No matter how well your systems perform, there are always ways to improve. Performance-management and capacity-planning tools help you find the best balance between high throughput and fast user-response time.
Despite the reputation IBM Power Systems (particularly the IBM i) have for reliability, uptime percentages with healthy doses of nines in them aren't the only criteria for system efficiency. The actual amount of processing that takes place in a given period can be crucial, especially for enterprises with high volumes of business, large numbers of remote system users, and customers who regularly access your systems to gather information such as the status of their orders. System response time is an efficiency benchmark for internal and external users alike, and the most effectual use of CPU cycles is a statistic that IT management needs to keep optimal at the same time.
Going hand in hand with efficient use of resources today is the problem of planning for sufficient capacity in the future. If your enterprise is growing, or simply hopes to, anticipating the computing power necessary to handle demand in the coming months and years and acquiring the hardware and software upgrades needed to cope with that are also important.
Meeting these objectives can be much easier with the help of performance-management and capacity-planning software solutions. While predicting the future always includes some measure of guesswork, these kinds of system-management applications can at least give you accurate measurements of how your current systems are performing today. That knowledge can be the best basis for making plans for the future.
The Different Categories of Performance and Planning Solutions
For the IBM i, the two dozen or so products that are available to help with performance and planning fall into five general groups.
At the top of the list are performance-monitoring (PM) solutions that report and analyze multiple system metrics (e.g., response times, system overhead, CPU use, disk use, output queues) and sometimes 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 those remedies are limited to several specific functions. Third are solutions that analyze how efficiently your application software is using system resources, so they focus on applications monitoring (AM) (e.g., resource use, code execution efficiency). Group four focuses on database monitoring (DM), primarily examining database transaction speeds, SQL use, and similar issues. The final group employs capacity planning (CP) functions, the 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.
IBM offers an assortment of library materials on performance management, as well as several pertinent products, but there is also a significant assortment of third-party products that can help with these types of decisions. All of these are summarized here.
Products for the IBM 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.
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
Bytware
Function type: PM
Messenger watches all message queues in single or networked servers, sends alerts of problems from a central console, automates message-handling throughout a network, provides an alternate console on another system during emergencies, and lets system managers design custom monitors for specific problems.
Centerfield Technology
Function type: DM
HomeRun provides numerous tools with which to improve database performance. Suite members identify and optimize logical files and database indexes, analyze database operations, track SQL and other query use, graphically display job metrics, and help managers define system resource-use policies.
CCSS
Function types: AM, 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. Monitoring services include DASD, IFS, system availability, job runs, network activity, application performance, cache battery, high availability, and BRMS logs. Other capabilities include historical system-performance data over multiple time periods (e.g., day, week, month), long-term retrospective analysis, and long-term predictive capacity-planning capabilities.
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. It is designed for situations in which the interactive capacity of the machine may have been set at a suboptimal level as a function of the machine model.
First Option
Function type: PM
Although not available for licensed purchase, iSeries Watchdog is a Software as a Service (SaaS) solution available for rent. The service monitors IBM i servers remotely and provides key system health statistics in a graphical dashboard format. Areas analyzed include disk/DASD usage, system messages, tape status, object tracking, and system problem interrogation.
Halcyon Software
Function type: PM
Advanced Automation Suite is a central-console product that helps users monitor and manage a wide variety of system activities, including system performance, SLA compliance, output and distribution queues, and disk space. Performance tools include a performance snapshots GUI.
Operations Center Suite is a multiplatform monitoring and performance solution for AIX, Unix, and Windows, as well as IBM i. The suite gives users and system managers a control point for managing system performance, job scheduling, disk space, system messages, and spooled files.
Help/Systems
Function types: AM, PM, PT
Robot/AUTOTUNE monitors up to 25 networked IBM i servers for system performance factors such as memory allocation, CPU use, disk-space consumption, transaction rates, and response times. The solution displays data graphically on a PC console, as well as automatically making adjustments to help tune systems and keep them at peak operating performance.
Robot/CPA automates System i resource-accounting tasks such as job and device usage, pricing, and user chargebacks. It also manages accounting journals and history files, and keeps statistics that help system managers predict future system needs.
Robot/Network monitors networks of servers or partitions from a central console. It oversees application performance, partition and server management, TCP/IP support, and control of multi-host networks.
Robot/SPACE keeps an eye on ASPs, IASPs, libraries, IFS objects, active job-storage levels, and other system-storage attributes to make sure system managers are aware of disk capacity problems and can anticipate future needs. Robot/SPACE also performs more than 20 disk-space cleanup functions.
