SupportConnect - Unicenter NeuMICS Resource Management Newsletter, Version 06.03
  

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E-News
Unicenter® NeuMICS® Resource Management Newsletter
Version 06.03
November 17, 2006

In This Newsletter
Product News
> Group Capacity Support
> IBM APAR and WSC Flash
> New Ways to Maximize the Return from Your Valuable SMF Data
> New for Unicenter® NeuMICS® DASD Space Collector in r11 SP4
> Wanted: Beta Candidates

Special Events
> Webcasts: Efficiently Process your Growing Volume of Historical IT Performance Data with
CA's Unicenter® NeuMICS® Resource Management Solution
> CA World® 2007

Product News
Group Capacity Support
With the r11 SP4 release, the Unicenter® NeuMICS® Resource Management Hardware and SCP Analyzer introduces support for the new Group Capacity function, available with z/OS Version 1 Release 8. Group Capacity extends the existing capabilities of capacity management for z/OS logical partitions (LPARs) by allowing installations to define capacity limits for each individual LPAR, and to assign a limit to a group of LPARs running on the same server. The Workload Manager (WLM) can then automatically balance the capacity between the LPARs belonging to a group, as well as between the different groups within a server. The Unicenter NeuMICS Hardware and SCP Analyzer support for Group Capacity includes new information in the CPU Activity (HARCPU) and PR/SM LPAR Config/Activity (HARLPC) files, and a new Group Capacity section in the CPU Activity postprocessor report.

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IBM APAR and WSC Flash
We strongly recommend that you read the following recent IBM APAR and WSC Flash to see whether your site is impacted:

SMF Type 30 Interval Records Lost
APAR OA14652 describes a problem for sites that applied HBB7708 PTF UA16162 for APAR OA08712 under z/OS 1.5. The problem impacts sites that use the SYNC parameter to synchronize the creation of SMF type 30 interval records. When SYNC processing is activated, SMF defers the writing of SMF type 30 interval records for swapped out address spaces until the address space is swapped in for normal reasons. However, an error in APAR OA08712 prevents some of the interval records for swapped out address spaces from being created. If you are running z/OS 1.5 and using the SMF type 30 synchronization feature, you should get and apply APAR OA14652 as soon as possible to prevent loss of data in your Unicenter® NeuMICS® database interval level (BATPGM, BAT_ST, and so on) files.

CPU Processing Cycles Lost
The IBM Washington System Center (WSC) issued FLASH10526, which describes an issue resulting in performance degradation for the 2094 z9 Enterprise Class processors. The problem is that the System Resource Manager (SRM) timer interval is too short, resulting in more frequent SRM management algorithm executions than required to satisfactorily manage the system resources and workloads. In other words, the SRM is using more CPU time than is required to adequately manage the processor. APAR OA18456 will deliver PTFs to address the problem (expected for z/OS 1.6 and higher), but in the interim, you can change the SYS1.PARMLIB(IEAOPTxx) RMPTTOM parameter from RMPTTOM=1000 to RMPTTOM=2000. This change reduces the SRM interrupt frequency by a factor of two, resulting in additional CPU time to process your business applications.

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New Ways to Maximize the Return from Your Valuable SMF Data
One of the features that we take for granted in the z/OS world is SMF. It is an enduring feature that sets the mainframe apart from other IT platforms as a business transaction processing powerhouse. For decades, SMF has kept pace with the evolution of mainframe computing. Today it supports the latest features contained in IBM's z/OS operating system.

SMF is the primary collector of historical usage data for z/OS and its subsystems. This data provides the foundation for functions including auditing, performance management, capacity planning network analysis, IT cost analysis, and IT chargeback. The primary consumers of SMF data in the CA product family are Unicenter® NeuMICS® Resource Management and Unicenter® CA-JARS® Resource Accounting.

CA is proud to introduce CA SMF Director. As mainframe transaction processing capacity continues to climb, the need to more efficiently process the masses of SMF data being generated also grows. CA SMF Director can be used to ensure that your system log files are processed automatically without unnecessary operator intervention. CA SMF Director lets you simultaneously dump SMF data from multiple LPARs and improve processing throughput. It also enables you to perform SMF dumping while simultaneously creating files for application processing, thereby eliminating the redundant rereading of SMF data. CA SMF Director can split or segregate SMF data into files that can be used as input for specific analytical applications such as DB2 performance reporting or CICS capacity planning. By eliminating the need to reread the archived SMF data and reprocess the raw data, the CA SMF Director helps you improve data availability while reducing overhead for applications such as Unicenter NeuMICS Resource Management and Unicenter CA-JARS Resource Accounting.

