............................................................................................................................... 26  
4.3   SynchroServer Configuration..................................................................................................... 27  
4.3.1   Server - Configuration......................................................................................................... 27  
4.3.2   Server – Retention .............................................................................................................. 27  
4.3.3   Server – Compression ........................................................................................................ 28  
4.3.4   Server – Aggregator............................................................................................................ 28  
4.3.5   Server – Logging................................................................................................................. 28  
4.3.6   Logs and Alarm Parameters ............................................................................................... 28  
4.3.7   Server - Internal Parameters............................................................................................... 29  
4.4   Alarm Configuration ................................................................................................................... 29  
4.5   MAVG Configuration .................................................................................................................. 30  
4.6   Color Configuration .................................................................................................................... 31  
4.7   Users Configuration ................................................................................................................... 31  
4.8   Periods Configuration ................................................................................................................ 31  
4.9   Aggregator Configuration........................................................................................................... 32  
4.10   Compression Configuration...................................................................................................... 32  
4.11   Retention Configuration............................................................................................................ 33  
4.12   Client Configuration.................................................................................................................. 33  
4.13   Dropfrom Configuration ............................................................................................................ 33  

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 Table of Contents
4.14   Memory Trigger Exception Configuration................................................................................. 34  
4.15   Time Series Mapping Configuration ......................................................................................... 34  
4.16   Value Mapping Configuration ................................................................................................... 34  
4.17   Presets Configuration............................................................................................................... 34  
Appendix A.   SynchroClients ................................................................................................................ 36  
A.1   SynchroLinux............................................................................................................................. 36  
A.2   SynchroWindows....................................................................................................................... 36  
Appendix B.   Application Integration..................................................................................................... 37  
B.1   Trivial TCP Text Protocol .......................................................................................................... 37  
B.2   SynchroTail ............................................................................................................................... 39  
B.3   Integration Examples................................................................................................................. 40  
Appendix C.   SynchroServer Performance Tuning............................................................................... 47  
C.1   Increase Disk Performance ....................................................................................................... 47  
C.2   Increase CPU Usage ................................................................................................................ 47  
C.3   Increase Memory Available ....................................................................................................... 48  

Synchro User Guide Page ii

1 Introduction
This document provides the information required to use the Synchro software.
Discrepancies in this documentation or bugs in the Synchro software should be reported to
[email protected] (more information available at www.synchro-tech.com).
Thank you for using Synchro.

1.1 What is Synchro?

Synchro is a real time enterprise infrastructure-monitoring tool that acquires and manages
data and events from multiple sources throughout the enterprise. Synchro collects,
aggregates, historizes, alerts, visualises, and reports on your data.
Think of Synchro as a spreadsheet, only field values in Synchro can change every second,
or if necessary, on a more frequent basis. Like a spreadsheet, Synchro is not aware of the
meaning of the data it processes.
A field in Synchro, and the associated data that changes every second is called a Time
Series. A typical Synchro infrastructure processes hundreds of thousands of these Time
Series updates every second.

1.2 What Synchro Does with Your Data?

For each Time Series, Synchro provides two (2) types of statistics.
• ByTimeStatistics
• PeriodStatistics
For each second of the day, within each Time Series, Synchro provides the latest value
(LAST), Min, Max, Average, Count, and Sum, of the data received for that second. These
second level statistics are called ByTimeStatistics.
Additionally, in Synchro it is possible to define Periods. A Period describes a continuous
interval for a time of the day. For each Period, and for each Time Series, Synchro provides
the latest value (LAST), Min, Max, Average, Count, Sum, Time (time of the last update), and
Dtime (time since the last update). These Period based statistics are called
PeriodStatistics. By default, Synchro keeps hourly, morning, evening, work hours, and
daily PeriodStatistics. Users can define as many (possibly overlapping), Periods as required.
Synchro can also “artificially” create Time Series based on your data. It can group them
together, aggregate days of data together, create new Time Series using moving
aggregation functions (like moving averages), and create alerts that they themselves,
become Time Series.
Synchro uses four (4) identifiers to uniquely identify a Time Series. By convention, the
identifiers, Types and Metrics define what is being measured, and the identifiers,
Components and Targets identifiy what it is measured on.
One of the most useful and distinctive feature of Synchro is the possibility of using values of
PeriodStatictics to select a Time Series (in addition to the name of a Time Series). This
makes it easy and efficient to display a real-time list (updated every second), of the top “N”
clients/products/systems, based on any Time Series.

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 Synchro also offers the possibility of comparing missing/added items between dates and
periods of the day, making it a simple task to compare the configuration of systems to see
what was changed.

1.3 Why Use Synchro?

Synchro is an outstanding monitoring and capacity-planning tool that has been successfully
used in diverse contexts such as industrial infrastructure, technology infrastructure, and
application monitoring.
Synchro is…
• Efficient: Each Synchro infrastructure can process a sustained load of more than
200,000 data updates per second on commodity server hardware.
• Granular: By default, all data in Synchro is kept at the second level precision. Data can
be historized and efficiently at the second level precision for years if required.
• Insightful: By pro-actively re-calculating masses of statistics every second, and allowing
for aggregation and smoothing of data, Synchro provides real-time answers to questions
such as:
• Did something change?
• What was changed?
• What was added?
• What is missing?
• What are the impacts of the change?

Synchro User Guide Page 2

1.4 Architecture Overview
The SynchroServer, a multi-threaded JAVA application, is at the heart of the Synchro
infrastructure. It receives data from probes, applications, and adapters to aggregate,
historize, report, and create alarms as needed. The data is sent to the SynchroServer via a
trivial text TCP protocol. The SynchroWEB and SynchroAdmin tools are used within a WEB
browser to interact the SynchroServer embedded WEB server via the HTTP protocol.

1.5 Synchro Versions

There are two distinct versions of Synchro. There is the full Commercial version described in
these pages, and the Demonstration version which is valid for three months. The following
table outlines the differences between the versions.
For more information on how to acquire the Commercial version of Synchro, please contact
[email protected].

Characteristics Commercial Version Demonstration Version

Support Included Not Included

Historical Data Included Not Included

Alarms Included Not Included

Reports Included Not Included

All Others Included Included

Synchro User Guide Page 3

2 SynchroWeb Interface
This section presents the interface used in SynchroWEB.

2.1 Introduction
The SynchroWEB interface is the main tool that users will utilize to interact with the
SynchroServer. Users can connect and use the SynchroWeb interface from the following
URL by using a web browser such as; Safari, Chrome, or Firefox:
http://ServerName:8080/Synchro/Synchro.html

2.1.1 Views

The SynchroWEB interface is built around the Views concept. Users can create Views that
are composed of any number of Data Windows. Data Windows present a set of data in a
diverse format (e.g., graphs, text, tables…). Views can be protected (read only) and,
depending on the SynchroServer mode, can also be hidden to other users.

2.1.2 Selecting Metrics

To select which Time Series are to be reported on, Synchro uses PeriodStatistics.
The Search tool ( ), available in the Data Window/Data Controls, is used to search for Time
Series. Using this tool, users can select dates, periods, and a set of Time Series to be
displayed. The identifiers Component/Target and Type/Metrics are used to select Time
Series based on their name. Using the sliders; Click,Ctrl-Click,and Alt-Click, users can select
the Time Series to be reported on. Additionally, users can also enter a string in the overhead
fields to match a set of Time Series. Strings are composed of regular expressions. Using
this functionality, users can select many Time Series by entering only one string.
For example: The string “System[12345]|System[1.*1]” would match System 1 through 5 and
System10A1.
The table below describes the basic functionalities of regular expressions.

Character Signification
. (dot) Matches any single character except line break characters \r and \n.

* (star) Repeats the previous item zero or more times.

+ (plus) Repeats the previous item once or more

\Q...\E Matches the characters between \Q and \E literally

^ (caret) Matches the start of the string the regex pattern is applied to.

$ (dollar) Matches the end of the string the regex pattern is applied to.

[123] Defines inside a character class.(Matches Character 1, 2 or 3).

| (pipe) Causes the regex engine to match either the part on the left side, or the part
on the right side.

Note: More information on “regular expressions can” be found by searching the Internet.

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 Using the above selection scheme, it is possible to simultaneously select thousands of Time
Series.
The following parameters are also used to refine which Time Series, and on what, will be
reported.
The Function menu ( ) used with the Sort Criteria ( ), and the Options ( ) /“Data and
Range”/”Maximum Number of Time Series” are used to ultimately select which Time Series
are to be reported on.

2.1.3 Selecting Time

The Search tool ( ) enables the user to select which date(s) and period(s) are to be used
for Time Based and Time Series selection.

