IT Guru Systems Planner

Release Notes

Product Release 14.5 PL5

May 29, 2008

OPNET Technologies, Inc.

7255 Woodmont Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20814-7904 USA
Copyright and Contacts Release Notes

Copyright and Contacts

Document Copyright
© 1987-2008 OPNET Technologies, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction, adaptation, or translation without prior
written permission is prohibited, except as allowed under the copyright laws.

Software Copyright
Product Name: IT Guru Systems Planner
Product Release: 14.5
© 1987-2008 OPNET Technologies, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

Contacts
OPNET Technologies, Inc.
7255 Woodmont Avenue
Bethesda MD 20814-7904 USA

General
Telephone: 240.497.3000
E-mail: info@opnet.com
Web: http://www.opnet.com

Technical Support
Telephone: 240.497.1200
Fax: 240.497.1064
E-mail: support@opnet.com

RN-14.5-2 IT Guru Systems Planner/Release 14.5

Release Notes Copyright and Contacts

This Documentation and OPNET

This document and the accompanying product documentation describes the functions of the OPNET
SOFTWARE PRODUCT(S) (“OPNET SOFTWARE”) identified above (this document and the product
documentation are collectively referred to as “DOCUMENTATION”). OPNET Technologies, Inc., 7255
Woodmont Avenue, Bethesda, Maryland 20814 (“OPNET”) is the sole owner of all rights, title, and interest to
the DOCUMENTATION and the OPNET SOFTWARE. Nothing herein shall grant or imply a license to the
DOCUMENTATION or the OPNET SOFTWARE; the right to use the DOCUMENTATION and the OPNET
SOFTWARE shall result only from entering into OPNET’s Master Software License Agreement, OPNET’s
Software Usage Agreement, and payment of the applicable license fees.

Terms and Conditions of Use

Eligible Users
This document is subject to restrictions on use and distribution is intended solely for persons who are subject
to the terms and conditions of OPNET’s Software Master License Agreement or persons authorized by
OPNET (“Eligible Users”). As a condition of being granted access to and use of this document, each User
represents that: i) the User is an Eligible User of a Licensee under a valid OPNET Software Master License
Agreement or the User is authorized by OPNET and ii) the User accepts the terms and conditions of OPNET’s
Software Master License Agreement and the terms and conditions governing the use of this document.

Confidential Information
The User agrees that the DOCUMENTATION, including this document, are the proprietary property of OPNET
and constitutes a trade secret of OPNET. The User agrees that access to and use of this document does not
grant any title or rights of ownership. The User shall not copy or reproduce, in whole or in part, disclose or
permit third parties access to this document without the prior written consent of OPNET. This document may
not be stored, in whole or in part, in any media without the prior written consent of OPNET. Any unauthorized
use of this document will be subject to legal action that may result in criminal and/or civil penalties against the
User.

Copyrights, Trademarks, and Proprietary Notices

© 1987–2008 OPNET Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved.

OPNET, OPNETWORK, OPNET SLA COMMANDER, IT GURU, IT GURU NETWORK PLANNER,

IT GURU SYSTEMS PLANNER, IT Netcop, IT SENTINEL, OPNET MODELER,
OPNET DEVELOPMENT KIT (ODK), OPNET PANORAMA, REPORT SERVER, SP GURU,
SP GURU TRANSPORT PLANNER, SP Netcop, SP SENTINEL, VNE SERVER, 3DNV, ACE,
ACE DECODE, ACE PLUS, AUTOMATION, CIRCUIT SWITCHING,
DISTRIBUTED AGENT CONTROLLER, DOCSIS, EXPRESS DATA IMPORT, FLOW ANALYSIS,
HIGH-LEVEL ARCHITECTURE, IPv6, MAINFRAME MODELING, MPLS, MULTI-VENDOR IMPORT,
NETCOP, NETDOCTOR, PNNI, SERVER MODELING, SPBMC, SPHP, TERRAIN MODELING, TIREM,
UMTS, WIRELESS, NETBIZ, QUICKPREDICT, and SERVICE PROVIDER GURU are trademarks of
OPNET Technologies, Inc.

OPNET Modeler, ACE Plus, IT Guru, IT Guru Network Planner, IT Guru Systems Planner, and SP Guru are
each protected by U.S. patent 6,820,042.

The absence of a name in this list does not constitute a waiver of intellectual property rights that OPNET
Technologies, Inc. has established in any of its products, service names or marks in use.

Alteration, removal, obscuring, or destruction of any proprietary legend, copyright, trademark, or intellectual
property notice contained in this document is prohibited.

