Information on Tivoli Event Pump

So what is the Event Pump?  The Event Pump is a tool to send alerts in the form of EIF events to Netcool OMNIbus.  If you are a z/OS shop that has OMNIbus deployed (that's quite a few shops), then you probably have the need to send alerts/information from z/OS to OMNIbus.  What the Event Pump provides is a convenient method out of the box to send these events to OMNIbus.

My colleague, Wayne Bucek, has recently done a write up about Event Pump, and why you would deploy the tool.  Here's a link to the write up:

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/wikis/home?lang=en#/wiki/Tivoli%20System%20z%20Monitoring%20and%20Application%20Management/page/Tivoli%20Event%20Pump%20for%20zOS.%20The%20Foundation%20of%20an%20End-to-End%20Event%20Management%20System

 If you are interested in a write up on what is new in Event Pump V4.2.2 here is a link with more information:

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/wikis/home?lang=en#/wiki/Tivoli%20System%20z%20Monitoring%20and%20Application%20Management/page/Event%20Pump%204.2.2%20What%20New

Managing System Automation Critical Messages in the Tivoli Portal

Many thanks to Art Eisenhour for this valuable tip. 

In earlier posts I've discussed the value of the IBM System Automation (SA) interface with the TEP.  One of the features that was added in V3.3 was support for Critical Messages in the TEP.  This means that messages flagged as critical by SA will appear in the TEP, and can be managed and highlighted using TEP capabilities. 

The Critical Messages workspace in the TEP gets its feed from the SDF fucntion of SA.  Out of the box there is no way to remove the message via the TEP, however if can be removed manually by deleting it from the SDF (3270 interface) panel, or in an automated manner if there is a message that would indicate a clearing event.   The command to remove the message would be as follows:

AOFCPMSG SEVERITY=CRITICAL JOBNAME=jobname MSG=(msg) DOM=YES

A question that came up with one customer was, what is the best way to manage messages when they appear in TEP Critical Messages.  In the Tivoli Portal you have the ability to set up commands using the 'Take Action' feature, and using the attribute substitution function to pass the necessary variables to the command.  Using this technique you can clear out a message from Critical Messages using the Tivoli portal without having to go to the 3270 interface.  Here's  an example of how this would work:

Cost of monitoring savings with OMEGAMON IMS IF3

As a follow on to my prior posting on the new feature/function of OMEGAMON IMS Iinterim Feature 3 (IF3) it is worth pointing out that there are some very positive performance savings when running IF3.  For example the following measurements have been noted:

• CPU usage of IF3 Classic has been reduced by at least 23% when running ATF and a Trace. 
• CPU usage of the IMS Dependant Regions has been reduced by at least 8% when running ATF and a trace.
• CPU usage of the IMS Control Region, and it’s associated asids (DLI, DBRC, CQS, etc…) has been reduced by at least 8% when running ATF and a Trace.

 If you want more detail on these measurements, check out this blog entry:


https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/5e65990a-9690-42e2-93b1-c2267be7620c/entry/performance_improvements_for_omegamon_xe_420_for_ims_if369?lang=en

These are some very compelling performance numbers, and show the value of going to the IF3 level of OMEGAMON IMS.

Thanks to Reggie Hubbard, Rocky McMahan, and Robyn Stillwell for this information.

OMEGAMON IMS fixes for IMS V12 Currency

If you are looking at running IMS V12 and OMEGAMON, you need to be aware of OMEGAMON fixes relevant to IMS V12 currency.   For IMS V12 currency there are ICAT installer changes required.  For more information on the fixes go to the following link:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg1OA37749&myns=swgtiv&mynp=OCSSXS8U&mync=R

OMEGAMON XE For IMS V4.20 Interim Feature 3 provides powerful new features

Back in August OMEGAMON IMS V4.20 came out with Interim Feature 3 (IF3) that included a bunch of new enhancements and features. The list of enhancements includes the following:

Greater precision in Tivoli Portal workspaces (now in microseconds)

New application metrics added to the 3270 and TEP interfaces

Numerous Application Trace (ATF) enhancements, such as automatic activation of traces at OMEGAMON startup., trace duration increased to 99999 minutes and forever, more filter options for traces, exception-level trace data can now be written to new a new exception journal, elapsed times for DL/I, DB2, and MQ are now provided.

