What's new in IBM Z OMEGAMON for JVM, V5.5.0

To find out what was new in IBM® OMEGAMON® for JVM, V5.5.0, see the following sections:

PTF UJ93890, October 2023

z/OS Connect OpenApi Specification 3.0 (OpenAPI 3) Support: IBM Z OMEGAMON for JVM, V5.5.0 now supports monitoring of OpenApi Specification 3.0 (OpenAPI 3.0) APIs. The interceptor definition in server.xml must be updated to enable this support. See OA65632: Z/OS Connect OPENAPI SPECIFICATION V3 (OAS3) SUPPORT for more information.

PTF UJ92333, February 2023

IBM Financial Transaction Manager for SWIFT Services for z/OS (FTM) JVMs can now be monitored using IBM Z OMEGAMON for JVM: FTM is an IBM Integration Bus application that utilizes multiple 31-bit and 64-bit JVMs in the same address space. Th eIBM Z OMEGAMON for JVM JVMTI agent can now be started using the -agentlib option. Different LIBPATH specifications allow the agent to be loaded from different USS directories containing the appropriate mode agent.
See Configuring JVMs in Financial Transaction Manager for SWIFT Services for z/OS (FTM) for more information.

PTF UJ92086, January 2023

Improved lock statistics

Lock workspaces have been updated to show currently held lock objects.
Lock statistics shown in Health overview when no locks are present have been improved for accuracy.
Lock utilization percentage is now more precise.

Near-term history collection available for publishing to analytic insight platforms

Near-term history collection is now eligible for three existing tables: ENVIRONMENT, ENVDET, and THREADS. This allows data from OMEGAMON for JVM to be exported to OMEGAMON Data Provider (ODP), making the data available for publishing to Analytic Insight tools like Instana. OMEGAMON Data Provider, a part of IBM Z OMEGAMON Integration Monitor, makes OMEGAMON attributes available to applications and analytics platforms outside of OMEGAMON. Historical collections are a prerequisite for using OMEGAMON Data Provider. For more information, see Publishing IBM Z OMEGAMON for JVM data to analytic platforms for AI Ops (including OM Data Provider).

Fix Pack 7, PTF UJ09673, APAR OA63859, November 2022

Log streams for z/OS Connect API monitoring are now dynamically created: With this enhancement, you no longer need to run a batch job to create log streams for z/OS Connect API monitoring. The log streams are now automatically created using a template when monitoring is enabled. For more information, see Automatically defining log streams.
z/OS Connect API Enterprise summary time spans: A time span can now be specified in the API Enterprise Summary workspace in the enhanced 3270UI.
Thread statistics collected in real time: Thread analysis is now collected in real time rather than being sampled at 30 second intervals.
Pre- and post-endpoint response times are now reported in TEP: TEP API requester workspaces now include pre- and post-endpoint response time components.

Fix Pack 6, PTF UJ09282, September 2022

TEP toolkit update

The Application Support installer has been updated. This requires distributed ITM version 6.3.0 FP7 SP 12.

Pre- and Post-endpoint times for z/OS Connect API Requesters

z/OS Connect workspaces now include requester API time spent by z/OS Connect prior to the endpoint API is called and after an API response is returned. This enhancement helps determine whether total response time is affected by input data transforms or response data transforms.

TEP Take Actions for JVM Utilities

The JVM utility action agent can now be used from the TEP. New Take Action links are available from the Health Summary workspace to request a Java core file, a heap dump or an SVC dump. These actions are also available as reflex actions for situations.

LE Heap Statistics removed

Due to the performance impact of the Language Environment heap report API, this feature has been removed. More useful metrics can be found in the z/OS virtual memory workspaces of the product.

TEP workspace bug fixes

Updated Application Support includes fixes to TEP workspaces with incorrect titles; situations with incorrect severity; and missing or redundant workspace links. New links to z/OS Connect metrics are available in the JVM overview workspace.

Archive Extract Transform (AET) program fixes

The Archive Extract Transform (AET) utility has been modified to use the longer fields:

CORELATR80 instead of CORELATR
REQURI256 instead of REQURI
SORID64 instead of SORID
SORREF64 instead of SORREF

PTF UJ08933, July 2022

JVM Utility Commands

A new command prefix agent is provided that allows users on the enhanced 3270UI to request JVM dumps and to dynamically enable IBM Z OMEGAMON for JVM agent tracing. The available commands are:

Request a Java core dump
Request a Java heap dump
Request a system (SVC) dump
Dynamically enable IBM Z OMEGAMON for JVM agent tracing

These commands help operations analysts and subject matter experts to more easily resolve problems encountered in Java applications. The IBM Z OMEGAMON for JVM agent trace command allows customers to diagnose problems with the IBM Z OMEGAMON for JVM agents (Java agent and JVMTI agent) by dynamically enabling diagnostic traces without having to stop and restart the problem JVM.

See the section Java agent tracing for further information.