IT Guru Systems Planner/Release 14.5 RN-14.5-3

Copyright and Contacts Release Notes

Restricted Rights Legend

The DOCUMENTATION and OPNET SOFTWARE are subject to the restrictions on use and distribution in
the OPNET Software Master License Agreement (for Agencies of the U.S. Government). Any use of the
DOCUMENTATION or any OPNET SOFTWARE by an agency of the U.S. Government or a direct contractor
of an agency of the U.S. Government requires a valid OPNET Software Master License Agreement and
OPNET Software Usage Agreement.

For purposes of access to and use of the DOCUMENTATION and the OPNET SOFTWARE by agencies of
the United States government (or users authorized to access or use this document and/or the OPNET
SOFTWARE on behalf of a U.S. government agency) “SOFTWARE” means all copies of the specific OPNET
Products identified in the SOFTWARE USAGE AGREEMENT(s), whether contained in magnetic, optical,
semiconductor, hardcopy, or other storage media, including SOURCE CODE, EXECUTABLE CODE, and
data file components. The SOFTWARE is licensed to the LICENSEE under OPNET’s Software Master
License Agreement (for Agencies of the U.S. Government), which sets forth the terms of the Special License
Rights granted to LICENSEE (in accordance with FAR §§12.212 and 52.227-19 and DFARS §§227.7202-1
thru 7202-4). The SOFTWARE shall be deemed: (1) “commercial computer software” under FAR §12.212 and
§52.227-19 and DFARS §§227.7202-1 thru 7202-4 and §252.227-7014(a)(1), (2) “restricted computer
software” under FAR §§52.227-14(a) and 19, and (3) developed exclusively at private expense under DFARS
§252.227-7014(a)(7). The SOFTWARE shall be deemed delivered with the following NOTICES: (1) Restricted
Rights Notice under FAR §52.227-14(g)(3), Alternate III (JUN 1987); (2) Copyright Notice:
“Unpublished-rights reserved under the copyright laws of the United States”, under FAR §52.227-19(d), and
(3) Special License Rights Notice under DFARS §252.227-7014(f)(4).

“DOCUMENTATION” means the OPNET copyrighted materials that document the functions of the
SOFTWARE. OPNET provides the LICENSEE with one (1) online set of DOCUMENTATION. Additional
copies on optical media, or in printed format, may be purchased by the LICENSEE from OPNET. The
DOCUMENTATION shall be defined as set forth in FAR §52.227-19 and DFARS §252.227-7013(a)(4) and
(7), in which development was exclusively at private expense. The DOCUMENTATION is licensed to the
LICENSEE under OPNET’s Software Master License Agreement (for Agencies of the U.S. Government)
which sets forth the terms of the Specifically Negotiated License Rights granted to the LICENSEE (in
accordance with FAR §§12.212 and 52.227-19 and DFARS §§227.7202-1 thru 7202-4). The
DOCUMENTATION shall be deemed delivered with the following NOTICES: (1) Restricted Rights Notice
under FAR §52.227-14(g)(3), Alternate III (JUN 1987); and (2) Special License Rights Notice under DFARS
§252.227-7013(f)(4).

No Warranty and Limitation of Liability

ALL INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THIS USER MANUAL IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY
OF ANY KIND EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR
NON-INFRINGEMENT. No representations by OPNET, such as statements of capability, suitability for use,
accuracy or performance, shall be a warranty by OPNET, or bind OPNET or vary any term or condition of any
Software Master License Agreement, unless contained in written agreement and signed by OPNET and any
other party or parties to such Software Master License Agreement.

In no event shall OPNET be liable for any incidental, indirect, special, or consequential damages whatsoever
(including but not limited to lost profits arising out of or relating to this document or the information contained
herein) even if OPNET has been advised, knew, or should have known of the possibility of such damages.

THE USER UNDERSTANDS AND ACCEPTS THAT OPNET SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES
WHICH ARE: (i) INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL, OR (ii) THE
RESULT FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS, OR (iii) FROM THE USE OF THE SOFTWARE AND
DOCUMENTATION, WHETHER BROUGHT IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT, OR OTHERWISE,
EVEN IF OPNET WAS ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

Export Controls
Any User of the DOCUMENTATION including this document shall comply with the laws of the United States,
including the provisions of the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry Security (“BIS”), Export
Administration Regulations (EAR), the U.S. Department of State, International Traffic in Arms Regulations,
and the U.S. Department of Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control, regarding the export, re-export and

RN-14.5-4 IT Guru Systems Planner/Release 14.5

Release Notes Copyright and Contacts

disclosure of the DOCUMENTATION or the SOFTWARE. Any export, re-export or disclosure of the
DOCUMENTATION or the SOFTWARE shall be subject to the prior written consent of OPNET. Users shall
not remove any Destination Control Notices provided by OPNET from the DOCUMENTATION or the
SOFTWARE.

