AND and OR logic in situations

In my webcast last week a couple questions came up about AND and OR logic in the Tivoli Portal.  AND/OR logic comes into the Portal in a variety of ways.  First let's look at a situation example.

In the example below, I've built a situation that looks at a combination of CPU percent and address space name.  In other words the situation will fire only if CPU Percent is within a certain range, and only for certain Job Names.  Note that I've added CPU Percent twice which allows me to do a range, in other words CPU Percent has to be above 1% AND less than 5% AND the alert will only apply to Job Names starting with CXE.  To add OR logic I would add information into line 2 and line 3, as space allows within the situation editor.

Submitting a batch job from an OMEGAMON situation action command

Situation alerts are often the most effective mechanism to use in OMEGAMON to generate alerts.  Situations offer the most flexibility, any item of information that appears in a portal workspace may typically be incorporated into a situation alert. 

Plus, situations may drive automated actions.  If a situation is true, the situation may be enabled to issue a command.  In the context of z/OS, that would mean a command to the z/OS console.

But, what if instead of a z/OS console command you want to submit a batch job?  Well, you can do that too.  Here's how.  It uses a method similar to how IMS starts message regions by using IEBGENR to read JCL and send the JCL to an internal reader.

In the following example we see a policy with an action command.  In this example, the policy is issuing a command to start a PROC called POTWKLD, and passing the member name to submit (meaning the batch job to submit), in this example the job is in member DB2READI.  You also see an example of what the PROC looks like, and how it is set up to pass the member name to submit the batch JCL.

That's it!  This technique will work with a situation action, just as it does here with a policy action.

Another handy navigation technique in the e3270ui

As a follow on to the earlier navigation post, here's another handy little navigation technique.  When you are logged to the e3270ui, from whatever panel you are looking at if you press F9 some navigation push buttons will appear at the bottom of the panel.

Here's an example (see below).  I'm on the main KOBSTART panel.  I have just pressed F9, and now navigation push buttons have appeared at the bottom of the screen.  To navigate, position the cursor on the button, and press enter.  This should work from any panel in e3270ui.

Some handy navigation shortcuts in the e3270ui

There are some handy cross product navigation techniques available in the e3270ui.  One of the convenient aspects of the e3270ui is the ability to switch between monitoring tools (for example from DB2 to CICS, or CICS to z/OS, etc.) quickly and easily.  In Classic interface you may have to have multiple sessions going in multiple emulator windows to switch cross tool. 

In the e3270ui you may have noticed an entry on the tool bar line that says Navigate.  If you tab to and select Navigate, you will get a pull down menu that lets you select from one of the various tools available in the e3270ui installation. 

But, there are a couple short cuts.  First, you can enter N  and press enter to get the Navigate pull down.  Better yet, you can enter N.C, for example, to go to CICS, or N.Z to go to z/OS.  This way you skip having to go through the pull down menu.  Here's an example below:

I will be doing an OMEGAMON webcast on December 12th

On December 12th I will be doing a webcast on "Improve System z availability by becoming an OMEGAMON power user".  This webcast will cover many aspects of how you can use and optimize OMEGAMON more efficiently and effectively. 

I will look at quite a few optimization techniques (some of which I have already touched on here on this blog).  I will focus on Classic 3270 interface, Enhanced 3270 UI, and the Tivoli Enterprise Portal, showing multiple examples for each.

The event will happen at 11 AM Eastern Time on December 12th.

To attend, here is a link to sign up:
http://ibm.co/HMLS86

I look forward to seeing you on the webcast!  Feel free to ask questions!

An IBM alert for TWS on z customers

If you are a Tivoli Workload Scheduler (TWS) user and have the TDWC (Tivoli Workload Dynamic Console) installed and are using the z centric feature, you may want to be aware of this issue. 

Tivoli Workload Scheduler provides a secure, authenticated, and encrypted connection mechanism for communication based on the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol, which is automatically installed with Tivoli Workload Scheduler.   If you are using the default SSL certificates, you may need tor renew them.

Please check out the following link for more information:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21628601

In the New Jersey area? Attend and OMEGAMON Open House...

If you are in the Jersey City, New Jersey area, you have a chance to attend an OMEGAMON open house event this week.  On Friday the 22nd, IBM will be holding an OMEGAMON open house event where you can take OMEGAMON on a test drive on live z/OS systems. 

This is a good chance to try out all the OMEGAMONs in a live running environment.  Try out OMEGAMON z/OS, CICS, DB2, IMS, Storage, Messaging, and Mainframe Networks.  They are all there and available for you to take on a spin.

If you are interested in attending, here is a link to sign up:
http://ibm.co/1cgsnif

PARMGEN - The time to start learning it is now....

Well, if you are used to the ICAT installation process, now is the time to come to grips with the reality that ICAT is going away and PARMGEN is the new OMEGAMON install process.  Why?  One of the important changes of OMEGAMON DB2 V5.20 is that PARMGEN is now the required configuration process.

So the moral of the story is:  PARMGEN, you can run, but you can't hide.  If you are an existing customer, now is the time to start learning more about PARMGEN and how to migrate to it.  The good news is if you have an ICAT install in place, you can migrate your settings and configuration to PARMGEN.  I will be posting more on the process in the coming weeks.

Learn about OMEGAMON and monitoring the DB2 Analytics Accelerator (IDAA)

Looking at IDAA technology?  Wondering how to monitor this technology?  In November there will be a webcast that will talk about IBM DB2 Analytics Accelerator (IDAA) and look at the performance analysis and management of this technology. 

"Monitoring techniques for the IBM DB2 Analytics Accelerator" will focus on this powerful new technology.  Topics covered will include how to:
- Understand appliance utilization
- Get immediate feedback on accelerated query performance
- View detailed performance measurements

The webcast is on November 12th, at 11 AM Eastern Time.  To attend, here is a link to sign up:
 http://ibm.co/1aqr8Qb

More on OMEGAMON DB2 V5.2

I posted last week that OMEGAMON DB2 V5.2 is now GA.  I listed a few of the enhancements made to V5.2.  I think one of the more interesting enhancements was the addition of deferred application trace support to the Classic 3270 interface. 

The deferred option of the Application Trace Facility (ATF) allows you to specify and define a trace to run at a later point in time.  This can be handy when trying to do things like capture detailed trace data off hours.  The deferred trace function allows you to specify a start date and time for the application trace.  The capability has been in the CUA interface for some time, but now this function has been moved to the native Classic 3270 interface.

Here's an example of the new trace specification panel:

OMEGAMON DB2 V5.2 is now GA!

It's always fun when you have a new version of OMEGAMON to talk about.  Now we have a new version of OMEGAMON DB2, OMEGAMON DB2 V5.2. 

OMEGAMON DB2 V5.2 comes with the usual list of enhancements and new capabilities you would come to expect with a new OMEGAMON.  Some of these new features include:
- Support for DB2 11
- Support for RID list enhancements
- Support for the deferred application trace feature moved from CUA
- Various enhancements to e3270UI
- Updated batch and real time support for IDAA
- Performance database improvements
- and much more.....