The Time Sample ( ) is used to select the size of the Sliding Window that ranges from the
current server time, to a specified duration in the past (in seconds). This functionality is also
available in Options ( )/“Data and Range”/”Time Sample”.
Users can also select a specific interval of time using Options ( )/“Data and
Range”/”ZoomFrom”, and “Data and Range”/”ZoomTo” (Format “HHMMSS”).
Dates can be selected using the format YYYYMMDD in the Search tool. Dates and Periods
can also be relatively defined using the current SynchroServer Date/Period. Below are a few
examples:

Function Description
Today D-00

Yesterday D-01

117 Days ago D-117

Last Business Day W-01

Today and Yesterday D-00|D-01

This Week Mon-Sun WK-00

Last Week Mon-Sun WW-00

Last Week Mon-Fri WW-01

This Month Mon-Sun MO-00

This Month Mon-Fri MO-01

Last Month Mon-Fri MN-01

ThisHour PH-00

LastHour PH-01

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2.1.4 Selecting Statistics

For each Time Series Synchro stores two (2) types of statistics. There are specific Synchro
Formats designed to report on the different statistics.

Note: When using statistics pay attention to the Function menu ( ) as this menu selects
which aggregation function is to be used for reporting.
The PeriodStatistics are designed to provide an overview over a Period of time of the
detailed second by second statistics. Users can define as many Periods as required. By
default, Synchro provides several Periods as presented in the following table.

For each second of the day, and for each Time Series, Synchro provides the Last (latest
value), Min, Max, Average, Count, and Sum of the data received. These second level
statistics are called ByTimeStatistics, and are designed to provide the level of detail
required to drill down into events that require more attention.
The following table demonstrates that for each second, the SynchroServer received ~2246
updates (count) for this particular Time Series. Other statistics for the data received are also
available.

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Synchro User Guide Page 7
2.2 Basic Controls
The following basic controls are available in the upper portion of the SynchroWEB interface.

Function
Description
Icon
The Home View icon is used to select the “home” view. The user uses
Synchro to create the Home view (view name is home). If Home view is
not defined, the “default” View is used.

The Views icon is used to access the View Selector interface.

The Report Icon is used to activate the Report Selector tool to view
already created reports.

View Controls provide basic view controls such as; Save, Save As, and
Delete for the views.
This is also the menu used to access the SynchroAdmin interface.

The Lock/UnLock icons show the status of the View. Only the owner of
/ the View can lock or unlock the View.

In addition, Synchro displays the View name, and the name of the current user in the upper
right portion of the screen.

2.3 Window Controls

Window Controls are available when the mouse pointer hovers on the upper right portion of
any Data Window.

Note: The View needs to be Unlocked ( ) for the controls to appear.

Function
Description
Icon
Provides information about the status of the query sent to the server by
the SynchroWEB interface.

Pause and Restart the update of the Data Window.

/

Duplicate (copy) the Data Window.

Export the content of the Data Window. Export default format is MS

Excel (xls). Format can be changed in “View Controls ( ) /”View
Options”/”ExportFormat”

Close Data Window. Note – users cannot delete all Data Windows –
one Data Window must remain open.

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 Function
Description
Icon

Manually Refresh the content of the Data Window when Paused.

Expand/Collapse the Data Window.

/

2.4 Data Controls

Data Controls are available when the mouse pointer hovers on the upper left portion of any
Data Window (below the Title region).

Note: The View needs to be Unlocked ( ) for the controls to appear.

Function
Description
Icon
The Search tool is used to select the Time Series to be reported on. In
addition, sort criteria and the Options / “Data and Range”/”Maximum
Number of Time Series” when used together, select which Time Series
are to be reported on.

The Option tool provides access to the “Window Control”, “Data and
Range”, and “Format Specific” options.

The Time Sample is used to select the size of the Sliding Window that
ranges from the current server time to the specified duration in the past
(in seconds). This functionality is also available with Options/“Data and
Range”/”Time Sample”. The values available in this menu can be
changed in the SynchroAdmin interface.

Selects the Periods be used for data selection (PeriodStatistics) and for
time selection. This functionality is also available in the Search tool. The
values available in this menu can be changed in the SynchroAdmin
interface.

Selects the Dates to be used for data selection. This functionality is also
available in the Search tool. The values available in this menu can be
changed in the SynchroAdmin interface.

Selects the Format of the data to be displayed. See Formats description

below for details.

The Sort Criteria is used to select which Time Series are to be

displayed, and also establishes the order in which they are to be
displayed. A reverse sort is also available in Options/“Data and
Range”/”Reverse Sort”.

The Function tool is used to select which aggregation function to

display. This functionality is also available in Options/“Data and
Range”/”Function”.
Possible values are LAST, MIN, MAX. AVG, COUNT, and SUM

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2.5 View Controls

View Controls are available in the upper right portion of the screen under the ( ) icon. The
following menu appears when the mouse pointer cursor hovers over the icon.

Function
Description
Icon
Share… Enables the user to create an URL where all Basic Controls are
removed. This is useful to provide a simple “read only” interface for
specific users.

Save… Save the current View

Save As… Save the current View using a new name.

Delete Delete current View.

View Options View Options present some controls over the View. More information is
available below.

SynchroAdmin This menu item launches the SynchroAdmin interface. This interface is
the tool the Synchro Server Administrator uses to configure the Synchro
Server.

Logout Logout logs the user out. Login information is requested as needed
when a user attemps to access a functionality that requires login
information.

The View Options menu presents the following controls over the View:

Function Icon Description

Export Format Selects which report format is to be used to export the data in

“Window Controls”/ . The “Query URL Only” export format is

used to export a query that can be used in another application
such as; a spreadsheet, a browser, another SynchroWEB
interface, or wget.

View Background Color Sets the View Background Color in a format acceptable in HTML:
i.e.: red, green, blue, #RRGGBB, rgb(0,0,0),and rgba(0,0,0,0))

BackGround Image URL Set the background image. Example:

http://SynchroServerName/download/Diapositive1.png

Maximum Items Sets the maximum number of Time Series that can be extracted
Retrieved in a Search in a single search (default 1000).

Snap to Grid Snap to Grid is useful when placing windows in a View.

Force Login Forces the user to login to see a View.

Size Style Size of a View can be either “Fixed Size”, where the view size is
independent to the size of the browser screen, or “Resize to Fit”
(default), where the View size and included items resize

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 Function Icon Description
automatically according the screen size.

View Width/Height When “Fixed Size” Size Style is selected, these parameters
determine the size of the View (unit pixels).

2.6 Formats Description

There are three (3) types of formats in Synchro. Some formats are designed to report on
PeriodStatistics, some on ByTimeStatistics and some others are designed to provide
complementary information to Views.
Note: Unless stated, the following examples relate to a single Time Series.
The SYNCHRO/METRICRATE (TYPE/METRIC) below, describes the number of individual
Time Series that updated the SynchroServer each second.
Notice that a particular date and period (H08 – from 08:00:00 to 08:59:59) was selected.

2.6.1 PeriodStatistics Format

The following formats present PeriodStatistics in diverse form; some of the most important
features of each format are presented.
Statistics (HTML)
Offers a view of the PeriodStatistics for a particular period.

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 Highlights:

• Function Selection – The Function menu ( ) selects which aggregation function to

display.
• Dynamic color selection
• Compare Dates/Periods in “Option Window/Format Specific” (Date format YYYYMMDD)
allows to compare statistics from two Dates/Periods. Using this feature, the system
displays what Time Series are missing in RED and the ones that were added in
YELLOW. All the other Time Series (normal) are displayed in the default color. The
following example displays missing/added processes of a host on a particular period of
two (2) days.

• Alarms can be displayed on the window in this format

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 • Displays descriptive statistics

Metric Table (HTML)

Displays a cross table of Metrics vs. the different dimensions of the Time Series. In this
example, it displays the different Metrics available for a list of processes on a host.

StatBarGraph
Displays a dynamic histogram of selected statistics.

Synchro User Guide Page 13

 TIP: Use “WK-00” to select the current week of statistics, then “Sort/Metrics” to order them
by name (Metric), and then “Options/Reverse Sort” to reorder them in increasing order.
Dial (Graph)
Displays a dynamic dial of selected statistics.

Synchro User Guide Page 14

 TIP: In Options, change the Min/Max of the dial and set the number of steps of the dial.
Custom Text (Graph)
This format enables the user to create a text-based window that can display text and
embedded statistics.

To do this, use the “Options/Format Specific/Custom Text” editor to write the text. Individual
statistics can then be inserted into the text using the “Options/Format Specific/Show Result
Table” in the format ${ColumnLine} as per the following example:

Synchro User Guide Page 15

2.6.2 ByTimeStatistics Format

This section presents the format to report on, second by second.

Graph By Time (Graph)
This format (might be the most often used) displays the data against time for a series of
Time Series.

Highlights:

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 • Can display several aggregate functions and Time Series simultaneously.
• Can overlap or in-line several days of the same Time Series.
• Supports seconds scale
• Supports different types of line/points
• Can group, second by second, any displayed Time Series (Data and
Range/GroupByTime)
Histogram Graph (Graph), Histogram (HTML), Cumulative Histogram (HTML)
Displays a dynamic histogram of the selected data. It expresses the percentage of events
for each class.
The following example represents the percentage of time that a particular process is using a
certain percentage of CPU over several days.