The trace enhancements, in particular, do a lot to make the trace capability of OMEGAMON IMS much more robust. Being able to do things like trace based on exceptions (versus tracing everything), cuts trace overhead considerably.

Here is more info on IF3:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg24030634&myns=swgtiv&mynp=OCSSXS8U&mync=R

If you are looking at IF3, then you should also be aware of some relevant fixes after IF3 came out. Here is some information on the fixes:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg1OA37593&myns=swgtiv&mynp=OCSSXS8U&mync=R

A couple useful manuals to be aware of

When you are installing, configuring, or troubleshooting OMEGAMON there are a couple manuals it pays to be aware of.

One manual is the "Common Parameter Reference" (SC14-7280-00). This manual lists the many different parameters that define an OMEGAMON installation, along with the parameters that define key infrastructure, such as the TEMS. Here's a URL for the manual:

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v15r1/topic/com.ibm.omegamon_share.doc_623/parameter_reference.pdf

Another manual that's relevant to installation and the PARMLIB process that I mentioned on an earlier post this week is the "Common Planning and Configuration Guide" (SC23-9734-03). This manual goes through many aspects of OMEGAMON install and configuration. Chapter 4 goes in detail into the PARMLIB install method. Here's a URL link to the manual:

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v15r1/topic/com.ibm.omegamon_share.doc_623/zconfigcommon.pdf

An OMEGAMON webcast you won't want to miss

Support for the PARMLIB installation/config process has been in OMEGAMON for a while now. Most customers probably still use the ICAT install panels to config OMEGAMON, but over time with PARMLIB that is likely to change.

If you are interested in learning more about PARMLIB, you will want to check out this webcast on December 1st. "An improved approach to the configuration of Tivoli OMEGAMON" will cover the PARMLIB install process in detail. Cecile Day is the presenter, and there is no doubt she is the expert when it comes to the OMEGAMON installation processes.

I recommend taking a look at this webcast. PARMLIB offers advantages over the ICAT install process, and I anticipate more users moving to the new process. The event is December 1st at 11 AM ET. If you interested in the webcast, here is the URL to sign up:

ibm.com/software/systemz/telecon/dec1

Mainframe on a phone?

I was scanning through Destinationz a couple days ago and I noticed an entry in the Evangelizing Mainframe blog called "Mainframe on a phone".

http://www.destinationz.org/Community/Evangelizing-Mainframe/October-2011/Mainframe-on-a-Phone.aspx

The blog doesn't go into huge detail, but does mention some options about bringing mainframe information to smartphone technology.

This made me think of something I've been experimenting with, which is getting the Tivoli Portal GUI to run on an iPad. I actually have something working now, and what's nice is it's really not that hard to do if you have the right infrastructure.

How to do it? In my home office lab (a.k.a Bearcat Chaos Manor), I run a variety of test/sandbox platforms (z/OS running on zPDT, multiple windows boxes, Linux, you name it). At any time I may have one or more Tivoli Portals running, and usually I run them in VMWare images. VMWare works well and makes things nice and portable.

A nice little thing about VMWare is that you have VNC support built right into it. There's a check box you click to enable the VNC support, you specify a port number to connect to, and you are in business. Once that's done, all you need is to set up VNC support on the iPad side. From the iTunes store there are a variety of VNC viewers you can install. I started with Mocha VNC Lite (in other words free). This worked OK, but had certain limitations. So I broke down and spent $5, and got the full version of Mocha VNC Viewer.

With the full version of Mocha VNC Viewer, the interface works very well. You can easily see the TEP screens, the displays render very quickly, click and drag functions work well. I was even able to do things like create situations using the iPad. It all works very nicely. Now, you are not going to do this on an iPhone (the screen is too small). But for an iPad, this works very well.

More on OMEGAMON messages to the z/OS console

As a follow on to my prior post on OMEGAMON issuing messages to the z/OS console, here is an example of how that can be specified in the 'Action" tab of the situation editor.

