HOW TO BUILD A. REQUIREMENTS ROADMAP FOR PROACTIVE IBM i SYSTEM MONITORING A DIVISION OF HELP/SYSTEMS

Transcription

1 HOW TO BUILD A REQUIREMENTS ROADMAP FOR PROACTIVE IBM i SYSTEM MONITORING

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS WHAT TO EXPECT. ALL SEEING. ALL KNOWING. ALL THE TIME. LAST THINGS FIRST. HISTORY LESSONS. CHECKLIST YOUR DETAILED REQUIREMENTS: SYSTEM & APPLICATION MONITORING CHECKLIST YOUR DETAILED REQUIREMENTS: MESSAGE MONITORING & MANAGEMENT HOMESTRETCH TO PROACTIVE SYSTEM MONITORING CCSS how to build a requirements roadmap for proactive ibm i system monitoring

3 WHAT TO EXPECT 1 FROM THIS WHITE PAPER Knowing you need proactive system monitoring in your IBM i environment is one thing, implementing a successful approach is another. It begins with planning. This white paper is for system administrators and managers who are looking for a practical guide to help them maximize a new or existing, proactive approach to system monitoring. It might be that a few simple tweaks are all that is necessary to elevate the overall performance and efficiency of your IBM i to optimal levels. For others, it might require a radical overhaul of both solutions and approach. Either way, this white paper will highlight the must-have monitors, shortcuts to greater efficiency, and checklists of requirements at each stage to get you started. This is how you can build a customized roadmap for proactive IBM i system monitoring. 3 CCSS how to build a requirements roadmap for proactive ibm i system monitoring

4 2 ALL SEEING. ALL KNOWING. ALL THE TIME. If system expectations are set at a level that allows for zero margin of error, administrators and managers will have to look to their resources to achieve the seemingly impossible. No system is immune to problems so the solution lies in the approach to dealing with those problems in the most effective way. Increased visibility will help identify problems but no organization can afford to assign the manpower to watch every component at all times and, even if they could, it s likely that a few would still slip through the cracks we re only human after all. Many automated monitoring solutions exist that can help alleviate the burden of system and message monitoring, but their effectiveness should be judged on the degree of visibility they can offer to potential problems, the time they save, and the flexibility they offer in meeting the specific views and requirements of your existing and developing network. In short, they should accommodate the typical and likely problems that can be anticipated based on your system demands, applications, throughput, and configuration. In addition, they need to provide fast access to information that will pinpoint the cause of unforeseen issues and those that are otherwise difficult to isolate. 4 CCSS how to build a requirements roadmap for proactive ibm i system monitoring

5 3 LAST THINGS FIRST. SETTING END GOALS AND ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS. Before asking how proactive systems monitoring can specifically help your environment, be sure to have a clear vision of the target standards that you aim to achieve. Is your definition of optimal systems performance based on clearly measurable targets like SLAs? Is there a requirement for 24/7 availability for systems and applications? Do requirements include indirect needs for team members (e.g. more time to work on projects or more flexibility to work between locations)? As a starting point, identify your most challenging system issues, even if they are fairly general at this stage. It s a good idea to have a solid understanding of how the system is clearly underperforming, as well as the needs of your team, since this will highlight the areas that require the most urgent attention. 5 CCSS how to build a requirements roadmap for proactive ibm i system monitoring

6 3 CHECKLIST: YOUR HIGH LEVEL REQUIREMENTS NEED MORE TIME NEED GREATER SYSTEM VISIBILITY NEED TO IDENTIFY AND RESOLVE PROBLEMS QUICKLY NEED TO REDUCE RECURRING PROBLEMS NEED TO REDUCE PROBLEMS IMPACTING USERS NEED TO MAINTAIN 24/7 AVAILABILITY OF SYSTEMS NEED TO PINPOINT ISSUES THAT ARISE ON CRITICAL BUSINESS APPLICATIONS NEED TO IDENTIFY HIDDEN DISK USE NEED TO SIMPLIFY MESSAGE MANAGEMENT AND AUTOMATE RESPONSES WHEREVER POSSIBLE 6 CCSS how to build a requirements roadmap for proactive ibm i system monitoring