Highlights:
• Use “Options/Format Specific/” Min/Max/Step to set the parameters of the histogram.
Scatter Plot (Graph)
Displays the value of one Time Series against the values of another. In this example, it
displays the percentage of CPU used by a process, and CPU usage on the host.

Synchro User Guide Page 17

 Highlights:
• Supports different types of line/points
Data By Time (HTML)
Displays the data against time for Time Series. In this example, it displays the percentage of
CPU used by a process, and CPU usage on the host.

Highlights:
• Displays descriptive statistics.
• Reverse time display
• Dynamic color selection
• Display Statistics

Synchro User Guide Page 18

2.6.3 Miscellaneous Formats

These formats allow adding external content to the Views.

Custom Image (Graph)
Enables the user to add an external image from any WEB server by entering the URL of the
image. This format is useful for adding graphs and logos to your Views. Use the
“Options/Window Control/Update” to set the refresh rate in seconds to the desired
frequency.

Highlights:
• Image can be stretched, cropped, or set to actual size.
Custom URL (HTML)
Enables the user to add the content of other web sites into a Synchro View by entering its
URL in “Options/Format Specific/Custom URL” as follows. This format is useful when adding
content from other WEB sites, and other SynchroServer to your Views. Use the
“Options/Window Control/Update” to set the refresh rate in seconds to the desired
frequency.

Synchro User Guide Page 19

Synchro User Guide Page 20
3 Synchro Administration
3.1 SynchroServer Installation
This section presents instruction to conduct the installation of the SynchroServer and
SynchroClient software.

3.1.1 Pre-Requisite

SYSTEM: SynchroServer needs to be installed on a UNIX server (i.e., Linux SUSE, RedHat,
Centos, Ubuntu…, or Solaris). It needs at least 1 core, 2GB of RAM, and enough disks to
store data as per the retention policy.
A conformable configuration for SynchroServer would include 8 cores, 12 GB of RAM and
SSD drives.
Note: Slower disks can be used to store historized data. Please refer to the “Synchro
Performance Tuning” section for more information.
User: To install SynchroServer, the SynchroServer Administrator needs to decide on a user
that will own the software installation, data and processes. Typically a dedicated user gets
created for this purpose (for example: synchro, synchrodev synchroprod...). The user must
have access to enough data to keep historical data according to the retention policy. Also,
the user needs access to Java 6+ to run Synchro. Make sure Java is in the user's path.
synchro@SynchroHost:~$ java -version
java version "1.6.0_16"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_16-b01)
Java HotSpot(TM) Server VM (build 14.2-b01, mixed mode)
synchro@SynchroHost:~$ which java

3.2 Installation Instructions

1. Make the package Executable
synchro@host:~$ chmod +x ./SynchroServer-2.0.4.bin

2. Run the Setup Program

synchro@host:~$ ./SynchroServer-2.0.4.bin
LICENSE AGREEMENT

IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ THIS FIRST. THIS IS A LICENSE

AGREEMENT.

AFFA TECHNOLOGY INC. (“AFFA”) IS WILLING TO LICENSE THE

SYNCHRO SOFTWARE (THE “SOFTWARE”) YOU (HEREAFTER REFERRED
TO AS “YOU”) ONLY UPON THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CONTAINED
IN THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT (“AGREEMENT”).

Note: The license agreement will only appear on the demonstration version.

Do you accept the license agreement? [yes/no]

yes
Licence accepted, installing SynchroServer...
Backing up SynchroServer/www/Synchro to backup/20121011.135513
Backing up SynchroServer/www/SynchroAdmin to backup/20121011.135513

Synchro User Guide Page 21

 Backing up SynchroServer/www/SynchroDashBoard to backup/20121011.135513
Backing up SynchroServer/www/SynchroPlayer to backup/20121011.135513
Extracting and running setup.sh...
Replacing /SYNCHRO-INSTALL-DIR/ by /home/synchro/ in config files.
Modifying file: /home/synchro/SynchroServer/bin/start-server.sh
Modifying file: /home/synchro/SynchroServer/bin/stop-server.sh
Modifying file: /home/synchro/SynchroServer/bin/synchro-server.sh
Modifying file: /home/synchro/SynchroServer/bin/synchro-client.sh
Modifying file: /home/synchro/SynchroServer/bin/start-client.sh
Modifying file: /home/synchro/SynchroServer/bin/stop-client.sh
Modifying file: /home/synchro/SynchroServer/bin/synchrojmx
Modifying file: /home/synchro/SynchroServer/conf/server.ini
Done.
This will be used to configure remote SynchroClients
What is the name of this server [frean01]?

Preparing SynchroServer/dist/server.conf...
Verifying java installation
All done, installation complete.

SynchroServer is now installed. You can now connect and use the SynchroWeb interface at
the following URL (from a web browser e.g, IE or Firefox):
http://ServerName:8080/Synchro/Synchro.html

3.3 SynchroServer Start/Stop Procedures

To START the SynchroServer:
synchro@SynchroHost:~$ cd
synchro@SynchroHost:~$ : SynchroServer/bin/start-server.sh
SynchroClient stopped.
SynchroServer started.
synchro@SynchroHost:~$

To STOP the SynchroServer:

synchro@SynchroHost:~$ cd
synchro@SynchroHost:~$ : SynchroServer/bin/stop-server.sh
SynchroClient stopped.
SynchroServer stopped.
synchro@SynchroHost:~$

3.4 SynchroClient Solaris Installation

Download Synchro – you can download and install as many as needed. They will connect
automatically to the SynchroServer they were downloaded from.
The user that will run the SynchroClients needs access to Java 6+ to run Synchro. Make
sure Java is in the user's path. This is not a pre-requisite for the Windows Synchro Client.
synchro@SynchroHost:~$ java -version
java version "1.6.0_16"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_16-b01)
Java HotSpot(TM) Server VM (build 14.2-b01, mixed mode)
synchro@SynchroHost:~$ which java

Download the Solaris SynchroCLient

wget http://ServerName:8080/download/SynchroSolaris.tar.gz
prompt $ wget http://ServerName:8080/download/SynchroSolaris.tar.gz
--2009-07-02 13:37:49-- http:// ServerName:8080/download/SynchroSolaris.tar.gz
Resolving ServerName... xxx.xx.26.112
Connecting to ServerName |xxx.xx.26.112|:8080... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 985896 (963K) [application/x-gzip]
Saving to: `SynchroSolaris.tar.gz'

Synchro User Guide Page 22

 100%[========================================================================================
==>] 985,896 --.-K/s in 0.006s

2009-07-02 13:37:49 (151 MB/s) - `SynchroSolaris.tar.gz' saved [985896/985896]

#Untar the Client

prompt $ tar -zvxf SynchroSolaris.tar.gz
SynchroSolaris/
SynchroSolaris/updateclient.sh
SynchroSolaris/bin/
SynchroSolaris/bin/SynchroClient.jar
SynchroSolaris/bin/logging.conf.xml
SynchroSolaris/bin/start-client.sh~
SynchroSolaris/bin/start-client.sh
SynchroSolaris/lib/
SynchroSolaris/lib/slf4j-api-1.4.3.jar
SynchroSolaris/lib/logback-core-0.9.8.jar
SynchroSolaris/lib/mina-core-1.1.7.jar
SynchroSolaris/lib/snmp4j.jar
SynchroSolaris/lib/logback-classic-0.9.8.jar
SynchroSolaris/README

#Start the Client

prompt $ SynchroSolaris/bin/start-client.sh
Starting: SolarisStatThreadNew

#See the interface in a web browser (IE,Chrome, Firefox…)using the URL below
http://ServerName:8080/Synchro/Synchro.html

Use the “Views” menu (upper right of the screen) to select what you want to see.

To START the SynchroClient:

synchro@SynchroHost:~$ cd
synchro@SynchroHost:~$ : SynchroLinux/bin/start-client.sh
SynchroClient stopped.
SynchroServer started.
synchro@SynchroHost:~$

To STOP the SynchroClient :

synchro@SynchroHost:~$ cd
synchro@SynchroHost:~$ : SynchroLinux/bin/stop-client.sh
SynchroClient stopped.
SynchroServer stopped.
synchro@SynchroHost:~$

3.5 SynchroClient Linux Installation

Download Synchro – you can download and install as many as needed. They will connect
automatically to the SynchroServer they were downloaded from.
The user that will run the SynchroClients requires access to Java 6+ to run Synchro. Make
sure Java is in the user's path. This is not a pre-requisite for the Windows Synchro Client.
synchro@SynchroHost:~$ java -version
java version "1.6.0_16"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_16-b01)
Java HotSpot(TM) Server VM (build 14.2-b01, mixed mode)
synchro@SynchroHost:~$ which java

Download the Linux SynchroCLient

wget http://ServerName:8080/download/SynchroLinux.tar.gz
prompt $ wget http://ServerName:8080/download/SynchroLinux.tar.gz
--2009-07-02 13:37:49-- http:// ServerName:8080/download/SynchroLinux.tar.gz
Resolving ServerName... xxx.xx.26.112
Connecting to ServerName |xxx.xx.26.112|:8080... connected.