Here's a link to the announcement letter with more information:
http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/rep_ca/5/897/ENUS213-395/ENUS213-395.PD

OMEGAMON Storage V5.20 is available

In case you hadn't heard, OMEGAMON Storage V5.20 became available on September 14th.  OMEGAMON Storage V5.20 adds a few goodies to the feature/function mix including:

New monitoring capabilities for VSAM Record Level Sharing (RLS)
Monitoring of CA1 Tape Library management environments
Support for newer EMC storage hardware features
New visibility into storage control unit metrics
Exploitation of zIIP processors to reduce cost of monitoring

If you are serious about monitoring and managing your DASD farm, OMEGAMON Storage has a lot of good information, and enables you to monitor and manage in a real time manner. 

Here's a link for more information on OMEGAMON and other storage solutions:
http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?subtype=ca&infotype=an&appname=iSource&supplier=897&letternum=ENUS213-202#h2-abstrx

Upcoming webcast on DB2 11 for z/OS

On October 22nd there will be a webcast of DB2 11.   I know, it seems like we just got to DB2 10, and now it's time to talk DB2 11. 

"DB2 11 for z/OS! Even more cost savings, faster upgrades and enhanced analytics" looks like an interesting presentation that provides an overview of DB2 11 for z/OS features and how they enable simpler and faster upgrades, cut costs and improve overall performance.

The event will happen on October 22nd at 11 AM Eastern Time.  Here's a link to sign up:
http://ibm.co/1gW7CJu

Learn about Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager (aka TADDM)

Are you interested in learning a little more about Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager (TADDM)?  Perhaps you may not have heard of TADDM.  TADDM is a application discovery tool that will allow you to scan and learn quite a bit about your IT infrastructure.  TADDM can also highlight when something has changed in your environment. 

In November there will be an event that will allow you to take TADDM for a test drive on a live running z/OS environment. The event will be November 14th in you are in McLean, Virginia.  It's a great chance to try out the tool in a live running environment.

If you are interested in attending the hands-on lab,  you may contact Clyde Richardson (richarcl@us.ibm.com) or Dorian Thomas (drthomas@us.ibm.com) for more information and to sign up. 

TADDM is powerful technology, and I recommend you take a look at it.

More on backing up your Portal Server

I blogged last week on the importance of backing up your Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server.  I do think it's easy, especially in a z centric environment, to overlook the necessity of backing up this component. 

One reader mentioned that they use the migrate-export script provided by IBM to handle the backup of the TEPS database.  This is certainly a valid way to do it, and if you are unfamiliar with the process here is a link to the doc:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v15r1/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.itm.doc_6.1%2Fitm_admin_62137.htm

You have other options, as well.  Don't forget about the TACMD command that I've blogged about earlier.  The TACMD provides a mechanism to export things like workspaces to XML, and then importing these components. 

Some interesting upcoming webcast events

There are some interesting webcast events coming up in the next few weeks. 

First there is a new OMEGAMON  related event on October 24th, "Discovery, monitoring and automation for zEnterprise ensemble".   This presentation will cover zEnterprise application discovery with Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager (TADDM), end-to-end visibility with OMEGAMON and Tivoli monitoring, and end-to-end automation with the IBM System Automation family. 

The speaker is Aaron Young of IBM Corporation.  The event is October 24th at 11 AM Eastern time.  Here is a link to register:
http://ibm.co/14D3EmJ

There's another interesting z/OS related webcasts coming up on October 2nd.  "New technologies continue to exploit mainframes: With featured analyst Phil Murphy" .  In this presentation Phil Murphy, of Forrester Research, will discuss System z visibility, control and automation capabilities that enable mobile, big data and cloud to work within an enterprise mainframe environment.

The event is October 2nd at 11 AM Eastern time.
Here is a link to register:
http://bit.ly/19AYckC

Back up your Tivoli Portal

I've encountered a couple situations related to this recently.  The Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server requires a database to store screens and various other information for Portal usage.  In most shops the Tivoli Enterprise Portal Server  (the TEPS) is installed using DB2.  In DB2 there is a database called TEPS that contains this information. 

Like with any database, it is a good idea to have a process in place to back up the TEPS database.  What do you lose if you lose the TEPS database?  Well, you can lose your custom workspaces, along with a lot of other customized information and settings.  What happens if the server group decides to upgrade your TEPS server and does a complete re-install of DB2?  Depending upon how it's done if you don't have a good backup of your TEPS database you may lose valuable customization and information.

How can you backup the TEPS database?  There is a DB2 line command option to invoke the BACKUP command.  Here's a link to the documentation for the BACKUP command:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/db2luw/v9r7/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.db2.luw.admin.cmd.doc%2Fdoc%2Fr0001933.html

Note the database you would be backing up is called TEPS.

OMEGAMON and z/OS 2.1 currency support

Looking at going to z/OS 2.1?  When you are ready to make that move, you will want to review the maintenance requirements for OMEGAMON to support z/OS 2.1. 

Here's a link to the documentation for the support requirements for z/OS 2.1:
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21647512

OMEGAMON support for zAware

I've posted earlier about zAware, and the capabilities of zAware.  Just so you are all aware, OMEGAMON z/OS now provides support for zAware.  Here's an example:

Shared Memory Communication

Shared Memory Communication, SMC-R, is a new innovation on System z that improves performance for sharing data and reduces network overhead in data transmission. SMC-R introduces a new socket via RDMA communication protocol.  RDMA (Remote Direct Memory Access) is an industry standard that enables network adapters to transfer data using direct memory to memory communication, thereby eliminating networking stack overhead.

Workloads that are network intensive or transaction oriented will experience the greatest benefit.  For example, CICS to CICS workload using IPIC (IP interconnectivity) has seen up to 48% reduction in response time and 10% CPU savings in IBM benchmarks.  Other workloads that may benefit include WebSphere to DB2, WebSphere MQ for z/OS, or event FTP.

If you want more information, here's a link:
http://idcp.marist.edu/enterprisesystemseducation/95%20zTidBits%20SMC-R.pdf

Potential Java issues when accessing the Tivoli Enterprise Portal

Recently we have been seeing some customers having Java issues when attempting to access the Tivoli Enterprise Portal.  If the Java certificates are expired it may prevent them from being able to logon to the Tivoli Portal. 

This issue may become more critical when running Java 7.  The increased security in Java 7 may make it more difficult to bypass the issue. 

Here is an IBM Technote on how to get the certificates updated:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21269613

Also, be aware users may not see any symptoms of their expired certificates, if they have not cleared their java cache recently.  Here is a link to an IBM Technote on bypassing certificate expiration (if using Java prior to Java 7):
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21623865

More on automating workload using the Tivoli Portal

I've posted earlier on how we use the integrated automation capabilities of the Tivoli Enterprise Portal to automate and manage the z/OS demonstration workload for our OMEGAMON Proof of Technology events. 

The earlier posts showed examples of how you can use policy automation to start/stop other policies and situations.  Policies work well as a way to manage your monitoring infrastructure.  The next step in the process is understanding the situations that are used to drive the policies.

In the DB2 workload example we looked at earlier, you see references to several situations that are checking for DB2 workload tasks.   Here's an example of how you may set up the DB2 workload check.

The following situation is actually an OMEGAMON z/OS situation (even though it's checking for a DB2 job).  The situation uses the 'Missing' option.  In this example if the job is missing (i.e. not running on the system), then the situation is true and the policy will start a new job.  Note that the situation checks for the job on a 1 minute interval.  Also, be aware that when using the 'Missing' option you can specify a list of missing items.

