Some interesting upcoming webcasts

There are a couple interesting performance and systems management related webcasts coming up in July.

"DB2 10 Performance and Scalability – Top Tips to reduce costs “Out of the Box! "  discusses the performance benefits of going to DB2 10.  Learn how you can save considerable CPU resources and enjoy numerous I/O improvements with DB2 10. Most of these improvements are enabled even in Conversion Mode, and available right “out of the box". 

The speaker is Jeffery Berger, DB2 Performance, Senior Software Engineer, IBM Software Group
Broadcast Date: July 10, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time
Here's a link to sign up:   http://ibm.co/N3c13W

"Increase enterprise productivity with enhanced System Automation for z/OS"  covers recent enhancements in  System Automation for z/OS. 

The speaker is Uwe Gramm, Tivoli System Automation Product Manager, IBM Software Group.
Broadcast Date: July 12, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time
Here's a link to sign up:  http://ibm.co/MnlUGC

OMEGAMON DB2 and DB2 10

This is a question that has come up multiple times with customers of mine just in the past week or so.  The question?  If I'm running OMEGAMON XE for DB2 PM/PE V4.20 will it support DB2 10?  The answer is no.  To support DB2 10 you need to install OMEGAMON DB2 V5.1 or the newly released V5.1.1.    V4.20, while still a supported release, will not be retro-fitted to support DB2 10.

Until recently this has not been much of an issue, but now customers are starting to make the move to DB2 10.  So it's important to realize that if DB2 10 is in your plans, now is the time to start planning to upgrade your OMEGAMON DB2 to either the V5.1 or V5.1.1 level (either one will do).

More chances to take OMEGAMON V5.1 for a test drive!

If you haven't yet had a chance to get your hands on the new OMEGAMON enhanced 3270 user interface, here's another chance to try it out.  We will be doing the OMEGAMON V5.1 test drive events in some more cities.  It will be a chance for you to get hands-on usage of the tool in a live z/OS environment.

 Here's the agenda for the events:

09:00 Registration & Breakfast
09:15 What’s New in OMEGAMON with Enhanced 3270 User Interface
10:00 Exploring OMEGAMON with hands-on Exercises on Live System z
Five Lab Test Drives at your choice:
e-3270 Intro, OM zOS v510, OM CICS v510, TEP, TEP-Advanced
11:45 Q&A, Feedback Summary
12:00 Lunch & Learn – Next Generation Performance Automation
13:00 Closing

The OMEGAMON test drives will happen in the following cities: 

San Francisco  - 425 Market St (20th flr) -  June 26th
Sacramento - 2710 S Gateway Oaks Dr (2nd flr) - June 28th
Costa Mesa - 600 Anton Blvd (2nd flr)  -  July 10th
Phoenix - 2929 N Central Ave (5th flr) - July 12th
Seattle - 1200 Fifth Ave (9th flr) - July 19th

Whether you are a current OMEGAMON customer or just want to learn more about OMEGAMON, feel free to attend.  The event is free.  To attend, email my colleague Tony Anderson    andersan@us.ibm.com   or call (415)-545-2478.

IBM relcaims the #1 spot for super computing

IBM's Sequoia has taken the top spot on the list of the world's fastest supercomputers.  The US can re-claim the #1 spot after being  beaten by China two years ago.

Here's a link to an article with some more information:

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18457716 

OMEGAMON DB2 PM/PE V5.1.1 now GA

As of today OMEGAMON DB2 PM/PE V5.1.1 is now generally available.  In case of any confusion, OMEGAMON DB2 V5.1 has been available for a while. OMEGAMON DB2 V5.1 came out to coincide with the release of DB2 10 (if you are going to DB2 10 you need OMEGAMON DB2 V5.1 - prior releases do not support DB2 10). 

What's in V5.1.1 that wasn't in V5.1?  Well, several things including support for items that have been standard in the other OMEGAMON V5.1s, like self describing agents (SDA) and ITM 6.23 support.  Probably one of the most interesting new features is support for the new enhanced 3270 user interface. Now you can run the new enhanced UI for z/OS, CICS, and DB2  (or the Big 3 as we sometimes call them).

For more information on OMEGAMON DB2 5.1.1 and other tools updates, here's a link:
http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=an&subtype=ca&appname=gpateam&supplier=897&letternum=ENUS212-135

Load considerations for summarization and pruning

There have been some shops that have had issues with summarization and pruning of TDW data taking an inordinate amount of time. When you are summarizing or pruning millions of rows of data, this may take some time.

It's always useful to keep in mind that TDW is, fundamentally, a database.  That means you may need the usual tuning and tweaks needed for any database.  As I've mentioned in prior posts, TDW has the potential to gather quite a bit of data, and become quite large, so database tuning may become a factor.