Synchro User Guide Page 23

 HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 985896 (963K) [application/x-gzip]
Saving to: `SynchroLinux.tar.gz'

100%[========================================================================================
==>] 985,896 --.-K/s in 0.006s

2009-07-02 13:37:49 (151 MB/s) - `SynchroLinux.tar.gz' saved [985896/985896]

#Untar the Client

prompt $ tar -zvxf SynchroLinux.tar.gz
SynchroLinux/
SynchroLinux /updateclient.sh
SynchroLinux /bin/
SynchroLinux /bin/SynchroClient.jar
SynchroLinux /bin/logging.conf.xml
SynchroLinux /bin/start-client.sh~
SynchroLinux /bin/start-client.sh
SynchroLinux /lib/
SynchroLinux /lib/slf4j-api-1.4.3.jar
SynchroLinux /lib/logback-core-0.9.8.jar
SynchroLinux /lib/mina-core-1.1.7.jar
SynchroLinux /lib/snmp4j.jar
SynchroLinux /lib/logback-classic-0.9.8.jar
SynchroLinux /README

#Start the Client

prompt $ SynchroLinux /bin/start-client.sh

Starting: LinuxStatThreadNew

#See the interface in a web browser (IE,Chrome, Firefox…)using the URL below
http://ServerName:8080/Synchro/Synchro.html

Use the “Views” menu (upper right of the screen) to select what you want to see.

To START the SynchroClient:

synchro@SynchroHost:~$ cd
synchro@SynchroHost:~$ : SynchroLinux/bin/start-client.sh
SynchroClient stopped.
SynchroServer started.
synchro@SynchroHost:~$

To STOP the SynchroLinux :

synchro@SynchroHost:~$ cd
synchro@SynchroHost:~$ : SynchroLinux/bin/stop-client.sh
SynchroClient stopped.
SynchroServer stopped.
synchro@SynchroHost:~$

Synchro User Guide Page 24

3.6 SynchroClient Windows Installation
Download Synchro – you can download and install as many as needed. They will connect
automatically to the SynchroServer they were downloaded from.
Monitoring a Windows Host (in a browser)
http://ServerName:8080/download/SynchroClient.exe
prompt $ wget http://ServerName:8080/download/SynchroSolaris.tar.gz

Execute the installation package. The Synchro client will install itself as a WINDOWS
service.

It is possible to deploy the SynchroWindows without having the installation script displaying
the notification window. For this just a “–quiet” on the command line.

Synchro User Guide Page 25

4 SynchroServer Configuration
This section describes the SynchroServer configuration. The SynchroAdmin interface is the
tool the Synchro Server Administrator uses to configure the Synchro Server.

It can be accessed via the SynchroWeb interface under the “View Control”/ .
Configuration parameters are saved in the <SynchroServer/conf> directory. These
configurations are not affected by the installation or upgrade process.

4.1 Basic Admin Controls

Function
Description
Icon
The Action menu provides functionality like Stop the Server, Open and
Close the Statistics ports…

All SynchroServer configurations can be set in this menu. This includes

the SynchroServer configuration, Users, Moving Averages, Alarms,
Periods…

Let the user defined the content of the “Window Data Controls” presets

4.2 Action Menu

Function Icon Description

Stop Server Stops The SynchroServer

Garbage Collect Manually run the Java JVM garbage collection process

Close Stat Port Close the Statics acquiring port thus disconnection all probed and
agents – only the query port will remain open (For SynchroWEB and
SynchroAdmin interfaces).

Open Stat Port Opens that statistics collection port permitting clients and probes to
connect.

Load Layouts Manually Load the Views Layouts from disk without rebooting the
server.

Load Reports Manually Load the Reports from disk without rebooting the server.

Load Presets Manually Load the Data Controls Presets from disk without rebooting
the server.

Run Retention Manually run the retention process

Run Compression Manually run the compression process

Run Reports Manually run the report creation process.

Synchro User Guide Page 26

4.3 SynchroServer Configuration
This section presents the most important configuration parameters of the SynchroServer.

4.3.1 Server - Configuration

Function Icon Description

Synchro Title Sets the SynchroServer name that appears in the title of Data
Windows

Host Name Is the host name or IP address of the host that run the
SynchroServer – this parameter is inserted in the SynchroClients
packages so that they will connects to the SynchroServer without
shaving to set the parameter each time.

Stat Port TCP port that is used by clients and probes to connect to the
SynchroServer and send Time Series statistics.

HTTP Port Port used by SynchroWEB and SynchroAdmin to query the

SynchroServer.

Redirect HTTP Root Parameter that set the redirect from http://SynchroServer to
http://SynchroServer/Synchro/Synchro.html

Lock View Parameter that sets the SynchroServer in a mode where a login is
required to access any View

Memory Allocation The amount of memory available to the SychroServer is fixed at start
time. By default, the SynchroServer will not use more than 60% of
available physical memory available on the host running the server.
This can be change using this parameter. (unit: Megabyte)

4.3.2 Server – Retention

Function Icon Description

Data Execute Time Sets the execute time of the retention utility on the SynchroServer
Data

Log Execute Time Sets the execute time of the retention utility on the SynchroServer
Logs

Log Nb Days Sets the number of days the SynchroServer will keep its internal logs

Report Execute Time Sets the execute time of the report utility

Report Nb Days Sets the number of days the SynchroServer will keep the reports it
created

Synchro User Guide Page 27

4.3.3 Server – Compression

Function Icon Description

Execute Time Sets the execute time of the compression utility

4.3.4 Server – Aggregator

Function Icon Description

Aggregator Time Sets the execute time of the Aggregator utility

4.3.5 Server – Logging

Function Icon Description

Use Synchro Log Determine if SynchroServer will create logs

Synchro Log Format Sets Synchro Log formats String – See below for the parameters

Use Syslog Determine if SynchroServer will use the Unix Syslog

Syslog Format Sets the Syslog formats String – See below for the parameters

Syslog Facility Sets the Syslog facility to use

Syslog Path Path of the Syslog logd

Syslog Protocol Sets the Syslog access mode

Syslog Host/Port Sets the Host and the Port to access the Syslog

Use Email Determine if SynchroServer will use emails to send alarms

Email Log Format Sets the Email alarm formats String – See below for the parameters

Email From Sets the address of the sender

Smart SMTP Server Name or IP of the Email server

Smart SMTP Server Port to use to connect to the Email server to send Alarms
Port

4.3.6 Logs and Alarm Parameters

%D: Date
%A: alarm name
%f: feed time HHMMSS
%F: feed time HH:MM:SS
%p: SynchroServer pid

Synchro User Guide Page 28

 %C: Component
%T: Type
%M: Metric
%t: target
%d: dtime
%l: last
%m: max
%a: average
%n: min
%s: sum
%c: count
%O: old alarm value
%N: new alarm value
%L: alarm value in syslog severity level: INFO, WARN, CRIT, FAIL

4.3.7 Server - Internal Parameters

Function Icon Description

Merge Engine Count Number of internal engine that processes incoming Statistics from
clients and probes

Result Engine Count Number of internal engine that processes incoming HTTP queries
from SynchroWEB interfaces

Freemem Trigger Percentage of free memory threshold after which the SynchroServer
Level switched into memory protect mode and disconnects all clients and
probe leaving only the HTTP port open. Note that a disconnection
exception list can be configured – See Memory Trigger Exception
below

GCRuntime Trigger Duration in ms of the Java Garbage Collect process after which the
Level SynchroServer switched into memory protect mode and disconnects
all clients and probe leaving only the HTTP port open. Note that a
disconnection exception list can be configured – See Memory Trigger
Exception below

Synchro Internal Sets the level of detail of the SynchroServer logs.

Metrics

4.4 Alarm Configuration

Synchro can generate alarms on PeriodStatistics of any Time Series based on pre-defined
thresholds.
Alarm level range values are defined as; 0=Normal, 1=Warning, 2-=Critical, 3=Fatal,
3+=Fatal. Alarms can be set on the following statistical aggregation functions of any Time

Synchro User Guide Page 29

 Series for a specific period: LAST, AVERAGE, LAST, MAX, MIN, DTIME (Delta in seconds
since last update). Each Alarm in Synchro produces a Time Series named after the name of
the alarm. This enables the user to track and report on the resulting Time Series as for any
other Time Series.
ALARMS INTEGRATION
The alarm engine produces a log of the activity of the Alarm Time Series. Alarm logs can be
found here: SynchroServer/log/AlarmLog-<Date>.log
It is also possible to use Syslog and Email for integration. Syslog and Email configuration
can be configured in the Server Configuration tab of the SynchroAdmin. The string that
defines the alarm can be changed, as needed – See Alarm string definition and parameters
in the SynchroServer parameters.

