Apache HBase monitoring

Ensure high availability, faster issue resolution, and smooth data operations by keeping a close watch on HBase cluster health, resource usage, and performance trends.

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Apache HBase monitoring

Ensure reliable big data operations

Apache HBase is a distributed, scalable NoSQL database built on the Hadoop ecosystem, designed for real-time read and write access to massive datasets. It organizes data into tables, rows, and column families, delivering fast, consistent, low-latency performance for use cases like analytics, messaging, and time-series data. Monitoring HBase is essential to maintain cluster stability, optimize resource usage, and detect issues early. By tracking metrics such as region server health, memory utilization, and Regions-In-Transition (RIT), organizations can avoid downtime, improve responsiveness, and ensure their big data applications run efficiently at scale.

Monitor the health and performance of your HBase clusters

Track HBase cluster health

Track overall cluster health with metrics like active and dead region servers, cluster requests, region splits and merges, and RIT to ensure smooth operations.

Monitor Hbase resources

Monitor resource and process efficiency by analyzing memory usage, JVM health, IPC performance, and HLog split stats to avoid performance bottlenecks.

Analyze Hbase logs

Analyze HBase logs to identify issues, optimize performance, and gain deeper visibility into cluster activity.

Set alerts

Set threshold-based alerts for spikes in RITs, memory usage, IPC latency, or dead region servers so you can resolve issues before they impact applications.

HBase custom dashboards

Visualize all HBase metrics in custom dashboards, alongside other ecosystem components, to gain end-to-end visibility and manage your big data infrastructure proactively.

HBase IT automation

Use IT automation to recover unresponsive HBase resources quickly, minimizing downtime and improving reliability.

Get started with Site24x7's HBase monitoring

Performance Metrics

General

Metric name Description
Hostname Hostname of the HBase master instance.
Regions Servers Number of active region servers in the cluster.
Dead Region Servers Number of dead or unresponsive region servers.
Cluster Requests Total number of requests processed by the cluster.
Merge Plan Count Number of region merge plans executed.
Split Plan Count Number of region split plans executed.
Average Load Average number of regions per region server.
Free Physical Memory Size Amount of free physical memory.
Free Swap Space Size Amount of free swap space.
Total Physical Memory Size Total physical memory of the system.
Total Swap Space Size Total swap space of the system.
Committed Virtual Memory Size Amount of committed virtual memory.
VM Name Name of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) implementation.
VM Vendor Vendor of the JVM.
VM Version Version of the JVM.
Boot Class Path Boot class path used by the JVM.
Library Path Native library path used by the JVM.
Spec Name Name of the JVM specification.
Spec Vendor Vendor of the JVM specification.
Spec Version Version of the JVM specification.

Assignment manager

Metric name Description
RIT Oldest Age Age of the oldest RIT.
RIT Count Total number of RITs.
RIT Count Over Threshold Count of RITs exceeding the configured threshold.
RIT Duration Min Minimum duration of an RIT.
RIT Duration Max Maximum duration of an RIT.
RIT Duration Mean Average duration of RITs.
RIT Duration Median Median duration of RITs.

Interprocess communication

Metric name Description
IPC Queue Size Size of the IPC queue.
IPC Calls In General Queue Number of calls in the general IPC queue.
IPC Calls In Replication Queue Number of calls in the replication IPC queue.
IPC Calls In Priority Queue Number of calls in the priority IPC queue.
IPC Open Connections Total number of open IPC connections.
IPC Active Handlers Number of active handlers processing IPC requests.
IPC Total Call Time Max Maximum total call time for IPC requests.
IPC Total Call Time Mean Mean total call time for IPC requests.
IPC Total Call Time Median Median total call time for IPC requests.
IPC Total Call Time 99th Percentile 99th percentile of total call time for IPC requests.
Sent Data Total data sent (bytes).
Received Data Total data received (bytes).
Out Of Order Scanner Exception Count of out-of-order scanner exceptions.
Unknown Scanner Exception Count of unknown scanner exceptions.
Region Too Busy Exception Count of region-too-busy exceptions.

