Synthetic ActiveGates - Add CPU and Memory resources - node size didn't change

[kayjayeff]

We recently added CPU and Memory resources to 3 synthetic AGs to change them from Small to Medium since capacity was around 100%. In the Dynatrace console it still sees 2 of them as Small and one shows as Medium. Do we need to update any configurations in the AG configs to make the console recognize and utilize the new resources ?

thanks.

-k.

[AntonioSousa]

@kayjayeff,

I believe you have restarted the AG?

[kayjayeff]

Yes sir ... It seems there are configuration settings for setting a percentage of Memory to use, so I would assume that the Synth AG would grab that percentage of memory for its uses after adding the memory to the server

the settings I found are these:
-java.xmx.absolute_part
-java.xmx.relative_part

[HannahM]

You need to reinstall the ActiveGate to pick up the newly added resources.

[kayjayeff]

I can't imagine that is the case. Is that 100% true? You cannot adjust the memory settings on the AGs to make the software use more memory?

[HannahM · Accepted solution]

You can add more memory etc but the ActiveGate only checks for the settings on install so you need to uninstall and reinstall the ActiveGate to pick up the changes. It is usually a very quick process and the only thing you will need to do after that is add the Activegate back into the location it was previously part of.

[kayjayeff]

OK, thank you for the information @HannahM 👍

[kayjayeff1]

@HannahM does this apply to non-synthetic activegates as well?

[AntonioSousa]

@kayjayeff1 ,

Yesterday I did this in an AG and it seemed to catch up with the new ammount of memory.

But it would be important if @HannahM could confirm it.

[kayjayeff1]

@AntonioSousa yes, we did the same and it seems to have allocated additional memory to the AG process as well.  thanks! 🙂 

-k

[HannahM]

Apologies, I was hoping to have a chance to test this. Our documentation for Synthetic states that you need to reinstall the Synthetic module to take advantage of the new resources; however, for other AG types, I believe it is, as you say, that the AG can use them without a reinstall. I would expect a restart of the services to be sufficient. 

[kayjayeff1]

No worries.  We added the memory and CPU and restarted and it grabbed them.  Thanks for checkin back in! 🙂 

[sia_h]

The action required after a RAM upgrade depends on whether the change affects the ActiveGate’s memory allocation or heap tier. From my understanding, these are the common actions. 

Type	RAM Change	Same Allocation?	Action	Why?
Non-Synthetic	16GB → 32GB	Yes	Restart	Memory % stays at 65%, restart applies new allocation
Non-Synthetic	8GB → 16GB	No	Reinstall/Update	Moves from 60% to 65% allocation, only set at install
Non-Synthetic	4GB → 8GB	No	Reinstall/Update	Moves from 55% to 60% allocation, only set at install
Non-Synthetic	4GB → 16GB	No	Reinstall/Update	Moves from 55% to 65% allocation, only set at install
Synthetic	16GB → 32GB	Yes	Restart	Heap size stays, restart applies new RAM
Synthetic	8GB → 16GB	No	Reinstall/Update	Heap size changes, only set at install
Synthetic	4GB → 8GB	No	Reinstall/Update	Heap size changes, only set at install
Synthetic	4GB → 16GB	No	Reinstall/Update	Heap size changes, only set at install

[kayjayeff1]

@sia_h thank you.  That's a great chart to use as reference!

[AntonioSousa]

@sia_h ,

While this is a great chart, it doesn't make much sense!

It today's world, having to do a reinstall so that a program can use more memory, is quite frankly, to put it easy, unexplainable! While I understand they are Java processes and cannot do it in runtime, requiring a restart should be the maximum here.

And, btw, if I go from 32GB to 8 GB, what is needed? An uninstall?

[Georgi_Vuldzhev]

Hello everyone,

I am looking into the topic because we are having issues with execution of synthetic tests from a private location.

We have 39 Browser clickpaths and 21 HTTP tests running from a location that has a single Synthetic AG.
The AG had 2GBs of RAM and yesterday we upgraded it to 4GB. It has been restarted and not reinstalled/updated and I can see the new memory has been captured (the graph of memory usage):

In my understanding this should be sufficient and does not need a reinstall as I can see the memory increase in DT?

Also what do you think about the resources and the amount of Synthetics? We are planning to add a second AG to the private location. Have you experienced such issues with Synthetics?

In the private Synthetic locations status I see this:

Capacity usage is greater than 80% for at least one type of synthetic monitor or failure of any ActiveGate can cause usage requirements to exceed maximum capacity.

Any suggestions would be helpful!

All the best,
Georgi

[AntonioSousa]

@Georgi_Vuldzhev ,
You have a good count of Browser clickpaths. The ammount of steps might also be impacting, besides CPU consumed by the browser. You would certainly be better with one more AG.

[Georgi_Vuldzhev]

Hi @AntonioSousa 

Thanks for the answer!

Currently the total amount of steps we have from all of the browser clickpaths are 320.

I was think it might be a good idea to have the opportunity to enter a specific time when the tests run. For example when you set it to run every hour to be able to say for example h:03 ot h:07, etc.

But we'll see after adding one more AG.

All the best,
Georgi