In addition to my OMEGAMON Power User session there were some other very good OMEGAMON related sessions as Share in Boston.

Here are some links:

What’s New with System z Monitoring with OMEGAMON
https://share.confex.com/share/121/webprogram/Session14073.html

Omegamon XE for Storage - Hints and Tips to Improve Performance and Usage
https://share.confex.com/share/121/webprogram/Session14121.html






 OMEGAMON XE for Storage
https://share.confex.com/share/121/webprogram/Session14163.html




What's New(er) for z/OS Network Performance Monitoring with OMEGAMON
https://share.confex.com/share/121/webprogram/Session13295.html

My OMEGAMON Presentation at Share in Boston

Last week I did a new presentation on how to become an OMEGAMON Power User.  This presentation showed examples of classic interface customization, e3270ui customization, and Tivoli portal features, such as situations and policies.

Here's a link to my presentation material:
https://share.confex.com/share/121/webprogram/Session14056.html

Share in Boston

Well, its the week of Share in Boston.  As always, Share has a lot of great technology and hands-on sessions.  I always find Share to be the most informative event I attend.

One of the big themes for this particular Share meeting is z/OS 2.1.  A lot of update and overview sessions discussing what new and what's coming with 2.1.

Here's a link to a good overview of what's in z/OS 2.1:
https://share.confex.com/share/121/webprogram/Session13581.html

Automating workload using the Tivoli Portal

I posted yesterday an example of how you can use policies to manage other policies and situations.  That is one of the most common and useful uses for the policy automation feature of the Tivoli Portal.  Let's look in more detail at how the the OMEGAMON Proof of Technology workload using OMEGAMON and the Portal.

In the prior post we were looking at the main workload control policy that started all the underlying workload management policies.  The following is one of the underlying policies, in this example to manage the DB2 workload.  This DB2 workload policy will be started when the main workload control policy is started.

In this policy we see that there is first a situation check to see if DB2 workload is not running.  If true, then the policy will issue situation checks for specific jobs.  Each situation will use a 'not found' check for a specific job.  If true, the situations will issue a console command to start the job.

Using Tivoli Enterprise Portal policy automation

One of the powerful aspects of the Tivoli Portal (TEP) is how automation capabilities integrate very directly within the TEP.  Integrated automation can take several forms:  System Automation (SA) integration within the portal, automated command capabilities of TEP situations, and automated command capabilities of policies.

I've blogged in the past on certain aspects of policies and policy automation within the TEP.  Policies are one of the more overlooked and underutilized features of  the TEP.  You can do a lot with policies to issue console commands, to start/stop situations, and to start/stop other policies.

One point of emphasis with the OMEGAMON Proof of Technology events we have been holding all around the US has been to use the OMEGAMON infrastructure to manage the infrastructure.  This means that we have made it a point to automate the sample workloads of the OMEGAMON Proof of Technology using OMEGAMON. 

Here's an example of how we launch the OMEGFAMON sample workload using a policy.  In the example we do several things: we launch other workload driver policies, we start situations to check for missing work, and we also set a timer so that the work stops after a specified time interval.  All using visual click and drag GUI technology (no REXX coding needed).

What was added with OMEGAMON V5.1.1

So you've heard about OMEGAMON V5.1.1.  What was added?  Some very useful capabilities were added in general with V5.1.1, including hub management improvements,  profile management in the e3270ui improvements, and threshold management in the e3270ui improvements.

Here's a link for more information on what's in V5.1.1:
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/5e65990a-9690-42e2-93b1-c2267be7620c/entry/super_charge_your_tivoli_omegamon_manager_now?lang=en

Attend a webcast on the latest capabilities of OMEGAMON V5.1

On August 29th there will be a complimentary webcast that will cover the latest updates on what is new with OMEGAMON V5.1. 

The webcast will cover new features and functionality in the OMEGAMON family to support increased demands around mobile, cloud and big data.  The speaker is Rich Edwards, Program Director, Cloud and Smarter Infrastructure Product Management, IBM Software Group.

The webcast will happen at 11 AM Eastern Time on August 29th.  

Here's a link to register:
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/os/systemz/webcast/aug29/

In case you missed the July 23rd announcements

If you missed the announcements last week, on July 23rd IBM announced a new zEnterprise server, the BC12. Here's a link to the announcement:

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/41529.wss?cmp=ibmsocial&ct=stg&cr=systemz&csr=tipsheet&cm=h&ccy=us&S_TACT=101AS12W

Some items to note from the announcement:

"The new zBC12 provides clients with superior levels of performance, flexibility and scale. Compared to its predecessor the z114, it boasts a faster processor at 4.2 GHz and two times the available memory; and, it allows clients to grow into their system with a pay-as-you-grow approach."


New innovations for the latest zBC12 and zEC12

"New hardware functions provide CPU and storage savings by compressing data on the server.  For example, there is a new high speed, low latency I/O connection for enabling up to an 80 percent reduction in network latency.  Also, with z/OS 2.1, IBM delivers not only performance and scale but simplified management with z/OSMF. There is also a new 2:1 ratio for zIIP and zAAP special purpose engines for improved workload economics. And with z/VM 6.3, clients can now consolidate up to 520 virtual servers in a single footprint with the increase in real memory and the new HiperDispatch function."

Oh, and also,

"For cloud, IBM enhanced the IBM OMEGAMON for z/OS family to detect performance problems in the cloud and minimize impact to the business and increase analytics visibility. "

Some interesting stuff, eh?

Attend a webcast on some exciting new zEnterprise announcements

On July 23rd there will be some very interesting new announcements on zEnterprise.  You are invited to attend the event, 'zEnterprise: The Best Gets Better'.  This is a virtual event that will cover such topics as:

• Energize your enterprise applications to foster growth
• Save money by consolidating workloads and exploiting the cloud
• Improve security on the industry's most trusted and resilient
  infrastructure
• Improve performance, flexibility and scale    

 Here is a link to register to attend:
 https://engage.vevent.com/index.jsp?eid=556&seid=53290

OMEGAMON V5.1.1 Announcement

IBM has just announced the following: 

 Tivoli OMEGAMON XE on z/OS V5.1.1
 Tivoli OMEGAMON XE for Mainframe Networks on z/OS V5.1.1
 Tivoli OMEGAMON Management Suite on z/OS V5.1.1
 Tivoli OMEGAMON XE on z/VM and Linux V4.3

The OMEGAMON Management Suite is an integration of OMEGAMON OMEGAMON z/OS, Mainframe Networks, and OMEGAMON Storage.

The announced date for OMEGAMON z/OS V5.1.1, OMEGAMON Mainframe Networks V5.1.1, and OMEGAMON z/VM and Linux is July 26, 2013.  The announced date for the Management Suite is September 6, 2013.

Here is a link to the announcement:
  http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=AN&subtype=CA&htmlfid=897/ENUS213-273&appname=USN#toc

 

Here's a new link to the ITM V6 Newsletter

ITM V6 is commonly used to refer Tivoli distributed platform monitoring.  If you are an OMEGAMON user on z/OS you may still have an interest in ITM V6 since, of course,  the Tivoli Portal component of OMEGAMON uses theTivoli Portal infrastructure in common with distributed monitoring. 

