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iSeries Performance AgentUser Guide

9.0VMC-ISE

VISUAL Message Center iSeries Performance Agent User Guide

The software described in this book is furnished under a license agreement and may be used only in

accordance with the terms of the agreement.

Copyright Notice

Copyright © 2015 Tango/04 All rights reserved.

Document date: January 2015

Document version: 2.3

Product version: 9.0

No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language or computer language, in any form or by any means, electronic mechani-cal, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Tango/04.

Trademarks

Any references to trademarked product names are owned by their respective companies.

Technical Support

For technical support visit our web site at www.tango04.com.

Tango/04 Computing Group S.L. Avda. Meridiana 358, 5 A-B Barcelona, 08027 Spain

Tel: +34 93 274 0051

http:\\www.tango04.com

http:\\www.tango04.com

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Table of Contents .............................................................................. iii

How to Use this Guide........................................................................ ix

Chapter 1

Introduction ...................................................................................... 11.1. Benefits of VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent..............................1

1.2. What is New?..................................................................................................2

Chapter 2

Starting VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent ............................. 3

Chapter 3

VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent Control Panel...................... 53.1. Console Navigation.........................................................................................6

3.1.1. File Menu ..................................................................................................6

3.1.2. System Menu ............................................................................................7

3.1.3. Chart Menu ...............................................................................................8

3.1.4. Alarm Menu...............................................................................................9

3.1.5. Snapshot Menu (iSeries Console only).....................................................9

3.1.6. Integration With Other Products................................................................9

3.1.7. The Cursor ................................................................................................9

3.1.8. Sub Panel Formats ...................................................................................9

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Chapter 4

Configuring the Console.................................................................... 104.1. Alarms...........................................................................................................10

4.2. Create a website ...........................................................................................10

4.3. Refresh Rate ...............................................................................................10

4.4. Status Information.........................................................................................11

Chapter 5

Understanding the iSeries Panel........................................................ 125.1. iSeries System Information Bar ....................................................................12

5.2. The Upper Section ........................................................................................12

5.2.1. CPU and Disk..........................................................................................13

5.2.2. CPU Utilization per Job ...........................................................................13

5.2.3. CPU Utilization per Job / User / Subsystem............................................14

5.3. The Middle Section .......................................................................................15

5.3.1. Response Time / NetStats ......................................................................15

5.3.2. Memory Assignment ...............................................................................16

5.4. The Lower Section ........................................................................................16

5.4.1. Communication Lines .............................................................................17

5.4.2. Integrated Products.................................................................................17

5.4.3. System Jobs and Interactions .................................................................17

Chapter 6

Understanding the Windows Panel .................................................... 206.1. The Upper Section ........................................................................................20

6.1.1. Thermometers.........................................................................................20

6.2. Lower Left Section ........................................................................................21

6.2.1. Top CPU and Memory Consumption .....................................................22

6.2.2. Usage of Logical and Physical Disk .......................................................22

6.2.3. Occupation of Logical Disk .....................................................................22

6.3. The Lower Right Section...............................................................................22

6.3.1. Network Traffic .......................................................................................23

6.3.2. Processes ..............................................................................................23

6.3.3. Swapping ...............................................................................................23

Chapter 7

Using Charts.................................................................................... 247.1. Single System Charts for iSeries ..................................................................24

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7.2. Single System Charts for Windows...............................................................25

7.3. Customized Mono System Charts ................................................................26

7.4. Multi System Charts......................................................................................27

7.5. Micro Charts..................................................................................................28

7.6. Exporting and Importing Charts ....................................................................28

7.7. User-Defined Tooltips ...................................................................................29

7.8. Defining a Chart Threshold ...........................................................................29

7.9. Chart Properties............................................................................................30

Chapter 8

Monitoring Network Statistics (iSeries Only) ....................................... 318.1. Adding, Editing, and Deleting a Service........................................................31

Chapter 9

Using Alarms................................................................................... 339.1. Configuring Alarms .......................................................................................33

9.1.1. Filter Definition Window .........................................................................34

9.1.2. Creating a New Alarm.............................................................................36

9.1.3. Testing the Alarm ...................................................................................38

9.1.4. Password-Protecting Alarms...................................................................40

9.2. Alarm Actions................................................................................................40

9.2.1. Send an E-mail........................................................................................40

9.2.2. Play a Sound...........................................................................................41

9.2.3. Execute a PC Program ..........................................................................41

9.2.4. Annotate in the NT Event Log ................................................................42

9.2.5. Show a Window ....................................................................................42

9.2.6. Execute an SNMP Trap ........................................................................42

9.2.7. Execute a DLL Function..........................................................................42

9.2.8. Execute an AS/400 Command Sequence...............................................42

9.2.9. Save Snapshot (iSeries only)..................................................................43

9.2.10. Send an SMS Message .......................................................................43

9.2.11. Send a Remote Message (Net Send) ...................................................43

9.2.12. Send to Escalation List .........................................................................43

9.2.13. Action Sets ...........................................................................................43

9.2.14. Alarm Log..............................................................................................43

9.2.15. Dependencies .......................................................................................44

9.2.16. Pre-Actions............................................................................................44

9.2.17. Post-actions ..........................................................................................44

9.2.18. Repetitions ............................................................................................44

9.3. Conditions for an Alarm to Occur..................................................................44

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Chapter 10

Pre-Process Actions .......................................................................... 4510.1. Pre-Process Actions Window .....................................................................45

10.1.1. Pre-process List Hierarchy ...................................................................45

10.2. Creating Pre-Processes .............................................................................46

10.2.1. Filters ...................................................................................................46

10.2.2. Expressions...........................................................................................47

10.3. Creating Variables ......................................................................................48

10.4. VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent functions ............................48

10.4.1. IS_DATE_IN_CALENDAR....................................................................48

10.4.2. GET_SNMP .........................................................................................48

Chapter 11

Using the Web Site Creation Tool ...................................................... 5011.1. Default Web Site Templates .......................................................................50

11.1.1. Basic Info Template ..............................................................................50

11.1.2. Charts Template....................................................................................51

11.2. Customizing your Web Site ........................................................................52

11.2.1. Files to Process Dialog Box ..................................................................52

11.2.2. Adding a New File .................................................................................53

11.2.3. Editing an Existing File..........................................................................53

11.2.4. Deleting a File .......................................................................................54

11.2.5. Moving Files ..........................................................................................55

11.3. Creating the Web Site.................................................................................55

Chapter 12

Working With Snapshots (iSeries Only) ............................................. 5612.1. ODBC connectivity......................................................................................57

Chapter 13

Integration with iSeries Products ....................................................... 5813.1. VISUAL Message Center iSeries Support Agent .......................................58

13.2. VISUAL Message Center iSeries Performance Manager ..........................59

13.3. VISUAL Control LPAR Tuner .....................................................................59

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Chapter 14

Summary ....................................................................................... 6014.1. Additional Information .................................................................................60

Chapter 15

Troubleshooting and Uninstalling the Product..................................... 6115.1. Product Menu..............................................................................................61

15.2. Product License Key ...................................................................................61

15.3. Problems with TCP/IP Connection .............................................................62

15.4. Upgrade Instructions...................................................................................62

15.4.1. On the PC .............................................................................................62

15.4.2. On the iSeries .......................................................................................62

15.5. Uninstall Instructions...................................................................................62

15.5.1. On the PC .............................................................................................62

15.5.2. On the iSeries .......................................................................................62

Appendices

Appendix A: Using IBM WebSphere Portal Server ................................ 63A.1. Storing the Performance Portal files on the server.......................................63

A.1.1. Open the Web site configuration from the main menu-bar ....................63

A.1.2. Edit the output directories of the Performance Portal .............................64

A.1.3. Save the Performance Portal charts to the Web Server.........................64

A.2. How to set up your IBM WebSphere Portal Server to work with the Performance Portal ............................................................................................65

A.2.1. Installing Web Page Portlet version 5.0..................................................65

A.2.2. Configuring Web Page Portlet version 5.0 .............................................65

A.3. Adding the Performance Portal to Your Web Site ........................................66

A.3.1. Adding a Portal Page and Place.............................................................66

A.3.2. Add Portlets to Page ..............................................................................66

A.4. Checking the Results....................................................................................67

Appendix B: Monitoring UNIX/Linux parameters with VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent ................................................. 68

B.1. Before you get started ..................................................................................69

B.2. Required Configuration.................................................................................69

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Appendix C: Contacting Tango/04...................................................... 71

About Tango/04 Computing Group .................................................... 73

Legal Notice .................................................................................... 74

© 2015 Tango/04 Computing Group Page viii

How to Use this Guide

© 2015 Tango/04 Computing Group Page ix

How to Use this Guide

This chapter explains how to use Tango/04 User Guides and understand the typographical conventions

used in all Tango/04 documentation.

Typographical Conventions

The following conventional terms, text formats, and symbols are used throughout Tango/04 printed

documentation:

Convention Description

Boldface Commands, on-screen buttons and menu options.

Blue Italic References and links to other sections in the manual or further documentation containing relevant information.

Italic Text displayed on screen, or variables where the user must substitute their own details.

Monospace Input commands such as System i commands or code, or text that users must type in.

UPPERCASEKeyboard keys, such as CTRL for the Control key and F5 for the function key that is labeled F5.

Notes and useful additional information.

Tips and hints that will improve the users experience of working with this product.

Important additional information that the user is strongly advised to note.

Warning information. Failure to take note of this information could potentially lead to serious problems.

Introduction

Chapter 11 Introduction

VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent is Tango/04’s solution for dynamically monitoring your

iSeries and Windows systems. In addition you can monitor UNIX and other systems from the same

console. VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent presents you with a single screen from which you

can see, at a glance, the current status of the main factors affecting the performance of your system,

letting you make any necessary changes quickly and effectively. This graphical control cockpit for your

iSeries, Windows, UNIX and other networks collects, analyzes, and reacts to thousands of performance

metrics many times per minute.

This User Guide gives you an overview of VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent and shows you

how to use each of the features so that you can get up and running straight away, monitoring your

systems with predefined panel configurations and alarms active as soon as you’ve specified the first

system to monitor. After an introduction to the console, you will learn how to navigate through the

product, how the information is organized, and how to drill down to find out more about system

performance. You will learn how to create alarms and actions to alert the operator to systems

performance problems and automate their resolution.

1.1 Benefits of VISUAL Message Center Performance AgentTraditionally, monitoring just a few systems can be a time-consuming task; any more than a few, and it’s

a full time job. With VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent you can easily monitor large numbers

of iSeries and Windows systems at the same time using minimal system resources. This includes any

iSeries or Windows machine connected over your network. And if you are using iSeries machines you

can even control them via the Internet. Just tell VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent which

systems you wish to monitor and it will take care of the monitoring process for you. System Usage

trends can be easily displayed using the predefined charts. If you like, you can use the advanced

charting feature to customize the predefined charts or even create your own charts.

But what happens when a problem occurs? Monitoring systems is one thing, but it is critical to ensure

that someone is alerted to a problem and that action is taken to resolve it. No problem with «VCW». The

alarms feature really makes VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent such a powerful tool.

Using the graphical on-screen prompts, simply tell each alarm what you want it to do when the alarm

condition is detected, who you want to notify, how you want them to be notified (including by e-mail and

SMS), and you can even tell the alarm to automatically take corrective action immediately without any

user intervention.

© 2015 Tango/04 Computing Group Page 1

Introduction

1.2 What is New?• Fully Windows enabled: VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent is now really for

Windows! You can monitor any Windows system just as easily as the iSeries, or even your

business applications (provided these applications write information to the PC data area).

Alarms and the information portal have also been enhanced to process Windows data offering

you full control over your Windows and iSeries systems, wherever you are.

• New Windows Control Panel: There is a new control panel for monitoring Windows systems,

in addition to the control panel for iSeries you are already familiar with. VISUAL Message

Center Performance Agent will switch between the two panels as it receives new information

for one system or other so that you can always see the latest information. Or, if you prefer, you

can add charts for Windows parameters into your iSeries control panel to create one global

view of your systems.

• Micro-charts: In addition to providing you with current system performance information,

version 9.01 offers immediate insight into performance trends, thus allowing you to spot

potential problem areas at-a-glance. For every thermometer in the control panel you will find a

number of micro-charts that indicate performance trends for the last ten measurements, last

hour and over the last day. Double click any micro-chart for details regarding the performance

• ALEV 1.5: ALEV 1.5 comes with scripting capabilities, i.e. ability to include processing logic in

calculations – in the form of structured statements. It also includes a range of new functions

and new aliases for existing functions. In ALEV 1.5 performance has been increased 200%!


