Problem determination
Use this information to understand incident-driven monitoring.
The ultimate goal of problem determination is to create a set of situations that allow you to monitor the performance of your systems so you can proactively address potential problems before they affect users. However, in cases where a user reports a problem, you can still use the information provided in the IBM® Z OMEGAMON® AI for Networks workspaces to resolve the issue. The default workspaces provided by IBM® Z OMEGAMON® AI for Networks are organized to help you navigate quickly to the data you need to diagnose and resolve problems.
Performance data is organized in two major categories: TCP/IP and VTAM®.
- The Agent Status and Command Log workspaces are accessed from the agent node in the navigation tree. The Agent Status workspace enables you to review the status of TCP/IP, SNA, and SNMP configuration and status information for the selected IBM® Z OMEGAMON® AI for Networks monitoring agent. The Command Log workspace enables you to review product-provided commands and their responses. For more information about supported commands, see Product-specific Take Action commands.
- The IPSec Status workspace is accessed from the TCP/IP Subnode in the navigation tree and displays one row of data for each monitored TCP/IP stack. This workspace displays statistics for IKE and dynamic IP tunnels and for IP filters for all monitored stacks on a z/OS system.
Two special types of multifunction workspaces, Agent and TCP/IP Subnode workspaces, provide high-level views accessed from the agent node in the navigation tree and display configuration, status, and command execution information about the instance of the IBM® Z OMEGAMON® AI for Networks monitoring agent represented by the specified node.
| Node | Navigator item | Workspace name |
|---|---|---|
| Agent node | Agent Node | Agent Status (default) |
| Command Log | ||
| TCP/IP subnode | TCP/IP subnode | IPSec Status |
| TCP/IP | TCP/IP Summary (parent node) | TCP/IP Summary |
| TCP/IP Summary History | ||
| Address Space | Address Space | |
| Applications | Applications | |
| Connections | Connections (default) | |
| TCP Connections | ||
| TCP Listeners | ||
| UDP Endpoints | ||
| FTP | Active FTP Sessions | |
| Action FTP Transfers | ||
| FTP Sessions (default) | ||
| FTP Transfers | ||
| Gateways and Devices | Gateways and Devices | |
| Interfaces | Interface Statistics | |
| Interface Status (default) | ||
| Interfaces (deprecated) | ||
| IP Filters | Current IP Filters | |
| IP Filters Statistics (default) | ||
| IPSec Tunnels | Dynamic IP Tunnels | |
| Dynamic IP Tunnels Statistics (default) | ||
| Dynamic IP Tunnels with Byte Rate < 2048 | ||
| IKE Tunnels | ||
| IKE Tunnels Statistics | ||
| IKE Tunnels with Byte Rate < 1024 | ||
| Manual IP Tunnels | ||
| OSA | OSA Channels | |
| TCP/IP Memory Statistics | TCP/IP Memory Statistics | |
| TCP/IP Stack Layers | ICMP Statistics | |
| IP Statistics | ||
| TCP Statistics | ||
| TCP/IP Stack Layers (default) | ||
| TCP/IP Stack Layers History | ||
| UDP Statistics | ||
| TN3270 | TN3270 Server Sessions (default) | |
| TN3270 Server Session Availability | ||
| VTAM | VTAM | VTAM Summary |
| Address Space | VTAM Address Space (default) | |
| VTAM IO | ||
| VTAM Storage | ||
| Buffer Pools | VTAM Buffer Pools Summary | |
| CSM | CSM Buffer Pool Summary | |
| EE | EE Connections | |
| HPR | HPR Connections |
. Recent history is displayed in line graphs, beginning when a user navigates to a workspace
containing a line graph and continuing with a new point plotted each time the view is refreshed.
These views are displayed in the following workspaces: - TCP/IP Memory Statistics
- TCP/IP Stack Layers
- CSM Buffer Pools
- TN3270 Server Session Details
When performing problem determination, many operation centers have a documented set of procedures that describe the routine and exceptional operation of the system or network. Such documents, often referred to as run books, typically contain procedures for starting, stopping, and monitoring the system or network. IBM® Z OMEGAMON® AI for Networks, in conjunction with your run books, provides a powerful tool for performing problem determination when an incident is reported.
When you receive an incident report, you can navigate to the workspace or set of workspaces that allow you to determine the source of the problem and gather the information required by your systems administrator.
For example, if a user is unable to connect to an application, your run book might instruct you to display the Applications workspace and check the values for Retransmission Rate and number of Backlog Connections Rejected. If the application appears to be performing correctly, you can use the link on the Applications Summary table to display the Connections workspace. Using the link to navigate to the Connections workspace allows you to view the connections specific to the application in question. This allows you to examine each of the ports being used by the application.
If a user is experiencing a problem with FTP, your run book might instruct you to start your investigation using the FTP workspace. For problems specific to VTAM, check the VTAM Address Space workspace first. The Navigator is designed to provide direct access to the data that is relevant to the problem you are trying to resolve.
While IBM® Z OMEGAMON® AI for Networks provides a powerful tool for performing problem determination after a problem is reported, it can also monitor the network and alert you to potential problems before they affect the user. You can optimize this capability by running situations that are specific to your environment. As you increase the monitoring capabilities using situations, the information originally provided in run books is provided by situation processing. Many of the run book procedures can be provided in the Expert Advice area for the situation, and commands can be issued using the Take Action feature. You can replace or eliminate the need for run books in cases where situations can be provided.
IBM® IBM® Z OMEGAMON® AI for Networks offers a set of situations that help you to identify some of the most common mainframe network problems. In previous versions of this product, some situations were started automatically at startup (AUTOSTART=YES). In the current release, no situations are autostarted. If you are upgrading from a previous version of this monitoring agent, then whatever customization and autostart settings you have on current situations are retained.
As you continue to monitor your network, some problem determination scenarios that you encounter can be optimized using situations. See the complete set of existing situations described in Provided situation details before creating new situations. These existing situations can often be customized and started to avoid future incident reports.
See Identify common mainframe network problems using situations for more information on situations and a complete list of situations provided with IBM® Z OMEGAMON® AI for Networks.