Te following newsletter is primarily focused on distributed monitoring, but there is information relevant to OMEGAMON agents running on z/OS.

Here's a link to the newsletter:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27019389&lnk=uctug_tivoli_nwsltr_ITMV6

Considerations when using SORTCOLS in e3270ui

On an earlier post I demonstrated an example of how you can add sort capability to a column on an e3270ui panel using the SORTCOLS statement. 

http://tivoliwithaz.blogspot.com/2013/04/adding-more-sort-columns-to-e3270ui.html

This can be nice to add when you need a specific sort sequence on a display, but the panel did not provide a sort option for that particular field out of the box.

There are a couple things to be aware when adding columns to SORTCOLS.  First you can have a maximum of 15 columns on the SORTCOLS statement.  If you add more than 15 columns, you will not necessarily see an obvious eyecatcher or message.

Another thing to be aware of is that when adding a column to SORTCOLS, the e3270ui interface will keep information sorted within the e3270ui address space (commonly called the TOM).  This may be a concern when displaying a table with a large number of rows of information.  So be advised.  SORTCOLS is useful, but be aware of how much data you may be sorting.

Attend a live Q & A session with the OMEGAMON Enhanced 3270UI architect

Coming up in July will be a pair of live Q & A sessions with Michael Crump of IBM on the Enhanced 3270UI.  This is a good chance to talk to OMEGAMON R&D about Enhanced 3270UI and the future of OMEGAMON in general.

The events will be on July 24th at 2 PM Eastern Time, and July 25th at 10 AM Eastern Time.

If you are interested in attending, please email me (Ed Woods of IBM) at    woodse@us.ibm.com   to get signed up.  Please tell me who you are, what is your company or organization, and if you are a current OMEGAMON customer. 

Check out a webcast on integrating OMEGAMON and System Automation

On July 18th there will be a webcast, "Improve availability and productivity with proactive automation". 

The webcast will discuss how using OMEGAMON to improve zEnterprise monitoring – interfaced with System Automation for z/OS – can increase availability as well as decrease unnecessary operations workload. Proactive automation enables correlation of problems across applications and drives automated problem resolution without manual overhead.

I've blogged quite a bit in the past about how you can integrate OMEGAMON and SA.  This is another chance to learn about the benefits of merging these technologies.

The event is July 18th at 11 AM Eastern Time.  The price is right, it's free.

Here's a link to attend:
https://ibmsystemsmag.webex.com/mw0307l/mywebex/default.do?nomenu=true&siteurl=ibmsystemsmag&service=6&rnd=0.4258345698996625&main_url=https%3A%2F%2Fibmsystemsmag.webex.com%2Fec0606l%2Feventcenter%2Fevent%2FeventAction.do%3FtheAction%3Ddetail%26confViewID%3D1251529409%26%26%26%26siteurl%3Dibmsystemsmag

Using STATICCOLS to control scrolling in enhanced 3270ui

One feature of the enhanced 3270 ui is the ability to scroll a display or subpanel from side to side.  How often you may need to scroll will depend on such things as the amount of data to view and how many lines and columns you defined when you set up your 3270 emulator session.

When you scroll you can have certain information on the left portion of the display stay in view.  This makes it easier to keep information in context as you scroll.  You can control how many columns will remain as static and stay in the display.  The STATICCOLS parameter controls how many columns will stay in view on the screen. 

Below is an example of the STATICCOLS parameter as used in and OMEGAMON IMS display.  You can see in the example below the position of the static column (after IMS Region Name).  This is set by setting STATICCOLS to 1.  If you wanted to keep more information on the left of the screen static (such as IMS ID and Region Type) the set STATICCOLS to 2 or 3.

Analyzing a Tivoli Data Warehouse collection issue

This scenario is an example of a discussion I had recently with an OMEGAMON user.  The user wanted to be able to analyze issues in the Tivoli Portal (TEP) using history data from the Tivoli Data Warehouse (TDW). 

Fair enough.  At first glance it looked like the history data was configured.  However, when the user tried to access the history data, no information was being returned. 

Here's an example of what we were looking at in the the history collection popup.  In this example the user wants to see IMS bottleneck history.  When you look at the bottleneck line it looks like there is information specified in there for TDW summarization and retention.  If you look to the left it looks like there is an entry for IMS bottlenecks.  So why no data?

If you look more closely at the above example you will see that next to the DBCTL history entry you see a "running man" icon.  However, there is no running man icon next to IMS bottlenecks.  What this means is that history collection is not really running for bottlenecks.  If you look closely at IMS Bottlenecks on the left portion of the popup you see that the icon is grey (as opposed to green).  If the icon is grey that means it has not been distributed to a managed system (meaning an agent or IMS system) for collection.  Therefore collection is not occurring.

When you have a problem with TDW it pays to take a closer look at these type of options.

OMEGAMON DB2 support for IBM DB2 Analytics Accelerator

The IBM DB2 Analytics Accelerator (IDAA) is a workload optimized applicance that enables support for mixed workload performance for complex analytic needs. IDAA runs complex queries up to 2000x faster while retaining single record lookup speed and eliminates costly query tuning while offloading query processing.

As an appliance IDAA runs in physical componentry outside of native z/OS, but is tightly integrated within the zEnterprise hardware footprint.  OMEGAMON DB2 has offered support for some time in the form of batch report breakouts that show time in the IDAA.  Now you also have the ability to see IDAA time breakouts real time in the OMEGAMON DB2 classic interface. 

Here's an example:

Check out the IBM zEnterprise virtual summit

Coming up later this month there will be a virtual summit on IBM zEnterprise technology.  This is a virtual event, and you can attend any one of several technical tracks:  The tracks are as follows:

Track 1: The New zEnterprise – A Cost-Busting Platform
Track 2: DB2 10 for z/OS: Performance and Optimization Best Practices
Track 3: IMS: The Revolution/Evolution Continues 
Track 4: Smarter Computing to Accelerate Agile, Mobile and Cloud Application Delivery
Track 5: Cost-Efficiencies of a Modern Application Infrastructure
Track 6: Data Center Operations and Systems Management Update

This virtual event happens on June 27th.

If are interested in attending, here is a link:
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/os/systemz/virtual/summit/index.html?code=com

An interesting white paper on the role of System z in cloud

I recently read an interesting white paper by Forrester Research about the role of System z in cloud computing.  "The Role Of Mainframes In Cloud: To Meet The Full Range Of Reliability And Security Needs" covers quite a bit about what many enterprises are looking at as they start to invest more heavily in cloud technology.  The article is the output of a survey of 200 decision makers in larger IT organizations.



The core message?  As organizations move to more robust cloud deployments, this infrastructure will be geared to more mission critical applications.  These requirements cannot be met by basic commodity infrastructure.  Forrester sees a move in this area to "hybrid infrastructures" to provide the needed reliability, security, and scalability.   The underlying message is that System z fits very nicely within this paradigm.  After all, when you think reliability, security, and scalability, you have to think of System z.   To read the article, go to the following link: http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/z/solutions/cloud/   When you get to the page, scroll down and you will see a link for the Forrester article.

