Configuring access to SMF data for IT Operational Analytics

IT Operational Analytics (ITOA) allows you to retrieve, analyze, and report data for IT operations. System information can be logged using the IBM System Management Facility (SMF) and the native Data Service server logging feature. Logging allows you to collect various system and operations-related information.

Before you begin

Verify that the following IBM APARs have been applied:
  • APAR OA49263. This APAR provides real-time SMF support and is a requirement for the configuration of real-time SMF data access. (The closed date for this APAR is 2016-08-31.)
  • APAR OA48933. This APAR is required to address accessing log streams. SMF log stream configuration is required for in-memory resource support. (The closed date for this APAR 2015-11-24.)

About this task

Virtual tables for SMF are provided in the hlq.SAZKSMAP data set.

The following options are available to access the SMF data:
  • Reading data from SMF data sets - SMF information is recorded in MANx data sets. When a data set gets full, the data is processed via IFASMFDP. When defining global variables for accessing SMF data in data sets, the output of IFASMFDP is used.
  • Reading data from log streams - SMF information is recorded in multiple log streams and data can be read directly from the log streams. Log stream recording is determined by the data set name beginning with IFASMF that is used in the VTB rule for SMF.
  • Reading SMF data from in-memory (real-time) - SMF information is read directly from the system buffer. SMF information is read in real time. There are two interfaces to real-time SMF data, which connect to the in-memory resource at different times, as follows:
    • At product initialization. This interface connects to the in-memory resource at product initialization and continuously reads from the API to maintain a buffer of recent SMF activity. This buffer can be queried, and its contents will be returned, followed by an end-of-data indication.
    • At the time of the request. This interface connects to the in-memory resource at the time of the request and streams the SMF data to the requester in real time. A request to this named stream is considered non-ending, and data will continue to flow until the request is canceled or the server is stopped.

When defining the global variables for SMF, the data set can be either a log stream or a SMF dump data set from IFASMFDP. The log stream data set is recommended for access to near real-time data.

To configure access to IT Operational Analytics data, see the following topics: