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