Starting VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent

Chapter 22 Starting VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent

From the Windows Start menu point to Programs, choose VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent,

and select VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent. The VISUAL Message Center Performance

Agent splash screen appears.

Click Link. The NiceLink Configurator appears, where you can select the systems you would like to

monitor. In VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent 8.00 and higher, NiceLink automatically

recognizes any new systems you add without having to restart the program.

Once you have selected the systems to connect to, click OK, and then click Connect.

Figure 1 – NiceLink Connection Screen

Important for iSeries users: It is possible that, when trying to connect to VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent,

you receive an error if you are using a user profile different to the profile used to install the

product. You may also receive an error saying that this user is not authorized to use the

product at the selected system. To solve this problem, you must add the current user profile

to the server.


Starting VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent

If you want to install or uninstall VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent as a service from the

Windows Start menu, open the Windows Start menu, point to Programs, select VISUAL Message

Center Performance Agent, and click Service. When VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent is

installed as a service, each time Windows starts you will skip the VISUAL Message Center Performance

Agent splash screen and go directly to the Control Panel.

Important for Windows users: It is possible that, when VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent tries to connect to a

Windows system, you receive an error that you do not have the required user rights. To

solve this problem, either enter a different user for this connection (NiceLink) or add the

appropriate rights to the current user.


VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent Control Panel

Chapter 3 3 VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent Control Panel

When you click Connect in the VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent splash screen, the main

VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent Control Panel appears. You will be prompted to sign on to

each system for which you defined a connection in NiceLink.

When you have connected successfully, VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent will perform an

initial data-retrieval from the system and the console will then reflect the current state of your system.

Figure 2 – VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent Windows Control Panel

If you are connected to both Windows and iSeries systems the control panel will change as soon as new

information is received for any one of the systems, so that you always have the latest information on

Note After installation, the Allow Alarms option will be selected and alarms will be active. Some of

the predefined alarms supplied with VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent may be

triggered and display some alarm message windows. For now, disable alarm checking by

deselecting the Allow Alarms option in the upper-right corner of the panel.



your display. To get to know the different control panels see Chapter 5 - Understanding the iSeries Panel

on page 12 and Chapter 6 - Understanding the Windows Panel on page 20.

3.1 Console NavigationThe console is much more than a simple panel showing your systems status — now you will learn how

to access all of the features.

Figure 3 – Menu and Toolbar

At the top of the console you will see the menu and toolbar from which you can access all of the features

in VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent. Many of these can also be accessed by:

• Choosing a menu (such as File / Preferences / Options…).

• Clicking an icon on the toolbar (below the menu bar).

• Right-clicking an item on the console to display the context menu available to you for this item.

• In some cases, you can use a shortcut (for example Ctrl + M for NiceLink Multi-system).

Following is a description of the main functionality you can access from the control panel.

3.1.1 File MenuThe Open, Save, and Save as options are related to personalizing the console profile. When you start

VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent for the first time, the console will use the default profile,

but you can make changes and save these. When you save a profile, the refresh intervals, window

positions, configured alarms, settings for creating the Web site, Options settings in file preference, and

snapshot options are included.

You can then use this profile the next time you start VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent by

selecting Open from the file menu or by clicking the Open icon on the toolbar. If you have multiple

systems connected and you customize the console differently for each one, you can save all the

changes within one profile.

The Import Configuration and Export Configuration options allow you to import and export registry

files containing all the information and sub-configurations contained in VISUAL Message Center

Performance Agent so you can view it seamlessly on another computer using the program.

File / Preferences

When you click Options, you can specify the following:

• If you want to be prompted before closing the program

• If you want to connect to the selected system when the program starts

• If you want to automatically reconnect to your system if there is a communication failure (Smart

Reconnect)

• If you want to view all detail windows when you double-click a chart

• Intervals to reconnect systems, intervals between two measurements in the connected

systems, and timeout to receive data from connected systems

• The amount of time that messages should be displayed on screen



• Whether and where you want to save charts after the screen is refreshed

• Whether you want to give users a notification in the Performance Portal, and what you want the

notification to tell them

• Whether you want to work in Safe Mode where repetition counters and other information is

saved in case VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent goes offline (Alarms tab)

Within Font you can specify the font type and size of the console’s display.

The Show Menu option allows you to toggle on and off the presence of the menu bar. To view the menu

bar again, right-click anywhere in the console and choose Unhide menu bar or press Ctrl + W.

The Toolbar visible option allows you to toggle on and off the presence of the toolbar. You can right-

click anywhere in the console and choose Show toolbar or press F9 to view the toolbar again.

With Edit Tooltip… you can use Microsoft Word to edit ToolTipControlPanel.doc, which contains

the text that displays when you mouse over the Control Panel System Information area.

With Edit Pool Names… you can edit all the pool names from one central location. Note this option is

for iSeries users only.

Choosing Print from the File menu sends the current console image to the printer.

3.1.2 System MenuChoose Select… or Select Multisystem… to display the NiceLink Configurator (you can also click the

toolbar icons shown at left). The systems you specify here are the ones for which information is

gathered and where actions (such as alarms and snapshots) will take place.

Choose Refresh for an immediate update of the data from the connected systems.

Choose Refresh Rate to set the interval of measurement used to retrieve data from the connected

systems. This interval is the waiting time between two successive measures. For more information, see

Chapter 4.3 - Refresh Rate on page 10.

Choose Pause/Play to change the current mode of the control panel. While in play mode the console

panel will refresh according to the configured check interval.

Choose AS/400 Command entry to display the AS/400 command entry window. For more information,

see see the AS/400 Command Entry Window section on page 15. This option is for control of iSeries

systems only.

Choosing Execute SOS (shortcut Ctrl + V) lets you execute the SOS command on your iSeries (this

option is not applicable for Windows systems). The SOS command changes the execution attributes of

jobs using a higher amount of CPU than the defined limit. Once executed, SOS displays a message

telling you the number of jobs that have been changed and how many did not require any change. You

can display the jobs have been penalized by using the command DSPCHGJOB.

To use Explore Source Members and Explore System Objects, VISUAL Message Center iSeries

Support Agent must be installed. See Chapter 13.1 - VISUAL Message Center iSeries Support Agent

on page 58 for more details. These options are available for iSeries only.

Choose System Properties… to display the detailed system properties of the currently selected

system.

Choose View System Variables… to display a list of performance variables used by VISUAL Message

Center Performance Agent (not iSeries or Windows system values) and their current values. These are



very useful for creating conditions in your alarms (see Chapter 9 - Using Alarms on page 33 for more

information).

Figure 4 – Available Variables window

Choose Edit Global variables to configure your own global values. See Chapter 10.3 - Creating

Variables on page 48 for more information.

Choose Edit Customized System Variables to start creating customized system values. For details

see Chapter 10.3 - Creating Variables on page 48.

Choose Preprocess Actions to display the Preprocess Actions window. For more information about

preprocesses see Chapter 10 - Pre-Process Actions on page 45.

Choose Post-process actions/Edit Web Site… to select the files processed each time a data update

occurs for an iSeries.

3.1.3 Chart MenuThe advanced charting feature lets you customize your charts as you wish. Have a look at the various

options available and try selecting different chart types. These are also available by double-clicking on

the chart or graph in the console.

Figure 5 – iSeries Chart Menu

You can view Single System or Multi-system charts, or create your own chart view by choosing

Customized Charts and then Mono System Chart Manager. In Multi-system, you can see information

from several connected systems. To configure Multi-system mode, press Ctrl + M to display the

NiceLink Configurator. For more information on charts, see Chapter 7 - Using Charts on page 24.

Choose TCP/IP – NetStats Services Statistics to monitor the various services on your systems, such

as FTP, Telnet, and HTTP. For more information, see Chapter 8 - Monitoring Network Statistics (iSeries

Only) on page 31.

The predefined charts available from the chart menu will differ depending on the platform you are

connected to. Figure 5 shows the options for an iSeries system. Obviously the charts menu for a

Windows system will offer different charts. For details see the chapter Chapter 7 - Using Charts on

page 24 of this guide.



3.1.4 Alarm MenuAlarms are one of the most important features of VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent. The

default alarms available from this menu mostly apply to iSeries systems. In future releases you will find

more predefined alarms for Windows in this menu. For more information on alarms, see Chapter 9 -

Using Alarms on page 33

3.1.5 Snapshot Menu (iSeries Console only)A snapshot is a picture of the retrieved data of the iSeries to which VISUAL Message Center

Performance Agent is connected, saved for further analysis. You can save snapshots automatically at

measured intervals so that you can, for example, analyze iSeries data, throughout an entire day.

You can browse the saved snapshots for the system in the Panel using the Snapshot Rapid

Investigator toolbar, helping you diagnose past performance problems. In Film Mode, you can easily

review performance details for past intervals, including the new top ten job data windows and custom

user data values, to identify bottlenecks and abuses that are contributing to poor or unpredictable

system response time. See also Chapter 12 - Working With Snapshots (iSeries Only) on page 56 for

more details

Figure 6 – Rapid Investigator toolbar

3.1.6 Integration With Other ProductsThere are some options that will only be displayed if you have the relevant product installed, such as

VISUAL Message Center iSeries Support Agent, VISUAL Control for Jobs, VISUAL Control for Pools,

and VISUAL Control LPAR Tuner. These products are only available for iSeries. See Chapter 13 -

Integration with iSeries Products on page 58 for an overview of these products.

3.1.7 The CursorWhen you mouse-over certain items, the cursor becomes a magnifying glass when further information or

options are available for that item. For other items, a small window may also appear providing more

details. For example, a specific bar on a chart or slice of a pie chart may display more detailed

information about the chart when the cursor is positioned over it.

3.1.8 Sub Panel FormatsThe main console panel is split into sub panels, each of which may take the format of a graph, chart, or

text display. In some of the sub panels a small blue arrow indicates that the display format may be

changed to any of the predefined formats that you will see if you click the arrow. If only two formats are

available, clicking the arrow will toggle the sub panel to the other format available.

You can double-click most of the sub panels to display the

chart design window, which shows a larger version of the

chart. This new window provides many options for

customizing the chart design.

Many of the charts already have a predefined selection of

formats, so you can display whichever one you want just by

clicking a chart style from the icons displayed at the top.

In some of the text display panels you will see Plus ( + ) or Minus ( - ) signs on the left. Clicking these will

either expand or collapse the number of lines displayed for that item.


Configuring the Console

Chapter 4 4 Configuring the Console

Now that you are familiar with the main controls for navigating VISUAL Message Center Performance

Agent, you can begin to configure the console and how you are going to monitor your iSeries or

Windows system.

4.1 AlarmsThe Allow Alarms option on the upper-right side of the console activates and deactivates alarm

checking. Leave the Allow Alarms option deselected while you configure your system.

Clicking the Alarm Configure button on the toolbar displays the Alarms dialog box where you can

configure and perform all the alarm management functions.

For more information on alarms, see Chapter 9 - Using Alarms on page 33.

4.2 Create a websiteThe first time you create a Web site you will need to check the box create a Web site.

Afterwards you only need to click the button to go to the Web pages. For more information see Chapter

11 - Using the Web Site Creation Tool on page 50.

4.3 Refresh Rate Click and drag the Refresh Rate sliding bar in the lower right corner of the console to set the refresh

rate from anywhere between half a second to one hour. Set the refresh rate to approximately two

minutes while working through this Guide so the console has some current data to display.

Figure 7 – Refresh Rate slide bar

You can specify how often the Control Panel refreshes with a calendar. For example, you can have it

refresh every evening.

Step 1. From the File menu point to Preferences, choose Options and select the Intervals tab.

Step 2. Click Change. The Refresh Rate dialog box appears.


Configuring the Console

Figure 8 – Refresh Rate dialog box

Step 3. Select the Activate Alternative Interval option and then click the Calendar icon.

Step 4. Select the calendar you want to use or create a new one and select the days and hours

you would like the Control Panel to refresh.

The data only shows systems status from the last refresh (automatic or manual). As you have now set

the refresh rate to two minutes, what you see on the console maybe up to two minutes old. If you want

up-to-the-minute information, press F5 or the Refresh icon.

4.4 Status Information

Figure 9 – Status Bar

At the lower left of the console is the date and time of the last measurement (the last time data was

retrieved from the system) and the last interval (interval between the two last retrievals of the iSeries

data). The Date and Time is the system date and time, not the PC data and time. This could be

important if you are monitoring systems that operate in different time zones. See the online help for

more information.

