MAS resource monitoring (MRM)

(SAM, by contrast, is the monitoring and evaluation of a default resource, the CICS system itself. Although you can tailor the type of notification you receive from SAM, the condition that triggers the notification is defined by CICSPlex SM.) Using MRM, you can select both the resource status you are interested in and the type of external notification it generates. Here are some examples of the ways in which MRM can be used:

• You can use MRM to inform you of changes in the absolute status of a resource. For example, if the status of an LU6.2 connection is ever RELEASED at a time when you have specified it must be ACQUIRED, external notifications can be issued so that the CICSPlex SM operator or an automation product can attempt to reacquire the connection. MRM can warn you of changes in the absolute status of many resources. For example, you can ask to be informed when a journal is CLOSED, when a transient data queue is DISABLED, when a FEPI node or a terminal is OUTSERVICE, when a transaction is DISABLED, and so on.
• In addition to monitoring absolute status values of CICS resources, CICSPlex SM can provide information about subtle changes in a resource status, such as degradations in the response time of a transaction, or increases in the number of users of a program, or changes in the number of Db2® threads in a CICS system. These are all examples of trends in resource behavior that might be indicators of incipient problems.
• Using MRM, you can specify complex conditions. For example, you can ask for an external notification to be issued when the number of users of a particular transaction reaches a specified level and the dynamic storage area (DSA) free size is falling. Only when both conditions are true is the notification issued. Conditions can be of any complexity.
• MRM even supports the monitoring of non-CICS resources, such as Db2, and of other members of the CICS family, such as CICS/400, by invoking user-written programs called status probes.