Collecting Collection Services Performance Data - Ironstream_Hub - 1.3.2

One or more of the steps in this section may need to be re-run if the OS has modified or purged any of the monitoring components during the upgrade.

Step 1: Ensure Collection Services is configured and started

These options need to be defined:

• A Collection Interval from those available.
• The Database File Creation option must be turned on. This ensures that the data is stored in database tables for journaling.
• The System monitoring option must be turned off. This data is not required and will incorrectly inflate the visualizations that use the metrics collected by this option. (This option creates a second set of data for specific metrics which is written to object members starting with an “R” rather than a “Q”.)
• Choose which Data to Collect from:
  • A predefined profile
  • A customized collection profile, choosing from the available categories.

You can do this either in the IBM Navigator for i or using Commands.

Configure Collection Services using Commands

Configure Collection Services using the IBM Navigator for i

To configure Collection Services using the user interface open the IBM Navigator for i interface and follow these instructions:

1. Confirm that Collection Services have been started on the IBM i LPAR. If not, start performance collection as follows:
   1. Open the Start Collection Services window by using the search box, or expanding the Performance, All Tasks, Collectors and Collection Services nodes on the left.
   2. Choose the Collection Profile you wish to use and click Configure to choose additional options.
   3. Click OK to start collection.
      Figure 1. Start Collection Services
2. Confirm the Collection Services are configured as necessary:
   1. Open the Configure Collection Services window using the search box or expanding the Performance and Manage Collection nodes on the left.
   2. On the General tab, set the Collection Interval as required.
   3. Ensure Create database files during collection is checked.
   4. Ensure Enable system monitoring is unchecked.
      Figure 2. Configure Collection Services
3. On the Data to Collect tab to choose which performance data is to be collected.
   Figure 3. Collection Profile

Step 2: Create a Journal and Journal Receiver

Create a journal and journal receiver for the Collection Services performance data files. Defaults can be taken for most options unless installation specific standards dictate different options.

Create a Journal using Commands

To set up journaling using commands:

1. Create the journal receiver using the Create Journal Receiver CRTJRNRCV command.
2. Create the journal using the Create Journal CRTJRN command.
3. Ensure Journal Caching is turned Off.

Create a Journal using the IBM Navigator for I

To set up journaling with the IBM Navigator for i:

1. Open the IBM Navigator for i interface.
2. Expand the Journal Management section and choose Create Journal.
3. Enter the name for the Journal and choose a library for the Journal location or use the default QGPL.
4. Ensure Cache journal entries is turned Off.

Figure 4. Create New Journal

Step 3: Start Journaling the Collection Services Data

Start the journaling of the Collection Services performance data files.

Start Journaling using Commands

Issue a Start Journal Physical File (STRJRNPF) command so that entries are included in the new journal(s) as the performance data is captured. For example:

STRJRNPF FILE(QPFRDATA/QAPMDISK) JRN(MYLIB/MYPERFJRN)

Start Journaling using IBM Navigator for i

To set up journaling with IBM Navigator for i, follow these steps:

1. Expand Journal Management and select Create a journal.
2. Start journaling for each file you wish to collect from the Collection Services data tables.

Step 4: Create the File Field Descriptions

After journals and journal receivers have been created, create a File Field Description for each of the performance data files you wish Ironstream to collect entries from.

To create a File Field Description, open the Ironstream IBM i Configuration Tool and select File Field Description from the tab menu. A File Field Description configuration entry may be created in one of two ways:

To manually enter a file’s configuration:

1. Click the Create button.
2. Enter a Configuration Name for the File Field Description.
3. Click the Add Field button to enter the field information for the file’s field(s). This information can be retrieved using a DSPFFD command on the IBM i LPAR.
4. Click the Add Field button as many times as needed to define all the desired fields of the file.
5. Click the Save button when all file field descriptions are entered.

To automatically fill in the configuration using a query:

1. Click the Generate button.
2. On the next page, enter a Configuration Name for the File Field Description.
3. Fill in the file’s Object name and Object library location on the IBM i LPAR, for example QAPMDISK in library QPFRDATA.
4. Select a system from the System selector to choose which IBM i LPAR to collect the field information from.
5. Click the Generate button at the bottom of the page to send a query to collect all the fields of the named file object.
   Figure 5. Generate File Field Descriptions
6. After the list is created, click the Edit button next to the list name to view the field list. On this page, you have the option to change the field labels, and you can also remove fields if the field does not contain data that you want to send to the target.
   Figure 6. Edit Field Labels
7. Click the Save button if you have made changes. Repeat this step for each performance data file that you want to collect data from.

Step 5: Create and Distribute the Journal Monitors

After the File Field Description has been created, use the Journal Monitors tab in the Configuration Tool to define the journal monitors that will collect the performance data from each file in the journal.

1. You can click the Create button to create a new Journal Monitor Group or click Edit to add new monitors to an existing Journal Monitor Group.
   Figure 7. Define Journal Monitors
2. In the Journal Monitor Group, click the Add Monitor button to create an entry for a performance data file journal.
   Figure 8. Create Performance Data File Journal
3. Enter the Journal Name and Journal Library of the journal that was created in Step 3: Start Journaling the Collection Services Data.
4. Specify the Object Type as *FILE.
5. Enter the Object Name and Object Library of the Collection Services table that you have added to the Journal, for example QAPMDISK in library QPFRDATA. These need to match the names defined in.
6. Set the Frequency for checking the journal for new data.
   Note: It is recommended that this is the same as the interval that was chosen for the data collection interval.
7. Assign the File Field Description created in section Step 4: Create the File Field Descriptions above to this journal entry.
8. Leave the Entry Code empty.
9. Set the entry Type field to PT. This ensures that Ironstream only collects records that are being added to the file (not any housekeeping entries).
   Note: On some machines the Journal records are created in the journal with a Type of PX not PT. If no journal records are being sent to the target, after all the steps in this section have been taken, then check whether the records are being added to the Journal with a Type of PX instead of PT. If so, change the Type field to PX and re-distribute the Journal Monitor.
10. Fill in the Assigned systems field, at the top, to assign the completed Journal Monitor Group to one or more systems. If you have the same performance collection files configured on multiple systems that are running the same IBM i OS version and PTF level, you can assign the same group to multiple IBM i LPARs.
    Note: Because different OS versions or even PTF levels may have different field layouts for performance data files, you may need to create multiple Journal Monitor Groups with different File Field Descriptions for different versions. In this case it is recommended that the File Field Definition groups should be named using the performance data file name followed by either the LPAR name or IBM i OS version number, for example QAPMDISK_BLUEBOX or QAPMDISK_V7R2.
11. Click on the Add Monitor button, to repeat this step for each performance data file that you want to collect data from in this Journal Monitor Group.
12. Click Save button to save the Journal Monitor Group definition.

    Note: Make sure the steps in Age Limit for Journal Monitoring have been taken for each LPAR before distributing the Journal Monitoring Group.

13. Click the Distribute button to send the Journal Monitor Group to the Ironstream Agent for IBM i for the Assigned systems.
14. On the Systems tab, restart each System that is in the Assigned systems list of the newly created Journal Monitor Group.
    Note: After creating or changing a journal monitor, you MUST restart each System affected by the changes to ensure that Hub is using the new configuration details when processing journal entries.

Your chosen Collection Services data should now start being sent by the Agent on the IBM i LPAR to Hub.