Displayed in the center is the current connection status of the system. The color changes according to

the status.

• Green = Connected

• Red = Disconnected

• Yellow = Paused or Snapshot Mode


Understanding the iSeries Panel

Chapter 55 Understanding the iSeries Panel

The iSeries panel is very intuitive and easy to use. There are two different panels available: one for

Windows systems and one for iSeries. Depending on what system (iSeries or Windows) you connect

VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent to, the control panel will display the iSeries or the

Windows panel. If you are connected to both types of systems then the control panel will switch between

the two types as soon as data for one or other system is retrieved.

The following sections explain the functions of the iSeries panel.

5.1 iSeries System Information BarIn the iSeries System Information bar you will see the name of your system along with its model number,

serial number, OS version, CPW and Interactive CPW, and other system values.

Figure 10 – iSeries System Information bar

The system variables displayed here are different in the Windows control panel.

The information displayed in the console is related to the system whose name is shown. You can select

any connected system from this drop-down menu.

5.2 The Upper SectionThe upper section contains measurements for CPU and Disk, as well as CPU Utilization by Job, by User

and by Subsystem. You can also toggle alarms on and off and create a Web site.

Note CPW and Interactive CPW values are not retrieved from the system, as the OS does not

offer them. The values for each specific Model/Submodel are stored in the JOBCTL/JCPREL

table and retrieved by VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent. That table can be

modified if the shipped value does not show the real value, or if your Model/Submodel is not

on the list.

Note Modified records on JOBCTL/JCPREL are not migrated when VISUAL Message Center

Performance Agent is upgraded, so you will have to enter them again.



Figure 11 – Upper Section iSeries Control Panel

5.2.1 CPU and DiskThe two thermometers at the top left show the CPU and Disk utilization as a percent of the resources

available. A CPU utilization pie chart is also displayed in the main panel. Double-click the Disk % to see

details for individual ASPs.

Figure 12 – Using V5R3 and VCJ/P 8.76

There are two additional gauges displayed in systems running OS/400 V5R3 and VISUAL Control for

Jobs/Pools 8.76 or greater. The thermometer titled %MACH shows the CPU use as a percent of the total

system. The %INT thermometer displays the level of interactive activity as a percent of the interactive

capacity available.

The colors of the thermometers change according to the utilization levels:

• Green < 25%

• Blue > 25%

• Yellow > 50%

• Red > 75%

Three Micro-charts are displayed next to each thermometer. See Chapter 7.5 - Micro Charts on page 28

for an explanation of micro-charts.

5.2.2 CPU Utilization per JobTo the right of the thermometers, a bar chart shows data for the 6 jobs using the most CPU. Double-click

the bar chart to see a chart showing the top 10 CPU using jobs.

Example of an Alarm

You could set an alarm to warn you if the disk usage threshold is exceeded on each system, including

by ASP.



Figure 13 – CPU Use per Job – Chart and List

5.2.3 CPU Utilization per Job / User / SubsystemTo the right of the CPU Use per job bar chart is a list of to 10 jobs using the most CPU. In addition, you

can measure CPU Utilization by Subsystem or User.

Figure 14 – CPU use by User and by Subsystem

Click the plus (+) signs to expand the information shown in the lists.

The Top CPU Use by Job list is very useful as you can take action immediately by issuing Change Job,

Hold Job, and End job commands directly from the panel.

If you have a job that is looping and burning up CPU, you probably want to hold the job immediately. To

hold the job simply right-click the job and select Hold Job from the menu. An iSeries command prompt

window showing the parameter options for that command will appear (all parameters are available by

pressing F10).

Confirm the details by pressing Enter and the command will execute immediately on your system.

Figure 15 – Hold Job dialog box

Example of an Alarm

You could set an alarm to check for any interactive job using excessive CPU or monitor for jobs

approaching the CFINT limit for your system. You can also set alarms to check for jobs that are in a

status that they should not be, such as LCKW (Lock wait).

Tip With VISUAL iSeries Support Agent you could find out anything you need to know about the

user’s interactive job and drill right down to source code level in a couple of clicks. You could

take complete control of the user’s job, resolve the problem, and then let the user continue

working as usual. For more information see Chapter 13.1 - VISUAL Message Center iSeries

Support Agent on page 58.



AS/400 Command Entry Window

Following the command prompt, the main AS/400 Command Entry window will appear showing the

command you issued in the upper section and confirmation that it has been executed. When you select

Retrieve spool associated with this command, the spool file generated by that command is displayed

in the Output section of the window.

Figure 16 – AS/400 Command Entry dialog box

You can issue more commands to the system from here by typing the command in the top field.

5.3 The Middle SectionThe middle section of the panel deals with Response Times, Network Statistics (NetStats), and Memory.

Figure 17 – Middle Section of the iSeries Control Panel

5.3.1 Response Time / NetStatsAt the middle left of the panel, the Response Time sub panel displays the minimum, average, and

maximum response times for interactive jobs over the last five measurements. A second chart related to

response times is available: click the blue arrow to open the chart Interactions. This chart shows the

number of interactions for each range of response times.

Figure 18 – Response Time and Interactions charts

You can display the NetStats sub panels by clicking the blue arrow at the lower right of the sub panel

and choosing a chart, for example Bandwidth. Specify the bandwidth for the selected server in the Total

Bandwidth (MB/s) field. In the Consumed Bandwidth chart, you can see the upstream bandwidth in one



color and the downstream bandwidth in another. By default, upstream is shown in dark green and

downstream is shown in light green.

Figure 19 – NetStats chart – Consumed Bandwidth (%)

Downstream speed refers to the transfer of information to your computer, such as when you are

accessing a Web page. Upstream speed refers to the transfer of information originating from your

computer, such as sending an e-mail or file.

5.3.2 Memory AssignmentThe other two sub panels in the center of the panel show charts for Memory Assignment. There are

twelve default charts in total, six of which display “Top 5” attributes such as Top 5 Memory per Pool and

Top 5 Maximum Response Time. To switch, click the blue arrows at the bottom of each chart and

choose the chart you would like to display.

Figure 20 – Automatic Memory Adjustment

Just below the memory charts, the Memory Adjustment value (the QPFRADJ system value) is displayed.

This value specifies how an iSeries adjusts the memory of the pools according to their memory needs.

5.4 The Lower SectionThe lower section of the panel can be subdivided into five parts, which are described in the following

sections. The refresh rate was explained earlier in Chapter 4.3 - Refresh Rate on page 10.

Example of an Alarm

You can set an alarm to check that all pool values are set correctly for the time of day. If someone

manually changed the pool values and forgot to reset them, the problem will not go unnoticed for any

longer than your REFRESH RATE because the alarm will alert you. You could also set an alarm to

alert you to excessive page faults, allowing you to investigate the cause immediately.



Figure 21 – Lower section of VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent Panel

5.4.1 Communication Lines This displays the number of configured communications lines that fall under each of the four status

categories.

5.4.2 Integrated ProductsThis section shows four tabs that relate to three separate products—VISUAL Control for Jobs, VISUAL

Control for Pools and VISUAL Control LPAR Tuner. If you do not have these products installed, they will

show their status as inactive and no other information or options will be available to you. For information

on these products, please see Chapter 13.2 - VISUAL Message Center iSeries Performance Manager

on page 59.

5.4.3 System Jobs and InteractionsAt the lower left of the panel the sub panel shows two tabs, Quantity of Interactions and Jobs in System.

The term interaction can be defined as an action between an interactive user and the system, such as

pressing Enter or a function key.

Quantity of Interactions

The Quantity of Interactions tab has three main counters: Last Hour, Interval, and Per Hour.

Figure 22 – Quantity of Interactions tab

Example of an Alarm

You can set an alarm to check the status of a specific communications line. You may have a line that

is used for a specific purpose (e.g. Payroll data being sent to a payments management company), so

it must be in the correct status before a specific application uses it. You can be alerted in advance if it

is not and either take manual action or tell the alarm to do it for you.

Example of an Alarm

You can set an alarm to alert you if a certain type of user is suffering increased response times. If

your business involves users dealing with customers or clients over the phone (e.g. taking orders),

then increased response times impact the time taken to process each order and impacts system

performance, user throughput, and keeps the caller on the phone longer than necessary.



• Last Hour shows the total number of interactions during the last complete hour of data capture,

showing a value of zero if a full hour of data is not available.

• Interval shows the actual number of interactions

• Per Hour shows a projected value that is calculated based on several factors. For more

information, see the online help.

You can set your own response time conditions and values in the lower section of the panel.

Double-clicking any of the counters will show the Interaction Information window. The top half of this

window shows interaction statistics and the lower half shows a choice of two graphs: Current and

History. You can hide or display the top or bottom half of this window by clicking the hide button in the

upper-left corner.

Figure 23 – Minimized Interaction Information window; Independent Intervals tab

The values for During the Interval are reset every time the panel is refreshed. The values for

Accumulated start from zero each time you restart VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent and are

accumulated until you exit VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent. There are three tabs you can

access from this window:

• Independent Intervals tab. Here, the During the Interval value is reset each time the console

is refreshed and the Accumulated value is reset whenever you start VISUAL Message Center

Performance Agent. Total% is the number of interactions expressed as a percentage of the

total number for the system. The Number of interactions is broken down into predefined time

ranges; each interaction is counted for one time range only.

• Gather Intervals tab. This displays the same information as the first tab broken down into a

different set of time periods. As each of the gather intervals has a lower limit of zero seconds,

the value shown will always include the value for the interval shown immediately above it

(except for > 20 seconds).

• User-Defined Intervals tab. Here you can view the same interaction statistics broken down by

time ranges that you specify. Try entering some intervals and see what results you get.

Jobs in System

The Jobs in System tab shows the Total number of jobs and a breakdown into Active jobs, jobs in Job

Queues, and Output Queue jobs (i.e. jobs that have ended but have a related spool file). You can also

see the number of jobs that are suspended or disconnected.



Figure 24 – Jobs in System tab

Double-clicking any of the counters will display the Jobs window with the relevant information:

Figure 25 – Jobs Window - Active tab

• Active / Status Tab: Shows the same values as those on the main panel’s Jobs in System tab,

with a graph in the middle section (only displayed while the Active tab is selected).

• Active / Job Type Tab: Shows the number of active jobs in the system, broken down by job

type.

• Jobs by User Tab: Displays a list of active jobs by user and will initially be displayed in

expanded mode, showing one line with the details of active jobs broken down by job type.

• Jobs per Subsystem Tab: Shows a list of active jobs, broken down by subsystem, and

displays the list in the same format and with the same record expand/collapse options

mentioned above for Jobs by User.

Example of an Alarm

You could set an alarm to alert you when there are disconnected jobs. The user may have lost their

session and - without informing anyone - simply signed on again to a different session.


Understanding the Windows Panel

Chapter 6 6 Understanding the Windows Panel

The VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent panel is very intuitive and easy to use. There are two

different panels available: one for Windows systems and one for iSeries. Depending on what system

(i.e. iSeries or Windows) you connect VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent to the control panel

will display the iSeries or the Windows panel. If you are connected to both types of systems then the

control panel will switch between the two types as soon as data for one or other system is retrieved.

This section will discuss the Windows control panel, which can be divided into three basic horizontal

sections for organizing data.

6.1 The Upper SectionThe upper section contains measurements for a range of key performance variables for Windows

systems. The thermometers are described in the following section.

The chart shows you free CPU space and space used in privileged and user modes. Privileged mode

usually only includes system calls, and user mode covers the remaining use.

Figure 26 – Upper Section Windows Control Panel

6.1.1 ThermometersThere are a number of thermometers that indicate the state of key Windows performance variables.

Thermometers are predefined and cannot be customized.

The colors of the thermometers change according to the utilization levels:

• Green < 25%

• Blue > 25%

• Yellow > 50%

• Red > 75%



Three Micro-charts are displayed next to each thermometer. See Chapter 7.5 - Micro Charts on page 28

for an explanation of micro-charts.

Each thermometer is described in the following chart:

6.2 Lower Left SectionThe lower left section shows four charts that deal with processes CPU and Memory consumption in

addition to usage and occupation of Physical and Logical disk.

Figure 27 – Lower Left Section of the iSeries Control Panel

Thermometer Description

CPU % Represents the percentage of CPU utilization for this machine

% DISK Shows the percentage of Disk usage

% MEM Indicates the percentage of Memory used

% PAGF Shows the usage of Page File as a percentage

% C.MISS Percentage of requests not found in cache

% REG Percentage of Windows Registry occupied

Log M/s Average transfer speed of Total Logical Disk in MB per second

Phy M/s Average transfer speed of Total Physical Disk in MB per sec-ond

Log RQ Total size of the Logical Disk’s read queue

Log WQ Total size of the Logical Disk’s write queue

Example of an Alarm

Set an alarm to alert you to excessive cache misses that may signal memory problems, allowing you

to investigate the cause immediately. You could also set an alarm to progressively notify you if the

registry is filling up, which could cause your system to collapse.