When your SMF data is managed by CA SMF Director, you can quickly respond to on-demand requests for system utilization information. You do not need to know where the SMF data is archived; simply enter the type of data and the dates, and the data will be automatically extracted for your use by CA SMF Director.

To learn more about SMF Director, you are invited to attend our Webcast at: ca.com/events/eventdetail.aspx?CID=21414&CevID=93027.

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New for Unicenter® NeuMICS® DASD Space Collector in r11 SP4
An enhancement is included for the DASD Space Collector in the r11 SP4 release that provides additional information about Partition Data Set / Extended (PDSE) data sets.

The nature of the physical structure of the PDSE data sets has made it impossible to provide detailed information about the actual space utilization within the boundaries of the PDSE data set. Although the space for PDSE data sets is allocated in the traditional sense (that is, cylinders, track, and so on), the physical organization of the PDSE data sets is managed through the use of 4096 byte (4 KB) pages. Because the data in a PDSE need not be contiguous in the manner of a normal PDS, the traditional concept of the "high used track" does not apply to the PDSE structure.

The DASD Space Collector now includes new data elements, which contain additional information about PDSE data sets. The new data elements, unless otherwise noted, are in units of 4 KB pages that are contained in the PDSE data set. The following new data is included in the enhancement:

  • High Allocated Relative Page-The total number of 4 KB pages that have been allocated to the PDSE data set.
  • Number of Pages In Use-The actual number of 4 KB pages that are being used within the structure of the PDSE data set.
  • High Used Relative Page–The relative (from zero) page number of the highest used page within the PDSE data set. Note that this value does not represent the actual used space within the data set since there would normally be unused pages within bounds defined by this value.
  • Number of Members-The number of members that currently exist in the PDSE data set.

It is now possible to calculate the PDSE data set space utilization percentage by dividing the Number of Pages In Use value by the High Allocated Relative Page value. This percentage can be useful in determining if PDSE data sets have more space allocated than necessary.

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Wanted: Beta Candidates
Beta Program - Unicenter® NeuMICS® Resource Management r11 SP4 (PSP0610).

The Unicenter NeuMICS Resource Management team is currently accepting beta candidates for r11 SP4. Candidates should be willing to communicate any concerns with the installation process, product documentation, or new product features.

Direct feedback from the Unicenter NeuMICS development team is provided to help answer any questions. This is a great opportunity for you to get early support for new or updated product releases and to try new features. For more information or to register, go to the NeuMICS r11 SP4 Beta webpage. For telephone assistance, call 1-800-645-3042 (U.S. and Canada) or (1) 631-342-4683 (International).

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Special Events

Webcasts: Efficiently Process your Growing Volume of Historical IT Performance Data
with CA's Unicenter® NeuMICS® Resource Management Solution
Join us on December 13, 2006, at 12:30 p.m. EST for this webcast. We will discuss the evolution of Unicenter NeuMICS and the features we have implemented to ensure that you can handle large volumes of data as efficiently as possible. To register, click Events, Webcasts on the CA webpage.

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CA World® 2007
Registration for CA World 2007 is officially open, and this year CA World will change your world. CA World goes way beyond introductions - it is about demonstrating how our technology solutions can help drive success for the smartest people in IT. CA World focuses on the solutions, trends, and innovations that will help your organization to reduce costs, optimize service levels, strengthen security, and align IT investments with your business needs. Join us at the Venetian Las Vegas and Sands Expo and Convention Center on
April 22-26, 2007.

We will have a solid agenda of Unicenter® NeuMICS® sessions that cover user experiences and new technology support announcements, as well as practical advice you can take with you. This year we will focus on our Unicenter® Q&R Workstation feature; we are planning to schedule a full day Q&R classroom training session during the pre-conference education timeslots.

If you have ideas for a topic that you would like to present or ideas for a topic you would like to see covered drop George Cusson an email at George.Cusson@ca.com.

See you at CA World.

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