Choosing a performance-management or capacity-planning tool largely depends on whether you think your bottlenecks are primarily caused by hardware, applications, or databases.
Let's face it; we're spoiled. If you look at computing strictly from the user point of view, we're all ready to call "slow" any application or system that can't keep up with human decision-making speed. If the computer isn't ready to take the next input on which we've already decided or doesn't provide the information we need the nanosecond we're ready to read it, we notice and we're unhappy.
If you're an IT administrator, such expectations can rapidly turn into headaches when users complain, particularly if the users are calling from executive offices. When "fast" isn't good enough, after reaching for the ibuprofen, many administrators next reach for performance-management and capacity-planning software.
Types of Performance Solutions
For the System i, the two dozen or so products that are available to help with performance woes don't follow a particular pattern. In fact, they fall into five general groups.
Most common are performance-monitoring (PM) solutions that report and analyze multiple system metrics (e.g., response times, system overheads, CPU use, disk use, output queues) and perhaps even make some specific change recommendations, but they leave to humans the task of actually taking any remedial actions. The members of the second group are utilities that do automatically take some kind of performance-tuning (PT) action, but generally they're limited to a few specific functions. Third are solutions that presume performance problems are caused by how your applications are working, so they focus on applications monitoring (AM) (e.g., resource use, code execution efficiency). Group four zeroes in on database monitoring (DM) as the key problem, primarily examining database transaction speeds, SQL use, and similar issues. The final group employs capacity planning (CP) functions, use of which presumes that your system is ultimately not big enough and may require expansion or replacement. Products with this capability provide means (e.g., "what-if" scenarios, predictive tools, historical views of system resource use) to track system needs and project those needs into the future, given specific growth figures in numbers of users or transactions processed.
Products for the System i that run under i5/OS are listed below. We've included a "function types" parameter that categorizes the functions of each vendor's listed product(s) according to the groups specified above.
If you're trying to diagnose System i performance problems, you'll find that the solutions available specialize on one of the groups in particular, or at best, straddle two of them. In effect, that puts you in a position where, in order to best cope with your enterprise's particular performance problems, you pretty much need to know already whether the problem is with hardware, applications, or databases. Maybe that issue's a no-brainer for you, particularly if your enterprise has a history of trouble in one of those specific areas. But it's a bit limiting for shops whose systems have functioned fairly well in the past but are only lately showing signs of strain. For those enterprises, products categorized as members of the PM group are definitely the best place to start in looking for diagnostic help.
Please bear in mind that the descriptions offered for each product are simply summaries of the most pertinent features and are in no way a complete description of each product's capabilities. You should consult the links provided and other documentation available from the respective vendors to get a true picture of each product's feature set.
And as always when looking for products or services, be sure to check the MC Press Online Buyer's Guide.
Performance-Management and Capacity-Planning Solutions for IBM i
Halcyon Software
Function type: PM
Advanced Automation Suite is a central-console, system-management, task-automation product that includes a system performance monitor. Users can use the monitor to set performance thresholds and receive alerts if system conditions exceed those limits.
Automatic Partition Resource Manager (APRM)
Barsa Consulting Group
Function type: PM, PT
APRM is an automatic tuning utility for logical partitions (LPARs) operating on IBM i servers. It monitors memory, processor, and interactive functions to optimize the system resources available to each partition. APRM collects statistics from each partition every 15 seconds, enables user-defined tuning rules, and can help manage multiple servers.
Permessa
Function type: AM
Designed for use with IBM/Lotus products only, Collaboration CONTROL! is an application-performance solution that also helps with administrative tasks. The product compiles performance information and uses customizable Web portals to display it, automatically generates reports for delivery to specific recipients, and identifies abandoned databases, user IDs, and mailboxes.
Raz-Lee Security
Function type: PM, PT
CPU Scope is a performance enhancer for System i that monitors CPU and I/O activity and either takes predesignated remedial actions or sends alert messages in response to problems. Users can vary product-action execution based on time of day, day of the week, or day of the month.
S4i Systems
Function type: PM, PT, CP
DASD-Plus is an automated disk-management utility that offers 25 disk-maintenance routines, analyzes disk usage based on multiple parameters, and runs disk-optimization routines at user-specified intervals.
DASD-Plus Chart prepares graphical comparisons of libraries, objects, directories, and files and compares their disk utilization to similar structures on other systems. It also uses trend charts to show projected disk consumption at monthly intervals into the future.
Macro 4
Function type: PM, CP
Disk Space Analyzer automatically gathers data that system managers can use to analyze disk-space usage by application or other criteria, manage spooled files, schedule disk reorganizations, better control user journals and receivers, and carry out system capacity planning.
Performance Analyzer is a realtime performance diagnostic tool for System i. It collects performance data at user-specified times, lets managers monitor all networked systems from a central console, graphically presents performance data, and makes recommendations for resolving performance bottlenecks.