6.2.1 Top CPU and Memory Consumption The top right shows a list of all the processes running on the connected Windows machine.

To the left you find a graph representing the processes that have the highest CPU consumption rate.

The chart displays the top three processes according to the latest measurement, and includes usage

data of previous measurements to indicate trends for these processes. In addition any process that

came into the top 3 during the last ten measurements is also displayed in this chart.

If you click the blue arrow you can open a second chart that represents the processes that have the

highest Memory consumption rate. Data in this chart is displayed in the same way as described for the

Top CPU consumer process chart above.

6.2.2 Usage of Logical and Physical Disk The chart at the bottom left shows the percentage of logical disk space usage. The bar chart stacks the

percentages of input and output. By default Input is indicated in light green and output in dark green.

If you click the blue arrow at the bottom you can also open a chart that shows the percentage of logical

disk space usage. Data in this chart is displayed in the same way as the chart described above.

6.2.3 Occupation of Logical Disk If you have divided your physical disk space into a number of logical disk partitions, this chart shows the

percentage of occupation of each of these logical disks.

Remember that all charts can be customized to meet your needs. See Chapter 7 - Using Charts on

page 24 for details.

6.3 The Lower Right SectionThe lower right section of the Windows panel can be subdivided into four parts, which are described in

the following sections. The refresh rate was explained earlier in Chapter 4.3 - Refresh Rate on page 10.

Example of an Alarm

You can set an alarm to alert you if there are processes using more than 300 MB and to kill a process

if it uses more than 1000 MB of memory.

Example of an Alarm

You could set an alarm to alert you if the DISK usage exceeds Critical Levels, or better yet, set the

alarm for early warning so you can head off excessive usage before it becomes critical.



Figure 28 – Lower Right section of VCW Panel

6.3.1 Network Traffic The Network Traffic chart shoes the input and output information for every network connection of the

current Windows system. Incoming network traffic is marked in light green, whereas outgoing traffic is

indicated in dark green.

6.3.2 Processes This section shows the number of processes currently running on your Windows system. Other data in

this section includes the handles and threads used by the processes.

6.3.3 Swapping This section shows the number of pages that change from memory to page files or vice versa. The data

is measured in number of page swaps per second. A distinction is made for total, input and output page

swaps.

Example of an Alarm

Proactively control the performance of your Windows system by setting an alarm to warn you when

the number of threads exceeds a certain threshold, for example 2000 threads.


Using Charts

Chapter 77 Using Charts

The advanced charting feature in VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent lets you customize your

charts so you can monitor how your systems are behaving at any time. Multi system mode allows you to

view information from several connected systems. Micro-charts are a new feature that gives you

immediate insight into short-term historical trends for a number of key values.

7.1 Single System Charts for iSeriesYou can view the following charts by choosing the Chart menu and then selecting the required chart.

The following are descriptions of each chart type.

• CPU % per type of job: displays the CPU % graphic per type of job. The CPU % that remains

free is also displayed.

• CPU % per job: displays the CPU % chart per job. Here, you can display the names and CPU

% of the ten jobs that have used the most processor resources during the last measured

interval. The jobs are displayed by CPU usage in descending order, from the job that has

consumed the most resources down to the least.

• Disk usage: displays the names of the ASPs on the iSeries; the total assigned KB; the

occupation in each one; the number of disks for each ASP; and the ASP status. When the

system’s checksum protection is active, this percentage only refers to the protected storage

that is currently being used. Otherwise, it refers to the percentage of the total system storage

pool currently in use.

• Response time: displays the Response time chart for the interactive jobs of the system. Here

you can display the latest ten minimum, average, and maximum response time measurements

for interactive jobs at the moment of the measurement.

• Interactions: displays the number of interactions in one of the defined intervals (between 0-1

seconds, between 1 and 5, or > 5 seconds).

• Pool memory: displays the amount of memory in each pool.

Tip Users can see a tool tip with all the information they need regarding ASP status, ASP

number of disks, and ASP identifiers, simply by moving the mouse over the Disk occupation

per ASP graph.

This graph can also be selected by users to be shown in the main control panel.


Using Charts

• Page faults: displays the names of the memory pools in the system and the database and non-

database page faults that have occurred during the last measured interval.

• Response time per Pool: displays the response time for the interactive jobs running in each

Pool.

• CPU usage per Pool: displays the CPU % used by the jobs running in each Memory Pool.

• Memory per Job in the Pool: displays the relationship between the available KB in a Pool and

the number of Active Jobs in this Pool.

• Memory/Activity Level in each Pool: displays the ratio between the total memory in a Pool to

the activity level in the Pool.

• Top 5 - Memory per Pool: displays the top five pools ordered by current size in descending

order.

• Top 5 - Page Faults per Pool: displays the top five pools ordered by its ratio of Page Faults

(including database and non-database page fault) in descending order.

• Top 5 - Average Response Time per Pool: displays the top five pools ordered by its average

response time in descending order.

• Top 5 - Jobs from Active to Ineligible: displays the top five jobs that have changed from

active to ineligible status.

• Top 5 - Jobs from Wait to Ineligible: displays the top five jobs that have changed from wait to

ineligible status.

• Top 5 - Jobs to Ineligible: displays the top five jobs that have changed to ineligible status.

• Downstream Traffic: displays the top downstream traffic per service (in KB).

• Upstream Traffic: displays the top upstream traffic per service (in KB).

• Total Traffic: displays the total traffic per service (in KB).

• Number of Connections: displays the number of connections per service.

• Number of New Connections: displays the number of new connections per service.

• Downstream Speed: displays the downstream speed per service (in KB/second).

• Upstream Speed: displays the upstream speed per service (in KB/second).

• Bandwidth Consumption: displays the bandwidth consumption per service (in MB/second).

7.2 Single System Charts for WindowsYou can view the following charts by choosing the Chart menu and then selecting the required chart.

The following are descriptions of each chart type.

• CPU: a pie chart that shows CPU use per execution mode and the total free space.

• Disk Occupation: A bar chart showing the percentage of usage for every logical disk on your

system

• Logical Disk usage: This bar chart shows the usage of each logical disk on your system

• Physical Disk usage: A bar chart displaying the usage of each physical disk on your system


Using Charts

• Network Traffic: This stacked bar chart shows the network activity in bytes per second for

each network connection on your system. The input operations are displayed in light green.

The output operations are shown in dark green.

• Top CPU consuming processes: Line chart showing the three processes that consume the

most CPU according to the last measurement. The chart also shows data for the previous 10

measurements so you can make out trends. Because of this historical data you will often find

more than three processes displayed in this chart. These are processes that at any time during

the last 10 measurements reached a top three position.For example often there is a fight for

third place among three or four processes. As each of these drops in and out of third place over

the last 10 measurements all of them are displayed in the chart.

• Top Memory consuming processes: Line chart showing the three processes that consume

the most Memory according to the last measurement. The chart also shows data for the

previous 10 measurements so you can make out trends. This chart works the same way as the

top CPU consuming process chart.

7.3 Customized Mono System ChartsYou can create a customized chart group that displays the variables you like. For example, you can

chart an ALEV variable.

Step 1. Open the Chart menu, point to Customized Charts and select Monosystem Chart

Manager. The Customized Chart Configuration window appears.

Step 2. Click New on the toolbar.

Figure 29 – Customized Chart Configuration

Step 3. Select the new chart group. When you do this, the new chart appears. Right-click in the

chart and choose Edit Variables to Draw from the menu that appears.

Step 4. In the Select Variables window, double-click the variables you want to chart and then

click OK.

Step 5. In the Customized Chart Configuration window, select the new default chart and click

Edit on the toolbar (you can also right-click the chart to edit and choose Edit

Properties). The Chart Group Options dialog box appears.


Using Charts

Figure 30 – Chart group options Properties

Step 6. Select the Charts tab and specify any additional options.

Figure 31 – Chart group options Charts

Step 7. Select the ToolTip tab to specify the information you would like to appear in the tooltip.

For more information on tooltips, see section 7.7 - User-Defined Tooltips on page 29.

Step 8. Click OK.

7.4 Multi System ChartsYou can define your own multi system charts and customize them by choosing the variables you want to

see in each chart. Several charts are predefined by default, but you can change or delete them at any

time using the New, Edit, and Delete buttons.

The default multi system charts are:

• CPU % usage

• Disk % usage

• Disk usage

• Number of Active jobs

• Average Response Time

• Page faults

• LPAR Variables

• Multi system Panel.


Using Charts

Figure 32 – Multi system Windows Configuration dialog box

There are various ways to configure Multi system mode with the NiceLink Configurator:

• Click Select Multisystems on the Control Panel toolbar

• Open the System menu and click Select Multi system…

• Press Ctrl + M

You can create windows for all systems in the multi system list or for a subgroup of systems, making it

convenient for grouping together logical partitions in one window for comparative purposes. Choose the

systems or partitions to monitor and select corresponding real-time performance metrics from more than

500 different measurements taken at each interval. Each window can show several charts, and each

chart can include several variables. You can work with all systems in the multi system list, or create a

sub-set of them (for example, logical partitions).

In the multi system window, almost all settings are global; they are not saved in each configuration. The

only settings that are saved in each configuration are:

• Position, size, and visibility of the window, menu, and toolbar

• Options for recording the window and all its charts

• Option for a window to pop up when a threshold is passed

7.5 Micro ChartsMicro Charts are the three little charts that appear next to the performance thermometers in the control

panel. The Micro Charts show predefined historical variables and offer immediate insight into

performance trends, thus allowing you to spot potential problem areas instantly.

The top micro chart shows data for the last 10 measurements. The middle micro chart shows data for

the last hour and bottom one shows data for the last day. Double click any Micro Chart and a new

window appears containing a more detailed chart. The micro charts cannot be customized; however

detailed charts accessed from the micro charts can be changed to suit your needs, just like any other

chart in VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent.

7.6 Exporting and Importing ChartsYou can export and import your charts by clicking the export and import buttons of the corresponding

chart manager toolbar and selecting the charts you want to export or import from the list that appears.


Using Charts

Figure 33 – Export Charts

When you export a chart, two types of files are created:

• A *.vcg file that holds the definition of the charts, and

• Depending on the number of charts in the group, one or more *.tee files containing the

graphical properties of the charts.

To import a chart you only need the .vcg file. However, if the related .tee files are available, they will also

be imported automatically to add the same look the original charts had. If the .tee files are not found, the

charts will be imported with the default graphical properties.

7.7 User-Defined TooltipsTool tips provide a quick, customized system overview and a summary of relative data, accompanied by

two graphs displaying the requested information. You can customize tool tips in Rich Text Format,

allowing for advanced formatting options.

When you mouse-over the charts within the tool tip itself, a secondary tool tip will appear so you can see

even more detailed information at once. To customize the information that appears in tool tips:

Click the Show Multi system Window List button in the toolbar of the Control Panel. The Multi system

Windows Configuration dialog box appears.

Step 1. Click Edit in the toolbar. The Chart Group Options dialog box appears.

Step 2. Select the Tooltip tab.

Step 3. Click the Edit File button. Microsoft Word opens and you are able to modify the text as

you wish.

7.8 Defining a Chart ThresholdYou can define an upper and a lower threshold for each chart in VISUAL Message Center Performance

Agent, and specify whether you want to be notified when the chart exceeds any of these thresholds.

This lets the operator set limits for performance thresholds by defining horizontal lines for each chart.

The line is red for upper thresholds and blue for lower thresholds.

When a value exceeds the threshold, the chart background changes color, the value becomes red if it

surpasses the upper threshold and yellow if it drops below the lower threshold. If you configured the

system to notify the user when thresholds are passed, the chart window will move to the top of the

desktop, automatically alerting the operator to a critical event.


Using Charts

The graphical thresholds are easily customized, and settings are saved when you open a new VISUAL

Message Center Performance Agent session.

Right-click in the chart for which you want to define a threshold and choose Edit Chart Threshold.

Figure 34 – Change chart threshold

Step 1. Enter the value for the threshold.

Step 2. Specify whether you want to show a line in the chart where the threshold exists.

Step 3. Click OK.

7.9 Chart PropertiesExtensive chart editing capabilities are at your fingertips in the Editing dialog box. Right-click anywhere

in the chart you want to edit and select Edit Chart Properties.