Function Icon Description

Name Name of the Alarm

Filter Set the Time Series on which the alarm will be defined

Email List of Email addresses to send the Alarm

Function Aggregation function t set the Alarm -

OK/Warn/Critical/Fatal Sets the minimum value after which an Alarm of the respective lever
Trigger Level will be raised

Trigger Alarm On Sets if an Alarm will be raised when the Alarm level augments,
diminishes or both

Trigger Alarm if level

Sets the minimum level after which and Alarm is raised
equal or higher to

4.5 MAVG Configuration

Any number of dynamic moving averages can be defined. The resulting Time Series name
becomes the Metric name. It is possible to create alarms on the Moving average Time
Series instead on the underlying data. This is useful to create less sensitive alarms.

Function Icon Description

Name Name of the moving average

Duration Length in seconds of the moving average

Filter Set the Time Series on which the moving average will be defined

Algo Selects a moving average algorithm

SumDivCount uses avg = sum of value divided by count of value
received (doesn't count NA or missing values)
SumDivDuration uses avg = sum/duration so NA are simulated as 0

Synchro User Guide Page 30

4.6 Color Configuration
Configuration parameters for:
• Alarm: Color of alarm message displayed in Statistics Format.
• Background: Color of the Data Window Background
• Data: Color of Data displayed in Statistics and DataByTime.
• Line: Color of line to be displayed in GraphByTime
• Static: Color of Non dynamic color.
Colors supported also “Hide” and “Transparent".

Function Icon Description

Range Defines a range of values that will use the color defined

Description Name of the range – this name may be applied to the data in some
cases

Minimum Value Minimum value that will use the color

Color Color definition acceptable in HTML: ie: red, green, blue, #RRGGBB,
rgb(0,0,0), rgba(0,0,0,0))

4.7 Users Configuration

Function Icon Description

Full Name Full Name of the user

User Name User name that will be used for login

UID User identification – generated by the SynchroServer

GID Group ID – Users in group “1” gets their selected data window
generated as reports.

Report Time Time at which the reports are generated for this particular user

Read-Only Account Sets the account as read only – so its can’t create of modify Views

Read views of users Sets that account so it can only see the Views created by a specific
set of users

4.8 Periods Configuration

In Synchro it is possible to define Periods. A Period describes a continuous interval of time
of the day. For each Period and for each Time Series, Synchro provides the Last (Last
value), Min, Max, Average, Count, Sum, Time (Time of last update), DTimes (Time since
last update). These Periods based statistics are called PeriodStatistics. By default, Synchro
keeps hourly, morning, evening, work hours, and daily PeriodStatistics. Users can define as
many, possibly overlapping, Periods as needed.

Synchro User Guide Page 31

 Function Icon Description
Name Name of the Period

Start Time Start Time – Format: HHMMSS

End Time End Time – Format: HHMMSS

4.9 Aggregator Configuration

Synchro can group together several days of data for particular Time Series. At a time set in
the SynchroServer configuration, the Aggregator reads historical data from Time Series to
create a new one that represents the historical data.

Function Icon Description

Description Name of the Time Series

Number of Days Number of days in the pas to read and group together

Dates <date-reg-ex>|<reldays>|<rel-day-of-week>|<dates>
date-reg-ex := YYYYMMDD | (reg ex with .* [ ^ $ and numbers to
describe a date with format YYYYMMDD)
reldays := D-XX | D-XX..D-XX (where XX is number of days relative
to current date when filter runs)
rel-day-of-week := W-XX (Where XX is number of working days
relative to current date when filter runs not counting week-end ie: D-
01 on monday is Friday)

Filter Set the Time Series on which the Aggregation will be defined

4.10 Compression Configuration

Data compression rules can be defined to compress data. Rules can be prioritized, as
needed using the UP/DOWN arrows.
Synchro stores raw data it receives in binary sparse files in the directory
<SynchroServer/data/metrics>. These sparse files can be change any time. Data can be
inserted “out of order” form the time perspective.
Compression of data runs daily to limit the amount of disk used by the raw sparse file. Once
compressed, the data becomes read only (cannot be changed) – these compressed files are
stored in the directory <SynchroServer/data/metrics.gz>.
FOR LARGE SYNCHRO CONFIGURATIONS
Synchro does a significant amount of small IO in numerous sparse files that take a relatively
small amount of disk space – it is a recommended practice to set these files on fast disks
(SSD drives are perfect for this job).
The compressed data (read only) can take significantly more space (depending retention
policy) and is less IO intensive – it is a recommended practice to set this data on slower
large disks infrastructure. The Synchro administrators can easily change the location of the
directories using symbolic links.

Synchro User Guide Page 32

 Function
Description
Icon
Number of Days Number of days after which the data will be compressed and become
read only

Dates to keep Exception to the rule can be made in the following format:
<date-reg-ex>|<reldays>|<rel-day-of-week>|<dates>
date-reg-ex := YYYYMMDD | (reg ex with .* [ ^ $ and numbers to
describe a date with format YYYYMMDD)
reldays := D-XX | D-XX..D-XX (where XX is number of days relative to
current date when filter runs)
rel-day-of-week := W-XX (Where XX is number of working days relative
to current date when filter runs not counting week-end ie: D-01 on
monday is Friday)

Filter Set the Time Series on which the rule will be defined

4.11 Retention Configuration

Data retention rules can be defined to destroy unused data. Rules can be prioritized as
needed using the UP/DOWN arrows.

Function Icon Description

Number of Days Number of days after which the data will be deleted

Dates to keep Exception to the rule can be made in the following format:
<date-reg-ex>|<reldays>|<rel-day-of-week>|<dates>
date-reg-ex := YYYYMMDD | (reg ex with .* [ ^ $ and numbers to
describe a date with format YYYYMMDD)
reldays := D-XX | D-XX..D-XX (where XX is number of days relative
to current date when filter runs)
rel-day-of-week := W-XX (Where XX is number of working days
relative to current date when filter runs not couting week-end ie: D-01
on monday is Friday)

Filter Set the Time Series on which the rule will be defined

4.12 Client Configuration

Sets the configuration of the SynchroCLient running on the SynchroServer. See APPENDIX
A – to learn more about the SynchroClients configuration.

4.13 Dropfrom Configuration

Sets a List of hosts or IPs (one per line) from which the SynchroServer will not accept
connection on the STAT port (stop receiving Time Series values).
If needed, it is also possible to close the STAT port all together so the server becomes “read
only” – leaving only the HTTP port open for SyncroWEB interfaces.

Synchro User Guide Page 33

4.14 Memory Trigger Exception Configuration
The SynchroServer can automatically switch to protect mode in condition where memory
available is too low. This condition is detected using 2 indicators:
• Percentage of free memory threshold
• Duration in ms of the Java Garbage Collect process
These parameter values can be set in the SynchroServer configuration menu. Once one of
these thresholds is reached, SynchroServer switches into memory protect mode and
disconnects all clients and probes leaving only the HTTP port open.
The Memory Trigger Exception Configuration List is composed of a set of hostnames of IPs
(One that will not be disconnected by SynchroServer when switched into protect mode.

4.15 Time Series Mapping Configuration

The SynchroServer can create new Time Series based of existing ones by grouping them
together. The Time Series mapping configuration defines a list of rules that tells the
SynchroServer how to group the Time Series together. This scheme is also a simple way to
change the name of a Time Series as needed.
The syntax is:
Component1_Type1_Metric1_Target1= ComponentA_TypeA_MetricA_TargetA
Component2_Type2_Metric2_Target2= ComponentA_TypeA_MetricA_TargetA

4.16 Value Mapping Configuration

The SynchroServer can receive events using the trivial Text based TCP protocol – See
APPENDIX B for more details. These events can be represented by a string characters like
“Open”, “Close” that are converted by the SynchroServer into numerical values to be
processed as such like any other Time Series.
SC01 [m]stat server.time type_metric_target=~sometextvalue
The Value Mapping configuration defines a set of rules that tells the SynchroServer how to
handle these strings of characters by associating them with a numerical value.
Format:
sometextvalue=[number]

4.17 Presets Configuration

Window Controls are available when the mouse pointer hovers on the upper left portion of
any Data Window (below the Title region). The Preset configuration allows the modification
of some of these menus as needed.

