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Conference azur::mcc

Title:DECmcc user notes file. Does not replace IPMT.
Notice:Use IPMT for problems. Newsletter location in note 6187
Moderator:TAEC::BEROUD
Created:Mon Aug 21 1989
Last Modified:Wed Jun 04 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:6497
Total number of notes:27359

654.0. "SHOW recorded COUNTERS displays at wrong time interval" by KETJE::PACCO () Thu Jan 24 1991 09:33

    I am playing with the EFT V1.1 and have some problems with the RECORD
    functionality.
    
    I am recording counters of a particular entity every 5 minutes from
    the beginning of the day.
    
    I then try at noon to SHOW these counters specifying
    SHOW <entity> ALL COUNTERS, FOR EVERY 0:5:0 UNTIL <date>:12:00
    		START=<date>:10:00, IN DOMAIN <mydomain>
    
    To my surprise I got the counters which I recorded yesterday afternoon.
    
    Is this a bug ?
    
    
    
    Second question.
    Is there a possibility to analyse a posteriori which points were
    recorded in the MIR, for which entities, and for which partitions.
    
    Dominique PACCO.
T.RTitleUserPersonal
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654.1Past Time ShowTOOK::SHMUYLOVICHThu Jan 24 1991 13:3557
>    I am recording counters of a particular entity every 5 minutes from
>    the beginning of the day.
>
>    I then try at noon to SHOW these counters specifying
>    SHOW <entity> ALL COUNTERS, FOR EVERY 0:5:0 UNTIL <date>:12:00
>                START=<date>:10:00, IN DOMAIN <mydomain>
>
>    To my surprise I got the counters which I recorded yesterday afternoon.
>
>    Is this a bug ?


     How Information Manager process Past Time scope of interest?
     In SRM section 6.3.2 Information Manager we can find:

     "If the scope of interest is totally in the past ... directives ... are
      converted into mcc_mir requests for historical entity information....
      The time value is copied into the mcc_mir lookup_time parameter and an
      mcc_mir call is made."

     From the description of the lookup_time_start argument of mcc_mir_read_attr_data
     (chapter 11 page 719):

     "... if both lookup_time_start and lookup_time_end are specified, then all
     records within these time instants will be returned, as well as the record just
     before and the record just after the time range...If only lookup_time_start is 
     specified <<this is your case because you did not specify duration>>... then 
     only the attribute records which are closest to this time instant are returned
     (just before and just after, or exactly matching)."


     Let's assume that:
		 H1-H5 - time when historical data have been recorded;
		 R1-R4 - request time for historical data.

                              R1     R2     R3      R4
             ------H1---------v--H2--v--H3--v--H4---v--H5-------KS---->time
                                                               NOW
                               
     For R1 you will have data H1 and H2, for R2 - data H2 and H3 and so on.


     In your case, I think, "the beginning of the day" was slightly after <date>:10:00
     and you got the latest data from the previous day as well as the earliest data 
     from today. 

>    Second question.
>    Is there a possibility to analyze a posteriori which points were
>    recorded in the MIR, for which entities, and for which partitions.

     These functions are on our list, unfortunately, I don't think that they will be 
     available in the V1.2. Of course, if feedback from users shows that these functions 
     are very important (I think they are) we'll try to implement them earlier.


	Sam
654.2Log of the TIME problems.KETJE::PACCOFri Jan 25 1991 10:1078
    I agree with the MCC logic, but I expressed myself not enough clearly
    in note 654.1. The following LOG will clarify this.
    
    Note that the counter data was removed from the log, in order to
    concentrate on all TIME specifications:
    	--> recorded time : every 5 minutes
    	--> time limits of the MCC request
    	--> interval of the MCC request ( 20 minutes)
    	--> resulting times.
    
    I request something for the 24th January, I get it from the 23th
	This does not seem right !!!!!!!!
    