In the example I show, I've created a DB2 situation that monitors the DB2 EDM pool. When the situation alert is true, the action will be executed, in this case a message will be placed on the z/OS console. Note that in the example the message consists of both text literals and an & variable that passes detailed information from OMEGAMON to the resultant message text (in this case the percentage that the EDM pool is full). To add the & variable to the command string you would click the attribute substitution button on the situation editor Action tab display, and select the desired attribute data to pass.

Using situations to drive messages to the z/OS console offers multiple advantages. First, it's easy to do using the GUI interface options of the situation editor (no REXX code etc. is needed). Second, situations provide the most flexibility for alerts because any metric monitored by OMEGAMON can be incorporated within an alert. Third, it's easy and flexible to control the content of the messages, and make then meaningful using attribute substitution via the situation editor.

Another thing to consider is that this message technique is a very effective way to feed 3rd party (i.e. Non-IBM) automation. It's easy to set up the messages, you can control the content, and can pass detailed information through the message string using attribute substitution.

Alternatives for OMEGAMON placing messages on the z/OS console

This is a question that comes up fairly often. If OMEGAMON detects an alert or an issue, how can I have OMEGAMON put a message on the z/OS console?

The first thing to be aware of is that the OMEGAMON classic interface task by itself does not have a syslog message command option for when an exception is detected. You will be able to see your desired exception in the the exception analysis screens in classic interface, but you will need to explore additional options to get that exception message on the z/OS console.

There are three primary options to accomplish this:

1- The first is to use the Tivoli portal interface, create a situation alert for the desired exception, and have that situation execute an action command to place a message with the desired information on the console. Any command string entered into the command field will be executed directly to the console. For example, to log a message you could enter LOG 'test message', and 'test message' will appear on the console. Also, be aware that you can use attribute substitution to enter additional information in the command field.

2- If you do not want to use the Tivoli Portal, the next option is classic interface and connect classic to IBM automation. IBM SA automation is able to detect any of the OMEGAMON classic interface exceptions, and can then issue any desired message or command to the z/OS console.

3- If you do not have IBM automation, you can still interface OMEGAMON to non-IBM automation through the XLFOUT mechanism of OMEGAMON. On an earlier post I mentioned a technote that describes the setup and usage of the XLFOUT DD, and how to direct exceptions to XLFOUT.

In a nutshell, those are the 3 alternatives. In general, I think that the Tivoli Portal is the easiest way to go. You can use visual GUI interface, and you can set up actions without having to code any REXX, etc. However, options 2 and 3 are still there, if you desire to go that direction.

Upcoming webcast on workload scheduling and cloud computing

Interested in workload scheduling in heterogeneous environments? Interested in learning a little more about cloud and how to manage workload in a cloud environment? Then this webcast presentation on November 3rd might be of interest to you.

"Increase business flexibility with improved Workload Automation from Tivoli Workload Scheduler" is the topic. the speaker is Flora Tramotano, product Manager for Tivoli Workload Scheduler.

The event happens November 3rd, at 11:00 am Eastern time.

Here is a URL link to sign up:

https://www-950.ibm.com/events/wwe/systemz/sztecsem.nsf/v16_enrollall?openform&seminar=2DD3C6ZT&locale=en_US

z/OS does Windows!

z/OS continues to grow and evolve. Run Windows on z? Sure, why not?

Analyst Steve Bartlett at The Clipper Group wrote an analysis of Windows and z/OS. "In particular, Windows is coming to the mainframe, not as a native operating environment, but
more closely attached and managed than most can imagine. For many and possibly most, this should prompt a reevaluation of your mainframe strategy".

It's an interesting read and well worth taking a look at. To read the article go to the following URL:

http://www.clipper.com/publications.htm#Catalog

and then look for an article titled "IBM’s zEnterprise Really Stretches Its Boundaries - New Windows Are Opened"

Important new enhancement to Tivoli Portal Take Action security

This is an enhancement that has been a while in coming. Thanks to Andrew Mcintyre for pulling it together.