Synchro User Guide Page 34

 SynchroClients

Appendix A. SynchroClients
SynchroClients are used to collect technical metrics from computers. The metrics are
collected every seconds and includes the following technical measurements when available:

Target Type Metric

Host Level HOST CPU,MEM,SWAP,PLIST,RUNQ,NICE,STEAL,SYSTEM,
USER,WAIT, (Globally and per core when available)

All Processes running PROC CPU, MEMPCT, RSSPCT, RSSMBY , MEMMBY

on the host

All network interface NET RXPCKSEC, TXPCKSEC, TXKBYSEC, RXKBYSEC

attached to the host

All disk attached to the DISK TPS, WSEC, RSEC, KBYWSEC, KBYRSEC, IOWAIT,
host QLEN, AWTIME, IOMSEC, STIME

All File Systems FS AVAIL-GB, SIZE-GB, USAGE-PCT, USED-GB

Mounted

A.1 SynchroLinux
It is possible to throttle the SynchroLinux SynchroClient. There is a configuration file present
on each SynchroLinux clients:
synchro@affa2:~$ cat SynchroLinux/conf/client.ini
CPU=yes
DISK=yes
MEM=yes
NET=yes
PROC=yes
FS=yes
PROC-CPU-THRESHOLD=0.01
PROC-MEM-THRESHOLD=0.011
PROC-RSS-THRESHOLD=0.01

The Boolean switches CPU (CPU usage and other metrics at host level), DISK (per disks
subsystem metrics), MEM (memory usage at the host level), NET (network interfaces
metrics), PROC (processes metrics), FS (file system metrics) are used to turn on and off the
associated metric collection by the SynchroCLient.
If the PROC switch is on (“yes”) (Process metrics collection is activated), you can use the
PROC-XXX-THRESHOLD to fix the level of sensibility to processes (expressed in
percentage). For example a value PROC-CPU-THRESHOLD=10 will report statistics only
for processes that use at least 10% of one core of CPU (thus removing some of processes
and keeping only “important processes”).

A.2 SynchroWindows
It is possible to deploy the SynchroWindows without having the installation script displaying
the notification window. For this just a “–quiet” on the command line.

Synchro User Guide Page 36

 Application Integration

Appendix B. Application Integration

This section presents information on how to integrate Synchro with others applications.

B.1 Trivial TCP Text Protocol

The following is a description of the protocol to use.
Here is the client protocol to integrate an application to Synchro.
Protocol Overview:
• The protocol is text based.
• Each message is one line of text.
• Messages must be cleaned form any of there caracters:[/\|~|#@] and not printables
• Each field of the message is separated by a tab character.
• Each message starts with a special header.
• You can test the protocol using: telnet <server> 9123
• When the client connects, it must identify itself using the init message. The server will
answer with the conf message.
• When init is done, the client can now start sending stat messages.
• Sending dumpconf message is completely optional
Here is the description of the different messages:
*Client init message: The /*init*/ message is mandatory and must be the first message sent
to the server. This message is used to identify the client at the end of the connection.
Header: SC01
Command: /*init*/
Parameter: <client name>
End-of-message: \n

For example, this would be the C string for the *init* message if the client name is
Computer1:
sprintf( s, "SC01\tinit\t%s\n", "Computer1" );

*Client stat message:*:The /*stat*/ message is used to send the metric values to the
server.
Header: SC01
Command: /*stat*/
Parameter1: < YYYYMMDD.HHMMSS >
Parameter2: <metric value>
...
Parameter<n>: <metric value>

This would be the C string for the /*stat*/ message:

Synchro User Guide Page 37

 Application Integration
sprintf( s, "SC01\tstat\t20080101.235559\tPROC_CPU_perl=32.99\n", );

The date format is:

sprintf( s, "%04d%02d%02d.%02d%02d%0d2", year, month, day, hour, minute,
second );

Alternatively, the user can select to use the server time instead of the client. To use the
server time replace “YYYYMMDD.HHMMSS” by “server.time” string.
For example: the metric value format is (PROC is the type, CPU is the metric, perl is the
target, 32.99 is the actual cpu time of the perl process):
sprintf( s, "%s_%s_%s=%8.2f", "PROC", "CPU", "perl", 32.99 );

You can append many metrics to the message, as long as they are all from the same
date/time. Each metric value must be separated by a \t.
sprintf( s,
"SC01\tstat\t20080101.235559 \tPROC_CPU_perl=32.99\tPROC_MEM_perl=4.32\n", );

*Client dumpconf message: The /*dumpconf*/ message is not mandatory and is used to
send back to the serveur some configuration information about the client.
Header: SC01
Command: /*dumpconf*/
Parameter1: <filename>
Parameter2: <line1>
Parameter3: <line2>
...
Parameter<n>: <line<n>>

This would be the C string for a /*dumpconf*/ message:

sprintf(s, "SC01\tdumpconf\tfile1\tline1 \tline2\n");

*Server conf message:* The server /*conf*/ message is used by the server to tell the client
about some configuration parameters.
Header: SS01
Command: /*conf*/
Parameter1: Stat=n
Parameter2: DumpConf=1
Parameter3: <line1 of client conf file>
Parameter4: <line2 of client conf file>
Parametern: <line<n> of client conf file>

Stat=n is the number of seconds the server is expecting stat message from the client.
Currently used by the Windows and Unix client for the general metric values. It is ignored by
the ExternalSource plugins.
DumpConf=0 or DumpConf=1 is the server asking for basic configuration information which
the client should send when the first ever connection is made. This is usually to help
diagnose and identify client setup and host machine. It is not mandatory for the client to
answer the DumpConf request.
Telnet session sample:

Synchro User Guide Page 38

 Application Integration
telnet 192.168.7.101 9123
Trying 192.168.7.101...
Connected to 192.168.7.101.
Escape character is '^]'.
SC01 init Computer1
SS01 conf Stat=10 DumpConf=1
SC01 stat 20080101.112233 PROC_CPU_perl=32.99 PROC_MEM_perl=4.56
SC01 stat 20080101.112234 PROC_CPU_perl=31.89 PROC_MEM_perl=4.76
SC01 dumpconf HostConf Linux machine with 4 cpu

### Previous line has spaces but not tab last line
SC01 stat 20080101.112235 PROC_CPU_perl=32.77 PROC_MEM_perl=5.02
^]q

telnet> q
Connection closed.

B.2 SynchroTail
SynchroTail is a very useful tool to read application logs. It understands log file patterns, and
can change files automatically when new files are created. SynchroTail can also be
restarted to continue reading from the file it was reading when it was stopped.
Here are some of the parameters of SynchroTail -
java -jar SynchroTail.jar "FilePattern=<regex>" [FirstFile=<filename>]
[SortBy=time|filename] [FileTimeout=<nb seconds>] [EOFTimeout=<nb seconds>]
[BaseDir=<dirname to search>] [ZTail=yes|no]
All parameters are optional except for FilePattern.

FilePattern Needs to be a valid regular expression (not shell match).

FirstFile Allow skipping of files (as in a restart mode) – files will be

skipped until the FirstFile.

SortBy “time” or “filename” (case sensitive)

FileTimeout Is the number of seconds that the program will wait for the
EOF before concluding that the file is completed. Default is
five (5) seconds.

EOFTimeout Is the number of seconds that the program will wait for new
files before concluding that no additional files are to be
processed. Default is five (5) seconds. The program waits
FileTimeout on a particular file, and then waits EOFTimeout
to see if other files are to be processed.If no file appears, the
program stops.

RestartFileName=filename Is the name of the file where SynchroTail will store the
information needed to restart.

Restart Is the parameter used to request SynchroTail to restart at the

offset in the files (where it was when it was stopped).

Synchro User Guide Page 39

 Application Integration

Other parameters to control flow:

lps=XXX Lines Per Second is the maximum number of lines per second that can
be read in a file by SynchroTail.
delimiter=Char Is the character to be used as a delimiter in place of end-of-line.

mbps=XXX Mega Byte Per Second is the maximum number of bytes per second that
can be read in a file by SynchroTail.

B.3 Integration Examples

This section presents example on how to integrate new ??????
Example – Perl Fusion IO Monitor
In this example, the user wants to monitor the number of FreeLebs in FusionIO drives. The
script uses the server time instead of the client time.
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
BEGIN
{push @INC, '/home/synchro/FusionIOMonitor/';}

use Net::Telnet ();

$Server="SynchroServerHostName";
$Port=9123;

$ServerID = new Net::Telnet (Telnetmode => 0, Output_record_separator => "");

$ServerID->open(Host => $Server,Port => $Port);

$HOST=`hostname`;chomp($HOST);

$ServerID->print("SC01\tinit\tFIOMonitor\n");
$line = $ServerID->getline;
print ($line);
while (1){
$X=`cat /proc/fusion/fio/fioa/data/free_lebs`;chomp($X);
$Line1= "SC01\tmstat\tserver.time\tFIOMonitor\_FIO\_FreeLebs\_$HOST-fioa\=$X\t";
ServerID->print("$Line1\n");
sleep (1);
}

Example – Bash Latency Monitor

In this example, the user wants to monitor the latency between a Linux server and some
hosts list contained in a file (HostList.txt). There is one host name per line. The user uses
the host where the script is running time instead of the SynchroServer’s time.
FILE CONTAINING HOST LIST:
synchro@affa2:~$ cat HostList.txt
HostName1
HostName2
synchro@affa2:~$

SCRIPT:
#!/bin/bash

while (true); do
if [ "$Init" = "1" ]; then
Time=`date +%Y%m%d.%H%M%S`;
echo -en "SC01 mstat $Time\t"
for Host in `cat HostList.txt`; do
Latency=`ping -c 1 affa8|grep "time=" |cut -d= -f4|cut -d' ' -f1,1`;

Synchro User Guide Page 40

 Application Integration
echo -en "LatencyMonitor_Latency_Latency_$Host=$Latency\t"
done; echo ""
else
echo -e "SC01\tinit\tLatencyMonitor";Init=1;
fi; sleep 1;
done|telnet localhost 9123

Example – Application Monitor using SynchroTail

The following is an example of a log file adapter using the SynchroTail application.
SynchroTail monitors the end of files (EOF), using file pattern, as they are created by the
application and prints out on STDOUT the data added to the files in real time (it tails
application log files).
In this example, a simulator creates an hourly log file representing transaction made by
clients on products. The format of the log file name is as follow:
LogFile-YYYYMMDD-HH.log where
• YYYY is the Year, MM is the Month, DD is the Day
• HH is the Hour.
The format of the log is
• Date (YYYYMMDD);
• Hour (HHMMSS);
• ClientID (Integer);
• ProductID (Integer);
• Qty (Integer).
EXAMPLE OF FILE CONTENT
host:~/TailExample/bin$ head ../data/LogFile-20120927-01.log
20120927;010000;00001;00008;00677
20120927;010000;00002;00007;00956
20120927;010000;00001;00003;00021
20120927;010000;00005;00000;00253

See the simulator script ExampleFileCreation.pl below.

