Rhino 3.1 :: Rhino Administration and Deployment Guide :: Gathering Statistics in Graphical Mode

To create a graph start the rhino-stats client in graphical mode using the -g option:

$ ./rhino-stats -g

After the client has downloaded parameter set information from Rhino, the main application window displays. Below are some of the options available for a graph, and instructions for creating a quick or complex graph.

Graphing options

When run in graphical mode, rhino-stats offers a range of options for interactively extracting and graphically displaying statistics gathered from Rhino, including:

counter/gauge plot — displays the values of gauges, or the change in values of counters, over time; displays multiple counters or gauges using different colours; stores an hour’s worth of statistics history
sample distribution plot — displays the 5th, 25th, 50th, 75th and 95th percentiles of a sample distribution as it changes over time, either as a bar-and-whisker type graph or as a series of line plots
sample distribution histogram — displays a constantly updating histogram of a sample distribution in both logarithmic and linear scales.

Quick graph

The client includes a browser panel at left, with the available parameter sets displayed in a hierarchy tree. To quickly create a simple graph, right-click a parameter set, and select a parameter and type of graph. For example, the following illustration shows selecting a quick plot of lockTimeouts:

Complex graph

To create more complex graphs, comprising multiple statistics, use the "graph creation wizard". The following steps are illustrated with an example that creates a plot of event-processing counter statistics from the IN-SIS.

Start the wizard

Select New Graph from the Monitoring menu.

The wizard presents a selection of graph types.

The following types are available:

Graph type selection

Description

Line graph for a counter or guage

Select and combine multiple statistics in a single-line, plot-type graph.

Line graph for a sample distribution

Display percentile values, for a single sample-type statistic, on a line plot.

Histogram for a sample frequency distribution

Display the frequency distribution for a single sample-type statistic, in a histogram. Options include:

rolling distribution — a frequency distribution influenced by the last X generations of samples
resetting distribution — a frequency distribution influenced by all samples since the client last sampled statistics
permanent distribution — a frequency distribution influenced by all samples since monitoring started.

Load an existing graph configuration from a file

Create a new graph using a previously saved graph configuration file.

Select a graph type (in the example, the first option Line graph for a counter or a gauge), and click Next.

Select statistics

The wizard presents a selection of graph components.

This screen displays a table of statistics selected for the line plot. Initially, this is empty. To add statistics, click Add.

Select parameter sets

The Select Parameter Set dialog displays.

Click the panel at left to navigate to and select a parameter set (in the example, Events.insis-cap1a. Available statistics for that parameter set display in the panel at right.
Select the statistics you want to include. In the example, the counter type statistics "accepted", "failed", "rejected" and "successful" have been selected (using shift-click to select a range).
Select where to extract statistics from. In the case of a multi-node Rhino cluster, you can select cluster (as in the example) to combine statistics for the whole cluster, or select an individual node to extract them from.
Click OK.

Select colours

The Select Graph Components screen redisplays with the components added.

To change the colour assigned to a statistic, select from the Colour drop-down menu.
Click Next.

Name the graph

The wizard prompts you to name the graph.

Type a name for the graph.
Select an existing tab, or type the name to create a new tab where to display the graph. For this example, the graph has been named "IN-SIS CAP1a Events (cluster)" and displayed in a new tab named "Events". If the new tab name is left blank then by default the graph will be created in a new tab with the same name as the graph title. However you might, for example, want to add several related graphs to the same tab for easy visual comparison and therefore will want to name the tab appropriately.
Click Finish.

View the graph

The client creates the graph and begins populating it with statistics extracted from Rhino.

The client will continue collecting statistics periodically from Rhino and adding them to the graph. By default the graph will only display the last one minute of information. This can be changed using the timescale drop-down list on the toolbar or clicking the magnify or demagnify buttons either side of the drop-down list — the x-axis scales from 30 seconds up to 10 minutes.

Each line graph stores approximately one hour of data (using the default sample frequency of 1 second). To view stored data that is not currently visible in the graph window, click and drag the scrollbar underneath the graph, or click directly on a position within the scrollbar.

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