Making system tuning changes

Through ongoing monitoring and awareness of end-user feedback, you should be aware of potential tuning activities.

The tools and strategies for performance-related tuning activities are described in Collecting and interpreting IMS monitoring data, and Tuning the system. These sections assume that performance administration is an iterative task made up of:

Data collection

Using monitors and traces

Data reduction

Using report processors and manual procedures

Data analysis

Finding problem indicators

Change implementation

Proposing solutions and modifying the system

This plan should include a tuning and maintenance section. You can combine items from this section with other required changes to save additional system definition processing and reduce the frequency of changes to the operating procedures. An overall design change log enables you to keep track of the proposals that are analyzed and approved, as well as those under consideration for future implementation. A control document like this also assists in detecting conflicting changes.

The documentation for a change that affects the IMS online system design should include the reasons for the change and a checklist of what parameters or components in the system require modification. Ideally, the documentation should have sections on operations, database maintenance, recovery, security, and monitoring arrangements.