Destination Control Statement

The DOCUMENTATION and the OPNET SOFTWARE were manufactured in the United States by OPNET.
The initial export of the DOCUMENTATION and the OPNET SOFTWARE from the United States, and any
subsequent relocation or re-export to another country shall comply with the laws of the United States relating
to the export of technical data, equipment, software, and know-how. Any diversion contrary to the laws of the
United States is prohibited.

IT Guru Systems Planner/Release 14.5 RN-14.5-5

Contents Release Notes

Contents
Copyright and Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RN-14.5-2

OPNET IT Guru Systems Planner 14.5 Release Notes RN-14.5-7

System Modeling and Planning Enhancements for PL5 RN-14.0-8

Virtual Machine QuickPredict—Support for AIX Micropartitons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RN-14.0-8

Project Editor Enhancements for PL5 RN-14.5-9

Network Layout Operations and Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RN-14.5-9
Selecting Objects by Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RN-14.5-10

System Modeling and Planning Enhancements for PL0 RN-14.5-11

HP OVPA Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RN-14.5-11
Virtual Machine Quick Predict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RN-14.5-11

Discrete Event Simulation Enhancements for PL0 RN-14.5-12

Execution Traces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RN-14.5-12
New Pseudo-Random Number Generator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RN-14.5-12
Improved Performance on Quad-Core Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RN-14.5-12
Confidence Intervals Exported . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RN-14.5-13
Scalar Graphing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RN-14.5-13

RN-14.5-6 IT Guru Systems Planner/Release 14.5

Release Notes —OPNET IT Guru Systems Planner 14.5 Release Notes

OPNET IT Guru Systems Planner 14.5 Release Notes

OPNET IT Guru Systems Planner 14.5 is a software update to the 14.0 release.
This release contains new features and enhancements to existing capabilities.
This release also implements suggestions and fixes many software problems
reported in earlier releases.

This release includes the following enhancements:

14.5 PL5

• System Modeling and Planning Enhancements for PL5 on page RN-14.0-8

• Project Editor Enhancements for PL5 on page RN-14.5-9

14.5 PL0

• System Modeling and Planning Enhancements for PL0 on page RN-14.5-11

• Discrete Event Simulation Enhancements for PL0 on page RN-14.5-12

Note—Visit the OPNET website (www.opnet.com/support) for updated release

notes and system requirements.

IT Guru Systems Planner/Release 14.5 RN-14.5-7

—System Modeling and Planning Enhancements for PL5 Release Notes

System Modeling and Planning Enhancements for PL5

The following enhancements are available in 14.5:

• Virtual Machine QuickPredict—Support for AIX Micropartitons on

page RN-14.0-8

Virtual Machine QuickPredict—Support for AIX Micropartitons

IT Guru System Planner now supports the use of AIX Micropartitions in
Virtual Machine Quick Predict (VMQP). Now you can perform server
consolidation what-if studies using VMQP to evaluate different virtualization
options, and their performance impact in an AIX Micropartition environment.
With this new feature, you can compare two different virtualization technologies
(AIX Micropartitions and VMWare), in addition to studying physical to virtual
(P2V) consolidation.

RN-14.0-8 IT Guru Systems Planner/Release 14.5

Release Notes —Project Editor Enhancements for PL5

Project Editor Enhancements for PL5

The following enhancements are available in 14.5:

• Network Layout Operations and Performance on page RN-14.5-9

• Selecting Objects by Attribute on page RN-14.5-10

Network Layout Operations and Performance

The network layout operations have been improved to create more useful and
aesthetically pleasing layouts in less time.

Additionally, the following new layout operations are now available:

• Circular—Produces a circular network layout of nodes that shows

interconnected ring and star topologies. The circular layout emphasizes
group and tree structures with a network.

• Hierarchical—Produces a hierarchical layout of nodes that shows a

precedence relationship. The hierarchical layout emphasizes flow.

• Schematic—Produces a schematic layout of nodes with right-angled links.

The overlapping of links is kept to a minimum, depending on the size and
complexity of the network.

To access the layout operations, choose View > Layout.

Because of the improved network layout performance, the default of

network_layout.use_simple_threshold preference has been increased from 500
to 5000 nodes.

If for some reason you want to switch between the new layout functionality and
the previously-available layout functionality, you can do so by changing the
network_layout.use_140_balanced_layout algorithm preference. By default, the
preference is set to FALSE, which implements the new layout functionality.

