Cool Classic interface tricks

I've done quite a few posts over the past few weeks on the Tivoli Portal, and its unique capabilities. But, I don't want to keep the sole focus on the Tivoli Portal. Classic 3270 interface has some nice capabilities that you may not know about.

Classic interface is very customizable, built around the notions of major and minor commands, menus, etc. You can make custom screen spaces to target specific technical requirements, or to focus on a specific user or audience.

It's easy to customize Classic screen spaces, and you can do some very nice things with Classic. But, there are other interesting things you can do, as well. For example, did you know you can have the Classic interface execute a screen space based on such things as time of day, or if a specific Classic exception has been hit? Did you know that you can have one screen space execute, and then call and execute another screen space? Did you know about the ability of the Classic interface to execute screens, and then log the output?

I will do a series of posts that go into examples of how to use features, such as Timed Screen Facility (TSF), Automated Screen Facility (ASF), Auto-update, Exception Logging Facility, and other cool Classic techniques.

Availability alerts using situations

When creating an availability alert or creating a workspace focused on z/OS availability, it may be useful to create some alerts focused on the availability of key tasks. I showed and example earlier of how you can use the integration of System Automation (SA) with the TEP to create an intelligent task/resource availability alert based upon the logic encoded within SA.

What if you do not have SA? What are ways to create some task availability alerts? One easy starting point is to use OMEGAMON z/OS, and to create address space alerts using the situation support for the 'Missing' function. In the example I show, if any of the tasks in the list are detected by the situation to be missing, an alert will fire.

This is an offshoot of the Key Task light from the OMEGAMON MVS CUA interface. The advantage of using the TEP and situations are two-fold. First, you can add additional logic in a situation that you cannot have in the basic Key Task light in CUA. The second thing is that you can make situations time of day sensitive a couple ways. One is to add time sensitivity into the situation logic. Another way is to manage the situations using policies to start/stop them.

Using policies to start and stop situations based upon the needs of the installation is a powerful, and easy to use technique. You can manage the alert, make it time sensitive, and not have to code all the logic into the situation. Just let the policy manage it.

Using custom queries to analyze situation distributions

If you want an easy way to understand what situations are distributed and where they are distributed (without having to get into the situation editor for each one), this technique may prove useful.
You can create 2 custom queries that go against the TEMS. The first is:

SELECT DELTASTAT, UNIQUE(SITNAME) FROM O4SRV.ISITSTSH WHERE DELTASTAT = 'S';

This will show a list of what situations are distributed.

The second queries is:

SELECT NODEL, OBJNAME FROM O4SRV.TOBJACCL WHERE OBJNAME = $SITNAME$;

This will work to show where a situation is distributed (passing a variable SITNAME).

You can go from the first query on the first workspace to the second using a link and passing SITNAME as the variable for the drill down. Above is an example of what you would get.

This is a good exercise in custom queries and using workspace links. Here is a URL that describes the set up in more detail:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21454974&myns=swgtiv&mynp=OCSSZ8F3&mync=R

Online ITM problem solving tools

Here's a web page that consolidates a list of useful support links, and some online assist and help functions for support and documentation for IBM Tivoli Monitoring (ITM).

Here's the link:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21303361&myns=swgtiv&mynp=OCSSZ8F3&mynp=OCSSLSFT&mynp=OCSSLSDR&mync=R

For the "well dressed" mainframe fan

If you are a System z mainframe fan, here's a chance to let the whole world know about it. An amusing array of mainframe t-shirts. Here's a link for more info:

http://www.mainframezone.com/store

Information on IBM Support

Here is a link to an interesting web page that provides a lot of information on using IBM Support and items like the Support Portal and My Notification. There are links on this page for instructional videos and a software support handbook. This is a good starting point for navigating the various facilities of IBM support.

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21439079&myns=swgtiv&mynp=OCSSBNJ7&mynp=OCSSNFET&mynp=OCSSLKT6&mynp=OCSSSHRK&mynp=OCSSPLFC&mynp=OCSSZ8F3&mynp=OCSSRM2X&mynp=OCSS2GNX&mynp=OCSSVJJU&mynp=OCSSGSPN&mynp=OCSSGSG7&mynp=OCSSTFWV&mynp=OCSSPREK&mync=R

Address space CPU usage info in OMEGAMON XE For z/OS

APAR OA34505 has some interesting information about the z/OS Address Space CPU usage display. Apparently it was noted that there was an inconsistency between how CPU % usage was being calculated in the OMEGAMON XE Tivoli Portal Address Space workspace versus how the comparable data was being calculated and displayed in the OMEGAMON II 3270 interface.