Here's a link for some suggestions for DB2:
http://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21596149&myns=swgtiv&mynp=OCSSZ8F3&mync=R

Using OMEGAMON IMS Application Trace with DBCTL transactions

I've posted before about using OMEGAMON IMS Application Trace to trace and analyze IMS transaction details.  The Application Trace will show detailed, call by call level information, including DL/I calls, SQL calls, MQ calls, along with timing information and drill down call level detail. 

In the past, I've shown examples illustrating the tool with IMS transactions, but what about CICS-DBCTL transactions?  The good news is it's easy to use the Application Trace with DBCTL workload and it provides very detailed information on transaction timings and DL/I call activity.

Here I show an example.  To trace DBCTL workload you specify the PSB to trace (in this example DFHSAM05).  You specify the PSB and other parameters such as trace time and duration, and then start the trace.  Once the trace is started, information is captured and then you see a list of DBCTL transactions (note the overview shows transaction code and CICS region). 

To see detail for a specific transaction, you position the cursor and press F11.  The detail display will show timing information, including elapsed time, CPU time, and time in database.  You can also drill in another level and see DL/I call detail (including SSA, key feedback information and more).

The Application Trace facility has been improved tremendously, and provides very powerful analysis and detail not just of IMS transactions, but also CICS-DBCTL workload, as well.

Tivoli Data Warehouse planning spreadsheet

When you are looking at enabling the Tivoli Data Warehouse (TDW), some planning is in order. One of the more valuable planning tools available is the TDW warehouse load projection spreadsheet.  I've posted on this tool in prior blog posts, but it's worth mentioning once more the availability of this tool.

At first glance the spreadsheet may appear a bit daunting.  There are numerous tabs in the spreadsheet (many for agents you probably do not have).  It's worth the time to at least briefly review the documentation that comes with the spreadsheet to learn how to hide information and agent types you are not interested in to make the graphics and data more legible. 

Essentially, what the load projection tool does is it gives you a means to enter assumptions on numbers of agents, frequency of collection, tables of data to collect, and summarization/pruning to come up with space and load projections for sizing the TDW.  As I've implied before, if you don't do some planning you may end up collecting a lot more data than you bargained for, and a lot of useless data becomes a headache and an impediment to using the TDW effectively. 

Here's a link to the download the TDW load projection worksheet:

https://www-304.ibm.com/software/brandcatalog/ismlibrary/details?catalog.label=1TW10TM1Y

Some potential z/OS maintenance requirements if running TEMS on z/OS 1.13

If you are running OMEGAMON (and therefore running a TEMS) on z/OS 1.13 you may run into a scenario where you would need to apply some maintenance to DFSMS.  The problem would be fairly pronounced (the TEMS would fail to start) and you would see KLVST027 error messages in the RKLVLOG for the task. 

Here's a link to a technote that describes the issue in more detail:

http://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21596240&myns=swgtiv&mynp=OCSS2JNN&mync=R

Getting started with Tivoli Data Warehouse

So you login to the Tivoli Portal, click the history collection icon, and request that some history be collected.  You specify the tables to collect, define the collection interval, specify the warehouse option, and enable summarization and pruning. And finally you click the distribution tab and select the managed systems you want to collect history for.  Click 'Apply' and notice the icon to the left of your definition entry turns green.  See the example of the typical steps to enable history collection. 

Everything's great and all is now operational.  Right?  Well, maybe. 

One area of confusion for users is that when you define history collection in the Tivoli Portal, it may look like everything is being collected and you should be getting data, but when you request the data in the Tivoli Portal what you get is no data at all or various SQL errors.  You see the history icons and everything in the workspaces, but you don't get any data.  The question then becomes, what do you do next?

The thing to keep in mind is that there is infrastructure at several levels that needs to be in place for the Tivoli Data Warehouse to function as advertised.  To enable TDW you need the following infrastructure:  history collection PDS's (persistent data stores) created for the TEMAs (i.e. the agents), warehouse and summarization/pruning processes installed and enabled with the proper drivers and definitions, and finally a target database to store the data (I usually use DB2).  If any of these things is  not in place, or not correctly configured, you will probably not get the history data you are looking for. 

We will go through in subsequent posts things to look for when trying to debug TDW issues.

Adventures in TDW land

Tivoli Data Warehouse (TDW) is a very useful and powerful feature of the OMEGAMON suite and of Tivoli monitoring in general.  Each Tivoli monitoring solution from Linux, UNIX, Windows to z/OS connects to the Tivoli infrastructure and may optionally send information to the Tivoli Data Warehouse.

