Tools for obtaining performance data for other products used with CICS

This section gives an overview of the tools that can be used to monitor information on various access methods and other programs used with CICS® and the operating system.

ACF/VTAM

ACF/VTAM (program number 5735-RC2) provides information about buffer usage either to GTF in SMF trace data or to the system console through DISPLAY and BFRUSE commands. Other tuning statistics can also be recorded on the system console through the MODIFY procname, TNSTAT command. (This command is described in the ACF/VTAM Diagnostic Techniques manual.)

Virtual telecommunication access method (VTAM) trace

The VTAM® trace facility is provided as part of VTAM, and tracks messages through different points to and from CICS. The time-stamps that are included can be particularly useful in determining where a transaction spends large amounts of time.

VTAM storage management (SMS) trace

The VTAM storage management (SMS) trace facility collects information on VTAM’s usage of its buffers, including which buffers are used in the various buffer pools, and the number of buffer expansions and depletions.

VTAM tuning statistics

Information provided in the VTAM tuning statistics includes data on the performance between VTAM and the network control program (NCP), the number of reads and writes and what caused that activity, and message counts.

Tivoli NetView Performance Monitor (NPM)

The Tivoli® NetView® Performance Monitor (NPM) program product (program number 5655-043) is designed to aid network support personnel in managing VTAM-based communications networks. It collects and reports on data in the host and NCP.

NPM data can be used to:

NPM performance data can also help to:

Further information on NPM is given in Tivoli NetView Performance Monitor Concepts and Planning, GH19-6961.

LISTCAT (VSAM)

VSAM LISTCAT provides information that interprets the actual situation of VSAM data sets. This information includes counts of the following:

Virtual storage access method (VSAM) or ICF catalog

Information kept in the VSAM or Integrated Catalog Facility (ICF) catalog includes items on record sizes, data set activity, and data set organization.

DB monitor (IMS)

The IMS™ DB monitor report print program (DFSUTR30) provides information on batch activity (a single-thread environment) to IMS databases, and is activated through the DLMON system initialization parameter. As in the case of CICS auxiliary trace, this is for more in-depth investigation of performance problems by single-thread studies of individual transactions.

The DB monitor cannot be started and stopped from a terminal. After the DB monitor is started in a CICS environment, the only way to stop it is to shut down CICS. The DB monitor cannot be started or stopped dynamically.

When the DB monitor runs out of space on the IMSMON data set, it stops recording. The IMSMON data set is a sequential data set, for which you can allocate space with IEFBR14. The DCB attributes are:

DCB=(RECFM=VB,LRECL=2044,BLKSIZE=2048)

If you are running the DB monitor in a multithread (more than one) environment, the only statistics that are valid are the VSAM buffer pool statistics.

Program isolation (PI) trace

The program isolation (PI) trace can point out database contention problems arising from the nature of task’s access to a particular database. Because only one task can have access to a record at one time, and any other task waits till the record is freed, high contention can mean high response time. This trace is part of IMS, and can be activated by the CEMT SET PITRACE ON|OFF command. Information on the format of the PI trace report is given in the IMS/ESA® Version 3 System Administration Guide.

IMS Performance Analyzer (IMS PA)

IMS Performance Analyzer (program number 5655-E15) is a performance analysis and tuning aid for database and transaction manager systems for IMS. It processes IMS log and monitor data, including Fast Path data, to provide comprehensive performance, usage and availability reports that help you to analyze and tune your IMS systems.

IMS PA:

For further information, see the IMS Performance Analyzer Report Analysis (document number SC27-0913).

DB2 Performance Monitor for z/OS

DB2® Performance Monitor for z/OS® (program number 5655-E61) analyses DB2 performance data and generates a comprehensive set of reports. These include the following:

For further information, see the DB2 Performance Monitor for z/OS Reporting User's Guide, SC27-1651.

Teleprocessing network simulator (TPNS)

The Teleprocessing Network Simulator (TPNS) (program number 5662-262) is a program that simulates terminal activity such as that coming through the NCP. TPNS can be used to operate an online system at different transaction rates, and can monitor system performance at those rates. TPNS also keeps information on response times, which can be analyzed after a simulation.

Further information on TPNS is given in the Teleprocessing Network Simulator (TPNS) General Information manual.

Related concepts
Performance measurement tools: Overview
Tools for obtaining CICS performance data
Tools for obtaining operating system performance data
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