Interfaces workspace (deprecated)

The Interfaces workspace provides information about TCP/IP interfaces.

This workspace is displayed by clicking the Interfaces Navigator item in the navigation tree. Right-clicking on the Interfaces Navigator item and selecting Workspaces provides access to these additional workspaces:

Notes:

  1. If the address space being monitored is running on z/OS v1.11 or earlier, the values for these attributes are retrieved using SNMP. If the address space being monitored is running on z/OS v1.12 or later, the values for these attributes are retrieved using the z/OS Communications Server callable network management interface (NMI).
  2. The workspace is deprecated. When z/OS v1.12 is the lowest level of z/OS supported by the OMEGAMON monitoring agents, this workspace will no longer be the default workspace and may be removed.
  3. If you are viewing this workspace on z/OS v1.12, non-strategic interfaces report only status information. Performance-related attributes show a value of zero (0). The strategic interfaces have one of the following Interface Types:
    • Loopback
    • OSA-Express Queued Direct I/O (QDIO) Ethernet
    • HiperSockets
    • Multipath Channel Point-To-Point (MPCPTP)
  4. Under z/OS v1.11 or earlier, it is possible for the value of the Percent Inbound Packets in Error attribute to actually exceed 100%. This occurrence is due to the way inbound packets and errors are counted in the Communications Server TCP/IP stack. Many errors are encountered and recorded before the stack can determine how many packets were received, or whether the packets are unicast, multicast, or broadcast. In this case, the TCP/IP stack records the error, but not the inbound packet. In unusual circumstances, the number of errors recorded might exceed the number of inbound packets recorded.
  5. DVIPA reporting has changed between z/OS v1.11 and z/OS v1.12.
    In z/OS v1.11 and earlier, when SNMP is used to report DVIPA data, this workspace will display DVIPAs. The following attributes are reported for a DVIPA in the Interfaces workspace pre z/OS v1.12:
    • Interface Name
    • Interface Type
    • Interface Description
    • Current State
    • MTU Size.
      Important:: The value for this attribute in the Interfaces workspace reflects the capacity of the interface to handle DVIPA data, not the capacity of the DVIPA to route data. Traffic is limited by the MTU Size of the route, not the size of the interface. Therefore, for a defined DVIPA. it is more likely that the MTU Value attribute in the Gateways and Devices workspace controls the size of the packets flowing over DVIPA, so the MTU Value attribute in the Gateways attribute group is more pertinent for debugging.
    This limited DVIPA support is because z/OS Communications Server does not provide performance metrics (such as packet and byte counts) for DVIPAs. Performance metrics have always displayed as zero (0) regardless of z/OS release or collection method.

    In z/OS v1.12 and later, DVIPAs are no longer reported in the Interfaces workspace. DVIPAs are now reported in the Gateways and Devices workspace.

The Interfaces workspace provides the following views:

  • Packets Discarded > 0: Displays the percentage of packets discarded by interface name in a bar chart, where:
    • Yellow represents the Percent Packets Discarded.
  • Packet Errors > 0: Displays percentage of packets in error by interface name in a bar chart, where:
    • Yellow represents the Percent Packets in Error
  • Bandwidth Utilization > 0: Shows a historical view of both the percentage bandwidth utilization for transmit and receive operations compared to total bandwidth utilization for this interface per minute during the specified time period in a bar chart where:
    • Yellow represents Transmit Bandwidth Utilization.
    • Blue represents Receive Bandwidth Utilization.
    • Pink represents Total Bandwidth Utilization
  • Interfaces Summary table: Contains one row for each time period for the selected TCP/IP interface. The Interface attributes display performance and identifying information for each interface. Click the Link icon in the Interfaces Summary table to display the Interfaces History workspace (deprecated) .