JVM

Metric name Description
Mem Non Heap Used Amount of non-heap memory used.
Mem Non Heap Committed Amount of committed non-heap memory.
Mem Non Heap Max Maximum non-heap memory available.
Mem Heap Used Amount of heap memory used.
Mem Heap Committed Amount of committed heap memory.
Mem Heap Max Maximum heap memory available.
Mem Max Maximum total memory available.
GC Count ParNew Number of garbage collections using the ParNew collector.
GC Time ParNew Total time spent in ParNew garbage collection.
GC Count CMS Number of garbage collections using the CMS collector.
GC Time CMS Total time spent in CMS garbage collection.
GC Count Total number of garbage collection operations.
GC Time Total time spent on garbage collection.

Thread

Metric name Description
Threads New Number of threads in the new state.
Threads Runnable Number of threads currently running.
Threads Blocked Number of threads blocked waiting for a monitor.
Threads Waiting Number of threads in the waiting state.
Threads Timed Waiting Number of threads in the timed waiting state.
Threads Terminated Number of threads that have been terminated.

HLog

Metric name Description
HLog Split Time Mean Mean time to split HLog.
HLog Split Time Min Minimum time to split HLog.
HLog Split Time Max Maximum time to split HLog.
HLog Split Time Num Operations Number of HLog split time operations.
HLog Split Size Mean Mean size of HLog splits.
HLog Split Size Min Minimum size of HLog splits.
HLog Split Size Max Maximum size of HLog splits.
HLog Split Size Num Operations Number of HLog split size operations.

Setup

Quick installation

If you're using Linux servers, use the HBase plugin installer that checks the prerequisites and installs the plugin with a bash script. You don't need to manually set up the plugin if you're using the installer.

Execute the command below in the terminal to run the installer and follow the instructions displayed on-screen:
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/site24x7/plugins/master/hbase/installer/Site24x7HBasePluginInstaller.sh && sudo bash Site24x7HBasePluginInstaller.sh

Standard installation

If you're not using Linux servers or want to install the plugin manually, follow the steps below.

Prerequisites

  • Download and install the Site24x7 server monitoring agent (Linux | Windows) in the network or on the specific host in which the Apache instance is running.
  • Ensure you have Python 3 or a higher version installed in your server.

Plugin installation

  • Create a folder named hbase.
  • Download the hbase.py and the hbase.cfg files from our GitHub repository and place them in the hbase folder.
    wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/site24x7/plugins/master/hbase/hbase.py && sed -i "1s|^.*|#! $(which python3)|" hbase.py
    wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/site24x7/plugins/master/hbase/hbase.cfg
  • To check if the plugin is working, execute the command below with appropriate arguments, and check for a valid JSON output with applicable metrics and their corresponding values.
    python hbase.py --host "hostname" --port "port"
  • Add the applicable configurations in the hbase.cfg file.
    [HBase]
    host="localhost"
    port="16010"
    log_file_path= "/var/log/*hbase*/*.log , /opt/*hbase*/logs/*.log*, /*hbase*/*log*/*.log, C:\\*hbase*\\logs\\*.log*, C:\\Program Files\\*hbase*\\logs\\*.log*"
  • Follow the steps in this article to learn how to run the Python script on Windows Server. You don't need to do this for Linux.
  • Move the hbase folder to the Site24x7 server monitoring plugins directory:
    For Linux: /opt/site24x7/monagent/plugins/
    For Windows: C:\Program Files (x86)\Site24x7\WinAgent\monitoring\plugins\

The agent will automatically execute the plugin within five minutes and display performance data in Site24x7.

To view the plugin monitor and associated performance charts:

  • Log in to Site24x7.
  • Navigate to Plugins and click the required monitor.

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