List of InformixHQ built-in sensors

Sensors in InformixHQ

InformixHQ provides many built-in sensors to monitor Informix server performance. User can configure a sensor from the list of built-in sensors or create a custom sensor based on a specific requirement. User can also monitor all the built-in sensors' list or custom sensors by adding them to the Dashboard or by creating alerts for them, and a few sensors can be monitored in HQ screens, which are mentioned in the table given below.

By default, there are no sensors added to InformixHQ for an instance of Informix Server. Users need to add sensors as per the monitoring requirements for each of the Informix servers defined in HQ.

When sensors are added to InformixHQ, corresponding tables in the repository database are created to store the sensor's data. These tables are named as <s>_<informix_server_id>_<sensor_name>.

For example, if an AF files sensor is added to a server instance with the Informix server ID "1," (Informix server ID can be found on the server setup page or in the URL), then the table name in the repository database will be "s_1_af_files," where "s" stands for sensor.

All the information regarding sensor tables and their storage details (like the number of rows, space utilization, size, etc.) is available on the Tables & Indexes page under the Storage menu.

Use the following steps to view the sensor data storage information:
  1. Go to Storage -> Table & Indexes page in InformixHQ.
  2. Select Dbspace -> select repository dbspace.
  3. Select Database -> Select repository database from dropdown.
  4. All the storage details regarding sensor will be shown in a table format.
Serial No. Sensor Name Type Description Sensor data availability on the InformixHQ screen
1 AF files files Monitors for the presence of AF (assert fail) files in the Informix database server's DUMPDIR.
  • Generated AF files' count can be seen on Server details page under status.
2 Informix Server Status ifx_status Monitors the status of the Informix database server (online, offline, etc.)
3 Operating System CPU cmd Monitors CPU usage on the operating system
  • On Server details page
  • On System Resource page
4 Operating System CPU per Core cmd Monitors CPU usage per core on the operating system
5 Operating System Disk I/O cmd Monitors Disk I/O activity on the operating system
  • On System Resource page
6 Operating System Disk Utilization cmd Monitors operating system disk usage for the storage devices used by the Informix database server.
  • On Server details page
  • On Storage page
7 Operating System Memory cmd Monitors memory usage on the operating system
  • On Server details page
  • On System Resource page
  • On Memory page under System Resource
8 Operating System Network I/O cmd Monitors network i/o activity on the operating system
  • On System Resource page
9 Session Statistics sql Monitors the number of sessions connected to the Informix database server and the average and maximum amount of memory used by each session
  • On Server details page
10 Checkpoint sql Monitors checkpoint statistics for the Informix database server
  • On Server details page
  • On Checkpoints page under Performance
11 Memory sql Monitors memory usage by the Informix database server
  • On Memory page under System Resource
12 Memory Segments sql Monitors the memory segments used by the Informix database server
13 Buffer and Disk I/O ifx_diskio Monitors buffer and disk I/O activity on the Informix database server
  • On Server details page
14 Chunk Writes sql Monitors chunk writes by the Informix database server
15 Foreground Writes sql Monitors foreground writes by the Informix database server
  • On Server details page
16 LRU Writes sql Monitors LRU writes by the Informix database server
17 Sequential Scans sql Monitors the number of sequential scans performed on the Informix database server
  • On Server details page
18 Thread Counts sql Monitors the number of Informix database server threads, keeping track of thread counts for each state (running, ready, waiting on mutex, etc.).
  • On Server details page
19 Virtual Processors sql Gathers statistics about each virtual processor (vp) class.
20 DBSpace Usage sql Monitors the space usage for dbspaces on the Informix database server
  • On Storage page
21 Backups per dbspace sql Monitors the time of the last backups run for each dbspace on the Informix database server
  • On Backups page
22 Online Log log Monitors the Informix database server's log file.
  • In Online log, under Agent data
23 High Availability Workload sql Monitors the cpu workload % for each server in a high availability cluster. This sensor should be run on the primary server of a cluster.
24 High Availability Lagtime sql Monitors the lagtime in seconds for each server in a high availability cluster. This sensor should be run on the primary server of a cluster.
25 High Availability Connection Status sql Monitors the connection status for each secondary server in a high availability cluster. This sensor can be run on any server of a cluster.
26 High Availability Logical Log Rate sql Monitors logical logs of a high availability cluster. This sensor should be run on the primary server of a cluster.
27 High Availability Approximate Log Backlog onstat Monitors the approximate log backlog in seconds for each secondary server in a high availability cluster. This sensor should be run on the primary server of a cluster.
28 High Availability Transaction Latency onstat Monitors the transaction latency in seconds for each secondary server in a high availability cluster. This sensor should be run on each secondary server of a cluster.
29 High Availability Apply Rate sql Monitors the apply rate for each secondary server in a high availability cluster. This sensor should be run on each secondary server of a cluster.
30 SLA Connections sql Monitors the number of connections for each SLA. This sensor should be run on those servers which are being managed by Connection Manager.
Note:

  1. “sql"? type of sensors collect database level information and run over jdbc connection with sysmaster database of monitored server.

  2. “ifx_status" and “ifx_diskio" types of sensors collect database related information from server and runs over jdbc connection with sysmaster database of monitored server.

  3. “cmd", “files" and “log" types of sensors collect OS level information and run as command on host OS.

  4. "Onstat" type of sensor collects data from onstat command and monitors based on that data.

  5. The InformixHQ Agent can be started in two modes:
    • Local mode: It means that the InformixHQ Agent is running on a host machine for Informix Server, where all types of sensors can be run i.e. server-level sensors (sql and ifx) as well as OS-level sensors (cmd, files, and log).
    • Remote mode: It means running the InformixHQ Agent from another machine that is not an Informix Server host machine, where only server-level sensors (sql and ifx) can be run due to a limitation that OS-level sensors (cmd, files, and log) can not log data since data is collected by executing commands on the host OS for these types of sensors.