Five readings from your own dashboard
One page, plus a back page on where to find each reading
An average can hide the hour that matters. Take five readings from your own dashboard, write down where you read each one, and date them. A number your dashboard cannot show is a finding too.
The five readings
1 Your busiest hour
Set the performance view to a month. Find the hour with the highest load, not the average. Write the hour of day, the load in that hour, and the response time in that hour next to the month's average.
The reading
Where I read it
Date
2 Your capacity runway, as a date
Write used space 90 days ago and used space today. The gap is your growth over 90 days. Draw the line forward to full and write the date it lands on, not a percent full.
The reading
Where I read it
Date
3 Data nobody has read in a year
How much of the capacity holds data nothing has read in twelve months? If the array cannot tell you, write "cannot see it". That is a finding.
The reading
Where I read it
Date
4 One month of power
The kilowatt hours the array drew in one month. Then ask facilities for the rate and for how they count cooling on top.
The reading
Where I read it
Date
5 Read throughput at the busiest hour
In the same hour as row 1, write the read throughput (how much data per second the array read). Next to it, write what the next big project says it needs, and where that number came from.
The reading
Where I read it
Date
Which reading could you not find in five minutes?
Where to find each reading
If a reading takes more than a few minutes to find, write down where you looked. A number your dashboard cannot show is a finding in itself.
- Your busiest hour
- The performance view in the array's management screen, with the range set to a month. Look at the highest point, not the average line.
- Your capacity runway, as a date
- The capacity view in the array's management screen for today, and its history or a saved report for 90 days ago. If you cannot see 90 days back, write today's reading and read it again next quarter.
- Data nobody has read in a year
- The array's data age or tiering report, or a file age report from the servers that use it.
- One month of power
- The rack's power strips (PDUs, the power units in the rack) if they report a reading, or your facilities team.
- Read throughput at the busiest hour
- The same performance view as row 1, split into reads and writes.
What this does not prove
Five dated readings show where your array stood in one month. They do not show why any number is high or low, or that next month will look the same.
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