ESXTOP overview for Performance Troubleshooting
Article ID: 308290
Updated On:
Products
VMware vSphere ESXi
Issue/Introduction
This article provides esxtop quick overview and basic troubleshooting commands
Environment
VMware vSphere ESXi
Resolution
ESXTOP is one of the very useful tools to troubleshoot different types of resources such as CPU / Memory / Network / Storage.
This KB article contains some basic and valuable information how to use ESXTOP to troubleshoot performance issue.
ESXTOP Command overview...
For changing to the different views type:
m Memory <meta content="Excel.Sheet" name="ProgId"><meta content="Microsoft Excel 15" name="Generator"><link href="Esxtop_Quick_Overview-1_files/filelist.xml" rel="File-List">
| Network (n) – Fields: A B C D E F K L | ||
| Field | Value | Description |
| %DRPTX | ≥ 1 | Dropped Packages transmitted/Dropped Packages received. Values larger 0 are a sign for high network utilization |
| %DRPRX | ||
| Used-by/Team-PNIC | N/A | provide information what physical NIC a VM is actually using |
| CPU (c) – Fields: D F | ||
| Field | Value | Description |
| %USED | N/A | CPU Core cycles used by a VM. High values are an indicator for VMs causing performance problems on ESXi Hosts. |
| %SWPWT | ≥ 5 | Counter showing how long a VM has to wait for swapped pages read from disk. A reason for this could be memory overcommitment. Pay attention if %SWPWT is >5! |
| %MLMTD | ≥ 1 | Counter showing percentage of time a ready to run vCPU was not scheduled because of a CPU limit setting. Remove the limit for better performance. |
| %CSTP | ≥ 3 | This value is interesting if you are using vSMP virtual machines. It shows the percentage of time a ready to run VM has spent in co-deschedule state. If value is >3 decrease the number of vCPUs from the VM concerned. |
| %RDY | ≥ 10 | Percentage of time a VM was waiting to be scheduled.If you note values between five and ten percent take care. Possible reasons: too many vCPUs, too many vSMP VMs or a CPU limit setting (check %MLMTD) |
| Memory (m) – Fields: B D J K Q | ||
| Field | Value | Description |
| MCTLSZ | ≥ 1 | Amount of guest physical memory (MB) the ESXi Host is reclaiming by balloon driver. A reason for this is memory overcommitment. |
| ZIP/s | ≥ 1 | Values larger 0 indicate that the host is actively compressing memory. |
| UNZIP/s | Values larger 0 indicate that the host is accessing compressed memory. Reason for this behaviour is memory overcommitment. |
|
| CACHEUSD | ≥ 1 | Memory (in MB) compressed by ESXi Host |
| SWCUR: | ≥ 1 | Memory (in MB) that has been swapped by VMKernel. Possible cause: memory overcommitment. |
| SWR/s, SWW/s: | ≥ 1 | Rate at which the ESXi Host is writing to or reading from swapped memory. Possible cause: memory overcommitment. |
| Disk (d) – Fields: A B G J | ||
| Field | Value | Description |
| DAVG | ≥ 25 | Latency at the device driver level Indicator for storage performance troubles |
| KAVG | ≥ 3 | Latency caused by VMKernel Possible cause: Queuing (wrong queue depth parameter or wrong failover policy) |
| GAVG | ≥ 25 | GAVG = DAVG + KAVG |
| Resets/s | ≥ 1 | number of commands reset per second |
| ABRTS/s | ≥ 1 | Commands aborted per second If the storage system has not responded within 60 seconds VMs with an Windows Operating System will issue an abort. |
| NUMA m (change to memory view) – Fields: D G | ||
| Field | Value | Description |
| NMN | N/A | Numa Node where the VM is located |
| N%L | ≤ 80 | Percentage of VM Memory located at the local NUMA Node. If this value is less than 80 Percent the VM will experience performance issues |
| NLMEM | N/A | VM Memory (in MB) located at local Node |
| NRMEM | N/A | VM Memory (in MB) located at remote Node |
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