ManageEngine® Applications Manager


Chapter 6.4.1 IBM AS400 / iSeries

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IBM AS400 / iSeries

Monitored Parameters

Availability tab, gives the Availability history for the past 24 hours or 30 days. Performance tab gives the Health Status and events for the past 24 hours or 30 days. In addition, it also provides the auxillary stroage pool percentage, processing unit percentage, number of users signed on and response time of the server. Each attribute has heat chart report enabled. List view enables you to perform bulk admin configurations. Click on the individual monitors listed, to view the following information.

 

The attributes for IBM AS400 / iSeries monitored are classified under the following tabs by Applications Manager:

Overview

 

Parameters

Description

Monitor Information

This provides general information about the AS400/iSeries server such as name of the server, current health of the server, type, system model, system serial, and latest polled values. In addition, it also displays system configuration details such as security level, version number, Previous System End, Auto Device Configuration, System Console, Job Message Queue Initial Size, Job Message Queue Maximum Size, Spooling Control Initial Size, Maximum Jobs Allowed, Password Valid Days and Query Processing Time Limit.

Response Time

Displays the response time of the AS400/iSeries server.

Health

Provides the health of the server. It displays the Job health, Message health, Spool health, Printer health, Disk health, Problem health, and Subsystem health.

 

Job: Specifies the total number of user jobs and system jobs that are currently in the system. It also displays the performance and status information for the active jobs in the system.

 

Message: Displays the total number of messages received from the server.

 

Spool: Displays the output of the printer files in the server.

 

Printer: Displays the number of printer devices connected to the server.

 

Disk: Specifies the hard disk space utilized by the system.

 

Problem: Displays the number of problems with ID and description from the server.

 

Subsystem: Displays the total number of subsystems available under the server.

Server Snapshot

Server snapshot provides an quick overview of current server's auxillary storage pool's usage in percentage, processing units' usage in percentage, permanent address usage in percentage, temporary address usage in percentage and interactive performance usage in percentage.

 

ASP Usage: The amount of hard disk capacity available in your system is called Auxiliary Storage Pool (ASP). This can be a deceiving number if you have more than one ASP defined on your system, because this number only reflects the System ASP. Applications Manager provides you with the percentage of disk storage in your System ASP that is currently used. If the percentage exceeds 90 percentage the system can fail. The performance of your AS400 server is affected if the percentage usage crosses 80 percent. You can create an alarm for this percentage and alert you whenever the percentage exceeds 80.

 

Permanent addresses percentage and Temporary addresses Usage: Applications Manager provides you the usage in percentage for the two addresses - Permanent and Temporary Addresses - which refer to the possible system addresses created for permanent and temporary objects in your AS400. Any variation in these values may reflect on rapid changed in the creation or destruction of objects in your AS400 at much rapid pace. This may affect your performance of your server.

Job Counts

Provides the various job counts of various job types currently running in AS400/iSeries server. The information is displayed in a pie-chart with clearly distinction of each job types contribution to total job count. By default, the following services job count is displayed:

  • Source PF system

  • Spooled Writer
  • System
  • Spooled Reader
  • Subsystem
  • Autostart
  • Interactive
  • Batch
System Information System information displays the shared processing pool information, uncapped CPU utilization and current processing capacity resources.
Disk Utilization Specifies the hard disk space utilized by the system and updates with the peak and current value, and current status of the Disk Partition parameter.(The parameter includes C, D, E, F drives, etc. in windows, /home, etc. in Linux.)
Memory Utilization Memory utilization for AS400/iSeries is displayed through pool size, reserved size, DB pages and Non DB pages and through DB faults and Non DB faults.

 

 

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Status

 

Under Status tab, Applications Manager monitors the status of various attributes of AS400 / iSeries server. You can also configure alarms for each of these attributes by clicking on 'Configure Alarms' link.

 

Parameters

Description
System Info This contains details of your AS400 main storage, number of processors, number of pools, number of partitions and the number of active threads in your system along with the health of each individual attribute.
System Status This displays the value and health of ASP percentage, DB percentage, Processing Unit percentage, Permanent and Temporary Addresses percentage.

