Proactive monitoring scenario

Use this scenario to understand proactive monitoring.

When you log in to Tivoli Enterprise Portal, the Enterprise workspace is displayed as shown in Figure 1.

The Navigator is displayed. The Enterprise view is displayed at the highest level of the navigation tree. The next level is z/OS® Systems, which includes the list of z/OS systems where the monitoring agents are installed. The Mainframe Networks and KN3AGENT nodes indicate that the agent is installed.

For this scenario, system 4085 is being actively monitored. In the Navigator, you can see one IP stack configured on system 4085. The IP stack name is TCP/IP.

The message log is updated, and event indicator icons (shown in Figure 2) are displayed in the Navigator whenever a situation is triggered. In this scenario, the warning messages in the Situation Event Console indicate that the N3T_CPU_Pct_Warning and N3T_Fragmentation_Pct situations were triggered on the TCP/IP stack on system 4085.

Moving the mouse pointer over the event indicator in the Navigator opens the hover help listing of open events as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Tivoli Enterprise Portal with event indicator

If you are working to resolve an issue related to an event, acknowledge the event. Acknowledgments enable operators responsible for handling events to communicate their ownership of the event and its working status. Acknowledging an event places a blue check mark next to the situation in the event list. If the situation is still true when the acknowledgment expires or if you cancel the acknowledgement before it expires, the indicator changes accordingly. Right-click an event to view the list of actions (as shown in Figure 3) and click Acknowledge.

Click the link adjacent to the event text to view the situation values and expert advice as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Situation values with expert advice displayed

In the example shown in Figure 4, the values for the N3T_CPU_Pct_Warning situation are displayed. The two tables allow you to compare the current values with the values that were reported at the time the initial situation was triggered. Note that the tables contain all of the attributes from the associated attribute table, allowing you to examine multiple metrics when diagnosing a problem.

In cases where you can issue a command to resolve the problem, use the Take Action window to enter a command on the system where the problem occurred. A situation can include a Take Action command that runs when the situation becomes true. Also referred to as reflex automation, Take Action enables you to automate a response to system conditions. For example, you can send a command to restart a process on the managed system or send a text message to a cell phone.

Expert Advice is provided for each situation. The administrator can update the expert advice to reflect specific conditions in your enterprise.

You can create, edit, delete, or view a situation using the Situation Editor. Identify common mainframe network problems using situations contains the list of situations provided with IBM® Z OMEGAMON Network Monitor along with a brief explanation of the Situation Editor. See IBM Tivoli Monitoring: User's Guide for more detailed information about creating and customizing situations.