Attend one of the upcoming System z technical summits

In June IBM will be holding two System z technical summits, one in San Francisco on June 12th, and another in Chicago on June 18th. 

The System z technical summits will have multiple technical tracks, and will cover a wide range of topics inclduing the following:

Updating application infrastructures to expose business logic

Running business analytics on System z for faster access to transactional data

Low-cost provisioning of the secure private cloud

Dramatic performance and CPU improvements in the newest DB2 technology

Extending the reach of IMS™ assets by enabling new web services

Gaining capacity through the scalability enhancements of CICS

Reducing complexity in the data center while enabling multi-platform development

There will be a wide variety of speakers from IBM.  If you are interested in System z, then this is probably an event you will be interested in.

To attend either the San Francisco or Chicago event, here is a link to sign up:

http://www-01.ibm.com/software/os/systemz/summit/index.html

OMEGAMON Security considerations for ITM 6.3

IBM Tivoli Monitoring (ITM) 6.3 has been available for a while now.   (If you are interested in what is available with ITM 6.3, here is a link  http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v61r1/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.itm.doc_6.3%2Fic%2Fitmic_newversion63.htm).

From a pure OMEGAMON and z/OS perspective, ITM 6.3 may not offer that much in terms of new function.  One area of impact is in the area of Tivoli Enterprise Portal (TEP) security.  With ITM 6.3 automation commands, such as Take Action, situation-driven reflex actions, tacmd executeCommand, and Policy Workflow commands, may operate in a more secure manner.  ITM 6.3 offers the ability do such things as capture detailed audit information about every ITM command request, and to reject any command that comes from an untrusted source. This is important to be aware of, in particular if you are using commands embedded in situations or doing anything of significance with Take Action in the TEP.

If you want a more thorough understanding of the new security considerations, here's a link to a good write-up that covers it in detail:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27038508&myns=swgtiv&mynp=OCSSZ8F3&mync=R

A new fix for the Service Level Analysis (SLA) feature of OMEGAMON CICS

Service Level Analysis (SLA) is a nice feature of OMEGAMON CICS that breaks down and analyzes CICS workload, and shows % wait type information for that workload.  Looking at SLA can give you insight into where CICS workload bottlenecks may exist. 

Here's an example of OMEGAMON CICS SLA information.  In the example you see a variety of wait %s, including wait for using CPU, wait for DB2 and DL/I databases, wait for MRO, transient data temp storage I/O, and more.

As the panel header implies, OMEGAMON CICS SLA is gathered at the CICSplex level.  But, what if you want to collect information for some CICS regions in the CICSplex and not for others?  An OMEGAMON CICS collector task may collect information for many CICS regions on a given LPAR.

You can look at OA42104 to see that there is now a fix to provide that granularity and control. You can now collect SLA  information only for the regions you are interested in.  Here's a link for more information:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg1OA42104&myns=swgtiv&mynp=OCSSLSDR&mync=R#more

A interesting technote on RMF and OMEGAMON Storage

I was just perusing through some technical notes and ran into a brief writeup on OMEGAMON Storage and its interplay with RMF.  The bottom line is OMEGAMON Storage collects its device information from RMF (among other places).  As part of the collection setup you may specify a collection interval which can control how often information is gathered and potentially stored by the tool. 

One of the options for the collection interval is RMF, whch means the tool will collect by default on the same interval as RMF.  If your RMF interval is something like 15 minutes (common in many shops), then this will usually work fine.  However, if you you have a smaller RMF interval, then you may want to apply some more thought to the collection interval.  Collecting on a narrower interval, and therefore more frequently may result in more collection overhead.

Here's a link to the note:
 http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21636603&myns=swgtiv&mynp=OCSS2JFP&mync=R

More on adding navigation options in e3270ui user interface

I showed you in a prior post how to add drill down navigation to a field or a set of fields on an e3270ui panel.  Now the next step is what if you want to add more options to a navigation popup on a panel?  Well, that's easy to modify too. 

In the panel code, when you have a popup defined you will see lines that show ACTION=  and then will reference the panel to navigate to.  You want to add an additional destination in the popup?  Just add another ACTION= option.  A popup can have up to 16 action options. 

Below is an example of a panel that has been customized to add some additional ACTION= options.

In the example you see the KEYCOLS statement, and then after that you see the ACTION= statement.  Each ACTION= shows the character you would use to select, the text that appears in the popup and the destination panel.  The ACTION= that are highlighted with arrows are the ones that have been added to the panel.

With the addtion of the additional ACTION= statements the panel changes as below.


The net is that by adding a statement you can easily add more navigation options.  In the example there have been several options added to the popup.

Upcoming webcast on System z storage management

On May 16th there will be a webcast on System z storage management.  Kevin Hosozawa of IBM will be talking about "Enhanced System z Storage Management with improved visibility and reporting".

Topics discussed in the presentation will include the following:

- Protect data for integrated catalog facility (ICF) catalogs

- Prevent and recover from costly space-related abends
- Audit and automatically correct errors in the DFSMS environment
- Improve efficiency and reduce the cost of the DFSMS hierarchical storage management (HSM) environment

The webcast will happen tomorrow, May 16th, at 11 AM Eastern Time.  If you are interested in attending, here's a link to register:
http://ibm.co/ZzZjR4

Adding navigation to your e3270ui panels

A major advantage of the new e3270ui is ease of use and flexibility of navigation.  The e3270ui is, in essence, a 3270 based portal for performance management information.  It can be very easy to navigate from place to place once logged on to the e3270ui. 

What's also compelling is that you can easily incorporate this navigation into your panels with some very minimal changes.  So you don't like how you have to drill down through a series of popups or panels to get to a certain level of detail?  No problem.  Just add zoom column support where you need it and you are done.  The ZOOMCOLS function is nice because it's easy to add to an existing panel and can be just a one line change to add what you need.

Let's look at an example of ZOOMCOLS and how it functions.  Below we see the default KIPHLTI OMEGAMON IMS System Health panel.  This is a nice little overview panel that shows some key IMS status metrics such as queueing, CPU usage, paging, etc. 

From here it would be nice to add zoom support so that you can zoom in directly for more detail without having to navigate through multiple popups and panels.  Instead you could just position your cursor on the number of interest and press enter.

Here's how you can add the ZOOMCOLS parm to the panel code to add the navigation.

In the above example I've made a copy of the KIPHLTI panel member and edited it in hilev.UKANWENU.  If you look for the DISPLAYCOLS statement, that statement lists what information appears on the panel.  After all the DISPLAYCOLS are listed, you can add the ZOOMCOLS parameter.  In the ZOOMCOLS parameter you list the column name, and then specify the zoom destination panel.  Note in the example, you can have different zoom destination panels for different columns.

Now you get navigation such as below, simply by adding the one ZOOMCOLS parameter to the panel.  Note how when ZOOMCOLS is added the numbers in the column appear as white versus light blue.  You position the cursor on the number and press enter to zoom.

A very interesting technote on the optimal sizing of OMEGAMON IMS JLF

The OMEGAMON IMS Journal Logging Facility (JLF) is an important component of OMEGAMON IMS.  The purpose of JLF is to be a high performance capture facility for the collection of history/trace data.  Since an IMS subsystem may have quite a bit of activity, there may be quite a bit of data to capture. 

