Decision 5: Where to configure your monitoring agents

Two monitoring agents (OMEGAMON® for z/OS® and OMEGAMON for Storage on z/OS) require that you configure them in the same address space as a hub or remote monitoring server. For the other monitoring agents, you have the option to configure each monitoring agent as stand-alone (in its own address space) or in the same address space with a monitoring server.

Terminology tip: The term stand-alone can be confusing, because it has one meaning when applied to a monitoring server and another meaning when applied to a monitoring agent. A stand-alone monitoring server is one configured in its own runtime environment, without any monitoring agents. A stand-alone monitoring agent is one configured in its own address space, rather than in the same address space with a monitoring server. A stand-alone monitoring agent can be in the same runtime environment with a monitoring server, but a stand-alone monitoring server is never in the same runtime environment with monitoring agents.

Best practices

  • Unless you are planning to configure a high-availability hub, configure one runtime environment per logical partition (LPAR). In each runtime environment, configure a monitoring server (hub or remote) and all agents required for monitoring the various workloads on that system. Configure all monitoring agents to report to the monitoring server in their runtime environment.
  • Unless a monitoring agent is required to run in the same address space as a monitoring server, it is best to configure each monitoring agent stand-alone (in its own address space). Configuring the monitoring agents stand-alone has several advantages:
    • A stand-alone monitoring agent can be started and stopped independent of the monitoring server.
    • If a monitoring server fails or becomes unresponsive, stand-alone agents that report to it can switch to a secondary monitoring server specified during configuration.
    • You can apply maintenance to a stand-alone monitoring agent without interfering with the operation of other components.
    • Troubleshooting is easier if each monitoring agent is identified in trace logs by its own started task.
    Even if you configure a monitoring agent stand-alone, it still might report to the same monitoring server as other monitoring agents. Therefore, make sure that the values you supply when configuring the monitoring server are compatible with the requirements of all the monitoring agents intended to report to that monitoring server. For example, some monitoring agents may require a SNA connection between the agent and the monitoring server.