The perl script (Injector-Tail-Example-01.pl) that parses the data created by the
application (a simulator in this case) uses SynchroTail and pipe the data it reads as the data
becomes available.
The outcome is a second by second aggregation so the transaction per Client and per
Product.
USAGE EXAMPLE
host:~/TailExample/bin$ ./Injector-Tail-Example-01.pl -component TailExample -server
192.168.0.98 -file LogFile-20120928\.*log -dir ../data

SCRIPT
host:~/TailExample/bin$ cat Injector-Tail-Example-01.pl
#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use English;
use Getopt::Long;

Synchro User Guide Page 41

 Application Integration
use IO::Handle;
use Net::Telnet ();

my $Version="Version 0.0.3";

my %opts = (
"help" => \$Help,
"version" => \$ShowVersion,
"Dir=s" => \$Dir,
"Date=s" => \$Date,
"Server=s" => \$Server,
"Port=s" => \$Port,
"Component=s" => \$Component,
"Java=s" => \$Java,
"LogDir=s" => \$LogDir,
"LogFile=s" => \$LogFile,
"File=s" => \$File,
"Debug" => \$Debug,
"Restart" => \$Restart,
"SyncroTail=s" => \$SynchroTail,

);

GetOptions(%opts); &usage() if ($Help); die "$Version\n" if $ShowVersion;

sub Print;
sub Execute;
sub ProcessData;

die ("Need a Component name, use the -Component switch") unless defined($Component);
die ("Need a Server name to connect to, use the -Server switch") unless defined($Server);
$SynchroTail="../SynchroTail/lib/SynchroTail.jar" unless defined ($SynchroTail);
die "Cannot find SynchroTail.jar, use the -SynchroTail switch (default:$SynchroTail)" unless
(-e $SynchroTail);
$Java="java" unless defined ($Java);
#die "Cannot find java, use the -java switch (default:$Java)" unless (-e $Java);
die("Need file Pattern to proceed, use the -file switch.") unless defined ($File);
$Dir="./" unless defined ($Dir);
$DateCmd="date" unless defined ($DateCmd);
$Date=`$DateCmd +%Y%m%d` unless defined ($Date);chomp($Date);

$LogDir="../log/" unless defined ($LogDir);

$LogFile="$LogDir/TailExample.$Date.log" unless defined $LogFile;
open ( LOGFILE, ">$LogFile") || die "Cannot open file : $LogFile";

$Port=9123 unless defined ($Port);

$ServerID = new Net::Telnet (Errmode=>"return",Timeout => 10, Telnetmode => 0,
Output_record_separator => "");
$ServerID->open(Host => $Server,Port => $Port);
my $OldTime=""; my $GlobalRate=0; my $MaxRate=30000000; $Delay=0.01; #100

sub MatchExpression;
my $TmpDate;
my $TmpProcess;
my $TmpTarget;
my $TmpMetricString;

$TmpString="$Java -jar $SynchroTail lps=50000000 synchroserver=$Server serverport=$Port

logfile=$LogDir/SynchroTail.log sortby=filename basedir=$Dir filepattern=\"$File\"
RestartFileName=restart.ini RestartAllowOverlap=yes|";
$TmpString="$Java -jar $SynchroTail restart.ini|" if defined ($Restart);
printf (LOGFILE "$TmpString\n") if defined($Debug);
open ( DATAFILE, $TmpString) || die "Cannot open $TmpString";

while ($Line=<DATAFILE>){
chomp($Line);
($MyDate,$Time,$ClientID,$ProductID,$Qty)=split(/;/,$Line);

Print($MyDate, $Time,$Component,"Client","Quantity",$ClientID,$Qty) unless

(defined($NoSend));
Print($MyDate, $Time,$Component,"Client","Quantity","ALL",$Qty) unless
(defined($NoSend));

Synchro User Guide Page 42

 Application Integration
Print($MyDate, $Time,$Component,"Product","Quantity",$ProductID,$Qty) unless
(defined($NoSend));
Print($MyDate, $Time,$Component,"Product","Quantity","ALL",$Qty) unless
(defined($NoSend));
}

sub Print {
my ($MyDate, $MyTime,$Component, $Type,$Metric,$Target,$Value)=@_;
$TmpStr=$MyDate.".".$MyTime;

if (!($MyTime eq $OldTime)){
Send("SC01\tinit\t$Component\n") if ($OldTime eq "");
printf (LOGFILE "#SENDING SC01\tinit\t$Component\n")if defined
($Debug);
$MetricRate=0 if ($OldTime eq "");
Send("\n") unless ($OldTime eq "");;
select(undef, undef, undef, $Delay);
Send("SC01\tmstat\t$TmpStr\t");
printf (LOGFILE "#SENDING SC01\tmstat\t$TmpStr\t\n")if defined
($Debug);
$OldTime=$MyTime;
$GlobalRate=0;
}
$MetricRate++;
if ($GlobalRate > $MaxRate){
Send("\n");
printf (LOGFILE "#SENDING \n")if defined ($Debug);
select(undef, undef, undef, $Delay);
Send("SC01\tmstat\t$TmpStr\t");
printf (LOGFILE "#SENDING SC01\tmstat\t$TmpStr\t\n")if defined
($Debug);
$GlobalRate=0;
};
$GlobalRate++;
my $MyTmpTarget=substr($Target,0,30);
$MyTmpTarget=~s/[\=\-\,\;+\ \_]//g;
$TmpStr=$Component."_".$Type."_".$Metric."_".$MyTmpTarget."=".$Value;
Send("$TmpStr\t");
printf (LOGFILE "#SENDING $TmpStr\t\n")if defined ($Debug);
}
sub Send{
my ($SendTmpString)=@_;
$ServerID->print("$SendTmpString");
$Status=$ServerID->errmsg;
while (! ($Status eq "")){
sleep(1);
print ("CONNECTION ERROR -retrying...\n");
printf (LOGFILE "CONNECTION ERROR -retrying...\n");
$ServerID->close(Host => $Server,Port => $Port);
$ServerID->open(Host => $Server,Port => $Port);
$ServerID->print("SC01\tinit\t$Component\n");
$Status=$ServerID->errmsg;
if ($Status eq ""){
print ("CONNECTION OK.\n");
printf (LOGFILE "CONNECTION OK\n");
$ServerID->print("$SendTmpString");
$Status=$ServerID->errmsg;
};
}
}

Grouping of all clients and products activity also creates a second by second overall activity
by clients and products id done by the expression below. Instead of having the script
sending another transaction, this grouping could have also been be done by the
SynchroServer using “Time Series Mapping”.
Print($MyDate, $Time,$Component,"Product","Quantity","ALL",$Qty) unless (defined($NoSend));

Synchro User Guide Page 43

 Application Integration
SCRIPT

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use Getopt::Long;

my %opts = (
"Date=s" => \$Date,
"NBClient=s" => \$NBClient,
"NBProduct=s" => \$NBProduct,
"MaxQty=s" => \$MaxQty,
"Rate=s" => \$Rate,
);
0
GetOptions(%opts);

$DateCmd="date" unless defined ($DateCmd);

$Date=`$DateCmd +%Y%m%d` unless defined ($Date);chomp($Date);

$NBClient=10 unless defined ($NBClient);

$NBProduct=100 unless defined ($NBProduct);
$MaxQty=1000 unless defined ($MaxQty);
$Rate=1 unless defined ($Rate);
$Separator=";";

for ($Hour=0;$Hour<24;$Hour++){
$FileString=sprintf("LogFile-$Date-%02d.log", $Hour);
open ( LOGFILE, ">$FileString") || die "Cannot open file : $FileString";

for ($Min=0;$Min<60;$Min++){
for ($Sec=0;$Sec<60;$Sec++){
for ($It=0;$It<$Rate;$It++){
$HourStr = sprintf("%02d%02d%02d",$Hour,$Min,$Sec);
$ClientStr=sprintf("%05d", int(rand($NBClient)));
$ProductStr=sprintf("%05d", int(rand($NBProduct)));
$QtyStr=sprintf("%05d", int(rand($MaxQty)));
printf(LOGFILE
"$Date$Separator$HourStr$Separator$ClientStr$Separator$ProductStr$Separator$QtyStr\n");
}
}}
close(LOGFILE);
}