ASP Percentage

The amount of hard disk capacity available in your system is called Auxiliary Storage Pool (ASP). This can be a deceiving number if you have more than one ASP defined on your system, because this number only reflects the System ASP. Applications Manager provides you with the percentage of disk storage in your System ASP that is currently used. If the percentage exceeds 90 percentage the system can fail. The performance of your AS400 server is affected if the percentage usage crosses 80 percent. You can create an alarm for this percantage and alert you whenever the percentage exceeds 80.
Auxillary Storage The auxillary storage displays ASP total value and health, current unprotected useage and maximum protected usage along with the health of each attribute.
CPU Info This displays the processing capacity, performance, shared processor pool and uncapped CPU capacity usage in percentages along with the health of each attribute.
Jobs Displays the total number of jobs, number of active jobs, number of batch jobs, jobs waiting for messages, and maximum number of jobs in your AS400 server along with the health of each attribute. For number of active jobs, the 7/30 reporting is enabled.
Batch Jobs Displays the number batch jobs ended, ending, held on queue and held while running along with the health of each attribute. It also displays the batch jobs on unassigned job queue and waiting to run/already scheduled jobs in AS400 server. For number of batch jobs on jobqueue, the 7/30 reporting is enabled.
Users Displays the values for total number of users signed on and signed off, along with users suspended by group jobs, users suspended by system request and users temporarily signed off. For number of users signed on, the 7/30 reporting is enabled.

 

 

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Pool

 

Under Pool tab, Applications Manager displays to pool details for the AS400 / iSeries server. Applications Manager provides you in-depth details for Pool such as Pool Name, Pool Size, DB pages, DB faults, Non DB pages and Non DB faults. The health and alarm configuration for each corresponding attribute is also provided.

 

Parameters

Description
Pool Name

By default, there are four predefined storage pools:


*MACHINE

*BASE

*INTER and

*SPOOL

 

There are up to 12 user-definable storage pools available.

Pool Size

This displays the amount of memory assigned to each default pools such as *MACHINE, *BASE, *INTER and *SPOOL. You can also edit the amount of memory allocated for each pool by executing the Change Subsystem Description (CHGSBSD) command through Non- interactive Command available in Admin tab. Better allocation would help improve the performance of the server.

Reserved Size

This displays the pool's reserved memory allocation size. The information provided here gives better understanding to how much of the memory allocation has been used by jobs and how much memory is still unused. This reserved size can affect system performance. If insufficient memory is not provided to the default *MACHINE pool, then it can affect overall performance of your AS400 server. Hence monitoring this attribute becomes critical for maintaining better performance of your AS400 server.

DB and Non DB Faults and Pages

This displays the DB and Non DB pages and fault for each pool. This bascially displays how program instructions and database information enter and leave the pool's memory. Monitoring this information provides better visibility on various programs and jobs that are being executed in AS400 server. Applications Manager allows you to monitor the various programs, data queues and configuration objects among others which lets you maintain the overall performance of AS400 server.

 

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Jobs

 

Under Jobs tab, Applications Manager monitor Jobs status and health in detail. You can easily configure alarms for Job details by clicking on 'Configure Alarms' link. The table consists of the following colums:

Parameters

Description
Job Details Displays the total number of jobs in clear, critical and warning states along with the health of each attribute.
Jobs

Displays a wealth of information on various jobs being executed in AS400 server. Each attribute is explained below.

 

Batch Job: The user name is specified on the Submit Job (SBMJOB) command, or it is specified in the job description.

Interactive Job: The user name is either typed in at signon or is provided by the default in the job description.

Autostart Job: The user name is specified in the job description referred to by the job entry for the autostart job.

Job Name

The name of the job as identified by AS400. This displays the total number of jobs executed in AS400 by the system and the total number of user initiated jobs in AS400.

User

The user name is the same as the user profile name and can come from several different sources, depending on the type of job.
Number

The system-assigned job number.

Type

The type of active job. Possible values are:

  • ASJ: Autostart

  • BCH: Batch

  • BCI: Batch Immediate

  • EVK: Started by a procedure start request

  • INT: Interactive o M36: Advanced 36 server job

  • MRT: Multiple requester terminal

  • PJ: Prestart job

  • PDJ: Print driver job

  • RDR: Reader

  • SBS: Subsystem monitor

  • SYS: System

  • WTR: Writer Status

Status This displays the status of the initial thread of the job. Only one status is displayed per job. A blank status field represents an initial thread that is in transition.
Pool

This displays the system-related pool from which the job's main storage is allocated.

Function This displays the last high-level function initiated by the initial thread. This field is blank when a logged function has not been performed. The field is not cleared when a function is completed.
Priority This displays the run priority of the job. A lower number indicates a higher priority. System jobs and subsystem monitors with a run priority higher than priorities allowed for user jobs show a priority of 0. Run priority ranges from 1 (highest) to 99 (lowest). Jobs with the highest priority receive the best service from the CPU. This value is the highest run priority allowed for any thread within the job. Individual threads may have a lower priority.
Threads Displays the number of active threads in the job.
Queue

Displays the name of the Queue where the job is located.