What this enhancement provides is more granularity and control for using the Take Action option in the Tivoli Portal. Before this enhancement, users would either have access to Take Action, or not. Now, with this new function, you will be able to control in a more granular fashion by userid, who can issue commands and to where on the system. For example, this means that you can allow a user to issue Take Action to some systems, and disallow it to other systems. This provides much more flexibility and control when using the Take Action option.

For more information on this, here is a URL:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21566960

Upcoming presentation on the OMEGAMON Management Suite

A couple weeks ago I posted something on the new OMEGAMON for z/OS Management Suite. If you want to learn more about it, check out this webcast on October 20th. The presentation title is "Improving z/OS availability and productivity with Tivoli OMEGAMON monitoirng". The speaker is Kevin Hosozawa of IBM.

In the webcast Kevin will cover the IBM Tivoli OMEGAMON for z/OS Management Suite, including how it:

• Integrates management of z/OS operating system, network and storage management
• Increases the effectiveness of your staff by facilitating better communication and helping to leverage synergies between groups
• Offers advanced alerting capabilities that integrate information and reduce meantime to resolution and problem avoidance – saving costly outage time and money
• Integrates z/OS information with Tivoli enterprise-wide, end-to-end performance and availability monitoring capability

The event is October 20th at 11 AM ET. The price is right, it's free. Here's a link to sign up:

http://www-01.ibm.com/software/os/systemz/telecon/oct20/

Using XLF to log Classic interface exceptions to DASD

I've done earlier blog posts on handy mechanisms in Classic 3270 interface, like ASF (Automated screen facility) and XLF (exception log facility). XLF provides you with a mechanism to gather and log classic interface exceptions.

A recent technote came out with a description of how to log classic exceptions to a DASD file. You might do this if you want to maintain an ongoing log of classic exceptions, or if you want to interface these classic exceptions to a another tool, such as 3rd party automation.

This is a good description of setting up XLF. Here's the URL:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21515914&myns=swgtiv&mynp=OCSSXS8U&mync=R

Setting auto update in the Tivoli Portal

So you have a workspace in the TivoliPortal that you want to run in auto update mode. You can go to options and specify the "refresh every" interval when viewing the display. But, if you navigate away from that display, refresh may be turned off when you navigate back. What do you do?

You can associate auto update being set to specific interval for a given workspace. All you have to do is specify the "refresh every" option, and then save the specific workspace in question. When you navigate and then come back, the refresh option will take effect again, as long as you have saved the workspace with that option enabled.

So the the auto update option can be associated with specific workspaces, which makes more sense than in classic interface, where it's on or off all the way for the session. For some screens you may want the option on, for others you may not.

Problems with historical data not showing up in the TEP?

This is an interesting Technote that I read recently. Apparently some Tivoli Portal users who were collecting history were seeing gaps in history collection data, or history data missing altogether. The Technote describes the eyecatchers to look for if this issue is occurring, and then provides a workaround/resolution.

The net is if you are missing data, and you see a long time (in the range of multiple minutes or more) between these messages in RKPDLOG of the z/OS TEMS or TEMA (i.e. the agent task on z/OS), then you may want to check things out. Here are the messages (an init started followed by an init complete message):

yyyy/mm/dd hh:mm:ss KPDINDS: Initialization started for DataStore file DSN:&rhilev.&rte.lowlev

yyyy/mm/dd hh:mm:ss KPDINDS: Initialization complete for DataStore file DSN:&rhilev.&rte.lowlev

The workaround? Go into the KxxPCTL (xx meaning the product code for the agent type) for the task in question, and add the parm BATCHINIT like in the following example:

MAINTPRC PROC=KPDPROC1 GENPROC BATCHINIT

The BATCHINIT parm indicates that initialization of a datastore file should be done by the batch job instead of being done within the PDS processing of the TEMA or TEMS started task.

Interested in DB2 V10?

If you are interested in DB2 V10, here is a webcast on what's in DB2 V10 and customer experiences with DB2 V10. The event will have information on such things as, temporal tables, how hash access can speed up queries against large tables, new SQL features, how access path determination is now smarter, and how concurrency can be improved without sacrificing integrity.