7 4 An HISTORY LESSONS. underperforming system or network is a waste of resources. Most businesses simply can t afford to profitably operate at less than optimal levels. Performance problems occurring in the following areas typically take the most time and resource to investigate and resolve or, left unattended, are most likely to lead to extremely serious and costly problems such as a lack of availability on the system: Job performance System performance Memory pool performance System configuration Similarly, unattended messaging issues can be just as disruptive to productivity. A missed critical message about an urgent storage condition, an important job that failed to complete on time after-hours and wasn t recognized until the next day, or even a security violation that went undetected all have the potential to derail a smooth-running environment. The key is to use your own systems history as a starting point to identify these known issues. CREATE YOUR OWN HISTORICAL CASE STUDY Using your own experience of issues encountered in your IBM i environment, create a table like the one on page 9 to determine the areas, problems, reasons, consequences, and costs of past issues. Using the performance parameters mentioned above, we ve created a sample case study table for a company who has experienced a number of issues, but these might just as easily include some of the messaging examples also mentioned. 7 CCSS how to build a requirements roadmap for proactive ibm i system monitoring

8 4 The HISTORY LESSONS. following table shows an analysis of problems encountered in the network environment over a three-month period at Company X, a large food manufacturer, and shows the extent that their underperforming network is costing. The environment supports 7,000 users with annual revenues of $1.4 billion. The cost associated with each of these problems is only representative of the time it takes to investigate and resolve the problem, not the additional expenses of further impact such as a loss of availability or additional disk purchase. 8 CCSS how to build a requirements roadmap for proactive ibm i system monitoring

9 4 HISTORY LESSONS. AREA JOB PERFORMANCE SYSTEM PERFORMANCE MEMORY POOL PERFORMANCE SYSTEM CONFIGURATION PROBLEM There is no obvious reason as to why disk space is being rapidly consumed CPU usage is consistently high throughout the day Certain jobs experience poor performance Users complain of poor response times REASON A looping job is consuming vast amounts of temporary storage Several QZDASOINIT take more CPU than they should There is a high rate of faulting in a specific pool indicating too many jobs in the pool or insufficient memory in the pool One IOP is being utilized more than the others CONSEQUENCE Time-consuming investigation and/ or additional disk is required to avert system crash Time-consuming, jobs all have same name, which ones are causing problem Time-consuming, which memory pool are jobs running in, how many jobs are in pool, etc. Time-consuming investigation COST $1,760 1 Annual estimate: $7,040+ $1,210 2 Annual estimate: $4,840+ $79,965 3 Annual estimate: $319,860+ $1,440 4 Annual estimate: $5,760+ KEY 1 Two, 4-hour incidents of wasted profitability hours for two people and two idle workers time 2 One, 6-hour incident affecting a group of ten users running at ½ productivity capacity 3 Three, 3-hour incidents affecting a group of 130 users running at ¼ productivity capacity 4 Two operators at weekend rates to investigate problem still no conclusion after 2 days 9 CCSS how to build a requirements roadmap for proactive ibm i system monitoring

10 4 GIVE HISTORY LESSONS. YOURSELF THE BENEFIT OF HINDSIGHT If only Company X knew that a looping job was the cause of their disk space problem If only scenarios torment us with facts that, had they been known in advance, could have made a positive difference to the outcome. While no solution can turn back the hands of time, it is possible to anticipate problems before they escalate in severity and impact user productivity. By monitoring all the critical elements of the system in real time and only being alerted to exceptions (i.e. those that breach their optimal boundaries), managers can use their problem-solving time to best effect. FUTURE-PROOF THE IBM i TO UNKNOWN THREATS With your case study completed, you will already be aware of the most common problems that have occurred on your system or network. Accounting for unknown future problems presents a bigger challenge, but one that can be met by considering the types of demands that are placed on your system and determining the impact your particular combination of applications, jobs, and configuration has on your daily operations. 10 CCSS how to build a requirements roadmap for proactive ibm i system monitoring

