Monitoring resources temporarily

Often, your reasons for monitoring a CICS® resource are temporary. For example, a problem might arise with a particular MRO connection that you solve using real-time analysis for a limited period of time. Also, even if you know that you want monitoring of a resource to be regular and permanent, you are recommended to start by monitoring the resource temporarily, so that you can fine-tune the real-time analysis definitions and assess their results.

Start of changeThis example shows you how to use the Web User Interface to create real-time analysis definitions to monitor temporarily the number of DB2® thread aborts associated with particular transactions (those whose names begin with the letters AB) in particular CICS systems (CICSPA01 and CICSPA02). An external message and an event notification will be issued when the number of DB2 thread aborts goes above the number you specify.

    Start of change
  1. Create a CICS system group.
    1. From the WUI main menu, click Administration views-->Topology administration views-->CICS system group definitions to open the System group definition tabular view.
    2. If the current context is not PLXPROD1, specify PLXPROD1 in the Context field and click Refresh.
    3. Click the Create action button at the bottom of the screen.
    4. Type in the following information:
      System group name
      CSGAORS1
      Description
      AORs CICSPA01 and CICSPA02
    5. Click Yes to confirm. The System group definition tabular view is redisplayed showing an entry for the new group, CSGAORS1. At this point, the group exists, but is empty.
  2. Add CICS systems to the CICS system group
    1. Open the CICS system definition tabular view (Administration views-->Topology administration views-->CICS system definitions) and select the entries for CICSPA01 and CICSPA02.
    2. Click Add to CICS system group, and in the Group which member will join field, type in CSGAORS1.
    3. Click the Yes to 2 remaining button to confirm the operation.
  3. Create an evaluation definition.

    This step, and the two that follow, show which definitions you have to create to tell CICSPlex® SM about the resource condition you’re interested in, and what to do when it occurs. The order in which you create the definitions isn’t particularly important, though the order shown here is probably the most logical.

    Start with the evaluation definition, which tells CICSPlex SM about the resource you’re interested in. Then define the action definition, which tells CICSPlex SM how to notify you when the condition you’ve identified occurs. Finish with the analysis definition, which is basically a link between the evaluation definition and the action definition.

    1. From the main menu, click Administration views-->MAS resource monitoring administration views-->Evaluation definitions to open the Evaluation definition tabular view.
    2. Click the Create action button and provide the following information:
      Evaluation definition name
      RTEPAY02
      Description
      DB2 thread aborts (TRANID AB*)
      Sample interval
      300
      Resource table name
      DB2THRD
      Instance identifier of evaluated resource
      AB*
      Method of evaluating results in result set
      MAX
      Separate task indicator
      NO
      Name of field being evaluated
      ABORTCNT
      Lower bound of range for HW
      20
      Lower bound of range for HS
      40
      Lower bound of range for VHS
      80
      You can leave the remaining fields blank.

      The Sample interval value is the interval at which CICSPlex SM must check the state of the resource. In this example, the number of DB2 thread aborts is to be checked every 300 seconds.

      The evaluation threshold values (Lower bound of range for HW, and so on) tell CICSPlex SM which severity to apply to the event notification. In this example, when the number of DB2 thread aborts reaches 20, the severity value of the event will be HW; when it reaches 40, the severity value of the event will be HS; and when it reaches 80, the severity value of the event will be VHS.

  4. Create an action definition.
    1. From the main menu, click Administration views-->MAS resource monitoring administration views-->Action definitions to open the Action definition tabular view.
    2. Click the Create action button and provide the following information:
      Action name
      RTAPAY02
      Description
      DB2 thread aborts -- High
      Generate event option
      YES
      Name of view that may provide useful information
      2
      DB2THRD
      Action priority
      100
      Message to send when event occurs
      DB2 thread aborts too high
      Generate external message option
      YES
      External message sent when event occurs
      DB2 thread aborts too high
      Generate SNA generic alert option
      NO
      Restart MAS option
      NO
      You can leave the other fields blank.

      You will see the message "DB2 thread aborts too high" when any of the threshold values you have specified is reached. Notice that the field External message sent when event is cleared is left empty. This is because there is no "reverse" condition of a DB2 thread abort.