This webcast is being put on by International DB2 User Group (IDUG). The event is on November 2nd at 11AM Eastern time. Here's a link to register for the webcast:

http://www.bulldogsolutions.net/IDUG/IDU1001/frmRegistration.aspx?bdls=29505

New release of the zSecure security suite

On October 4, IBM announced a new release of the zSecure solutions (V1.13) to assist with compliance monitoring and auditing, audit usage and configurations, enforce policy compliance, help administer mainframe server security, and monitor for threats. zSecure can help to centralize and consolidate security administration, and to leverage the mainframe as the enterprise security hub.

The new release features the following line items which also enhance the security intelligence of CICS, IMS, and DB2 applications:

Automates security analysis of CICS and IMS transactions and programs
Automated analysis of SAF classes being used by DB2, CICS, or IMS
Enhances Access Monitor and allows you to improve data consolidation
Allows annotating userid displays with data from external human resource files
Globalization enhancements to support international language support and auditing
Allows addition of your own sensitivity classification, audit concern, and priority
Supports currency with z/OS V1R13, ACF2 R14 and R15, CICS V4R2, and Top Secret R12, R14, and R15
Extends integration with Communications Server and provides various interface improvements

If you are interested in zSecure here is a URL to check out:
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/tivoli/products/zsecure

Here's a link to a white paper on "Consolidating security across platforms with IBM System z":
http://www.servicemanagementcenter.com/main/pages/IBMRBMS/SMRC/ShowCollateral.aspx?oid=80003

Here's a link to a Red Book on "z/OS Mainframe Security and Audit Management using IBM Tivoli zSecure" :
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/Redbooks.nsf/WebComment?OpenForm&ParentUNID=6A07891F5A43E3DC8525741000507EAA

Check out the IBM System Availability Roadshow coming in October

IBM will be putting on a series of events in various cities, the "IBM System Availability Roadshow". It's an all day event and the agenda looks pretty solid (i.e. it's not a bunch of marketing fluff). Here's the agenda:

System Availability Overview
Explore the significant role that System z availability plays in
meeting your business objectives.

Creating End-to-End System Availability
Learn through key value scenarios how Tivoli integrated
solutions – including NetView for z/OS, OMEGAMON, and
System Automation – enable you to maintain optimal service
availability and performance.

Automation Deep Dive and Key Integration
Understand how Tivoli automation solutions improve the
availability of your system, network, and applications; thereby
reducing operator errors and maximizing resource efficiencies.

Network Management Deep Dive and Key Integration
Gain insights into how NetView for z/OS and OMEGAMON
solutions enable you to manage and optimize the availability and
performance of your TCP/IP and SNA networks.

Best Practices - Tailoring the solution for your needs
Utilize a problem solving approach to demonstrating how key
visualization, control, and automation capabilities of NetView for
z/OS based solutions can be tailored to meet the ever changing
demands of your enterprise.

The event will be in the following cities:
Tues, Oct. 4 Southfield 18000 W 9 Mile Rd, Rm 1505 Southfield, MI
Thurs, Oct. 6 Chicago 71 S. Wacker Drive, 6th Floor Chicago, IL
Tues, Oct 11 Markham 3600 Steeles Ave. East, D109 Markham, ON
Thurs, Oct 13 New York 590 Madison Avenue, Rm 1218 New York City
Tues, Oct 18 Hartford One Financial Plaza, 12th Floor Hartford, CT
Wed, Oct 19 Raleigh 3100 Smoketree Court, Rm 9002 Raleigh, NC
Thurs, Oct 20 Washington, DC 600 14th St, NW, Rm 356 Washington, DC
Tues, Oct 25 Atlanta Hillside 4111 Northside Parkway, 03F23 Atlanta, GA
Thurs, Oct 27 Dallas 13800 Diplomat Dr, Rm 232 Dallas, TX
Tues, Nov 1 San Ramon 4000 Executive Pkwy, Rm 340 San Ramon, CA
Thurs, Nov 3 Costa Mesa 600 Anton Blvd, Rm 209 Costa Mesa, CA

If you are interested, email Joanie Gines jgines@us.ibm.com to enroll.