IBM Corporation
IBM Systems Workload Estimator
Systems Director Navigator for i5/OS Performance
Function types: PM, CP
IBM Systems Workload Estimator is a Web-based 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 real-time analyzers (including the PEX analyzer), designed for both novices and experts, to inspect all aspects of system performance. Tools include analyzers for job, thread, and task performance data; database waits, I/O activity, and CPU use; job-run average response times, I/O rates, and memory-pool use; and heap analysis for systems using the Java Virtual Machine (JVM).
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 a system's current and long-term utilization trends, provides interactive access to 24 months of historical performance data, and provides data on virtualization capabilities.
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.
iPerformance ApS
Global iSeries Application Performance Analyzer (GiAPA)
Function type: AM
GiAPA gathers application performance data every 15 seconds and helps system managers see which applications are causing performance problems, as well as identify specific threads, programs, and statements that might be causing problems. In addition, GiAPA helps programmers discover how programs might be improved to run more efficiently.
Jennifersoft
Function type: AM
JENNIFER is an application performance-management solution for Java and IBM WebSphere environments on IBM i and other platforms. Tailored for production environments, JENNIFER monitors network operations, database activity, system load and performance, and other application internal services. JENNIFER reports data via Ecclus, a PC-based user interface with 3D graphical displays.
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 doesn't offer performance analysis functions.
Macro 4
Function types: PM, CP
Macro 4's Disk Space Analyzer (also available as SUPERMON for iSeries V100 from Softlanding Systems) automatically evaluates disk space usage, reorganizes files, purges unwanted spool files, and provides statistics on OfficeVision documents. The solution presents data graphically via a PC interface and gathers data across networks and from client/server configurations.
Performance Analyzer (also available as SUPERMON for iDisk v100 from Softlanding Systems) is a historical and real-time performance diagnostic tool. It includes an advisor mode that offers recommendations for improving system performance, a dynamic resource monitor, an object-locking monitor, a CPU usage monitor, and other tools. It presents data graphically on a PC interface and can analyze single or multiple networked IBM i servers.
MB Software & Consulting
Function type: PM
Workload Performance Series is an integrated suite that analyzes System i application-processing environments. The suite includes customizable data collectors that help investigators zero in on a wide range of potential problems. Suite functions include monitoring and analysis of system resources, source-code execution, historical data, trends, resource utilization, and statistical overviews. The product can also help with database tuning, job analysis, and user tracking, as well as enabling users to set alert notifications to predefined thresholds.
Midrange Performance Group
Function types: PM, CP
Performance Navigator is a graphical application that runs on a PC and carries out performance analysis of IBM i servers. It provides graphs and reports on various hardware and software aspects of system performance and lets users run different "what-if" scenarios for capacity planning.
Permessa
Permessa Collaboration CONTROL!
Function type: AM
Designed for use with IBM/Lotus products only, Collaboration CONTROL! is an application-performance and collaboration-management solution that analyzes application and database use, identifies unused resources (e.g., abandoned mailboxes, databases, user IDs), measures Domino application adoption, and helps monitor service-level performance. The solution makes all information available via customizable Web portals or reports targeted to specific individuals.
Raz Lee Security
Function types: PM, PT
CPUScope is a performance enhancer for IBM i that monitors CPU and I/O activity. It searches for jobs that are consuming excessive resources 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 types: PM, PT, CP
DASD-Plus is an automated disk-management utility that offers 25 disk-maintenance routines, with a special emphasis on DB2 performance. It analyzes disk usage based on multiple parameters, gathers data using the PEX analyzer of IBM's iDoctor tool, and runs disk-optimization routines at user-specified intervals.
DASD-Plus Chart prepares graphical comparisons of data gathered by DASD-Plus or other tools and presents them in user choice of pie and bar charts. The charts are configurable to show details at the library, directory, file, or object level. The solution also provides trend charts to support capacity planning.
Tango/04 Computing Group
Function types: PM, PT
VISUAL Control Center is a suite of integrated products that help monitor and manage performance of up to 999 networked IBM i, AIX, Linux, and UNIX servers and report data to a PC interface. The solution helps detect abusive users and programs, monitor system and end-user activity in real time and historically, and tune LPARs and memory pools.
Vision Solutions
Function types: PM, PT, CP, DM
Vision Solutions' iSCORE freeware is 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.
MIMIX Director is a multifaceted suite for reporting on system resources and objects, automating system management tasks, tracking changes to physical and logical file dependencies, and assisting with system capacity planning. Specifically, in the areas of performance tuning, the suite automates disk optimization and enhances system performance, monitors and enforces management-designed usage rules, makes (and optionally carries out) recommendations for increasing performance, and maintains complete audit trails of all its activities.
as/400, os/400, iseries, system i, i5/os, ibm i, power systems, 6.1, 7.1, V7, V6R1
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