Global iSeries Application Performance Analyzer (GiAPA)
iPerformance ApS
Function type: AM
GiAPA runs in the background, using only 0.1 percent of a CPU cycle, and gathers application performance data every 15 seconds. System managers can use the data to determine the nature of application performance problems and see which threads/programs/statements are causing slowdowns.
Kisco Information Systems
Function type: PT
GoFaster is a performance accelerator for older System i machine models that have artificial limitations on their interactive operations, but it does not perform any performance analysis tasks.
Centerfield Technology
Function type: DM
HomeRun is a suite of database-performance tools. Suite members identify and optimize database indexes, analyze database operations, track SQL and other query use, graphically display job metrics, and help managers define system resource-use policies.
IBM Systems Workload Estimator
Systems Director Navigator for i5/OS Performance
IBM Corporation
Function type: PM, CP
IBM Systems Workload Estimator is a capacity-planning tool that lets users input data about current and future workloads and receive estimates of future processor, memory, and disk needs. It's designed to help users decide between new systems, system upgrades, and consolidation of multiple systems to meet future processing needs.
IBM's iDoctor for IBM i is a suite of realtime analyzers for all aspects of system performance. The suite members display data graphically, include drill-down features, individually cover a wide range of potential problem areas, and are designed for use by both experts and novices.
PM for Power Systems is a performance-analysis and capacity-planning software application for IBM i systems running i5/OS or AIX. It provides summary level information on performance characteristics of specific partitions or whole systems, as well as growth projections based on current use. A service available from IBM Global Services provides up to 26 additional graphs and charts showing details behind the summary averages.
Systems Director Navigator for i5/OS Performance displays summarized information in multiple charts and graphs with drill-down capabilities. It helps system managers spot and diagnose performance problems quickly.
First Option
Function type: PM
Although not available for licensed purchase, iSeries Watchdog is a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution you can rent. The service monitors your System i machines remotely and displays key system health statistics in a graphical dashboard. Although the solution provides data useful for performance and capacity management, it takes no direct actions on the system itself in response to problems.
Vision Solutions
Function type: PM, PT
Vision Solutions' iSCORE is freeware, a downloadable system capacity analysis utility that analyzes disk usage by various categories and provides an overall system score in a summary report. The utility evaluates performance of indexes, journals, queries, SAVF, and system values.
Vision Director is an integrated application set that monitors, manages, and optimizes IBM i servers, databases, and application environments. It produces a range of reports on factors affecting system performance and automates some system maintenance tasks.
Jennifersoft
Function type: AM
JENNIFER is an application performance-management solution for Java and IBM WebSphere environments on System i and other platforms. Designed specifically for monitoring applications in production environments, JENNIFER watches performance of networked operations, end-user transactions, database activity, and other application internal services and reports them via a dashboard-style interface. It also provides root-cause analysis of performance problems to guide human intervention in their resolution.
Fax*Star, a division of SEPE
Function type: PT
Max400 tunes and maximizes interactive CPW performance of System i servers running OS/400 V4R1 through V5R4 in cases where the interactive capacity of the machine may have been set at a suboptimal level as a function of the machine model.
Bytware
Function type: PM
Messenger monitors all message queues and automates handling of all message types, including alerts related to system performance problems. Messenger notifies appropriate personnel of common events and lets system managers design custom monitors for specific problems.
OS Solutions International
Function type: PM
OS Director automatically analyzes many aspects of System i performance tasks, such as free space, data archiving, and system optimization. OS Director can help simplify oversight of databases, system resources and objects, and system activities.
Midrange Performance Group
Function type: PM, CP
Performance Navigator is a graphical application that runs on a PC and carries out performance analysis of System i servers. It provides 121 graphs and 271 reports on various hardware and software aspects of system performance and lets users run various "what-if" scenarios for capacity planning.
CCSS
Function type: PM, CP
QSystem Monitor is a multipurpose system-monitoring and capacity-planning application that operates in real time and provides a graphical interface and graphical reports. The product maintains oversight of application and system performance metrics, DASD and IFS activity, system availability, and numerous additional metrics. It also provides historical system-performance data over multiple time periods (e.g., day, week, month), long-term retrospective analysis, and long-term predictive capacity-planning capabilities.
Help Systems
Function type: PM, PT
Robot/AUTOTUNE monitors system performance factors such as memory allocation, CPU use, disk-space consumption, transaction rates, and response times and displays them graphically on a PC console, for up to 25 networked IBM i systems. In addition, it automatically makes adjustments to help tune systems and keep them at peak operating performance.
Robot/CPA automates System i resource-accounting tasks, manages accounting journals and history files, and keeps statistics that help system managers predict future system needs.
Tango/04 Computing Group
Function type: PM, PT
MB Software & Consulting
Function type: PM
Workload Performance Series is an integrated suite that analyzes System i application-processing environments. The suite examines system-resource trends and historical data, application source code, and other user-defined criteria. The product also makes recommendations for improvements (e.g., database tuning, application code changes, system management techniques).
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