IBM Tivoli NetView for z/OS, Version 6.2

What Are Network Management Tasks?

The tasks required to manage a complex network fall into the following categories:

Learn the network management concepts
Monitor and control the network and system
Investigate and solve problems
Control the NetView® program

In a multiple-host environment, you can automate the NetView program so that many operation tasks are automatically performed in distributed hosts. Significant events that require intervention can be forwarded to a NetView operator at the focal point host. You can design systems so that little or no intervention is required at the distributed hosts.

Table 1 describes these categories of tasks, and the remaining chapters of this book further divide these categories into subcategories and actual tasks that make up network management.

Note: For information about automating the NetView program, see the IBM Tivoli NetView for z/OS Automation Guide.

Table 1. Major NetView Tasks
Task	Task Description
Monitoring and Controlling the Network and System This management task is described in the following topics: Monitoring and Controlling Your Network from a Workstation Monitoring and Controlling Network Configuration Managing Network and System Status Monitoring Hardware and Software Problems Managing Network Inventory Controlling Remote Processors Controlling Operating System Resources	Monitoring, controlling, and accounting are three major tasks of daily NetView operation. You monitor resources, control them to prevent or correct problems, and track network usage for billing purposes. Monitoring is the examination of the entire network and system for changes in the status of individual components from satisfactory to a status requiring attention. The NetView program achieves this through receipt of status changes, alerts, and messages, which are displayed for analysis. You can explicitly request this status information or the NetView program can present it automatically. You can control the amount of information collected, and you can request more information such as network and system definitions to help you analyze changes in status. Controlling is the taking of specific actions against individual network and system components to change their status from unsatisfactory to satisfactory. This includes controlling the configuration and definition of the resources. The NetView program provides controls to limit the functions you can use and the resources you can access. Accounting involves recording information about the length of sessions and the amounts of data processed for sessions, such as the amount of session data, the number of PIUs, and the number of bytes. This information can be used to charge end users for their use of network resources.
Controlling the NetView Environment This management task is described in the following chapters: Maintaining the NetView Program Controlling NetView Operation Managing NetView Data	Controlling the NetView program is the continual adjustment of the NetView environment to achieve the goals of monitoring, investigating, analyzing, and controlling of network and system components.
Automating the Network or System This management task is described in the following chapters: Using the NetView Automation Table Controlling Message Routing Using the ASSIGN Command Starting an Autotask to Handle Automation Scheduling Commands Debugging Automation	Automating is the understanding of a consistent relationship between an event and the normal reaction to that event, and storing a procedure to automatically recognize the event as well as taking appropriate action. One way of doing this is through analysis of messages and alerts, and the operator actions taken in response to them.
Diagnosing Problems This management task is described in the following chapters: Proactive Investigating Reactive Investigating	Investigating is the requesting of additional information so that you can further analyze the cause of a status change from satisfactory to unsatisfactory. This can involve requesting more detailed status information or initiating a test on a failing resource. Solving is completing the analysis of the problem situation and deciding on the proper action to bypass or resolve the unsatisfactory condition. This can also include logging the problem and its resolution to make future analysis of similar problems more efficient.

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