For more information about layouts, see Automatic Layout.

IT Guru Systems Planner/Release 14.5 RN-14.5-9

—Project Editor Enhancements for PL5 Release Notes

Selecting Objects by Attribute

The Define Selection dialog box (Edit > Select Objects) has been enhanced
with ability to specify objects that are always included and never included when
selecting objects by attribute. Additionally, you can save the set of objects to
always include and never include selection set files. Saving a set of objects to a
file allows you to easily and quickly specify the same set of objects in the future.

Note—If the same object is specified in both the always included objects list and
the never included objects list, then the never included specification takes
precedence and the object is never included when selecting objects by attribute.

For more information, see Specifying Objects to Always Include/Exclude.

RN-14.5-10 IT Guru Systems Planner/Release 14.5

Release Notes —System Modeling and Planning Enhancements for PL0

System Modeling and Planning Enhancements for PL0

The following enhancements are available in 14.5:

• HP OVPA Support on page RN-14.5-11

• Virtual Machine Quick Predict on page RN-14.5-11

HP OVPA Support
HP OVPA 4.6 Agent is now supported for Linux, Windows, Solaris, and AIX.

Virtual Machine Quick Predict

The following enhancements have been added to Virtual Machine Quick
Predict:

• A two dimensional visualization for “what-if” analysis. This unique type of

visualization provides more information than the one dimensional
visualization of the previous release. The new visualization lets you:
— View the impact of workload growth in a virtualized environment (job
scaling)
— View the impact of allocating different CPU power to different virtual
machines (resource allocation)
— View the impact of different resource allocation policies on a virtual
machine (for example, you can see the reserved and unreserved
resources)
— View the impact of the hardware host on the performance of the
workloads within a virtual machine
— View the impact of different memory size and I/O bandwidth for the VMs
— Determine when the service level objective (SLO) or performance
thresholds will be exceeded

• Ability to let the software automatically determine the number of servers that
are needed to support the workloads and VMs to meet their SLO for virtual
machines running on specific hardware

• VMQP now supports resource demand analysis against SLO or thresholds

for the three fundamental resource components (CPU, I/O, and memory)

• A new wizard facilitates the study of server consolidation and virtualization

You can access the new Virtual Machine QuickPredict features by using the
same menu operation you used in the previous release (Simulation >
Virtual Machine Quick Predict in the Server Characterization Editor).

IT Guru Systems Planner/Release 14.5 RN-14.5-11

—Discrete Event Simulation Enhancements for PL0 Release Notes

Discrete Event Simulation Enhancements for PL0

The following enhancements are available in 14.5:

• Execution Traces on page RN-14.5-12

• New Pseudo-Random Number Generator on page RN-14.5-12

• Improved Performance on Quad-Core Computers on page RN-14.5-12

• Confidence Intervals Exported on page RN-14.5-13

• Scalar Graphing on page RN-14.5-13

Execution Traces
The etrace option lets you compare execution of a simulation to a previously
saved execution trace file and stop the simulation if differences arise. Because
this option can slow down a simulation and create very large trace files, two
preferences have been added to specify start and end times. For details, see
the etrace_start_time and etrace_end_time attributes of op_runsim.

New Pseudo-Random Number Generator

In recent years, pseudo-random number generators (PRNGs) with long
repetition periods have been shown to be better suited for simulations than older
algorithms with short periods. OPNET analysis software now supports optional
use of such a pseudo-random number generator.

The rand_gen_type preference lets you select which PRNG

IT Guru Systems Planner should use for discrete event simulations. The default
PRNG continues to be a port of the random() function from the BSD UNIX
31
source distribution, with a period of 2 -1. The new PRNG is a newer algorithm
called SIMD-oriented Fast Mersenne Twister (SFMT). It generates high quality
607
random numbers with a period of 2 -1.

Improved Performance on Quad-Core Computers

Enhancements to inter-process communication have made execution of
multiple-run simulations on quad-core computers significantly more reliable.

RN-14.5-12 IT Guru Systems Planner/Release 14.5

Release Notes —Discrete Event Simulation Enhancements for PL0

Confidence Intervals Exported

Scalar plots exported to a spreadsheet (as described in Exporting Data to a
Spreadsheet) now include confidence interval information if confidence
intervals are selected for display in the analysis panel.

Scalar Graphing
A summary display mode has been added to scalar graphs. In this mode, both
min/max and standard deviation are displayed. Also, the appearance of
confidence intervals has been improved.

IT Guru Systems Planner/Release 14.5 RN-14.5-13