It seems the calculation in the TEP has been the sum of SRB CPU + TCB CPU. However in the OMEGAMON II for MVS interface the calculation has been SRB CPU + TCB CPU + Enclave CPU. The net result is that when looking at tasks in the TEP, you may see lower than expected CPU usage numbers.

For more information on the APAR, here's the link:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg1OA34505&myns=swgtiv&mynp=OCSS2JNN&mync=R

Adding HTTP information to your end to end view

In earlier posts I've written about how you can use OMEGAMON XE For Mainframe Networks to add network level information to your mainframe monitoring views. For example, you can monitor network traffic to/from CICS, IMS, or DB2, and look at such things as byte counts, round trip time, round trip variance, and network excpetions. This type of information can be a useful supplement to host response time captured by OMEGAMON XE for CICS or IMS.

Another interesting set of metrics you can add to the mix is HTTP monitoring. Many applications in most enterprises have a flow that may start with some form of user interaction at an HTTP server. That HTTP server will often interfface with some form of middleware (MQ, WebSphere, J2EE, you name it), and then to either CICS, IMS, DB2 on z/OS or all of the above. To have a more complete monitoring picture, it's nice to have HTTP information as part of the monitoring view.

Depending upon which Tivoli monitoring components you have licensed, you may have access to a tool called the Universal Agent (UA). UA is an interesting tool in that you can use it to pull in information from a wide variety of data sources. Among the data providers is file, socket, SNMP, and HTTP. The HTTP data provider allows you to monitor URLs, and track the status and response time of these URLs on an ongoing basis in the Tivoli Portal. UA is a great tool to add the additional layer of performance/availability data to the Portal.

Here's how you can add the information to your portal view. First you need to enable the HTTP data provider as an option in UA. To do that you go to Manage Tivoli Services and select the option to configure or reconfigure UA. When you click through that dialog you will get to a notepad editor pop-up. There you add HTTP to the start-up options (as I show in the example). You save the file, and re-cycle the UA process. The next step is to add a URL to be monitored. From the navigation tree in the portal, you select a Take Action, and select Add URL (again as I show in the example). You enter a URL to monitor in the pop-up, click OK and you are ready to go.

The data you get is interesting, and useful. For each monitored URL you will get a status, and a response time, along with page size and other information. Good stuff to add your portal views.

Tivoli User Community webpage

A good source of information on Tivoli products, plus information on such things as Tivoli user groups and other events, is the Tivoli User community web page.

Here is a link to the Tivoli User Community web page:
http://www-306.ibm.com/software/tivoli/tivoli_user_groups/links.html

IBM Tivoli is looking for your feedback

IBM Tivoli is piloting a new request for enhancement (RFE) web site for a subset of the IBM Tivoli products. The product list includes TADDM, ITCAM for Transactions, OMEGAMON XE for CICS, OMEGAMON XE for IMS, OMEGAMON XE for Storage, OMEGAMON XE for z/VM and Linux, OMEGAMON XE on z/OS, ITRPM, TSPM, and TWS.

Customer input is important to improving the products, and I encourage everyone to check out this web site, and add your input. I can speak from experience, that I can talk to product development and R&D all day long, but customer opinion is what counts most.

Here's the URL:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rfe/tivoli/

Improvements to OMEGAMON DB2 Near Term History

OMEGAMON XE For DB2 has a Near Term History (NTH) function that is one of the more popular and useful features of the tool. In NTH you can go back in time and look at detailed historical information at the DB2 subsystem (Statistics) and/or the DB2 application (Accounting) level. This is essential information for being able to analyze performance issues after the fact.

DB2 Accounting records, in particular, have the potential to consume a fair amount of DASD space. The records themselves are large, and DB2 may generate many of them, as many as millions a day in many shops. How far back in time you can go in NTH is a function of how many records you need to store, and how much space you allocate in the NTH collection files.