    3. Click Yes to confirm the operation. The Action definition tabular view is redisplayed and includes an entry for the new definition RTAPAY02.
  5. Create an analysis definition.
    1. From the main menu, click Administration views-->MAS resource monitoring administration views-->Analysis definitions to open the RTA definition tabular view.
    2. Click the Create action button and provide the following information:
      RTA definition name
      RTDPAY02
      Description
      DB2 thread aborts
      Execute evaluation modification string
      NO
      Analysis interval
      300
      Action definition name
      RTAPAY02
      The evaluation count fields (Count of true evaluations before VLS raised and so on) should all contain the default value of 1. You can leave the other fields blank.

      The Analysis interval (300 seconds in this example) controls how often CICSPlex SM looks at the results of the evaluation definition to determine whether the condition has occurred. This interval should not be smaller than the sample interval you specify in the evaluation definition itself, because there is nothing to be gained by assessing the results of the evaluation more frequently than the evaluation itself occurs.

    3. Click Yes to confirm the operation. The RTA definition tabular view is redisplayed and includes an entry for the new definition RTDPAY02.

      At this point, the definitions you need have all been created, but they must be activated by installing the analysis definition RTDPAY02 in the CICS system group CSGAORS1.

  6. Determine whether or not CICS system CICSPAO1 is already associated with an analysis specification.

    To do this; from the WUI main menu, click Administration views-->System availability monitoring administration views-->CICS systems associated with analysis specifications. This opens the tabular view Link RTA specification to CICS system, which lists the associations between CICS systems and RTA specifications.

    If CICSPAO is not associated with an analysis specification, complete steps 8 and 9. If CICSPAO1 is associated with an analysis specification, go to step 10.

  7. Create an analysis specification.
    1. From the WUI main menu, click Administration views-->System availability monitoring administration views-->Analysis specifications to open the RTA specification tabular view
    2. Click the Create action button and type in the following information
      RTA specification name
      RTSPAY02
      Description
      DB2 thread aborts
      You can leave the remaining fields blank.
    3. Click Yes to confirm. The RTA specification tabular view is redisplayed and includes an entry for RTSPAY02.
  8. Set the scope of the analysis specification.

    The next step is to identify the CICS systems that are to use this specification.

    1. Select the entry for RTSPAY02 in the RTA specification tabular view and click Associate CICS group.
    2. In the CICS system group field, type CSGAORS1, and select Force to make all systems in CICS system group CSGAORS1 use this analysis specification.
    3. Click Yes to confirm.
  9. Verify that real-time analysis is active.

    Before you install the definitions, verify that the CICS systems defined in the CICS system group CSGAORS1 have real-time analysis active.

    1. From the main menu, click Administration views-->System availability monitoring administration views-->CICS system definitions to open the CICS system definition tabular view.
    2. Click on the entry for for CICSPAO1:
      • If the Real Time Analysis status field specifies YES or MRM, skip the next step.
      • If the Real Time Analysis status field specifies NO or SAM, return to the CICS system definition tabular view, select the CICS system and click the Update action button. In the Real Time Analysis status field, type YES or MRM and click Yes to confirm.
      Repeat this step for system CICSPAO2.
  10. Install the analysis definition manually.
    1. From the WUI main menu, click Administration views-->MAS resource monitoring administration views-->Analysis definitions to open the RTA definition tabular view.
    2. Select the entry for RTDPAY02 and click the Install action button.
    3. In the Scope value field type in the name of the CICS system group (CSGAORS1, in this example). The analysis definition takes immediate effect in any of the CICS systems in the group that are currently running.

    If you want to check where the analysis definition is currently active, go back to the WUI main menu and click Real Time Analysis (RTA) views-->Real Time Analysis (RTA) installed analysis and status definitions. This view lists the analysis definitions that are currently installed in the CICS systems of the current scope.

  11. End of change
End of change

The analysis definition you’ve just installed will remain active until you deactivate it, or until the CICS systems stop. If you decide, perhaps after some fine-tuning of intervals, that you’re happy with the output you’re getting from this analysis definition, you might want to install it automatically, so that it takes effect at CICS system-startup time and you don’t have to install it manually again. How to do this is described in the next example.


2.
This is a TSO EUI view name

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