IV82531: CHANGE CDP TO RETURN NO_VALUE FOR INVALID TIMESTAMP

IBM Tivoli Monitoring 6.3.0 Fix Pack 7 (6.3.0-TIV-ITM-FP0007)

APAR status

• Closed as program error.

Error description

• The itm data provider expects a CTTIMESTAMP atribute to return
  a 16 character timestamp for formatting.
  
  Some ITM agents will return a timestamp of 0 for some
  attributes which will cause this problem.
  If the agent returns just a zero, which is a single character,
  this is viewed as an invalid timestamp. The data provider then
  returns a timestamp of "Nov 30, 1999 12:00:00 AM".
  
  The fix for this APAR will be the data provider returning a
  "--" string instead of the Nov 30, 1999 date.
  
  RECREATE INSTRUCTIONS:
  In this case, the timestamps are from TCPIP Application data
  from the OMEGAMON for Mainframe Networks agent. The timestamp
  attributes are "HWMTM" (Time stamp for Active Connections High
  Water Mark) and "BCKLOGRETM" (Backlog Connections Rejected Time
  Stamp).  It is possible for both of these attributes to have no
  displayable data on the TEP, if the condition they report on
  has never occurred for the resource.  In that case, the
  Mainframe Networks agent defaults the value of the attribute to
  a string of zeroes.  When displaying these timestamps in a DASH
  widget using data queried from the ITMcDP, this case results in
  the "zero" timestamps being shown as "1999-11-30 00:00:00".
  

Local fix

Problem summary

• Some ITM monitoring agents return timestamp attribute values
  consisting of all zeros to represent values that are not
  applicable for that particular resource or element in the
  collected sample.  Values of these types would normally be shown
   as "N/A", "Not Applicable", or perhaps "Unknown" if displayed
  in a TEP workspace.  For dashboards constructed using DASH,
  however, these same timestamp values show up as "1999-11-30
  00:00:00", which is confusing.  Moreover, there is no external
  customer-facing documentation that indicates how these unusual
  timestamp values are to be interpreted.
  
  
  This display issue will occur under the following conditions:
  
  1) The customer is viewing a dashboard constructed and displayed
  using DASH.
  2) The dashboard displays timestamp atributes where the value
  originally provided by the monitoring agent contains all zero
  digits.
  
  Under these two conditions, the value of the timestamp shown in
  the dashboard will be "1999-11-30 00:00:00".
  
  This issue was originally reported for application data
  associated with the OMEGAMON for Mainframe Networks product.
  The timestamp attributes are "HWMTM" (Active Connections High
  Water Mark Timestamp) and "BCKLOGRETM" (Backlog Connections
  Rejected Timestamp).  However, any data provided by any ITM
  monitoring agent that satisfies the two conditions listed
  previously will also be displayed with the same erroneous
  timestamp value in the DASH dashboard; so this issue is not
  restricted to the OMEGAMON for Mainframe Networks solution.  In
  addition, this problem is not restricted to any particular
  server platform, but applicable to all platforms supported by
  the ITM TEPS component.
  

Problem conclusion

• The APAR fix involved an update to the Dashboard Data Provider
  component that is associated with the TEPS.  This is the
  component that supports retrieval of ITM agent metrics by
  dashboards constucted with DASH.  The data provider was updated
  to recognize these special "all zeros" timestamp values returned
   by the monitoring agent, and if detected, mark that partcular
  field as logically containing no value.  This special marking
  then informs the user interface component(s) that no value
  should be displayed for that particular field shown in the
  dashboard.
  
  The fix for this APAR is contained in the following maintenance
  packages:
  
    | fix pack | 6.3.0-TIV-ITM-FP0007
  

Temporary fix

Comments

APAR Information

• APAR is sysrouted FROM one or more of the following:

• APAR is sysrouted TO one or more of the following:

Fix information

• Fixed component name

  TEPS

• Fixed component ID

  5724C04PS

Applicable component levels