Figure 35 – Editing dialog box

Tip You can also define a separate threshold for each chart detail window by choosing File /

Preferences / Edit Chart Threshold in the chart detail window.


Monitoring Network Statistics (iSeries Only)

Chapter 8 8 Monitoring Network Statistics (iSeries Only)

The NetStats feature allows you to monitor the various services you have running on the connected

systems, such as FTP, HTTP, or Telnet. To open the Netstats window select TCP/IP NetStats Services

Statistics from the chart menu.

Figure 36 – NetStats Service Statistics dialog box

8.1 Adding, Editing, and Deleting a ServiceStep 1. Right-click anywhere in the NetStats window and choose Add Service or choose chart

/ TCPIP-Net Stats Service Statistics from the main menu.

Step 2. Type a description for the service in the Service Description field.

Step 3. Type the IP Address of the service in the Service IP Address field.

Step 4. Type the port where the service is located in the Service Port field.

Step 5. Click OK.

To edit the service’s attributes at any time, right-click the service and choose Edit Service from the

menu that appears.

To delete a service, right-click the service and choose Delete Service from the menu that appears.

To show the accumulated totals since the service was last started, select the Show Totals option at the

bottom-left of the window.

Important The IP address should correspond to a local address on the iSeries system to ensure

message recollection occurs. If a remote IP address is used not only is no information

collected but the system will not present any error message to that effect.


Monitoring Network Statistics (iSeries Only)

To show bandwidth statistics, select the Show Bandwidth option at the bottom of the window, next to

the show totals option.


Using Alarms

Chapter 99 Using Alarms

The alarms feature in VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent ensures that you are alerted to

problems and actions are taken to resolve them immediately - before they impact your operations.

For each alarm you can define conditions which, when met, will trigger an alert. You can tell the alarm to

notify you in many ways, including via e-mail or SMS message. You can also set actions to be taken

automatically.

A simple alarm example would be to get notified as soon as system disk space usage exceeds a

specified threshold. If you were monitoring multiple systems you could set this alarm against each

system, each with its own individual threshold, and once the alarms have been activated, you no longer

need to check each systems disk space manually. As soon as any system exceeds the value specified

in its alarm you will be notified automatically by whatever means you specified.

VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent provides you with a set of predefined alarms, many of

which will be of great practical use to you (remember to select the Allow Alarms option on the main

console). You can customize them to suit your specific needs and copy them to create your own

versions.

9.1 Configuring AlarmsFrom the Alarm menu you can select an individual alarm or all alarms. If you open the Alarm menu and

click All Alarms, the All Alarms dialog box will appear as shown below, displaying a list of alarms on the

left and the definition for the currently selected alarm on the right. Version 8.50 and later have more

advanced functionality and you can specify ALEV functions, Pre actions, Post actions, and more.


Using Alarms

Figure 37 – Alarms dialog box

9.1.1 Filter Definition Window If you double-click an alarm to work with, or select an alarm and click Edit Filters, a window opens with

the Filter details.

Figure 38 – Filter Details

When you position the cursor in the filter condition box a new window appears where you can edit the

filter condition. Here, you can specify when the alarm should go off and any message you would like to

display if it does (such as a technical description or advice on how to fix the problem).


Using Alarms

Figure 39 – Filter Condition dialog box

If you want to use a calendar in your alarm, click the calendar button on the right open the calendar

configuration. When editing an existing calendar or creating a new calendar a new window opens as

displayed in the following figure.

Figure 40 – Calendar dialog box

Here you can specify in the calendar exactly when the alarm is applicable, on certain days, hours, or

even minutes.

To specify down to the minute, right click the selected time range and choose Edit Range.

Figure 41 – Pick Time Range dialog box

Return to the Filter Condition window after completing configuration of your calendar. If you are

monitoring a multi platform system you need to indicate what platform the alarm will work with, iSeries or

Windows. If you select both systems the alarm will apply to both the machines.


Using Alarms

Once you have configured your alarms, you can simply activate or deactivate them by selecting or

deselecting the appropriate checkbox. To activate or deactivate all alarms at the same time, select one

of the checkboxes below the list.

When you click Copy, the currently selected alarm is copied to a new alarm that will be given the name

Alarm1 (or Alarm2 if the former already exists, etc.).

When you click Delete, the currently selected alarm is deleted from the list.

9.1.2 Creating a New AlarmNow you will learn how to create a new alarm with a simple condition for today as an example. In the

process, you will see the windows that appear when you select either Actions or Filters.

Figure 42 – Filter Condition

Step 1. Click the Alarm button on the toolbar.

Step 2. Click New in the Alarms dialog box. The Filter Condition window appears.

Step 3. Click Add Simple Cond to enter a condition.

Figure 43 – Selecting a value

Set a value for the number of times that the condition must be met before the alarm will

be triggered.

Step 4. Click the Diagnosis tab. Here, you can specify two documents that can be used to

provide assistance (a knowledge base) to a person who is notified by this alarm. You

Note Add Complex Condition will not be covered in this Guide. Select AS_DATE(AS/400 Date) from

the drop-down menu on the left. Type today’s date in the format DD/MM/YYYY (for example:

17/09/2003), and click OK. The Alarm Filter window appears, showing the condition you

have just created in its full form.


Using Alarms

will see below, when you test the alarm you have just created, exactly where this

information appears.

Figure 44 – Diagnosis Tab

Once you click OK in the Filters window, the Actions window appears.

Step 5. Now you will tell the alarm what to do when it is triggered. Four default tabs are shown;

for each additional option you select, another tab appears so you can configure that

option.

Figure 45 – Default Tabs

Select the Show a Window option, and then select the Visual tab that has now

appeared.


Using Alarms

Figure 46 – Visual Tab

Select the Do not automatically close the message window option and then click OK.

This will return you to the All Alarms list. See section 9.2 - Alarm Actions on page 40

for a detailed explanation of Alarm Actions.

Figure 47 – Created Alarm

The alarm you have just created appears at the top of the list with the name Alarm1.

Deactivate all alarms, and activate Alarm1 by selecting it and clicking OK to return to

the main console.

9.1.3 Testing the Alarm To test your alarm, select the Allow Alarms option (at the upper-right of the console) and press F5 to

refresh the screen. As your alarm condition is testing for today’s date, it will be triggered immediately,

displaying a window alerting you that your alarm has in fact been triggered:


Using Alarms

Figure 48 – Sample Alarm window

You can customize the text displayed in the details and description. The file containing the text is

specified in the Actions window on the Visual tab.

If you click OK, the window will close and no further action will be taken. The next time the alarm is

triggered, the same window will appear.

If you click Deactivate, the alarm will be deactivated, the window will close, and the alarm will remain

inactive. If you are monitoring an iSeries you can click Execute SOS where you can penalize jobs that

use excessive resources. Afterwards, a message appears informing you of the number of jobs that were

changed and how many did not require any kind of modification.

If you click Diagnosis, a window appears with two tabs: Technical Description and Advice.

Figure 49 – Diagnosis window

If you had specified documents in the Filter window’s Diagnosis tab when you created the alarm, the

contents of these documents would be displayed here. This feature allows you to provide additional

information to the recipient of an alert message in order to assist them, such as a nighttime operator.

For example, if the recipient has no knowledge of the problem or is unsure what to do, this text could

include possible causes of the problem, actions to take, or even advice on who to contact should they be

unable to resolve the issue.

The predefined alarms already have technical descriptions and advice associated with them, but you

can customize these to suit your own requirements.

Note The diagnosis button will only appear if you specified help files in the alarm configuration.


Using Alarms

9.1.4 Password-Protecting AlarmsTo password-protect your alarms and filters, open the Alarm menu and choose Change Password. In

the dialog box that appears, specify the password to use in the New Password field, repeat it in the

second field, specify an e-mail address for password reminders, and click OK.

After you have specified a password a padlock icon appears at the right end of the toolbar to show you

that a password exists and to allow you to block and unblock alarms.

9.2 Alarm ActionsTo execute different types of actions when an alarm is triggered, you must select them in the Alarm

Actions dialog box (shown below). Tabs appear allowing you to configure these actions. If some

functions are grayed out or do not appear, you do not have support for those functions on your PC, or

you have not installed the necessary service. Contact your Tango/04 Business Partner for more

information.

Figure 50 – Alarm Actions dialog box - Actions tab

9.2.1 Send an E-mailVISUAL Message Center Performance Agent can send an e-mail message to the specified addresses

when an alarm is triggered. You can also send a short message to a mobile device, and reply using

either form of communication.


Using Alarms

Figure 51 – Alarm dialog box - email tab

To configure an email alert, you must enter your SMTP server details, and the destination email

address. Ensure that the User ID you use is valid for sending e-mail messages from your chosen SMTP

server. Likewise, ensure that the server details and port number are correct.

You can configure an SMTP Server List if you want to send via various SMTP servers; this is useful if

one server becomes unavailable. VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent will attempt to send the

message through the first server in the list. If it fails, it will try the next, and so on.

You can put email destinations in the Send Mail To field, or you can create an address book with groups

of email addresses.

You can either send a short email (which can be received by a mobile device), or you can send a long

message for receipt by a normal email client. You can also use email templates to create your own

messages. You could include information such as emergency contact information and instructions for

nighttime operators.

9.2.2 Play a SoundAny sound file can be used, so you can use a typical alarm sound, or you could also pre-record

instructions for operators.

9.2.3 Execute a PC Program Any PC program or file attached to a PC program can be executed. For example, you can play an .AVI

video with instructions for operators every time an alarm is triggered. You can get VISUAL to pass

parameters to the PC program using any one of the values shown.


Using Alarms

9.2.4 Annotate in the NT Event Log If you use Windows NT/2000/XP then you can use VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent to log

all errors in your NT event log using the customizable templates: simply specify the NT Server name.

9.2.5 Show a Window VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent will display a window on screen above all others,

providing you with any information that you defined for the alarm when you created it. You can specify to

automatically close the window after a pre-determined time.

9.2.6 Execute an SNMP Trap VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent can send an SNMP trap, which can be viewed by other

system management packages. This will allow you to integrate VISUAL Message Center Performance

Agent with other system management frameworks such as UniCenter, Tivoli, and Patrol. For more

information about configuring SNMP support, see the Alarm Support with SNMP traps guide.

9.2.7 Execute a DLL FunctionVISUAL Message Center Performance Agent can run a DLL function, thereby allowing you to integrate it

with any other application that you use to monitor your system.

9.2.8 Execute an AS/400 Command SequenceOften, you may want to run a command in response to an alarm to automate problem resolution.

For example, in a communication line failure, you may want to run a CL command to vary off and vary

back on the line.

To enter a new command, click the Run Remote Command on the AS/400 button on the toolbar. The

Edit AS/400 Command dialog box appears:

Figure 52 – Edit AS/400 Command dialog box

Now, you can enter any iSeries command using any of the system variables available to you when you

defined the alarm (such as the job number and user name variables).


http://customers.tango04.com/content/962

Using Alarms

You can prompt any command from the interface by pressing F4 to see all command parameters as you

would from your iSeries command line.

Having built your command, you can then choose other options such as whether to execute the

commands simultaneously or sequentially, and you can also include a job description. You can also

retrieve spool files after you have run a command. For example, you may run Display Job command as

an alarm. You can have VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent retrieve that spool file so you can

see it from your PC, by viewing it in the Alarm Log, or you can have it sent by email. Just enter the email

addresses in the space provided.

9.2.9 Save Snapshot (iSeries only)You can save a snapshot of the data in the main console when your alarm is triggered. All you need to

do is select the save snapshot box.

9.2.10 Send an SMS Message You can configure VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent to send critical events to operators

using SMS technology, available in all GSM mobile devices. To use this function you must install the

Notifier module and to connect a mobile phone to the PC.

Notifier is included in VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent but must be installed separately. For

more information about Notifier, contact your Tango/04 Business Partner, or see the Notifier Getting

Started Guide.

9.2.11 Send a Remote Message (Net Send)You can configure VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent to send a remote message to another

computer on the network. When you select this option a tab called net send appears. Here you can

indicate the Computer Names or IP address’ you want to send a message, and set the message format.

9.2.12 Send to Escalation List VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent can send an SMS or an email to an escalation list you

define using Notifier.

When you select the option send a message to an escalation list the tab escalation list appears. Here

you can select the required escalation list and configure the SMS and email message formats and

subject lines.

For more information on escalation lists see the Notifier Configuration Guide.