11 5 CHECKLIST YOUR DETAILED REQUIREMENTS: SYSTEM & APPLICATION MONITORING To find a solution that meets both your present and future problems, it s important to ensure the solution meets a checklist of requirements that can accommodate both present and future needs. Breaking these down into sections will help cover each area of your requirements. Even if you have not experienced the problems associated with the areas below, ask yourself how likely they would be to occur in your environment as well as the extent of their impact. Would you know about them in real time and be proactive to the situation, or only react after system performance, disk resources, or application availability was compromised? 11 CCSS how to build a requirements roadmap for proactive ibm i system monitoring

12 5 CHECKLIST YOUR DETAILED REQUIREMENTS: SYSTEM & APPLICATION MONITORING CPU UTILIZATION SHOWING REAL-TIME CURRENT USERS AND HISTORICAL TRENDS CACHE BATTERY STATUS IDENTIFYING WHICH CACHE BATTERIES REQUIRE REPLACING COMMUNICATIONS MONITORING FOR LINE STATUS AND IP PORT STATUS DASD MONITORING FOR REAL-TIME LIB AND OBJ SIZE AND COUNT DISK UTILIZATION TRACK SUDDEN GROWTH IN LIBRARIES AND OBJECTS (INCLUDING QTEMP LIBRARIES) DISTRIBUTION QUEUES STATUS AND NUMBER OF ENTRIES REMOTE JOURNAL LAG MONITORING FOR HIGH AVAILABILITY IFS ANALYSIS AT DIRECTORY AND OBJECT LEVEL JOB QUEUES MONITORED FOR JOB TIME ON QUEUE, NUMBER OF JOBS ON QUEUE, AND QUEUE STATUS MONITOR FOR JOB RUN TIME 12 CCSS how to build a requirements roadmap for proactive ibm i system monitoring

13 5 CHECKLIST YOUR DETAILED REQUIREMENTS: SYSTEM & APPLICATION MONITORING JOB STATUS/PERFORMANCE MONITORING FOR JOB STATUS, NUMBER OF JOBS WITH A PARTICULAR STATUS OR IN ANY SUBSYSTEM, PERFORMANCE METRICS SUCH AS CPU, DISK I/O, AND PAGE FAULTS JOURNAL MONITORING TO INCLUDE STATUS AND TOTAL SIZE OF ALL RECEIVERS ATTACHED TO THE JOURNAL MEMORY POOL MONITORING FOR BOTTLENECKS SUCH AS HIGH PAGE FAULTING FOR DATABASE AND NON-DATABASE METRICS NETWORK FILE MONITORING FOR NUMBER OF FILES FOR A SPECIFIC USER PTF MANAGEMENT ACROSS MULTIPLE SYSTEMS FOR IDENTIFYING MISMATCHED UPDATES REPORTING/GROWTH PROJECTION ON ALL SYSTEM METRICS WITH HISTORICAL DATA TCP PORT STATUS INCLUDING LISTENER STATUS AND NUMBER OF SESSIONS IN KEY APPLICATIONS TEMPORARY STORAGE TOTALS ALLOCATED BY SELECTED JOBS BUSINESS/USER-DEFINED APPLICATION MONITORING OF ANY ELEMENT OF ANY APPLICATION RUNNING ON THE IBM i THROUGH CL OR SQL INTERFACES 13 CCSS how to build a requirements roadmap for proactive ibm i system monitoring