PTF UJ08099 , March 2022

Automated archive extract and transformation utility for z/OS Connect API detail data: A new feature is delivered with this PTF. Customers who wish to analyze z/OS Connect API detail data over long periods using analytic insight (AI) tools can now automatically archive API detail monitoring data from the z/OS System Logger log streams. An extract and transform utility is also provided to filter and extract records into a format suitable for input to AI reporting tools. CSV, JSON and NDJSON formats are provided. See section Configuring the TEMA for Automatic Log Stream Archiving for details on configuring and using this feature.

PTF UJ08010 , March 2022

Binary Transform to reduce the CPU utilization of the OMEGAMON collector: This PTF introduces a new internal data transport protocol between IBM Z OMEGAMON for JVM Java agents and the IBM Z OMEGAMON for JVM Collector. Prior to this PTF, an XML transform was used to serialize metrics objects. When this PTF is applied, a binary transform, which significantly reduces the CPU utilization of the OMEGAMON collector, is used. No action is required by customers to exploit this new feature other than applying the PTF and refreshing the RTE USS directories using PARMGEN or the IBM Z Configuration Manager jobs. This enhancement also reduces the memory and CPU overhead of the OMEGAMON Java Agents.

PTF UJ07679, January 2022

Java 11 Support: IBM Semeru Certified Runtime Edition for z/OS V11, which was released in November, 2021 introduced some internal changes that were incompatible with OMEGAMON for JVM. Customers who wish to monitor Java 11 applications will need to install this IBM Z OMEGAMON for JVM PTF and make a minor edit to the configuration of applications using Java 11. See the section Health Center is no longer used for monitoring for further information.

Fix Pack 5, December 2021

The following enhancements were added with PTF UJ07369:

New WebSphere Liberty Metrics

New workspaces in TEP, IZSME, and the enhanced 3270UI provide application performance metrics for the Java Platform Enterprise Edition (Java EE) on Liberty. These metrics include:

Web application statistics
Java EE Connector Architecture (JCA) connection pool statistics
Session statistics
Thread pool statistics

z/OS Connect Inflight API Requester metrics

With this fix pack, new workspaces are provided for the TEP, IZSME and the enhanced 3270UI to show outbound API requesters that are currently active. Information in these workspaces can help subject matter experts (SMEs), operations staff, and availability engineers to identify the reasons for slow or hung APIs. See step 5 of Configuring API Monitoring for z/OS Connect V3.0.39 or higher for details on enabling this feature.

Additional HTTP Request and Response Headers for z/OS Connect APIs

Detailed data for z/OS Connect APIs now allows up to four HTTP request and response headers to be included in z/OS Connect API provider detail records. See step 4.d of Configuring API Monitoring for z/OS Connect V3.0.39 or higher for further information.

New product-provided situations

Two new situations h ave been added to provide alerts when API requester response times are excessive.

Documentation improvements to the configuration topics

The documentation for configuring z/OS Connect for API monitoring has been consolidated and updated. For more information, see: Configuring z/OS Connect for API monitoring, Configuring API Monitoring for z/OS Connect V3.0.39 or higher, and Configuring API Monitoring for z/OS Connect V3.0.20 or higher.

Fix Pack 4, July 2021

Fix Pack 4, together with PTF UJ06029, APAR OA61482 delivers the following fixes and enhancements

Correction to default table affinity which will allow V540 OMEGAMON for JVM agents to report to a TEMS hub configured with V550 application support.
Improvement in TEP workspace navigation by eliminating the node selection popup dialog.
Correction to 31-bit memory free% calculation
Correction to the e3270UI date and time validation routine for z/OS Connect API selection criteria.
A new zoom column for z/OS Connect API provider error count in e3270UI. Selecting an HTTP Error Count cell in the z/OS Connect API summary workspaces will display detail data only for API calls that resulted in an HTTP status code greater than 299.

PTF UJ06029, June 2021

Java Health Center is no longer required for IBM Z OMEGAMON for JVM: PTF UJ06029, APAR OA61482 introduces a JVM Tooling Interface (JVMTI) agent, that, when paired with a Java agent, substitutes the Java Health Center. Using the OMEGAMON JVMTI agent instead of the Health Center reduces the overhead of monitoring a JVM. The OMEGAMON JVMTI agent uses fewer threads, fewer Java classes, and reduces memory and CPU utilization. For more information, see Health Center is no longer used for monitoring.

PTF UJ05799, May 2021

New History Navigation

Previously, IBM Z OMEGAMON for JVM history reports for specific attribute groups in the enhanced 3270UI are accessible only via a HEALTH summary history report. This requires customers to configure history for the HEALTH table even if they are only interested in collecting history for a specific attribute group. It also requires customers to ensure that history collection intervals are consistent with the HEALTH history collection interval.

With this PTF applied, a new navigation pop up menu is presented for history report selection. Through this menu, new summary workspaces give a time-ordered view of the history snapshots for all the attribute groups that are eligible for history, including:

JVM CPU
JVM Health Summary
JVM Native Memory
JVM Garbage Collection
z/OS Connect API Provider Summary
z/OS Connect API Requester Summary

Situation Tree Zooming

For OMEGAMON Dashboard Edition (DE) customers, the enhanced 3270UI now provides a zoom workspace option for situations that are raised in the Situation event tree view. Selecting the (default) “Zoom to OMEGAMON” action will display the current metrics for the situation event attribute group.