There are options and cosndierations when setting up JLF.  This technote explains in some detail these considerations:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21633830&myns=swgtiv&mynp=OCSSXS8U&mync=R

Adding more sort columns to an e3270ui screen

So you have an OMEGAMON e3270ui screen that lists a lot of information, but you would like to add some additional sort eligible columns.  Adding the sort option to a column is easy.  Let's look at an example.

In the example below we show the OMEGAMON DB2 buffer pool overview panel, KDPBPOOL.  In the orginal panel you see several columns that are already sort eligible.  What we would like to do is make the Pages In Use column also sort eligible. 

To test out the edits, I again will make a copy of the panel and place it in the UKANWENU library.  What I am looking for is a panel, in this example ZDB2BP,  that has added sort for the Pages In use column.

Below is an example of the ISPF edit required.  The column we are interested in is the BPM_TCBA column.  You can verify that by looking at the DISPLAYCOLS statement to see what column names are being shown.

You then add BPM_TCBA to the SORTCOLS command.  Save the panel and you are done.  Again, as with the prior posts I've shown, I always recommend that modified panels go to the UKANWENU library.  Do not modify the contents of the product provided RKANWENU library.  To invoke the test panel, enter  =ZDB2BP on teh command line and press enter.

An interesting article on the future of the mainframe

Despite many predictions to the contrary over the years, the mainframe continues to be the workhorse platform for businesses and institutions.  There's an interesting article in Enterprise Systems Media that discusses the topic.  "Proof That the Mainframe is Thriving in the Modern Age" talks about how mainframe technology continues to be a strategic investment. 

It's an interesting read.  Here's a link to the article:
http://enterprisesystemsmedia.com/article/proof-that-the-mainframe-is-thriving-in-the-modern-it-age?utm_source=spotlights&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_content=IT+Mgmt+Spot+-+art&utm_campaign=p0f5q

A customization example - changing the order of the columns on a e3270ui panel

One of the nice things about the e3270ui is you have the ability to easily change and customize the layout of the monitoring displays.  The panels are members in the hilev.RKANWENU library.  To change a panel you can make your edits and save the new panel in the hilev.UKANWENU user panel library.  You can also build new panels and store them in the UKANWENU panel library.

Let's look at an OMEGAMON DB2 example.  In the OMEGAMON DB2 thread display (KIPTHRD) you have quite a few columns of information to review.  Perhaps, in your environment, columns such as Authid and Corrid may not be as useful to view as Workstation Id.  In the example below you have to scroll to the right to find the Workstation Id.

So, Workstation Id is on the panel, but perhaps you would like to see it without having to scroll the panel to the side.  You can accomplish this with a straightforward edit ot the panel source.

Below we see the source code of the panel definition.  Look for the DISPLAYCOLS command, and below that you will see the sequence in which the columns are displayed on the panel.  The column we are looking to move is TDIDWKID.  Use a standard ISPF edit command to move the column reference up in the panel code, as you see in the example below.

Once you make the change, save and exit the panel edit session, and you can invoke the panel.  Note that in the above example that rather than change the product provided panel , KIPTHRD, we made a new panel for testing purposes, ZDB2THRD.  Please note, only make your changes and new panel creations in the UKANWENU library.  Please refrain from changing the product provided RKANWENU library.  To invoke the new panel, go to the original KIPTHRD panel, and then issue the following command on the command line,  =ZDB2THRD.

Here you have the new panel complete with Workstation Id now appearing towards the front.  That's all there is to it.

Building your own enhanced 3270 interface panels

Yes.  You can build your own enhanced 3270 interface panels.  It's actually fairly easy once you've done it once or twice and get the hang of it. 

There are a few tricks of the trade to get it done.  The first thing you will want to get your hands on is the "Enhanced 3270 Interface Guide"  (SC22-5426-00).  This manual contains a lot of the information you need to build and customize your own panels.  Here's a link to the manual:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v15r1/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.omegamon_share.doc_623fp1%2Fsource%2Fe3270%2Fe3270_interface.htm

The interface guide documents all the keywords, and shows you many examples of how the panels are coded.

The nice thing is that the panels are just members in a PDS.  When you create a new panel, or modify a product provided panel, put the new or updated panel in the   -hilev-.UKANWENU library.  Don't modify the   -hilev-.RKANWENU  members directly.  Make a copy and put them in   -hilev-.UKANWENU. 

Testing a new panel is easy.  Just enter  =panelname  (keeping in mind these are PDS members) on the command line and hit enter and your new panel should come up.

I'm working on some new panel ideas.  And I will be blogging on my results.

Upcoming webcast presentation on System z storage tools

Coming up in May Kevin Hosozawa of IBM will be doing a webcast presentation on  "Enhanced System z Storage Management with improved visibility and reporting".  This presentation will cover how IBM is continuing to enhance the Tivoli System z Storage Management  suite of capabilities to provide new functionality and capabilities in the z/OS Storage Management suite. The new enhancements to existing products provide numerous hard- and soft-cost benefits for IT. The alerting and integration capabilities are powerful and best-in-class and they help to maximize efficiency and effectiveness.

The presentation is on May 16th at 11 AM ET.  The price for the webcast is right.  No charge.  To attend here is a link:
http://ibm.co/ZzZjR4

System z and security

You may have seen the stories in the news about cyber attacks on various companies, including large financial institutions in the US.  Even while this has been going on, one thing that is worth noting is what seems to be the inherent security of System z. 

If you have an interest in System z and security, here is a couple link worth taking a look at:
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/os/systemz/security/

And here's a link for Tivoli z security solutions:
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/tivoli/products/zsecure/

A useful link on OMEGAMON maintenance and configuration

Here's a useful link that provides good information on OMEGAMON maintenance and configuration.   there are links from this URL to information on Parmgen, on configuring OMEGAMON enhanced 3270 ui, recommended maintenance, PSP information and more.

Here's the URL:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21626495&myns=swgtiv&mynp=OCSSQH9J&mynp=OCSSRLD6&mynp=OCSSZ8F3&mynp=OCSSXS8U&mynp=OCSS2JNN&mynp=OCSS2JFP&mynp=OCSS2JL7&mynp=OCSSLSDR&mync=R

Can you see open situations in the Enhanced 3270?

Can you see open situations in the Enhanced 3270?  The answer is yes if you have PTF UA67643 applied.  Among other things UA67643 adds a new KOBSITEC panel to the enhanced 3270.  Once the maintenance is applied, the easiest way to find the panel is to  type in =KOBSITEC on the command line and press enter. 

Here's an example of what KOBSITEC looks like.

What this means is you can now create situations in the Tivoli Portal, and these alerts will be visible in the 3270 interface. 

Interesting upcoming webcast on DB2 stored procedure analysis

The analysis of DB2 stored procedure performance can get tricky.  You can have a stored procedure that calls another stored procedure and on it goes.  How do you determine exactly what these routines are doing?

The upcoming webcast, "Expert stored procedure monitoring, analysis and tuning on System z" goes into the new stored procedure monitoring and analysis capabilities of OMEGAMON XE For DB2 Performance Expert (note you need to have Performance Expert for this support). 