./ExampleFileCreation.pl -rate 2 -nbclient 1 -nbprod 1000 -date 20120922

ls -tr *.log|head
LogFile-20120922-00.log
LogFile-20120922-01.log
LogFile-20120922-02.log
head LogFile-20120922-02.log
20120922;020000;00000;00588;00190
20120922;020000;00000;00151;00259
20120922;020001;00000;00754;00003
20120922;020001;00000;00310;00796
20120922;020002;00000;00050;00588

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use English;
use Getopt::Long;
use IO::Handle;
use Net::Telnet ();

my $Version="Version 0.0.3";

my %opts = (
"help" => \$Help,
"version" => \$ShowVersion,
"Dir=s" => \$Dir,
"Date=s" => \$Date,
"Server=s" => \$Server,
"Port=s" => \$Port,

Synchro User Guide Page 44

 Application Integration
"Component=s" => \$Component,
"Java=s" => \$Java,
"LogDir=s" => \$LogDir,
"LogFile=s" => \$LogFile,
"File=s" => \$File,
"Debug" => \$Debug,
"Restart" => \$Restart,
"SyncroTail=s" => \$SynchroTail,

);

GetOptions(%opts); &usage() if ($Help); die "$Version\n" if $ShowVersion;

sub Print;
sub Execute;
sub ProcessData;

die ("Need a Component name, use the -Component switch") unless defined($Component);
die ("Need a Server name to connect to, use the -Server switch") unless defined($Server);
$SynchroTail="../SynchroTail/lib/SynchroTail.jar" unless defined ($SynchroTail);
die "Cannot find SynchroTail.jar, use the -SynchroTail switch (default:$SynchroTail)" unless
(-e $SynchroTail);
$Java="java" unless defined ($Java);
#die "Cannot find java, use the -java switch (default:$Java)" unless (-e $Java);
die("Need file Pattern to proceed, use the -file switch.") unless defined ($File);
$Dir="./" unless defined ($Dir);
$DateCmd="date" unless defined ($DateCmd);
$Date=`$DateCmd +%Y%m%d` unless defined ($Date);chomp($Date);

$LogDir="../log/" unless defined ($LogDir);

$LogFile="$LogDir/TailExample.$Date.log" unless defined $LogFile;
open ( LOGFILE, ">$LogFile") || die "Cannot open file : $LogFile";

$Port=9123 unless defined ($Port);

$ServerID = new Net::Telnet (Errmode=>"return",Timeout => 10, Telnetmode => 0,
Output_record_separator => "");
$ServerID->open(Host => $Server,Port => $Port);
my $OldTime=""; my $GlobalRate=0; my $MaxRate=30000000; $

my $TmpDate;
my $TmpProcess;
my $TmpTarget;
my $TmpMetricString;

$TmpString="$Java -jar $SynchroTail lps=50000000 synchroserver=$Server serverport=$Port

logfile=$LogDir/SynchroTail.log sortby=filename basedir=$Dir filepattern=\"$File\"
RestartFileName=restart.ini RestartAllowOverlap=yes|";
$TmpString="$Java -jar $SynchroTail restart.ini|" if defined ($Restart);
printf (LOGFILE "$TmpString\n") if defined($Debug);
open ( DATAFILE, $TmpString) || die "Cannot open $TmpString";
print("$TmpString\n");

while ($Line=<DATAFILE>){
chomp($Line);
#Date(YYYYMMDD);Hour(HHMMSS);ClientID;ProductID;Qty
($MyDate,$Time,$ClientID,$ProductID,$Qty)=split(/;/,$Line);
#printf( LOGFILE "###$MyDate,$Time,$ClientID,$ProductID;$Qty\n")if defined ($Debug);

Print($MyDate, $Time,$Component,"Client","Quantity",$ClientID,$Qty) unless

(defined($NoSend));
Print($MyDate, $Time,$Component,"Client","Quantity","ALL",$Qty) unless
(defined($NoSend));
Print($MyDate, $Time,$Component,"Product","Quantity",$ProductID,$Qty) unless
(defined($NoSend));
Print($MyDate, $Time,$Component,"Product","Quantity","ALL",$Qty) unless
(defined($NoSend));
}

sub Print {
my ($MyDate, $MyTime,$Component, $Type,$Metric,$Target,$Value)=@_;
$TmpStr=$MyDate.".".$MyTime;

Synchro User Guide Page 45

 Application Integration

if (!($MyTime eq $OldTime)){
Send("SC01\tinit\t$Component\n") if ($OldTime eq "");
printf (LOGFILE "#SENDING SC01\tinit\t$Component\n")if
defined ($Debug);
$MetricRate=0 if ($OldTime eq "");
Send("\n") unless ($OldTime eq "");;
select(undef, undef, undef, $Delay);
Send("SC01\tmstat\t$TmpStr\t");
printf (LOGFILE "#SENDING SC01\tmstat\t$TmpStr\t\n")if
defined ($Debug);
$OldTime=$MyTime;
$GlobalRate=0;
}
$MetricRate++;
if ($GlobalRate > $MaxRate){
Send("\n");
printf (LOGFILE "#SENDING \n")if defined ($Debug);
select(undef, undef, undef, $Delay);
Send("SC01\tmstat\t$TmpStr\t");
printf (LOGFILE "#SENDING SC01\tmstat\t$TmpStr\t\n")if defined
($Debug);
$GlobalRate=0;
};
$GlobalRate++;
my $MyTmpTarget=substr($Target,0,30);
$MyTmpTarget=~s/[\=\-\,\;+\ \_]//g;
$TmpStr=$Component."_".$Type."_".$Metric."_".$MyTmpTarget."=".$Value;
Send("$TmpStr\t");
printf (LOGFILE "#SENDING $TmpStr\t\n")if defined ($Debug);
}
sub Send{
my ($SendTmpString)=@_;
$ServerID->print("$SendTmpString");
$Status=$ServerID->errmsg;
while (! ($Status eq "")){
sleep(1);
print ("CONNECTION ERROR -retrying...\n");
printf (LOGFILE "CONNECTION ERROR -retrying...\n");
$ServerID->close(Host => $Server,Port => $Port);
$ServerID->open(Host => $Server,Port => $Port);
$ServerID->print("SC01\tinit\t$Component\n");
$Status=$ServerID->errmsg;
if ($Status eq ""){
print ("CONNECTION OK.\n");
printf (LOGFILE "CONNECTION OK\n");
$ServerID->print("$SendTmpString");
$Status=$ServerID->errmsg;
};
}
}

Synchro User Guide Page 46

 SynchroServer Performance Tuning

Appendix C. SynchroServer Performance Tuning

To improve SynchroServer performance, use the following approaches:

C.1 Increase Disk Performance

This approach has proven itself to be the most effective approach for improving
SynchroServer performance.
Synchro stores raw data it receives in binary sparse files in the directory
<SynchroServer/data/metrics>. These sparse files can be changed any time. Data can be
inserted “out of order” from the time perspective.
Compression of data, runs daily to limit the amount of disk used by the raw sparse file. Once
compressed, the data becomes read only (cannot be changed). These compressed files are
stored in the directory <SynchroServer/data/metrics.gz>.
FOR LARGE SYNCHRO CONFIGURATIONS
Synchro does a significant amount of small IO in numerous sparse files that take a relatively
small amount of disk space.
Note: It is a recommended practice to set these files on fast disks (SSD drives are perfect
for this job).
The compressed data (read only) can take significantly more space,depending on the
retention policy and is less IO intensive.
Note: It is a recommended practice to set this data on slower large disks infrastructure.
Synchro Administrators can easily change the location of the directories using symbolic
links.

C.2 Increase CPU Usage

SynchroServer is a multi-threaded Java application. By default there are four (4) threads
that process incoming statistics and four (4) threads that process incoming queries on the
data. It is possible to configure the number of these threads to increase performance.
Parameters available in “SynchroAdmin/”Server/Internal Configuration” menu are:

Merge Engine Count Number of internal engines that processe incoming Statistics from
clients and probes.

Result Engine Count Number of internal engines that processe incoming HTTP queries
from SynchroWEB interfaces.

Synchro User Guide Page 47

 SynchroServer Performance Tuning

C.3 Increase Memory Available

The amount of memory available to SychroServer is fixed at start time. By default,
SynchroServer will not use more than 60% of available physical memory available on the
host running the server. This can be changed by fixing the parameter “Memory Allocation” in
the “SynchroAdmin/”Server/Server” menu. (Unit Megabyte)

Synchro User Guide Page 48