14 6 CHECKLIST YOUR DETAILED REQUIREMENTS: MESSAGE MONITORING & MANAGEMENT A proactively monitored messaging environment increases efficiency and saves time for the team or individual tasked with managing it. Using automation to filter and auto-respond to the bulk of informational messages clears the clutter from the console view and means administrators will be able to focus on critical messages that require their attention. Use the following checklist to identify areas where you could implement a highly automated and proactive approach to your message monitoring and management. 14 CCSS how to build a requirements roadmap for proactive ibm i system monitoring

15 6 CHECKLIST YOUR DETAILED REQUIREMENTS: MESSAGE MONITORING & MANAGEMENT USE RULE-BASED MESSAGE PROCESSING TO CATCH ALL INSTANCES OF CRITICAL ERROR MESSAGES AUDIT JOURNAL MONITORING TO DETECT BREACHES IN SECURITY PROTOCOL SUCH AS AUTHORIZATION/PASSWORD FAILURES AND UNEXPECTED CHANGES IN SYSTEM VALUES FTP ACTIVITIES MONITORED, BI-DIRECTIONAL FTP COMMAND ACTIVITY AUTHORIZATION LISTS/AUDIT TRAILS TO DETERMINE WHO CAN SEE, REPLY TO, OR DELETE MESSAGES AUTOMATIC MESSAGE CLEANUP TO CLEAR THE CONSOLE OF STAGNANT MESSAGES BASED ON MESSAGE AGE, MESSAGE REPLY STATUS, SENDING JOB NO LONGER ACTIVE TRACING, SIMULATION, AND LISTS FUNCTIONALITIES FOR ADVANCED MESSAGE RULE MANAGEMENT AND MESSAGE RULE TESTING, AND FOR TUNING MESSAGE RULES PERFORMANCE DATABASE ACCESS MONITORING IN REAL TIME FOR IDENTIFYING ANY ACCESS TO SENSITIVE DATA OR FILES; PINPOINT WHO TOOK WHAT ACTION (i.e. READ, WRITE, DELETE, AND UPDATE); MONITOR FOR NATIVE AND SQL ACCESS; FILTER DATABASE ACCESS MESSAGES BY CATEGORIES SUCH AS SYSTEM GROUP, JOB NAME, FILE TYPE, AND MORE 15 CCSS how to build a requirements roadmap for proactive ibm i system monitoring

16 7 HOMESTRETCH TO PROACTIVE SYSTEMS MONITORING Your historical case study, plus high level and detailed requirements, collectively form a roadmap of what you expect your automated monitoring solutions to deliver. The sum of these benefits will be a proactive approach to monitoring your systems that will increase efficiency, visibility, and maximize the productivity of the users that depend on highly available and performing systems and applications. With your appropriate solutions in place, you will have accounted for all the past, present, and future issues of your IBM i. You can t anticipate every problem that will arise on the system, but you can be prepared to identify and resolve them in real time with a proactive approach. The screenshots below are examples from the latest versions of QSystem Monitor and QMessage Monitor. These solutions provide the proactive, real-time monitoring capabilities discussed in this white paper, plus additional functionality for detailed insights into system, application, and message issues. 16 CCSS how to build a requirements roadmap for proactive ibm i system monitoring

17 7 If HOMESTRETCH TO PROACTIVE SYSTEMS MONITORING you re ready to take advantage of proactive monitoring on your IBM i, contact the systems monitoring experts at CCSS to discuss how we can assist you in achieving the full, proactive potential of your environment. ABOUT CCSS CCSS, a division of Help/Systems, offers flexible, affordable solutions to monitor performance and manage messages on Power Systems running IBM i, plus unparalleled preventative protection against threats to system performance and availability. CCSS has offices in the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany, with strong partnerships across the globe and a successful, worldwide agent network. FOR MORE INFORMATION Visit or info@ccssltd.com to schedule your customized demonstration and learn how CCSS solutions can help you achieve your system performance and messaging goals (0) (228) info@ccssltd.com CCSS A Division of Help/Systems. All trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 091ROAD3