The webcast will cover:
- Identifying and exposing the mystery behind slow performing stored procedures


- Drilling down to explore every facet of a stored procedure’s performance breakdown

- Identifying SQL performance problems quickly throughout layers of complex applications

- Grouping SQL statements into workloads to compare and track performance improvements

It sounds like an intereesting topic that covers a very powerful new OMEGAMON feature.

The speaker is Charles Lewis, DB2 Advisor and Senior Certified System z Software Technical Professional, IBM.  The event is April 23, 2013 at 11:00 a.m. EDT. 

To attend, here's the URL:
http://ibm.co/ZDXJc5

Check out SMCONNECT

SMCONNECT is very nice blog site for those interested in Service Management.  There's a lot of information and a lot of links to a variety of blogs and wikis.  Here's what SMCONNECT looks like:

To see information related to System z,  just click on the System z link I've highlighted above. From there you will find a lot of information on OMEGAMON,  NetView, automation,  you name it.

Here's the URL:
http://www.smconnect.net/

A useful OMEGAMON DB2 link

OMEGAMON XE For DB2 PM/PE inlcudes a variety of user interfaces.  You have Classic 3270 and the new enhanced 3270 ui, along with ISPF interface.  On the GUI front you have support for the Tivoli Enterprise Portal and also what is commonly called the PE GUI. 

The PE GUI provides a nice GUI interface that offers some very detailed information on the DB2 susbystem, threads, real time and history.  The snapshot history mechanism in the PE GUI is very powerful and is unique to the PE GUI.  Note that whether or not you have PM or PE, you still can use the PE GUI.


A handy way to get the latest version of the PE GUI, here is a link to download the GUI: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=434&uid=swg27013147#OMPEClient-lib

An interesting business partner solution

While at the Pulse event last week I talked to a variety of IBM Tivoli business partners.  One in particular that I found interesting was a vendor called Derdack.  Derdack provides a variety of solutions around the name Enterprise Alert.  If you go this link at their website,  http://www.derdack.com/en/solutions/reliable-mobile-notifications-for-ibm-tivoli/  you will find information on their solution that integrates with IBM Tivoli monitoring. 

What I find interesting with their solution is that it adds some interesting alert management capabilities to ITM that ITM does not provide on its own.  Among these features include multiple formats of notification (voice with text-to-speech, SMS text, instant messaging, e-mail, fax, smartphone push), real-time tracking of notification delivery,  automated escalation chains, smartphone apps for remote incident management, and intelligent notification workflows. 

These all seem like very useful extensions to the monitoring and notification capabilities of base ITM.  While I have not used this solution personally, it looks like very good technology.

About Pulse 2013 - get ready for SmartCloud

Well, Pulse 2013 had come and gone. If you went to the keynotes and various technical sessions, one message is clear.  Cloud is coming so get ready.  For a long time it has seemed as if cloud has been a murky all thigns to all people concept. 

But now you can see solutions and strategies around cloud really starting to emerge.  One keynote I attended cited a number that 50% of IT budgets in the next two years will be devoted to cloud based technology.  If at all accurate that is an amazing number.

With IBM Tivoli that means get ready for SmarCloud.  In the next few months you will be seeing SmartCloud all over the place. 

Tivoli Pulse conference next week

If you happen to be in Las Vegas next week, the IBM Pulse conference will be taking place.  Pulse is IBM's annual all things Tivoli event.  There are quite a few sessions with z/OS specific content at Pulse.  Here's a list of the z-relevant sessions:

• Analyst Insight: Importance of Service Management in integrating Mainframe into Cloud
• System z Meet the Experts
• The Power of Automation
• Trends in System Automation on z for the Smaller Enterprise
• Unlocking the power of System Automation 3.4
• System and Batch automation integration
• IBM & ISO Collaboration to Reduce TCO of Tivoli Suite of Products
• Automating your IMSplex with System Automation for z/OS
• The magic of Tivoli System Automation
• Approaches to enterprise-wide monitoring and problem solving on z
• Integrating Operational Tools Through NetView on z/OS
• OMEGAMON XE what's new with z Monitoring
• Integrating monitors and automation
• Anatomy of a Disaster Averted: How Poland's Ministry of Justice Protected Its Registries
• Customer migration experience from BMC IMF to Omegamon for IMS and System Automation on zOS
• The OMEGAMON Mashup
• Monitoring And Controlling Virtual Tape Units In A GDPS Environment
• PARMGEN Configuration Method with OMEGAMON XE Migration from 4.2 to 5.1 User's Experience
• zBx Automation with System Automation Application Manager
• Integrated z/OS Storage Management - Providing a more efficient solution.
• Customer panel discussion discussing value in System Automation for z/OS
• Customer panel discussion discussing value in OMEGAMON v 5.1
• IBM zEnterprise Automation & Availability
• What's New in GDPS V3.10
• Integrating automation between batch and transmissions
• Building a Private Cloud on zEnterprise with Tivoli
• How TCS integrated SA for z/OS health statuses into their operations console.
• Applications modernization with improved visibility and control using TADz and CICS-IA: a customer story

I will be at the booth for the trade show.  If you are attending Pulse, feel free to stop by.

To attend Pulse, here's a link:

https://www-950.ibm.com/events/wwe/pulse/pulse13reg.nsf/enrollcodes?OpenForm

How region occupancy is calculated by OMEGAMON IMS

Region occupancy in OMEGAMON IMS is a useful measure of how busy the various message regions are in an IMS subsytsem.  The higher the percentage, the busier the message regions are.  Region occupancy can be a good indication as to when it may be time to adjust IMS message regions or add new regions.

Region occupancy is calculated by OMEGAMON IMS as part of the various region displays (for example as a minor of the RGND command in classic interface).  However, it takes some time to be able to calculate region occupancy.  Until the monitor has had enough samples to do the math, the display will just show -init-  versus an actual value. 

What is the formula?  How exactly is it calculated?  This technote will shed a little more light on the process.  Here's a link:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21625498&myns=swgtiv&mynp=OCSSXS8U&mync=R

A couple more informative Share presentations

There were a couple other presentations I attended at Share in San Francisco that I found quite informative. 

One of them was "Managing the Mainframe from an end to end perspective".  This was done by Mike Bonett of IBM.  As with all of Mike's presentations, this one was interesting and had a lot of good content.  Here's a link:
https://share.confex.com/share/120/webprogram/Session12901.html

The other was "Diagnosing Sysplex Problems".  This was a  very interesting presentation with a lot of content and detail.  Lot of ground covered in just one hour.  Here's a link:
https://share.confex.com/share/120/webprogram/Session13042.html

Running historical reports with OMEGAMON CICS

You may or may not have noticed, but OMEGAMON CICS V5.1 no longer comes with historical reporting.  You have the CICS task history (ONDV) feature, but that is for looking at near term task history interactively within the 3270 interface of the tool.  However, if you want to run performance reports, that's a different requirement.   Long term, the direction is to get CICS Performance Analyzer (CICS PA).  CICS PA has a myriad of reporting options. 

But, if you still want to run the old OMEGAMON reporter, there is still a way.  This technote shows a couple different ways to run the old reporter.  You can still download the old code, or if you happen to still have the old V4.20 libraries around (specifically the TKANMOD) then so much the better.

