Is there a special setting to get accurate MS SQL server CPU monitoring in NPM?

Question

Most of our MS SQL Servers on VMware show as critical in NPM for 100% CPU even though the actual CPU usage is closer to  ~50%.  On all the affected servers, NPM reports all 4 vCPUs as having 100% usage all the time.  Real time polling shows the correct CPU metrics.  Is there a special setting to use for MS SQL servers to avoid this?

We're using a node threshold of >=90% CPU and polling every 120 seconds

aLTeReGo · Answer

There is zero calculation performed for WMI polling of CPU. It's simply a query and the CPU value is returned to Orion as a percentage of overall usage. If you're seeing a discrepancy between real-time polling and the normal polled values, then I suggest opening a support case so we can troubleshoot the issue.

I can say I've only seen similar behavior once when the virtual machine only had a single CPU core assigned, or when the host was overloaded. I would recommend using PerfMon to monitor the CPU usage on that machine while clicking 'Poll Now' on the Node in Orion. Does the CPU jump up momentarily? It could be an issue of a corrupt WMI repository on that machine. To repair the repository on that machine, follow the steps outlined below.

To perform a repair/re-sync of the Windows 10 WMI repository:

* Open an elevated command prompt.
* Verify the WMI repository is not corrupt by running the following command:

winmgmt /verifyrepository

If the repository is not corrupted, a “WMI Repository is consistent” message will be returned; if you get something else, go to step 3, otherwise if the repository is consistent, more troubleshooting will be required as the repository is not likely the problem.

* Run the following commands to repair WMI:

winmgmt /salvagerepository

If the repository salvage fails to work, then run the following command to see if it resolves the issue:

winmgmt /resetrepository

After the last command, there should be a “WMI Repository has been reset” message returned that verifies the command was successful.

To perform a rebuild of the WMI repository, please do the following:

* Disable and stop the winmgmt service
* Remove or rename C:\Windows\System32\wbem\repository
* Enable and start the winmgmt service
* Open Command Prompt as Administrator
* Run the following commands:

cd C:\Windows\System32\wbem\for /f %s in ('dir /b *.mof') do mofcomp %sNOTE: This will take a minute or so to complete.for /f %s in ('dir /b en-us\*.mfl') do mofcomp en-us\%s

wadefogarty · Answer

I should also have said we're using WMI to poll the servers.