9.2.13 Action Sets An action set can be used to group together commonly used actions. Action sets are available for use by

any alarm that you configure, so you can reuse them in many alarms.

For example, if you usually want to have a pop-up window, run a DLL action, and send an email to

various operators, it would be wise to configure that as an action set, so that each time you configure an

alarm that uses those actions, you just select that action set.

9.2.14 Alarm LogYou can access the alarm log by clicking the Show Alarm Log button on the toolbar. This displays all

the alarms that have been triggered by VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent.



Using Alarms

Figure 53 – Alarm Log window

In the example above, a visual alarm or pop-up window has been run in response to the Number of Jobs

in Output Queues alarm. You can also see some security alarms and PTF alarms. By right-clicking the

alarm, you can see the Alarm Definition that produced the alarm, or the Message window that appeared

when the alarm was triggered.

9.2.15 DependenciesDependencies allow you to relate different alarms to one another. In the Dependencies tab you can

specify which alarms should be activated or deactivated when this alarm is triggered.

9.2.16 Pre-ActionsThese are actions that can be taken before an alarm action is triggered. Using Pre-actions, you can test

an incoming message to see if it will trigger an alarm and then carry out any necessary preparatory

actions before the alarm is triggered.

To configure a Pre-action, click New on the toolbar in the Pre-actions dialog box. In the Edit Advanced

Filter window that appears, you can create the logical expression for the actions you want to carry out.

9.2.17 Post-actionsPost-actions are similar to Pre-actions, but you can set them to be executed after an alarm’s action has

been executed. Setting Post-actions is the same process as for Pre-actions above.

9.2.18 RepetitionsHere you can specify actions to take depending on the frequency a message occurs. Using the data

dictionary you can define which message variables to look for, define their frequency and what action to

take.

9.3 Conditions for an Alarm to OccurFor an alarm to occur when a determined event takes place it must satisfy the following conditions:

• Define the required parameters (the condition and number of times this condition must be true,

etc.) for each alarm. Once the parameters are configured, the alarm must be activated. From

this moment on the alarm will always go off when the established condition is true.

• Activate the alarms. To select or unselect alarms, select or deselect the Allow Alarm option in

the Control Panel. If option is deselected, no alarm of any type will be activated. In this way,

you can deactivate all alarms with one click. To re-activate the alarms just click the box again.

If these previous requirements are fulfilled, the defined alarm action will be executed when a situation

occurs in which the established threshold values for any given alarm are reached, e.g. if CPU => 90%.


Pre-Process Actions

Chapter 10 10 Pre-Process Actions

Pre-processing is a way for you to create your own measurements based on any variable available in

VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent. Pre-processing uses basic filters in combination with the

Arithmetic-Logic Expression eValuator (ALEV).

10.1 Pre-Process Actions Window You can access the Pre-process Action window from the System menu.

Figure 54 – Pre-Process Actions Window

Using the icons on the Pre-process Actions toolbar, you can create new pre-processes, edit the filters or

expressions of existing pre-processes, and copy, delete, import or export pre-processes.

10.1.1 Pre-process List Hierarchy Once you have configured several pre-processes, they will appear on the left in the Pre-Process Filter

List window. Select a pre-process to see its properties on the right side of the screen.

The list represents the hierarchical order in which the pre-processes are executed each time data

arrives from a system. To save processing power and time, you have the option of stopping messages

from continuing down the list once it has triggered a pre-process. This is useful if you have some

preprocesses that are more important than others.


Pre-Process Actions

To do this, right-click on any pre-process. You will see that, as well as the other options available in the

main screen, you also have the option to Continue processing after filter success or Stop processing on

filter success. If you want VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent to stop processing a message

once it has met the selected pre-process filter, choose Stop processing on filter success as shown in

the figure below. The default setting is Continue processing past filter success.

Figure 55 – Stop processing on filter success

10.2 Creating Pre-Processes To create a pre-process, you must first configure the filters and then define the actions.

10.2.1 Filters When you double-click the left-hand column, or select add, the Edit Advanced Filter window appears.

Here you can enter the statement directly into the window. If you want to see the available user defined

variables use the buttons at the top of the window.

To see the message variables and complex expressions available press Ctrl+Space. You will see a

number of wizards displayed at the top of the list. Select the variables wizard to see a list of all variables

and constants per category. Double-click a variable or constant to select it in your filter.

Likewise there are wizards for ALEV, LIKE, and MATCH functions.

Note Deactivating a pre-process using the checkboxes does NOT deactivate the entire list below

it. All active pre-processes below will be carried out as usual. You can also move pre-

process up or down in the list according to their importance using the up and down arrows or

by right-clicking the pre-process you want to move.


Pre-Process Actions

Figure 56 – Edit Advanced Filter window – showing menu for complex conditions and message variables (press CTRL+space to open this menu)

If you leave the expression blank the pre-process action will always be carried out. The last expression

must return a True/False response for the filter to work.

Once you have configured your filters, close the Filter window by clicking OK. The Edit Advanced

Expression window appears.

10.2.2 ExpressionsThis is where you create the logical expressions for actions you want the pre-process to carry out. Just

like the filters, this uses the Arithmetic-Logic Expression eValuator to generate a wide range of

customizable logical conditions.

Figure 57 – Edit Advanced Expression window

Note Pre-processing is an extremely powerful tool. The possibilities open to you are very far-

reaching, particularly when using User Defined Variables. For more information on these

variables and how they can be used in Pre-processing, see Creating Variables below.


Pre-Process Actions

10.3 Creating VariablesYou can create your own custom variables to show any data you need. Use custom variables to create

filters, alarms, and pre-processes. As long as the data is numerical, the variables can also be used in

creating charts.

There are two types of custom variables: Global variables and System variables. Global variables apply

to all systems, whereas System variables apply to specific systems.

You can create, edit, and delete variables from the System menu. Here you will find the menu options

Edit Global Variables or Edit Customized System Variables. You can define a default value for each

variable and its description.

Finally, you also can set any variable as persistent. Persistent variables are maintained when VISUAL

Message Center Performance Agent is shut down and are recovered when a new session is started.

The values you create will be available in the categories section of the Edit Advanced Filters and Edit

Advanced Expression windows. Global variables are categorized under User Defined – Global Variables

and System Variables are grouped under User Defined – Per System Values.

10.4 VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent functions

In addition to the predefined ALEV functions, VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent has a few

more functions you can use when defining pre-processes and alarms.

10.4.1 IS_DATE_IN_CALENDARThis function was created to help you set alarms and pre-processes to run within specific dates or date

ranges. For example you could specify an alarm action to send an email during working hours, or an

SMS outside of working hours using the outcome of the expression.

The IS_DATE_IN_CALENDAR function compares the selected date and time with the calendar name of

your choice and returns a True/False reply. The function declaration is as follows:

FUNCTION IS_DATE_IN_CALENDAR(CALENDAR_NAME STRING, THEDATE DATETIME) : BOOLEAN

Continuing our example you could now configure the action set to send an email if the result is true or an

SMS if it is false.

10.4.2 GET_SNMP GET_SNMP was designed to help you chart data from SNMP services. Of course you can also use the

data in creating alarms and pre-processes.

With the GET_SNMP function you have access to any variable available through SNMP services. For

example you can use the data to chart performance of a particular device using SNMP.

It requires you to put in the IP address, community, and OID in numerical format of the variable you want

to get. This is the function declaration:

Example

&IsWorkingHours := IS_DATE_IN_CALENDAR( “WorkingHoursCalendar”, NOW() )


Pre-Process Actions

FUNCTION GET_SNMP(IP_ADDRESS STRING, COMMUNITY STRING, OID: STRING) : VARIANT

Example

&MyPCName := GET_SNMP( “localhost”, “public”, "1.3.6.1.2.1.1.5.0" )

Important This function only works if the SNMP Services are started on the target Machine.


Using the Web Site Creation Tool

Chapter 11 11 Using the Web Site Creation Tool

You can quickly create and maintain a comprehensive Web site or Intranet displaying the performance-

related documents and charts collected by VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent for one or

more systems or logical partitions. This Web site is called the Performance Portal, and you can view it

with your Web browser or a hand-held device — without having to install VISUAL Message Center

Performance Agent on multiple PCs. The Web sites are fully customizable and include a full-featured

HTML parser and pre-defined templates for fast, easy setup. The current templates display the

connected systems on the left and the available information pages at the top (by default: Basic Info,

Charts, and User-Defined Charts).

You can display the information in HTML, XML or WML, so service level data is accessible to end users,

management, IT staff, and even third parties.

11.1 Default Web Site TemplatesThe default templates you see in this section are designed just to get you started. We recommend that

you edit the templates to customize the Web site for your needs. Below, you will find information on two

of the included templates: Basic Info and Charts. For more information on customization, see section

11.2 - Customizing your Web Site on page 52.

11.1.1 Basic Info TemplateIn the Basic Info template you will find a list of default variables and their values. If the variable has an

associated chart, a Chart icon appears next to it. You can click the Chart icon within each group to view

the chart in a new window.

Customize this template so it displays the variables you prefer by editing the associated HTML files. To

start customizing the templates, see section 11.2 - Customizing your Web Site on page 52.



Figure 58 – Performance Portal Basic Info template

11.1.2 Charts TemplateIn the Charts template, all of the multi-system and mono-system charts that have been saved in the

VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent panel are displayed.

Figure 59 – Charts Template

In this template, you can click any chart to view it in more detail, as shown in the next figure.



Figure 60 – Chart detail

11.2 Customizing your Web Site Now, you will learn how to customize and create your Web site by specifying additional pages to be

instantiated, editing existing files in any way you wish, and deleting unwanted files.

11.2.1 Files to Process Dialog BoxOpen the System menu and select Post process actions/Edit Web Site… to open the Files to Process

dialog box. Here the files to be updated and their output directories are listed. This dialog box helps you

organize all of your customized files for inclusion in the Web site.

Figure 61 – Files to Process dialog box after Updating Data For Each System tab

After Updating Data For Each System tab

VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent will create a copy of each file specified in the list for every

system. The variables contained in this file will be processed using the current values for each system.

If you are connected to multiple platforms systems (i.e. both Windows and iSeries systems) please

select the appropriate system for each template. For example if you select iSeries, the file will be

processed only when fresh iSeries data arrives. Likewise if you select Windows, the file will only be



processed when fresh Windows data arrives. In some cases it may make sense to process the file every

time new data arrives, either because the data is independent of the platform, or because you want to

compare global system variables of the two systems. In this case select both iSeries and Windows.

Finally it is also possible to temporarily deactivate a template by not selecting any system at all. This is

useful for maintenance purposes.

From version 9 onward you can create new templates with a descriptive name and store them in the

same destination files. This allows you to add new Web pages for additional platforms, without having

to change the structure of your web site. Depending on the platform of the system that is monitored the

Web portal will display the appropriate content.

For example your template for basic information of a Windows system will obviously be different from

that of the iSeries system. You can create a new template for the Windows systems and call it, for

example, WinBasicInfo.htm. The trick is to add the same destination file to this template, as you will use

for the iSeries output, in our example .\html\BasicInfo.htm. Remember to select the appropriate system

for each template – i.e. for iSeries template .\BasicInfo.htm select iSeries, and for Windows template

.\WinBasicInfo.htm select Windows.

A system identifier is added to the file as a prefix to make the copies of the file easily recognizable. For

example, if you connect to two different systems (SystemA, SystemB) and you add a file to the list called

filename.htm, after both systems are updated, VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent will

create two files: System01-filename.html and System02-filename.html. In the first file, the

variables will be created using the values for SystemA and so on.

Program to run after updating a system

You can also define a program to be called after updating each system (for example, to copy the post-

processed files to another destination). In this call, you can use the variables of the updated system as a

parameter for the program.

Only Once For Each Update tab

The files in this list will be processed only once for each update, not for each system. You should not use

variables in these files whose values are system-dependent. You can also define a program to be called

once for every update (will only be called once for all the systems).

11.2.2 Adding a New FileTo add a new file to the list:

• Click the New button in the Files to Process dialog box. You can also right-click in the list and

select Add File.

• Select the file from the Open dialog box and click Open. If the Browse for Folder window

appears, select the output directory to copy the files to after processing. The output directory

will store the path with the original file name. If necessary you can edit this manually.

• Click OK.

11.2.3 Editing an Existing File

Note The prefix for the file is not the system name; rather, it is based on a numeric identifier (such

as System01, System02, etc). The identifier for a system may change if you modify the

system list.



To edit a file in the list:

Step 1. Click the Edit button in the Files to Process dialog box. You can also right-click in the

list and select Edit File.