 

The job status in AS400/iSeries is classified into three types:

 

1. Jobs Clear
2. Jobs Warning
3. Jobs Critical

 

If you would like to define a particular job status as critical, edit AS400server.properties in AppManager Conf directory and include the particular job status as critical.

 

Open the conf file in the Applications Manager directory:

 

Windows: C:\Program Files\ManageEngine\<AppManagerHome>\conf

Linux: \ManageEngine\<AppManagerHome>\Conf

 

The file consists of jobs in pre-defined classification under clear, warning and critical categories. If you would like to include a particular job status say for example CMNA as critical, add CMNA in the following line as follows

 

am.as400.critical = MSGW, CMNA

 

Save the file and restart Applications Manager. After the next polling interval, you will find that the particular job is now classified as a Critical job status.

 

 

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Messages

 

Message Information display gives you more detailed information about the various message(s) being displayed in your AS400 server. The messages are displayed with in-depth details such as message ID, severity of the message, type of the message, message text with a cause and recovery information if applicable, date and time of the message generated and help information for that particular message. You can view more detailed information of a particular message by clicking on the Help icon - .

 

Parameters

Description
Message ID The message ID identifies the type of message. This is useful when doing problem analysis.
Severity A 2-digit value ranging from 00 through 99. The higher the value the more severe or important the condition.
Type

The following values may be shown:

  • Completion: A message that conveys completion status of work.

  • Diagnostic: A message that indicates errors in a system function, errors in an application, or errors in input data.

  • Escape: A message that describes a condition for which a program must end abnormally.

  • Information: A message that provides general non error-related information.

  • Inquiry: A message that conveys information but also asks for a reply.

  • Notify: A message that describes a condition for which a program requires corrective action or a reply.

  • Reply: A message that is a response to a received inquiry or notify message.

  • Request:A message that contains a command for processing by a request processor, such as command entry.

  • Sender Copy: A copy of an inquiry or notify message that is kept in the sender's message queue.

Message The text of the message.
Date This is the date (in job format) that the message was sent.
Default Reply Displays the default reply that was generated by your AS400 server for the particular generated message.
Help

Displays in-depth details for the particular message from your AS400 server. It displays the following values:

  • Message ID

  • Date Sent

  • Alert Option

  • Current User

  • From Job Number

  • From Program

  • Reply Status

  • File Name

  • Message

  • Cause

 

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Spool

 

Parameters

Description
Spool Name The file name that was specified by the user program when the file was created, or the name of the device file used to create this file.
Number The system-assigned spool number.
Job Name The name of the job that produced the spooled file.
Job Number The number of the job that produced this spooled file.
Job Owner The name of the user who owns the spooled file.
Status

The status of the spooled file. The following list of values is used to describe the file's status:

 

RDY (Ready) The file is available to be written to an output device by a writer.

OPN (Open) The file has not been completely processed and is not ready to be selected by a writer.

DFR (Deferred) The file has been deferred from printing.

SND (Sending) The file is being or has been sent to a remote system.

CLO (Closed) The file has been completely processed by a program but SCHEDULE(*JOBEND) was specified and the job that produced the file has not yet finished.

HLD (Held) The file has been held.

SAV (Saved) The file has been written and then saved. This file will remain saved until it is released.

WTR (Writer) This file is currently being produced by the writer on an output device.

PND (Pending) The file is pending to be printed.

PRT (Printing) The file has been completely sent to the printer but print complete status has not been sent back.

MSGW (Message Waiting) This file has a message which needs a reply or an action to be taken.

Pages The total number of pages or records in the file (pages for print, records for diskette). If the file is still open, this field is blank for diskette files or will have the current number of pages spooled for printer files. An "R" is displayed after the value if the file is a diskette file.