Fix Pack 3, April 2021

Resigned Java .jar files for the Tivoli Enterprise Portal (TEP) and OMEGAMON for JVM Application Support: This maintenance update includes a renewed Java certificate (valid from Feb 15, 2021 7:00 PM until Feb 20, 2023 6:59 PM), and timestamp validation (valid from December 31, 2020 7:00 PM until January 5, 2031 7:00 PM).

Fix Pack 2, January 2021

Outbound Requester Monitoring for z/OS Connect: With IBM Z OMEGAMON for JVM, V5.5.0 Fix Pack 2, you can now monitor API requesters in z/OS Connect. API requesters are a feature of z/OS Connect that allows legacy applications like CICS, IMS, and batch programs written in mainframe native languages like COBOL and PL/1 to call APIs without having to implement API client code. z/OS Connect provides a simple Language Environment-compliant stub module (BAQCSTUB) that legacy programs use with a standard CALL mechanism. z/OS Connect takes care of all the API interface functions.
Workspaces in the Tivoli Enterprise Portal (TEP) and the enhanced 3270 UI (e3270UI) provide analysis of all requester calls, showing total response times and identifying the portion of that time spent in z/OS Connect and in the API provider end point. Summary reports show average, minimum, maximum, and standard deviation for response times by API Name, by requester, and by end point.
Real time in-flight API Monitoring.: Fix Pack 2 delivers a new capability to visualize API provider transactions as they are running in real time. Workspaces in the TEP and the e370UI show the phase of a transaction: if the transaction is in z/OS Connect prior to the System of Record being called (Pre-SoR), in the System of Record (SoR), or in z/OS Connect after returning from the SoR but before the response has been completed and a response sent to the API caller (Post-SoR).
Early Failure: IBM Z OMEGAMON for JVM V5.5.0 now reports early failure requests. Early failure requests are any API calls that fail authorization or fail in the WebSphere Liberty component before z/OS Connect processing.
User Request Headers: If your API client programs insert data in request headers for API calls made to z/OS Connect, IBM Z OMEGAMON for JVM now allows up to two request headers to be included in the z/OS Connect provider API records. These headers are shown in the TEP or the TOM detail reports.

Fix Pack 1, August 2020

For z/OS Connect customers, a new time range selection dialog for the Tivoli Enterprise Portal UI is now provided. Analogous to the time and date range selection criteria that can be supplied in the enhanced 3270UI, this allows users to produce summary and detail reports for broader (or finer) ranges than the current default of the last five minutes. Invoke the “z/OS Connect Request Filter” dialog from the action menu by right-clicking on any z/OS Connect result row.
New navigation paths available to z/OS Connect Summary History.
Enhanced 3270 UI workspaces now include the JVM server and profile name for CICS JVMs.

IBM Z OMEGAMON for JVM, V5.5.0

The following new features and options are included in IBM Z OMEGAMON for JVM V5.5.0:

IBM Z OMEGAMON Runtime Edition for JVM: You can now purchase a sub-capacity license edition of the product called IBM Z OMEGAMON Runtime Edition for JVM which is charged on the number of monitored JVM instances using the Sub-Capacity Reporting Tool (SCRT). This edition can reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) for customers with a small number of Java-based applications.
Performance improvements: This version of IBM Z OMEGAMON for JVM includes improvements in the performance of the Collector. These improvements also eliminate the requirement to make SAF changes to grant the Collector started task read access to the SUPERUSER.PROCESS.GETPSENT profile in the UNIXPRV class in RACF.
z/OS Connect Request Enterprise Summary: The Enhanced 3270 User Interface now includes a workspace that displays API summary for all APIs running on all monitored z/OS Connect servers.
z/OS Connect Request Summary History: This release of IBM Z OMEGAMON for JVM includes collection of z/OS Connect request summary snapshots in near-term history and new workspaces to report the data.
Completed JVM Job history: In previous releases of IBM Z OMEGAMON for JVM, it was only possible to view history for jobs that had a currently running instance. Access to near-term history (NTH) for jobs that had completed was not possible. A new workspace navigation item in the enhanced 3270 user interface (e3270ui), and a new link in the Tivoli Enterprise Portal navigator tree, presents a list of all jobs in the NTH repository. This feature is useful for JVMs that are only active intermittently, such as batch Java jobs.
Enhanced z/OS native memory region metrics: The native memory workspaces in IBM Z OMEGAMON for JVM now include metrics for 24-bit and 64-bit memory utilization as well as 31-bit memory. Exhaustion of memory in any of these regions can lead to an OutOfMemory condition which can crash a JVM. Product-provided situations will create alerts if any of these regions approaches available capacity.
Near real time garbage collection statistics: Previous releases of IBM Z OMEGAMON for JVM used the Java Health Center agent to gather garbage collection (GC) statistics which does not immediately deliver events when garbage collection rates are low, resulting in misleading heap occupancy statistics. A new, optional GC collection agent is available in V5.5.0 that feeds OMEGAMON with GC events in real time.