Step 2. Click the Browse button in the Configuration of File to be Processed dialog box to find

the file you would like to edit.

Step 3. Click Edit.

Step 4. The file is opened in your default editor for the specified file. For example, if it is an

HTML file it will open in your default Web page editor. After you have edited the file to

your liking, save it and return to this dialog box.

Figure 62 – Dialog Box

Step 5. Click OK.

11.2.4 Deleting a FileThere are two ways to delete a file from the list:

• Select the file you wish to delete. Click Delete in the Files to Process dialog box.

• Right-click a selected file and then select Delete File.



11.2.5 Moving FilesYou can move files from directory to directory by following these steps.

Step 1. Copy the contents of the HTML folder (from the VControl product installation directory)

to the new target folder.

Step 2. Open the System menu and select Post-process Actions / Edit Website.

Step 3. Change the Output Directory of all files to the new target folder in the After Updating

Data For Each System tab and the Only Once For Each Update tab.

Step 4. Open the File menu, point to Preferences, click Options… and then select the Chart

Saving tab.

Step 5. Change the chart saving directory to the subdirectory Charts in the target folder.

11.3 Creating the Web SiteIf you select the Create Website option in the Control Panel, both Post-Process Actions and Chart

Saving options are automatically selected so that each time a system is updated, the files you have

specified will be processed and copied to the selected output directory.

Once you are ready to create the Web site, click the Create Website button. VISUAL Message Center

Performance Agent will then automatically create and then display the Web site using the specified

options. While the files are being processed, the message Creating Web appears in the Control Panel.

Figure 63 – Create Website option and button


Working With Snapshots (iSeries Only)

Chapter 12 12 Working With Snapshots (iSeries Only)

You can save the data in the current panel display as a snapshot that can be retrieved later, for

comparing and analyzing historical systems performance. Use the Rapid Investigator buttons to quickly

and easily navigate snapshots from the VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent toolbar.

Figure 64 – Rapid Investigator buttons

Choose Snapshot / Capture… to capture the data at the current moment and give it a name.

Figure 65 – Snapshot Capture dialog box

Choose System / Snapshot Retrieve to specify a time range when the snapshot was taken to make the

search easier. Click Find after you have specified the range and the results will display as shown below.

Figure 66 – Retrieve Snapshot dialog box

When you select a snapshot to show, the system status shown at the bottom of the screen will be

highlighted in yellow. The panel will not refresh automatically until you press F5 or click the Play icon on


Working With Snapshots (iSeries Only)

the left of the System Panel status bar. Choose Snapshot / Program to automate Snapshots by time

period and frequency, or to take a snapshot if an alarm goes off.

Figure 67 – Program Snapshot capture

The Snapshot / Snapshots for Graphical Analyzer submenu is only relevant if Graphical Analyzer is

installed (a free historical performance analysis tool). You can configure VISUAL Message Center

Performance Agent to save Snapshots in a format compatible with Graphical Analyzer.

The intervals for saving these Snapshots are different from the configured Refresh Rate in the Control

Panel and they use a different connection for retrieving data from the iSeries. Please contact your

Tango/04 Business Partner for more information.

12.1 ODBC connectivityVISUAL Message Center Performance Agent uses ODBC connections to save and retrieve the

snapshots. This means that VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent can use almost every

database manager to store them: SQL Server, MS Access, Oracle, dBase, mySQL…

If you want to change the data source where the snapshots will be stored, press the Change button in

the Data Source (DSN) frame, and select or create a valid DSN. The snapshots and snapshots for

Graphical Analyzer DSNs are created for the default databases.

VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent ships with a free Snapshot migration tool application for

migrating data from old databases to new ones.


Integration with iSeries Products

Chapter 13 13 Integration with iSeries Products

13.1 VISUAL Message Center iSeries Support Agent As you have seen, VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent is an extraordinarily powerful tool for

detecting and solving performance problems. However, it’s easy to extend its scope to solving

interactive user problems directly from the console by integrating it with VISUAL Message Center

iSeries Support Agent.

Figure 68 – VISUAL Message Center iSeries Support Agent – main screen

When you are alerted to a problem, you can use VISUAL Message Center iSeries Support Agent to

immediately capture the job and inspect all internal job information. Click the Explore Objects and

Explore Source Members buttons on the toolbar (shown left) to open a VISUAL Message Center

iSeries Support Agent session where you can take complete control of the user’s interactive job.

VISUAL Message Center iSeries Support Agent lets you control the end-user screen, the job log, the

LDA, QTEMP objects, the call stack with parameter values, and other job details. If you choose a

program in the call stack, you can drill down to examine running source code and evaluate variables.


Integration with iSeries Products

You can also execute commands on the captured job, even while it is still running, allowing you to solve

problems instantly.

This award-winning product from Tango/04 helps you ensure maximum performance and rapid problem

resolution for your iSeries environment. Together with VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent,

you have the most powerful performance problem solving solution on the market. For more information,

see the VISUAL Message Center iSeries Support Agent User Guide.

13.2 VISUAL Message Center iSeries Performance Manager VISUAL Control for Jobs is an integrated Tango/04 product that detects jobs that are affecting

performance and changes their run attributes to improve global performance levels by up to 30%,

especially on systems running complicated applications.

VISUAL Control for Pools constantly checks memory status and dynamically redistributes memory

resources to reduce Page Faults. Both products make performance tuning a simple, straightforward

task, even in complex systems. They can both be directly accessed from the VISUAL Message Center

Performance Agent console to give you even greater power when tuning the performance of your

systems, making resource maximization simple and cost-effective.

13.3 VISUAL Control LPAR Tuner VISUAL Control LPAR Tuner lets you optimize existing partitions - and avoid they’re overloading - by

dynamically and automatically allocating resources as needed. LPAR Tuner lets you automatically

move batch and/or interactive capacity and define rules and policies for resource movement — including

defining maximum and minimum CPU in each partition — so business priorities are always respected.

You can also dynamically change resource movement policies at any time without having to restart the

tuner, and access history of all changes made in order to track resource allocation and predict future

trends.

VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent gives you full LPAR support - new LPAR metrics, including

partition type, assigned processor units, interactive capacity, CPU usage (interactive and total), and

more can now be retrieved in real time. Create charts showing information for one or more LPars on

your system.

Figure 69 – Create custom graphs showing information about real-time LPAR performance



Summary


Chapter 14 14 Summary

VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent is the most powerful tool on the market for monitoring the

performance of your iSeries and Windows systems. It keeps you informed of issues as soon as they

occur by instantly alerting you with alarms, and assists you in assuring the availability and smooth

running of your systems and applications.

When you are alerted you can access all of the information you need to take action and resolve the

issue as quickly as possible. When used together with other modules of Tango/04, VISUAL Message

Center iSeries Support Agent forms a complete solution for managing the performance of your iSeries

and Windows systems helping you in pro-actively solving performance issues.

Graphical Analyzer is a separate Windows module that provides historical graphical analysis from the

iSeries performance data retrieved by VISUAL Message Center iSeries Support Agent. It is included in

VISUAL Message Center iSeries Support Agent but must be installed separately. For more information,

contact your Tango/04 Business Partner.

14.1 Additional InformationAdditional information onVISUAL Message Center Notifier is available in the Getting Started Guide

installed with Visual Message Center and is available from the Windows Start Menu.

VISUAL Message Center iSeries Support Agent is a separate product and is available at Tango/04’s

Web site (http://www.tango04.com).

VISUAL Message Center Debugging Agent is a separate product by Tango/04 Computing Group and is

available for download at the Tango/04 Web site (http://www.tango04.com).

Troubleshooting and Uninstalling the Product

Chapter 15 15 Troubleshooting and Uninstalling the Product

In case of problems in updating performance information, you can check in the iSeries to see if the jobs

are running correctly:

15.1 Product MenuGo to the product menu. There are two product menus from which you can configure different product

areas. They are:

• GO VCW_MENU (in JOBCTL library): gives you access to all general VISUAL Message Center

Performance Agent functions.

• GO T4NICELINK (in T4NICELINK library): acts as a central Tango/04 product configuration

console, and allows you to control NiceLink connectivity functions and components shared by

Tango/04 products.

The following steps will show you the main menu options that you will need now to start working with

VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent. For more information about other menu options, see the

online help or contact your Tango/04 Business Partner.

15.2 Product License KeyVISUAL Message Center Performance Agent works only if a valid activation key has been entered. It

can be activated alone, or as part of suites.

If the product is an evaluation copy it might have been installed directly with a temporary authorization

code; in this case after the installation it is usually not necessary to enter the authorization code to start

testing. However, if you have been provided with Temporary Trial Codes or if you receive the message

that the authorization code has expired, then you should enter them now. Sign on to your target iSeries

as QSECOFR or equivalent and follow the instructions below to enter Temporary Trial Codes.

If your Tango/04 Business Partner has provided you with a code for evaluating the product, you can

enter it now.

Tip Tango/04 product codes contain 40 characters – you must include all characters. It is best to

cut and paste the codes to avoid errors. If the product detects an incorrect code while

running, it will erase the data area containing the code.


Troubleshooting and Uninstalling the Product

To check that the codes are correctly entered and valid, use the corresponding menu options to verify

the code. If the data area is empty, then either the code has not been accepted, or it has expired. Check

that you have entered the product code correctly, or contact your Tango/04 Business Partner for help.

15.3 Problems with TCP/IP Connection To use VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent with TCP/IP, the relevant TCP/IP service daemon

(used by our NiceLink communications program) must already be active on your iSeries server. By

default, the installation routine will create an auto-start job entry in subsystem T4NICELINK and activate

the job for you. The job will be named DAEMON.

The TCP/IP services daemon will auto-start by default. If you want to stop this, you can change the

default configuration parameters for NiceLink TCP/IP services daemons. On the iSeries server, go to the

NiceLink menu (GO T4NICELINK), and choose option 12: Change NiceLink TCP/IP.

Here you can change Automatic Server Starting to *NO.

15.4 Upgrade Instructions

15.4.1 On the PCYou do not have to uninstall anything when upgrading to a new version of VISUAL Message Center

Performance Agent. When reinstalling or upgrading to a new release, you can indicate that all replaced

files should be put in a directory named Backup within the VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent

directory.

15.4.2 On the iSeriesThe install program automatically detects the existing product library, and will copy information such as

the authorization lists or product authorization codes from the old library to the new library.

15.5 Uninstall Instructions

15.5.1 On the PCYou can uninstall VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent and NiceLink from their respective

program directories on your PC. Look for the Uninstall icon and follow the instructions. You can also

uninstall from the Windows Control Panel.

15.5.2 On the iSeriesRun the command VCW_MENU/UNINSTALL (no parameters) to uninstall the product library from your

iSeries. This command will end all VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent jobs, end any locks,

and remove the product library.


Appendix A : Using IBM WebSphere Portal Server

Appendix A Appendix A: Using IBM WebSphere Portal Server

Now you can use the VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent Performance Portal from an IBM

WebSphere Portal Server. There are two parts to the configuration:

• Storing the Performance Portals files on your Web server

• Installing and configuring IBM’s Web Page Portlet version 5.0

A.1 Storing the Performance Portal files on the server

A.1.1 Open the Web site configuration from the main menu-bar Click System and select the Post-Process Actions/Edit Web Site. The Post-Process Actions window

appears. Here you will see the default output directories for the Performance Portal.

Figure 70 – Post-Process Actions Window

Make sure that the output directory you select is available to VISUAL Message Center Performance

Agent over your local network. VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent must also have create and

write permissions in your output directory.



A.1.2 Edit the output directories of the Performance PortalDouble-click the directory. A new window opens where you can change the source file and the output

directory.

Figure 71 – Selecting the Output Directory

Browse your network to select the appropriate output directory or type the desired directory on your Web

Server. In our example the output directory is: \\Jlucas\WebServerRoot\tango04.

Repeat this step for every file in the after updating for each system tab, and the only once for each

update tab

A.1.3 Save the Performance Portal charts to the Web ServerFrom the main menu-bar follow these steps:

Step 1. select File

Step 2. point to Preferences

Step 3. select Options

Step 4. Click the Chart Saving tab

Browse your network to select the desired directory on your Web Server. This directory should be the

same directory as you selected in step two.

Figure 72 – Changing the Chart Saving output directory

Now that you have saved all the Performance Portal files to your Web server, you are ready to configure

the IBM WebSphere Portal Server to work with the Performance Portal, as described in the next section.



A.2 How to set up your IBM WebSphere Portal Server to work with the Performance PortalYou can use the Performance Portal on your IBM WebSphere Portal Server using IBM’s Web Page

Portlet version 5.0.