 

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Printer

 

Parameters

Description
Device Name Specifies the Printer or Device name.
Status

Specifies the status of the printer device. Valid values are

 

0 (varied off)

10 (vary off pending)

20 (vary on pending)

30 (varied on)

40 (connect pending)

60 (active)

66 (active writer)

70 (held)

75 (powered off)

80 (recovery pending)

90 (recovery canceled)

100 (failed)

106 (failed writer)

110 (being serviced)

111 (damaged)

112 (locked)

113 (unknown)

Job Name Specifies the name of the job that created the spooled file.
Job Number Specifies the number of the job that created the spooled file.
Job Owner Specifies the name of the user that created the spooled file.
Total Pages Specifies the number of pages that are contained in a spooled file.
Spooled File Name Specifies the name of the spooled file.
Spooled File Number Specifies the spooled file number. Special values allowed are -1 and 0. The value *LAST is encoded as -1, the value *ONLY is encoded as 0.
Spooled File Size Specifies the spooled file size. Multiply this value by the spooled file size multiplier value to get the size of the spooled file in number of bytes. The spooled file size is the data stream plus the "overhead" storage used to store the spooled files's data stream.
Output Queue Name Specifies the name of the output queue.
Output Queue Status Specifies the status of the output queue. Valid values are RELEASED, HELD.

 

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Disk

 

The Disk Status display shows performance and status information about the disk units on the system. It displays the number of units currently on the system, the type of each disk unit, the size of disk space, whether the disk is currently on the system, the percentage of disk space used, the average amount of data read and written, and the percentage of time the disk is being used.

 

Parameters

Description
Disk Arm Number Specifies the unique identifier of the unit. Each actuator arm on the disk drives available to the machine represents a unit of auxiliary storage. The value of the unit number is assigned by the system when the unit is allocated to an ASP.
Drive Capacity (in bytes) Total number of bytes of auxiliary storage provided on the unit for the storage of objects and internal machine functions when the ASP containing it is not under checksum protection. The unit reserved system space value is subtracted from the unit capacity to calculate this capacity.
Drive Available Space (in bytes) Total number of bytes of auxiliary storage space that is not currently assigned to objects or internal machine functions, and therefore is available on the unit.
Percentage of Use

The estimated percentage of time the disk unit is being used during the elapsed time. This estimate is based on the number of I/O requests, the amount of data transferred, and the performance characteristics of the type of disk unit. This field is blank if the performance characteristics of the disk unit are not available.

Blocks Write Number of blocks written: The block length is 520 bytes, which includes 8 bytes of system control information.
Blocks Read Number of blocks read: The block length is 520 bytes, which includes 8 bytes of system control information.
ASP Specifies the ASP to which this unit is currently allocated. A value of 1 specifies the system ASP. A value from 2 through 32 specifies a basic ASP. A value from 33 to 255 specifies an independent ASP. A value of 0 indicates that this unit is currently not allocated.
Unit Status

Local mirroring status.

 

1 = active

2 = resuming

3 = suspended

Disk Wait Time Combined wait (queue) time of all disk operations completed since last sample (milliseconds). Divide by number of read and write commands to obtain average wait (queue) time. Add to disk service time to obtain disk response time. Set to zero if data is not available.

 

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Problem

 

Problem ID: Specifies the problem identifier of the problem being selected. Problems with different system origins can have the same identifier. This parameter can be used with the ORIGIN parameter to select a single problem from a particular system origin.

 

Problem Severity: This specifies the severity level of the problem. Severity levels are assigned by the user when the problem is prepared for reporting. The four severity levels are:

 

1. High

2. Medium

3. Low

4. None

 

Problem Type: Specifies which type of problems to work with. *ALL All problem log entries are shown, regardless of the problem type.

 

1 - Only machine-detected problems are shown.

2 - Only user-detected problems are shown.

3 - Only PTF order problems are shown.

4 - Only application-detected problems are shown.

5 - Only Client machine-detected problems are shown.

6 - Only Client user-detected problems are shown.

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SubSystem

 

Name: The name of the subsystem that was specified on the STRSBS (Start Subsystem) command.

 

Current Active Jobs: The number of jobs active in the subsystem. If more than one interactive job is started from the same work station (with system request or Transfer to Group Job), they are counted as only one job on this display.

 

Status: The status of the subsystem, which can be either ACTIVE, END (in the process of ending), or RSTD (the controlling subsystem is in the restricted condition). More information on the restricted condition of the controlling subsystem is in the online help information for the ENDSBS command.

 

Library: The name of the library where the subsystem description is located. Maximum Active Jobs The maximum number of jobs active allowed in the subsystem.

 

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Admin

 

 

Some of the key attributes on which certain actions can be performed are as given below.

 

Jobs - The following actions will be enabled for job attributes:

Messages - In messages you will be able to execute actions such as

Spool - In Spool, you will be able to execute the following actions:

Subsystem - In Subsystem, you will be able to execute the following actions:

In addition, you will be able to execute Non-interactive commands from Applications Manager and also will be able to edit any of the System Value list attributes.

 

 

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See Also

 

Creating New IBM AS400 / iSeries Monitor

 

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