One little known aspect of NTH is that you have the ability to allocate and use more than the three collection datasets you get by default. It used to be you could go up to ten datasets. Now with recent enhancement, you can go up to twenty history collection datasets. This allows for even more storage space, and the ability to keep more history data online.

For more information on this enhancement, check out this link:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=0&q1=Near+Term+History+%28NTH%29+VSAM&uid=swg21452497&loc=en_US&cs=utf-8&cc=us&lang=all

SA System Automation integration with the Tivoli Portal

The Tivoli Enterprise Portal (TEP) is more than just an OMEGAMON thing. Many other Tivoli tools, such as the storage tools and SA System Automation also integrate within the TEP. I've been working with a customer on an availability dashboard concept for managing z/OS. One of the tools at our disposal is System Automation, and we have it integrated with the TEP.

In the example I show, we have some of the information from the SA agent, and I use that data to alert on key z/OS task availability. One aspect of task availability is to alert not only on when a task is down, but to factor in that there may be times when the task is supposed to be down (such as for maintenance, etc). The SA agent interface provides information, such as resource status, but also shows the desired status for the resource. In other words, you can alert on when the task is down, and also factor in if the task is supposed to be down.

In the example, I show part of the prototype dashboard, and I show an example situation. Here I'm looking at both the status of the resource, and the desired status. In other words, only alert if the resource is down, but it is supposed to be up (at least as far as SA knows).

OMEGAMON XE for Mainframe Networks V420 FP3 New Features

FP3 is available for OMEGAMON XE For Mainframe Networks (4.2.0-TIV-KN3-FP0003). There are a lot of interesting features/enhancements in this fixpack including the following:

z/OS(R) v1.12 support - New workspaces and over 300 new attributes
Reduced SNMP footprint at a lower CPU cost for data collection
New product-provided situations
Enhancements to Connections node workspaces
More detailed and useful DVIPA data is now reported
New configuration options for more granular data collection
Enhancements to OSA support
Support for the PARMLIB configuration method

That's a lot of stuff, so if you have OMEGAMON for Mainframe Networks this is worth taking a look at.

What's in OMEGAMON DB2 V5.10

As I mentioned yesterday, OMEGAMON XE For DB2 PM/PE V5.10 is now generally available, to coincide with the release of DB2 V10. OMEGAMON DB2 V5.10 is a very robust new release with a lot of interesting feature/function included within the tool.

Some of the enhancements include:
- Expanded support for end-to-end SQL monitoring via Extended Insight
- Expanded data shring group level support
- Spport and exploitation for DB2 10 for z/OS, including support for new and changed performance metrics, such as: Statistics (more buffer pools, virtual storage, 64bit values, SQL statement cache extensions), Accounting (Lock/latch wait time separated), New ZPARMS, Audit (various new DBA privileges), and Performance traces.

There are also interesting enhancements in the area of integrated monitoring, and integration with IBM Tivoili ITCAM.

There is quite a bit here, and I will be posting more detail on what is new and interesting in the tool.

Good stuff! DB2 V10 and OMEGAMON DB2 V510

New releases are always exciting to report, and now we have a new version of DB2 for z/OS, DB2 Version 10, and an OMEGAMON DB2 to go with it, OMEGAMON DB2 V5.10.

For more information on DB2 V10, here is a link:

http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/db2/zos/

For information on new versions of tools for DB2 V10 (including OMEGAMON), here is a link:

http://www-01.ibm.com/cgi-bin/common/ssi/ssialias?infotype=an&subtype=ca&htmlfid=897/ENUS210-345&appname=isource&language=enus

Upcoming webcast on Tivoli and zEnterprise

On October 28th there will be a free webcast on "Tivoli for zEnterprise – Why integrated service management matters". I've posted many times on the value of integration when defining and building a performance and availability management strategy. The webcast will discuss how Tivoli solutions can help you prepare for a better way of integrating service management under the new IBM zEnterprise “system of systems” and manage your data center as one.

The webcast is on October 28th at 11 AM, Eastern Time. Here is a URL to sign up:

http://www-01.ibm.com/software/os/systemz/webcast/28oct/

The price for the webcast is right, it's free!