First you must install and configure the Web Page Portlet. If you do not already have the portlet you can

download it from the IBM Web site. Consult the IBM InfoCenter for version specific installation

instructions.

A.2.1 Installing Web Page Portlet version 5.0Confirm that WebSphere Portal Server is started. You can do this from the WebSphere Administrator

Console by following these steps:

Step 1. Access the server with your Web browser using http://localhost/wps/portal.

Step 2. Log into your IBM WebSphere Portal as an administrator

Step 3. Select Portal Administration from the drop down menu at the top of the page.

Step 4. Confirm that you are in the Install Portlets section of the Portlets tab

Step 5. Enter the full path for the Web Page Portlet v. 5.0 or browse to find its location.

Step 6. Click Open and then Next.

Step 7. Click Install

A.2.2 Configuring Web Page Portlet version 5.0 Once you have installed Web Page Portlet version 5.0 you must configure it to work with the

performance Portal by following these steps:

Step 1. Select the Manage Portlets tab from Portal Administration

Step 2. Highlight Web Page within the selection box

Step 3. Click Modify Parameters to access the Edit Parameters page

Step 4. Change the following parameters:

• URL: Enter the URL where the index.htm file of the Performance Portal is stored. In

our example this is http://jlucas/tango04/index.htm.

• Width: Here you can indicate what width to use for displaying the portlet on the

Portal page. We recommend you set the width to at least 800.

• Title: Enter a title for the Web page portlet, for example Performance Portal.

• Height: Here you can indicate what height to use for displaying the portlet on the

Portal page. We recommend you set the height to at least 850.

Step 5. After editing the portlet parameters, highlight Web Page in the selection box and click

Activate.

Note The remaining parameters do not need to be adjusted for the IBM WebSphere Portal Server

to work with the Performance Portal. You can leave them as they are.



This completes the configuration of the Performance Portal and of the IBM WebSphere Portal Server.

You are now ready to include the Performance Portal in your Web site. The next section explains how to

create a portal place and page and how to add a portlet to an existing page.

A.3 Adding the Performance Portal to Your Web SiteOnce you have integrated the VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent Performance Portal into

your IBM WebSphere Portal Server, you can incorporate the Performance Portal into your Web site.

You can choose to create a new Portal Place and Page for the performance portal or simply add it to an

existing page as described here. If you have any further questions please consult the IBM InfoCenter.

A.3.1 Adding a Portal Page and PlaceIn order to add a portal page and place, start by creating a place name and follow these steps:

Step 1. Select Work with Pages from the drop down menu.

Step 2. Then select the Manage Places and Pages tab.

• Finally, select +Create Place

• Enter your place name.

Step 3. Select a theme:

• Select a theme from the dropdown list

• Select all supported markups, and Click OK

Step 4. Finally, create your page:

• Highlight your newly created Place from the list box and Select +Create Page

• Select +Create New and Enter your Page name

• Select a Layout, click OK and click Done

A.3.2 Add Portlets to Page In order to add portlets to page, open the page where you want to add the portlet and follow these steps:

Step 1. Creating a place name:

• Select your Place from dropdown Place list

• Select your Page from dropdown page list

Step 2. Select a Portlet:

• Select Search for Portlets > Name contains Web Portlet and Click GO

• Click + next to portlet(s) to select a portlet and Click OK

Step 3. Add the portlet to your page:

• Click on page+ icon in the page grid to add portlet(s) to that page section

• Click Activate.



A.4 Checking the ResultsOnce you have added a portal page and place, or added the portlet to an exiting page you can view the

Performance Portal on your IBM WebSphere Portal Server. Select your Place from dropdown list at the

top of the page to view the new page with portlets.

Figure 73 – Performance Portal viewed with IBM WebSphere Portal Server


Appendix B : Monitoring UNIX/Linux parameters with VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent

Appendix B Appendix B: Monitoring UNIX/Linux parameters with VISUAL

Message Center Performance Agent

Besides monitoring Windows and iSeries machines it is also possible to incorporate UNIX/Linux

parameters into VISUAL Message Center. Using SNMP you can retrieve almost any value from your

UNIX/Linux machine.

Figure 74 – Customized Mono System Chart with Linux parameters



The figure above shows an example of a number of Linux performance parameters charted in VISUAL

Message Center to create a custom Linux panel. We will use this example to explain the process of

incorporating UNIX/Linux variables into VISUAL Message Center.

B.1 Before you get startedThere are a number of different SNMP services available and not all packages support the same

variables. In order to retrieve a value using SNMP services you must have a SNMP daemon that

supports the particular value you want to retrieve installed on your system. The variables should be in

numeric format for VISUAL Message Center Performance Agent to be able to display them in charts.

Consult the Web to find MIBS of the device you want to monitor. In the MIBS you will find the O.I.D. of

the variables you want to retrieve. Also note the IP address of your Linux machine and the community

you need for access to the SNMP Daemon. You will need this data later in the configuration. See section

10.4.2 - GET_SNMP on page 48 for details regarding retrieving SNMP values.

B.2 Required ConfigurationThe first step to incorporating the UNIX/Linux variables into VISUAL Message Center is to create a

Global Variable for each value that you want to monitor. See section 10.3 - Creating Variables on

page 48 for details on how to configure Global Variables

In our example we created the Global Variables as displayed in the next figure.

Figure 75 – A Global Value for each UNÍX/Linux variable to retrieve

Next, create a pre-process to retrieve the UNIX/Linux variables. As SNMP is not a system as such it is

not possible to retrieve data individually. Therefore we create a pre-process to retrieve SNMP data

every time data is retrieved for your other systems (for example iSeries and Windows systems). See

section 10.2 - Creating Pre-Processes on page 46 for details.

In the pre-process use the Global Variables you created earlier to define each variable you would like to

retrieve. Here you will need to enter the:

• Global Variable name

• IP address of the target machine

• Community

• OID of the Linux variable

Note The SNMP service must be activated on the target machine in order to be able to retrieve

variables.



For our example we configured the variables shown in the next figure.

Figure 76 – Pre-process containing all Linux variables to retrieve

Besides entering the direct values to retrieve, you can also use pre-processes to calculate values that

you would like to use in your charts. In our example you will find two values that are calculated using

pre-processes. Have a close look at the variables &LINUX_USED_MEM_PERCENT and &LINUX FREE_MEM_PERCENT in the figure above.

Now that you have configured VISUAL Control Center to retrieve data from your Linux machine you are

ready to start creating your customized Linux panel.

Create a new mono-system chart. Here you will be able to add as many charts as you need to represent

your Linux data. See section 7.3 - Customized Mono System Charts on page 26 for details on creating

the charts.

When you complete your charts configuration you will have a window resembling Figure 74 on page 68.

Of course the panel will vary depending on the data you retrieve and the configuration of the individual

charts you select.


Appendix C : Contacting Tango/04

Appendix CAppendix C: Contacting Tango/04

EMEA (European, Middle-Eastern & African) Headquarters

Tango/04 Computing Group S.L.

Avda. Meridiana 358, 12 B-C

08027 Barcelona Spain

Phone: +34 93 274 0051

Fax: +34 93 345 1329

[email protected]

www.tango04.com

Latin American Headquarters

Barcelona/04 Computing Group SRL

Avda. Federico Lacroze 2252, Piso 6

1426 Buenos Aires Capital Federal

Argentina

Phone: +54 11 4774-0112

Fax: +54 11 4773-9163

[email protected]

www.barcelona04.com

North America (USA & Canada)

Tango/04 Computing Group USA

PO Box 3301

Peterborough, NH 03458 USA

Phone: 1-800-304-6872

Fax: 858-428-2864

[email protected]

www.tango04.com

Sales Office in Brazil

Tango/04 Computing Group Brasil

Rua Turiassú, 591 - 5º Andar

Perdizes

Cep: 05005-001 São Paulo

Brasil

Phone: +55 (11) 3675 6228

Fax: +51 1 211-2526

[email protected]

www.tango04.com.br

Sales Office in Chile

Barcelona/04 Computing Group Chile

Guardia Vieja 255, Of. 1601

Providencia

Santiago

Chile

Phone: +56 2 234 0898

Fax: +56 2 234 0865

[email protected]

www.barcelona04.com

Sales Office in Columbia

Barcelona/04 Computing Group Colombia

Calle 125 nº 19-89, Piso 5º

Bogotá, D.C.

Colombia

Phone: + 57(1) 658 2664

Fax: +51 1 211-2526

[email protected]

www.barcelona04.com


Mailto:[email protected]

www.tango04.com


www.barcelona04.com


www.barcelona04.com


www.tango04.com


www.barcelona04.com

www.tango04.com.br


www.barcelona04.com

www.barcelona04.com

Sales Office in France

Tango/04 France

La Grande Arche

Paroi Nord 15ème étage

92044 Paris La Défense France

Phone: +33 01 40 90 34 49

Fax: +33 01 40 90 31 01

[email protected]

www.tango04.fr

Sales Office in Italy

Tango/04 Computing Group Italy

Viale Garibaldi 51

13100 Vercelli VC Italy

Phone: +39 0161 56922

Fax: +39 0161 259277

[email protected]

www.tango04.it

Sales Office in Peru

Barcelona/04 Computing Group Perú

Calle Isaac Albeniz 555, Dpto 201 Urb

Las Magnolias

San Borja

L 27 Lima

Perú

Phone: +51 1 640-9168

Fax: +51 1 211-2526

[email protected]

www.barcelona04.com

Sales Office in Switzerland

Tango/04 Computing Group Switzerland

18, Avenue Louis Casaï

CH-1209 Genève

Switzerland

Phone: +41 (0)22 747 7866

Fax: +41 (0)22 747 7999

[email protected]

www.tango04.fr



www.tango04.it


www.tango04.fr


www.barcelona04.com


www.tango04.fr

About Tango/04 Computing Group

Tango/04 Computing Group is one of the leading developers of systems management and automation

software. Tango/04 software helps companies maintain the operating health of all their business

processes, improve service levels, increase productivity, and reduce costs through intelligent

management of their IT infrastructure.

Founded in 1991 in Barcelona, Spain, Tango/04 is an IBM Business Partner and a key member of IBM's

Autonomic Computing initiative. Tango/04 has more than a thousand customers who are served by over

35 authorized Business Partners around the world.

Alliances

Awards

Partnerships IBM Business Partner

IBM Autonomic Computing Business Partner

IBM PartnerWorld for Developers Advanced Membership

IBM ISV Advantage Agreement

IBM Early code release

IBM Direct Technical Liaison

Microsoft Developer Network

Microsoft Early Code Release


Legal Notice

The information in this document was created using certain specific equipment and environments, and it is limited in

application to those specific hardware and software products and version and releases levels.

Any references in this document regarding Tango/04 Computing Group products, software or services do not mean

that Tango/04 Computing Group intends to make these available in all countries in which Tango/04 Computing Group

operates. Any reference to a Tango/04 Computing Group product, software, or service may be used. Any functionally

equivalent product that does not infringe any of Tango/04 Computing Group's intellectual property rights may be used

instead of the Tango/04 Computing Group product, software or service

Tango/04 Computing Group may have patents or pending patent applications covering subject matter in this

document. The furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents.

The information contained in this document has not been submitted to any formal Tango/04 Computing Group test

and is distributed AS IS. The use of this information or the implementation of any of these techniques is a customer

responsibility, and depends on the customer's ability to evaluate and integrate them into the customer's operational

environment. Despite the fact that Tango/04 Computing Group could have reviewed each item for accurateness in a

specific situation, there is no guarantee that the same or similar results will be obtained somewhere else. Customers

attempting to adapt these techniques to their own environments do so at their own risk. Tango/04 Computing Group

shall not be liable for any damages arising out of your use of the techniques depicted on this document, even if they

have been advised of the possibility of such damages. This document could contain technical inaccuracies or

typographical errors.

Any pointers in this publication to external web sites are provided for your convenience only and do not, in any

manner, serve as an endorsement of these web sites.

The following terms are trademarks of the International Business Machines Corporation in the United States and/or

other countries: iSeries, iSeriese, iSeries, i5, DB2, e (logo)®Server IBM ®, Operating System/400, OS/400, i5/OS.

Microsoft, SQL Server, Windows, Windows NT, Windows XP and the Windows logo are trademarks of Microsoft

Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Java and all Java-based trademarks and logos are

trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. UNIX is a

registered trademark in the United States and other countries licensed exclusively through The Open Group. Oracle

is a registered trade mark of Oracle Corporation.

Other company, product, and service names may be trademarks or service marks of other companies.


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