Here's a link to the technote:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21622777&myns=swgtiv&mynp=OCSSLSDR&mync=R

OMEGAMON relevant sessions at Share

Here's links to the OMEGAMON relevant sessions at Share (including my sessions)

DB2 Performance Tuning Using Omegamon DB2 Performance Expert - Use Case Examples and Practical Applications
https://share.confex.com/share/120/webprogram/Session12693.html  

Understanding The Impact Of The Network On z/OS Performance (one of my presentations)   https://share.confex.com/share/120/webprogram/Session12780.html  

Automated Performance Management Using IBM Tivoli: Techniques And Best Practices ( a new presentation I created for this Share event)
 https://share.confex.com/share/120/webprogram/Session12880.html  

What's New for z/OS Network Performance Monitoring with OMEGAMON
https://share.confex.com/share/120/webprogram/Session12779.html

Using NetView for z/OS for Enterprise-Wide Event Management and Automation
https://share.confex.com/share/120/webprogram/Session12781.html

More Share presentations

There were quite a few good presentations at Share this week.  Lot's of updates on things like z/OS 2.1, CICS TS V5.1 and IMS V13, to name a few. 

If you are interested in an update on what's in CICS TS V5.1 here's a good overview:
https://share.confex.com/share/120/webprogram/Session12414.html

If you are interested in IMS V13 here's a good overview:
https://share.confex.com/share/120/webprogram/Session12550.html

What is zAware?

At Share this week I learned about a new IBM offering called zAware.  zAware is an interesting piece of technology that looks at the z/OS console logs over time, parses and analyzes the logs, and looks for anomolies in z/OS log information over time.  zAware provides a web interface to view the informaiton, the trends, and the anomolies. 

There were a couple interesting presentations on zAware.  The fisrt presentation is "IBM zAware - Using Analytics to Improve System z Availability".     Here's a link:
https://share.confex.com/share/120/webprogram/Session13063.html

The next presentation is "Improve Service Levels with Enhanced Data Analysis".  This presentation also mentions how Tivoli is looking at expoliting zAware in the future.  Here's the link:
https://share.confex.com/share/120/webprogram/Session12791.html

Share in San Francisco

Well, it's Share week in San Francisco.  As always, Share has an excellent mix of z/OS and z/OS related sessions.  If you're interested in z and the Cloud, Linux on z, Big Data, new stuff in z/OS, CICS and IMS, you name it, there are a lot of good sessions this week.

One session I found interesting was "What's new in z/OS V2.1".  This was a good overview of what is likely coming with the new z/OS release.  Here's a link for the presentation:
https://share.confex.com/share/120/webprogram/Session12728.html

A useful PARMGEN reference

PARMGEN is the new OMEGAMON install process.  PARMGEN is a bit different from the older OMEGAMON ICAT install process.  There are some very useful information and reference sources for PARMGEN.  If you are doing a PARMGEN install you will want to check this page out:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21417935

Debugging Persistent Data Store (PDS) history issues on z/OS

For the z/OS based agents history is collected to a set of files called the Persistent Data Store (or the PDS).  When you look at SYSOUT output in the agent task (the TEMA) or the TEMS, assuming that the PDS is config'ed you will see lots of messages related to PDS initialization and usage.  If there are issues with the PDS then you will likely experience issues if you try to use the history functions in the Tivoli Portal (the TEP). 

Here is a link to a short tech note that menttions some common debugging steps and recommended maintenance level for PDS and history support. 
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21623100&myns=swgtiv&mynp=OCSSQH9J&mynp=OCSSRLD6&mynp=OCSSZ8F3&mynp=OCSSXS8U&mynp=OCSS2JNN&mynp=OCSS2JFP&mynp=OCSS2JL7&mynp=OCSSLSDR&mync=R

One of the suggestion is to just try re-allocating the PDS files using the jobs you get in the ICAT installer.  To be honest, on more than once occasion,  I've seen glitchy behavior in the PDS and in history collection that has been addressed by re-creating these files.

Setting thresholds in the enhanced 3270 interface

So you've installed the enhanced 3270 user interface and now you've logged on and started looking around.  You may have noticed that some fields that display on the various screens may be highlighted with colors like yellow or red.  What controls these color settings?  Why are some fields showing up highlighted in yellow or red (or sometimes blue)?

In the library hilev.RKANPAR there are members that control the threshold settings for these various fields.  For each of the various monitors there is a xxxTHRSH member that correlates to the threshold settings for that monitor.  For OMEGAMON CICS the member is KCPTHRSH, for OMEGAMON z/OS the member is KM5THRSH, for OMEGAMON DB2 the member is KDPTHRSH.

Here we show an example of the contents of the KCPTHRSH member.  In the example you see that for transaction rate if the value is greater than 1000 per minute or less than 100 per minute it constitutes a critical (i.e. red) level.  Same idea for a yellow warning level.  Want to change the setting?  Just overtype the value in the member and save the member to hilev.RKANPARU (important remember to save it to RKANPARU not RKANPAR).   The same process applies to the CPU utilization field,

An upcoming webcast you will not want to miss

In February there will be a webcast that, if you install OMEGAMON, you will not want to miss.  
"Enhanced OMEGAMON V5.1 Installation and configuration saves time and money"  is a webcast session that will go into detail on the new OMEGAMON Parmgen install process.

If you don't know about the Parmgen installation process, now is the time to start getting up to speed.  It's important to be aware that at some point the legacy ICAT install process will go away and Parmgen will be the means you have to install OMEGAMON.

The speaker will be Cecile Day.  Cecile is the expert on the topic. This session will be packed with detailed information.

The event will happen February 21st at 11 AM ET.  To attend here's a link:
http://ibm.co/UyeOAU

A very informative zEnterprise newsletter

If you are interested in getting some more "under the covers" knowledge of z/OS and zEnterprise, the zEnterprise Newsletter is worth checking out.  The zEnterprise Newsletter is published on a quarterly basis and contains various technical articles about zEnterprise and System z.  It's a nice newsletter and well worth checking out if you are interested in getting a little more into System z.

Here's a link for the newsletter:
http://www.millennialmainframer.com/2013/01/ibm-east-zenterprise-newsletter-1st.html

Upcoming System z Technical Summits

This srping there will be a series of System z Technical Summit events coming to a city near you.  The Technical Summit has sessions in a series of parallel technical tracks.  The tracks are the following:

Track 1: The New zEnterprise – A Cost-Busting Platform

Track 2: DB2 10 for z/OS: Performance and Optimization Best Practicest
Track 3: IMS: The Revolution/Evolution Continues
Track 4: Smarter Computing to Accelerate Agile, Mobile and Cloud Application Delivery
Track 5: Cost-Efficiencies of a Modern Application Infrastructure
Track 6: Data Center Operations and Systems Management Update

Track 6 will include a session on OMEGAMON V5. 

There's a lot of content and quite a bit of good information at these events.  These are all day events.  If you are interested in attending, here's a list of dates and locations:

Costa Mesa, CA   February 14, 2013

Atlanta, GA           February 26, 2013
New York, NY     March 13, 2013
Dallas, TX             March 27, 2013
Toronto, ON         April 16, 2013
Washington, DC    April 18, 2013

To attend here's a URL to sign up:
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/os/systemz/summit/venues_register.html