Adding z/VM and Linux on z to the monitoring mix

If you are running Linux on z, or thinking about Linux on z, be aware that there is an OMEGAMON solution crafted specific to the Linux on z environment. OMEGAMON For z/VM and Linux is an interesting tool in that it's an integrated tool that will monitor both the z/VM resources and activity, and the Linux systems running within that environment. OMEGAMON XE for z/VM and Linux is a Tivoli Portal based solution, which means that you can take the information from the monitoring processes and integrate it with information from other IBM Tivoli monitoring tools. Here I show an example of how you can integrate information from both z/VM and Linux with information from other z/OS monitoring (and for that matter non-z/OS too), and have it all on the same screen.

The big advantage of OMEGAMON for z/VM and Linux is the ability to easily integrate information using the Tivoli Portal. The tool pre-reqs the Performance Tool Kit, but other than that it installs very similar to any other Tivoli monitoring tool.

New cumulative fixpack for OMEGAMON DB2 available

There is a new fixpack available for OMEGAMON DB2 (4.2.0.2-TIV-KD5-IF0003). In addition to the usual fixes for invalid fields, additional help, and other various fixes, this fixpack has one or two interesting items. First is the addition of more SQL call counters at the DB2 subsystem and DB2 thread level. The other enhancement is the addition of the DB2 Cancel command attribute column to more workspaces.

The value of having the Cancel command added to these other tables/workspaces is now it is easier and more convenient to take advantage of the DB2 Cancel command from more workspaces within the TEP.

Considerations for CICS task history

I recently had a customer with some questions about how OMEGAMON can gather and display CICS task history. Her goal was to be able to have an ongoing history of problem CICS transactions, with the ability to do an analysis after the fact of problem transactions.

When looking at OMEGAMON CICS you have several options for collecting history. First you have the Task History option. This will collect detailed history for CICS transactions to an ongoing task history file that may be viewed in 3270 interface or in the Portal. You can easily filter the display for specific transactions and look for outliers. The main limitation of Task History is that you can only keep what is in the VSAM file used for data collection. It is, by design, a wraparound file. The amount of history kept is a function of the size of the file.

A second option is that you can report from the SMF 110 records created by CICS. OMEGAMON provides the ability to add additional data (like MQ counts, etc.) to these records. The advantage of this approach is that you can keep data for longer periods of time. The down side is that the data must be accessed and analyzed via a batch mechanism, you don't have an "online" method in OMEGAMON to go back in time and look for outliers when using the SMF data.

The third option is to use the Tivoli Portal and to use the Tivoli Data Warehouse (TDW) feature. TDW can snapshot data in the Portal on an interval basis. The interval is definable by the user when you specify the history collection. The data may be kept at the agent (TEMA) level, or optionally sent to the TDW. The advantage of this approach is that it is easy to set up, and the data is readily accessible online, even data going far back. The problem is that the data is purely snapshot in nature. Even on a 30 second interval (as seen in the example), you can have a lot of transactions flow through between snapshot intervals that may not get recorded. It may be that if your goal is to capture outliers that run longer than the snapshot interval, this will work. Otherwise, maybe not.

So to get back to the original question. What if you want history that can be kept on a long term basis to look for outliers and problem trans? That is where maybe you consider other solutions, such as CICS Performance Analyzer or Tivoli Decision Support. What each of these solutions provide is a means to collect the history data and keep it for longer term analysis.

Some key resource links for information on Tivoli solutions

Here are four key resources that you can use to assist with learning about Tivoli products and how to use them. These resources provide a wide range of information from the standard product documentation to best practices to videos and tutorials. I hope you find this information helpful.

Tivoli Documentation Central: Get quick access to all the documentation for Tivoli products. This includes all available versions of the product information centers, wikis, IBM Redbooks, and Support technotes.

http://www.ibm.com/tivoli/documentation

Tivoli Wiki Central : Here is where you can access best practices, installation and integration scenarios, and other key information provided by IBM Tivoli subject matter experts. Everyone is invited to participate by contributing their comments and content on Tivoli wikis.

http://www.ibm.com/tivoli/wikis:

Tivoli Media Gallery: View tutorials, demos, and videos about Tivoli products. This includes product overviews and quick 'How To' instructions for completing tasks with Tivoli applications.

http://www.ibm.com/tivoli/media

IBM System z Advisor Newsletter: For System z customers, this newsletter provides monthly features, news, and updates about IBM System z software. This newsletter is e-mailed each month, and the link above provides a place for customers to subscribe.

http://www-01.ibm.com/software/tivoli/systemz-advisor