How IBM Z® OMEGAMON® AI for z/OS® works

IBM® Z OMEGAMON AI for z/OS monitoring agents collect sysplex- and LPAR-level performance data on z/OS® systems. You can view the data in a graphical user interface called Tivoli Enterprise Portal. A subset of data can also be viewed using a 3270 interface.

The IBM Z OMEGAMON AI for z/OS product takes advantage of the Tivoli Management Services on z/OS infrastructure. Tivoli® Management Services components provide security, data transfer and storage, notification mechanisms, user interface presentation, and communication services for a number of products, in an agent-server-client architecture (Figure 1). For more information on the Tivoli Management Services on z/OS components, see the IBM Tivoli Monitoring: Installation and Setup Guide and the Planning and Configuring sections of the IBM Tivoli OMEGAMON® and Tivoli Management Services on z/OS: shared documentation.

In the Tivoli Enterprise Portal, real time and historical data collected by IBM Z OMEGAMON AI for z/OS monitoring agents is displayed in tabular and graphic views in a set of predefined workspaces (see the example in Figure 2).

When you open a workspace, Tivoli Enterprise Portal retrieves monitored data from the monitoring agents via the hub monitoring server and sends the results to the workspace. Chart and table views in the workspace use queries to specify what data the Tivoli Enterprise Portal requests.

The characteristics or properties of the logical and physical objects that are monitored by IBM Z OMEGAMON AI for z/OS (for example, the amount of virtual storage allocated to a task) are known as attributes. These attributes are used to define the queries that specify the data to be displayed in the workspaces.

With the proper user authority, you can tailor these views to display critical or warning indicators when monitored values reach specified thresholds, and to filter incoming data so you see only the information you are interested in at any given time. You can add additional views to existing workspaces or create your own workspaces and define your own queries using IBM Z OMEGAMON AI for z/OS attributes.

Attributes are also used to describe situations, or conditions, that can trigger events. When situation events occur, event indicators are displayed in the Tivoli Enterprise Portal Navigator view. Situations can also trigger automated actions and policies.

You can link from an event indicator in the Navigator to a situation event workspace that provides information about conditions prevailing at the time the event occurred and about current conditions, as well as expert advice on how to handle the situation.

IBM Z OMEGAMON AI for z/OS provides a set of predefined situations that you can run to monitor a wide range of conditions. You can also create your own situations using the IBM Z OMEGAMON AI for z/OS attributes.