    The system time during the tests was about 25-JAN-1991:12:00
    
    
do [mcc.mcc]x.x
!%MCC-S-VERIFYENTER, entering command procedure DISK$SYSTEM_2:[MCC.MCC]X.X;30
!show node4 brsr4 circ syn-1 all counters, for every 0:20:0 
	until 24-jan-1991:15:00 start = 24-jan-1991:14:00, in  domain routers
!
!Node4 brsr4 Circuit syn-1 
!AT 24-JAN-1991 13:55:12 Counters
!
!Examination of Attributes shows:
!                  Counter Creation Time = 23-JAN-1991 19:42:57.68
!              Seconds Since Last Zeroed = >65535 Seconds
!           Terminating Packets Received = 299 Packets
!		... data removed
!
!Node4 brsr4 Circuit syn-1 
!AT 24-JAN-1991 14:00:12 Counters
!
!Examination of Attributes shows:
!                  Counter Creation Time = 23-JAN-1991 19:47:57.67
!		... counter data also removed in all next displays
!
!Node4 brsr4 Circuit syn-1 
!AT 24-JAN-1991 14:15:12 Counters
!
!Examination of Attributes shows:
!                  Counter Creation Time = 23-JAN-1991 20:02:57.73
!
!Node4 brsr4 Circuit syn-1 
!AT 24-JAN-1991 14:20:12 Counters
!
!Examination of Attributes shows:
!                  Counter Creation Time = 23-JAN-1991 20:07:57.78
!
!Node4 brsr4 Circuit syn-1 
!AT 24-JAN-1991 14:35:14 Counters
!
!Examination of Attributes shows:
!                  Counter Creation Time = 23-JAN-1991 20:22:59.57
!
!Node4 brsr4 Circuit syn-1 
!AT 24-JAN-1991 14:40:13 Counters
!
!Examination of Attributes shows:
!                  Counter Creation Time = 23-JAN-1991 20:27:58.15
!
!Node4 brsr4 Circuit syn-1 
!AT 24-JAN-1991 14:55:13 Counters
!
!Examination of Attributes shows:
!                  Counter Creation Time = 23-JAN-1991 20:42:58.69
!
!Node4 brsr4 Circuit syn-1 
!AT 24-JAN-1991 15:00:12 Counters
!
!Examination of Attributes shows:
!                  Counter Creation Time = 23-JAN-1991 20:47:57.77
!%MCC-S-VERIFYEXIT, exiting command procedure DISK$SYSTEM_2:[MCC.MCC]X.X;30
!
use logging off
!
    
    
654.3Log helped a lotTOOK::SHMUYLOVICHWed Jan 30 1991 12:3834
    

RE:.2

>    I request something for the 24th January, I get it from the 23th
>	This does not seem right !!!!!!!!

     You get data not from 23th but from 24th. 
     
     Let's look at your log:

!show node4 brsr4 circ syn-1 all counters, for every 0:20:0 
	until 24-jan-1991:15:00 start = 24-jan-1991:14:00, in  domain routers
!
!Node4 brsr4 Circuit syn-1 
!AT 24-JAN-1991 13:55:12 Counters  <-- THIS IS A TIME STAMP !!!
!
!Examination of Attributes shows:
!                  Counter Creation Time = 23-JAN-1991 19:42:57.68
!              Seconds Since Last Zeroed = >65535 Seconds
!           Terminating Packets Received = 299 Packets
!		... data removed
!

    This data were recorded at 24-JAN-1991 13:55:12.

    According to the algorithm described in .1 all returned data have right
Time Stamps. 

    I believe that you question is why there is a difference between
Time Stamp and Counter Creation Time attribute?
    I sent this question to the PhaseIV team.

	Sam
654.4Counter Creation Time is when counting STARTED...TOOK::CAREYWed Jan 30 1991 14:3245
    
    
    In DECmcc, Counter Creation Time refers to the moment when the counters
    first started incrementing from zero.  That is, the moment that the
    counters were created and started keeping track of whatever they're
    counting.  In the Entity Model (and DECnet/OSI), we find that counters
    are never reset, and never cleared, they just keep on clicking away and
    wrap around when reaching their maximum value.  DECnet/OSI has a
    "Creation Time" which reflects when the node was started, and it never
    changes.  DECnet Phase IV has a Counter Creation Time that reflects 
    when the counters were last zeroed.
    
    So, the TIMESTAMP underneath the output entity specifier 
    "AT 24-Jan-..." reflects the time at which the counters were collected.
    
    The Counter Creation Time reflects (as nearly as possible) the time at
    which the counters were last cleared.
    