When you enable TDW history collection you specify many options, including what tables of information to collect, how often to collect, what agent types and managed systems to collect from, and if summarization/pruning is required.  While seemingly straightforward, each of these options has important considerations that may impact the usefulness of the resultant data being collected.

With many users there can be quite a few questions.  Where to begin?  What data should be collected?  How should the data be retained and for how long?  Where should the data be stored?  How is the data to be used and by what audiences?

Planning and analysis is important to a successful implementation of the TDW.  One approach that should be avoided is the 'turn it all on' strategy.  The turn it all on approach will inevitably result in the user collecting more data than is needed and this has multiple shortcomings.  First, unnecessary data collection wastes space and resources.  Second, unnecessary data collection makes it slower and more time consuming to retrieve information that is useful. 

As a general methodology, it is usually better to employ a start small, then work your way up approach to enabling TDW history collection.  You can always dynamically enable more collection options, but weeding out large quantities of useless data may be a time consuming exercise.

I will be doing a series of posts on TDW with the goal of documenting a best practices approach to enabling this portion of the tool. 

Interested in IMS 12?

In June IBM will be performing a series of detailed technical webcasts with IMS 12 as the theme. The line-up is as follows:

June 26 - IMS 12
It still offers the lowest-cost-per-transaction and fastest DBMS, with significant enhancements to help modernize applications, enable interoperation and integration, streamline installation and management, and enable growth. These enhancements to IMS 12 can also positively impact your bottom line.

June 27 - IMS Enterprise Suite (including IMS Explorer)
These integration solutions and tooling, part of the IMS SOA Integration Suite, support open integration technologies that enable new application development and extend access to IMS transactions and data. New features further simplify IMS application development tasks, and enable them to interoperate outside the IMS environment.

June 28 - IMS Tools Solutions Packs
With all the tools needed to support IMS databases now together in one package, many new features are available. You can reorganize IMS databases only when needed, improve IMS application performance and resource utilization — with faster end-to-end analysis of IMS transactions.
There will be a question-and-answer session at the end of each days program. The teleconference series

There will be a question-and-answer session at the end of each days program.

These will will be detailed all day technical sessions.  If you are interested in attending, here's a link:
http://ibm.co/KsGilO

An interesting DB2 z/OS webcast

On June 12th there is an interesting webcast on what's new in DB2 z/OS and how it relates to using DB2 for operational analytics.  "New DB2 for z/OS capabilities elevate operational analytics on IBM System z" covers the latest innovations with DB2 for z/OS that will help deliver on the operational analytic requirements of  business. IBM experts will discuss new DB2 for z/OS capabilities that will help elevate analytic strategy on System z while reducing overhead.

It's a free webcast.  The event is June 12, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.  If you are interested,  here is a link:
http://ibm.co/JbKKWK

Enabling the IMS Health Workspace in OMEGAMON IMS

OMEGAMON IMS V4.20 added quite a few new workspaces.  You may have noticed a new one called the IMS Health workspace.  This workspace tracks a lot of useful rate/workload counters on a single display, such as enqueue/dequeue rates, CPU rates,  I/O rates, and transaction queue depth.  It's a handy screen to track several useful counters from a single display. 

But what if when you go to the workspace you don't get any information?  There is probably a step you need to take to enable the workspace.  Ironically, in the RKLVLOG for the OMEGAMON IMS TEMA task you may see the following eyecatcher:

KIPDCI35W RKANPAR(KIPIFPRM) MEMBER NOT FOUND                          
KIPDCI38W IMS HEALTH COLLECTOR IS DISABLED; ADD IF1_HEALTH_COLLECTOR=ON IN RKANPAR(KIPIFPRM) TO ENABLE

If you see this eyecatcher, just follow the instructions.  Add the member with the parm as shown in the eyecatcher, recycle the TEMA and you are in business.  Here's an example:

Using SOAP to retrieve history

I've done some prior posts on using the SOAP interface.  SOAP requests are usually used to retrieve real time data from the monitoring infrastructure.   SOAP can be used by a variety of Tivoli tools, and even technologies like System Automation may interface to Tivoli monitoring using SOAP.  What you may not know is that SOAP can also be used to retrieve historical data.

To retrieve history data via SOAP you would use the SOAP CT_GET request, and you need to use the tag (it must be set to “Y”).  There are some subtleties to this process, but it is interesting to be aware that you have the capability.

For an example and more detail here is a link:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21591533&myns=swgtiv&mynp=OCSSZ8F3&mync=R

A couple recent questions

I've had a couple questions come up recently on the blog recently. 

