Selecting, configuring, and using monitoring tools

Use the Operations Center to obtain an overview of system status and to drill down to more detailed information. In some cases, you might want to use advanced tools to collect specific monitoring information.

Procedure

Select and configure the monitoring tools that are appropriate for your solution.

Table 1. Monitoring tools
Tool type	Use cases	Links to more information
Operations Center	Use the graphical user interface to review system status and diagnose issues. Set up the Operations Center to send daily email summary reports. Optional: Customize the alerts that are displayed in the Operations Center and set up email notifications about the alerts. Optional: Monitor the storage environment remotely by viewing the Overview page in the web browser of a mobile device. For example, you can use the Apple Safari web browser on an Apple iPad device. Other mobile devices can also be used. Tip: If you install IBM Spectrum Protect™ client management services on a backup-archive client, you can use the Operations Center to obtain troubleshooting information for the backup-archive client. The client management service can be installed only on Linux or Windows operating systems.
IBM Spectrum Protect administrative commands	Review detailed information. Use the method that is appropriate for your solution: To display messages that were generated by the server and client, use the QUERY ACTLOG command. Tip: You can run administrative commands from the Operations Center command builder. To monitor activities such as server migration and client logons, use the administrative client in console mode. Run the dsmadmc -consolemode command.	Administrative commands QUERY ACTLOG (Query the activity log) Monitoring server activities from the administrative client Administrative client options
Event logging	Log server messages and most client messages as events to one or more repositories called receivers.	For instructions about using event logging to monitor a solution, see Logging IBM Spectrum Protect events to receivers (V7.1.1). For instructions about logging events to a Linux system log, see Logging events to the Linux system log (V7.1.4).
SQL queries	Create and format customized queries of the server database. For example, you can query the SQL activity summary table to view statistics about client operations and server processes. To display all information in the summary table, issue the following command from the administrative client: `select * from summary`	Using SELECT commands (V7.1.1)
Operating system tools	Monitor and test system performance.
Device-monitoring tools	Monitor devices for availability, capacity, and performance. For example, use IBM Spectrum Control™ or tools that are included in device hardware packages.	To monitor overall device status by using IBM Spectrum Control, follow the instructions in Monitoring the status and condition of resources. To monitor performance by using IBM Spectrum Control, follow the instructions in Monitoring the performance of resources.
IBM® Tivoli® Monitoring for Tivoli Storage Manager	Monitor IBM Spectrum Protect servers and produce historical reports about server and client activities. Tip: The Operations Center is the preferred tool for monitoring. However, Tivoli Monitoring for Tivoli Storage Manager is useful for generating historical reports that are based on IBM Cognos® Business Intelligence technology.	Tivoli Monitoring for Tivoli Storage Manager