    DECnet keeps track of the number of Seconds Since Last Zeroed.  In an
    attempt to allow consistent management of DECnet Phase IV, we calculate
    the Counter Creation Time from this Seconds Since Last Zeroed (SSLZ),
    and return it for user's and Functional Modules to work with.
    
    In DECnet Phase IV, counters latch (that is, cease to increment) once
    they have reached their maximum values.  You will see them displayed
    with a "greater than" symbol (>) in front of them once they have
    latched.  This happens at 65535 seconds for Seconds Since Last Zeroed,
    or something just over 18 hours of operation.
    
    We calculate the Counter Creation Time from this, and consistently
    display a time 18 hours in the past.  If you zero the counters and
    continue to keep track of them, you will note that the Counter Creation
    Time stays constant until the SSLZ reaches its maximum value, then it 
    starts to creep along as you have seen.
    
    We expected that this would not be too confusing to DECnet users, but
    apparently it is at least disconcerting.  Any ideas for making this
    behavior easier to interpret?
    
    -Jim Carey
    
    
    
    
    
654.5I used my lower soapbox...ULTMAT::BELANGERA ROSE by anyother name, would not be manageableFri Feb 01 1991 13:2114
    
    	IMHO, the Counter Creation Time (CCT) and the Seconds Since Last
    Zeroed (SSLZ) are represeting the same information.  The problem is
    that the CCT is invalid after the SSLZ is >65535.  This definitely
    makes for confusion, especially if the user does not know that the
    CCT is calculated from the current time and SSLZ.  The only truely
    accurate information is the SSLZ.  Therefore, I'd suggest either
    dropping the CCT or find an alternative which is always accurate.  I
    realize that the information is not guarranteed to always be accurate,
    but knowingly generating inaccurate information, even if it is accurate
    at certain times, is not very useful and can be used to falsely
    identify a problem.
    
    ~Jon.
654.6Creeping Counter Creation Time....TOOK::CAREYFri Feb 01 1991 15:4425
    
    
    We have discussed the following alternative.  There has been no
    resolution, and I expect that the current situation is going to ship
    with V1.1.
    
    Return CCT only if SSLZ is less than 65535.  That is, only return  CCT
    if we believe it is likely to be valid.  Not returning CCT would then
    mean that we "don't know" when the counters were created.
    
    We currently have FMs that sample counters, and expect CCT to come
    back.  They validate the counters collected by making sure that the
    CCTs returned in the two samples match, meaning that the entity didn't
    restart, or reset the counters.  Thus, the CCT creep that occurs at
    max SSLZ would be recognized (by software at least) as indicating that
    the counters were suspect.  Not returning CCT would trip these FMs.
    
    Anyway, we've been discussing the pros and cons of managing CCT, and 
    the user confusion described here is possibly the best reason to
    revisit the DECmcc philosophy with respect to that.
    
    Thanks for your inputs.
    
    -Jim Carey
    
654.7CCT Calculation in other AMs tooCHRISB::BRIENENDECmcc Bridge|Station Management.Fri Feb 01 1991 17:186
For what it's worth...

The algorithm mentioned by Jim Carey in an earlier note (with the problem of
latching at 65535) is also implemented by the Ethernet AM, for Stations that
are of the type DEC_ENETV2 (i.e. MOPV3).
 
654.8Infinite inaccuracyMARVIN::COBBGraham R. Cobb (Wide Area Comms.), REO2-G/H9, 830-3917Mon Feb 11 1991 08:384
Assuming that the CCT is a BATime, you should at least set the inaccuracy to
infinite when the SSLZ hits 65535.

Graham
654.9Oh No, not SSLZ logic again!CAPN::SYLORArchitect = Buzzword GeneratorTue Feb 19 1991 00:2512
    Simply subtracting th SSLZ from the current time isn't "quite" good
    enough when the SSLZ latches. If your AM has state - meaning it
    remembers what it got the last time you showed the counters, an
    algorithm like the one in NMCC works. It essentially looks to see if
    the last reading was less than 65534 seconds ago, if it was, and the
    SSLZ counters is still latched, and *no counter has decreased*, then
    you can guess that you are still on the same "epoch" of teh counters.
    If the AM doesn't have state, then you probably need to report a
    true description of what you discovered (SSLZ was latched, etc) to
    the FM so it can decipher what's going on.
    
    					Mark