One question was about TACMD.    For those of you who are not familiar with TACMD,  it is a very powerful utility that you use to manage and configure your ITM monitoring infrastructure.  You have commands that allow you to change settings, import or export information (like workspace panels), customize situations and much more.  You can use TACMD to do things like create situations that you cannot create using the Tivoli Portal GUI interface alone.  So TACMD is very powerful, but you need to know what you are doing when you use it.

The questions was if there are any issues I'm aware of with TACMD on Windows Server 2008?  All I can say is I have not run into any issues with TACMD on Win 2008, but I'm just speaking from my own experience on that.

Another question was related to NetView support in the Tivoli Portal.  For those of you who do not know, NetView can connect to the Tivoli Portal and provides you with quite a bit of network information in the Portal. 

The question was is there a charge for the NetView interface?  The answer is no.  It is provided as part of the tool.   You just need to configure it.

Take the new OMEGAMON for a test drive!

If you haven't had a chance to get your hands on the new OMEGAMON enhanced 3270 user interface, now may be your chance.  We will be doing a series of OMEGAMON V5.1 test drive events in the midwest this month.  It will be a chance for you to get hands on usage of the tool in a live z/OS environment.

 Here's the agenda for the events:

09:00 Registration & Breakfast
09:15 What’s New in OMEGAMON with Enhanced 3270 User Interface
10:00 Exploring OMEGAMON with hands-on Exercises on Live System z
Five Lab Test Drives at your choice:
e-3270 Intro, OM zOS v510, OM CICS v510, TEP, TEP-Advanced
11:45 Q&A, Feedback Summary
12:00 Lunch & Learn – Next Generation Performance Automation
13:00 Closing

The OMEGAMON test drives will happen in the following cities (with more likely to follow):

Chicago (at the IBM TEC center downtown)  -  May 8th
St Louis (at the IBM TEC center Hazelwood) - May 15th
Minneapolis (at the IBM office downtown)    -   May 23rd

Whether you are a current OMEGAMON customer or just want to learn more about OMEGAMON, feel free to attend.  The event is free and we will be providing lunch.  To attend, email my colleague Clifford Koch,
cjkoch@us.ibm.com or call (314)-409-2859.

Missing data from the WAREHOUSELOG table

The WAREHOUSELOG table is part of the Tivoli Data Warehouse (TDW) infrastructure.  It's function is to provide an ongoing log of activity into the TDW.  If data is being sent into the TDW, this log is supposed to maintain a history of what data, how much, and if there were any errors as part of the process.  It can be a useful source of information when trying to debug issues with data not making it into the TDW.

Well, with ITM 6.23 there is apparently a change in how this table may be created or used. As of ITM 6.23, there is a new variable KHD_WHLOG_ENABLE which enables/disables the creation of the warehouse log tables to save resources.  The variable default is set to No  (KHD_WHLOG_ENABLE = N ). 

So now the default as of ITM 6.23 is to not log warehouse activity.  This is a change from how the tool used to work (by the way, I'm not a big fan of changes to defaults that alter how a tool has worked for years).  So if you use TDW, and may on occasion need to look at the WAREHOUSELOG, you may want to double check this setting.

Here's a link to a technote on how this is set:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21592074&myns=swgtiv&mynp=OCSSZ8F3&mync=R

Plot chart options in the Tivoli Portal

One of the nice features of the Tivoli Enterprise Portal is the ability to select specific monitoring data and plot that data over time.  Some things are easy to plot in that they are single metric numbers (like LPAR CPU percent, for example).  Other things may be a little trickier.  For example what if you want to plot the CPU usage of multiple address spaces and do it within a single plot chart?

Here's an example of how you can do it.  First, set up your plot chart like you usually would (click and drag the plot chart icon from the tool bar to the desired spot on the workspace).  Next, use the filter options in properties to specify what you want to plot.  In this example we are plotting all the tasks that start with DEMO in the name.  Then click on the Style tab and click on the chart icon.

Now here's the magic.  Notice to the right there is a button that says "Attributes across all rows".  Click this button.  This will enable the plot for each task named DEMO*  in a single plot chart.

Here's an example of the options, and the finished plot chart on the lower left.

Independent blog analysis of OMEGAMON V5.1

I' ve posted quite a bit over the past two months about OMEGAMON z/OS and CICS V5.1.  If you're interested in an analysis from an independent (meaning not IBM) source, check out the Ptak/Noel blog.  Their blog post, "IBM OMEGAMON V5.1 = Good reasons for Customer Interest and Excitement" goes into a good overview of the key features offered in V5.1.

If you want to check out their analysis, here's a link:
http://ptaknoel.com/ibm-omegamon-v5-1-good-reasons-for-customer-interest-and-excitement/