Anticipating and monitoring system changes and growth

No production system is static. Each system is constantly changing because of new function being added, increased transaction volumes because of a growth in the number of terminal users, addition of new applications or software components, and changes to other aspects of the data processing complex (batch, TSO, and so on). As much as possible, the effects of these changes need to be anticipated, planned for, and monitored.

To find out what application changes are planned, interviewing system or application development managers can be useful in determining the effect of new function or applications and the timing of those changes. Associated with this is the effect of new software to be installed, as well as the known hardware plans for installing new equipment.

When a major change to the system is planned, increase the monitoring frequency before and after the change. A major change includes the addition of:

You should look at individual single-thread transactions as well as the overall behavior of the production system.

If the system performance has altered as a result of a major change to the system, data for before-and-after comparison of the appropriate statistics provides the best way of identifying the reasons for the alteration.

Consider having extra tools installed to make it easier to project and test future usage of the system. Tools such as the Teleprocessing Network Simulator (TPNS) program can be used to test new functions under volume conditions before they actually encounter production volumes. Procedures such as these can provide you with insight as to the likely performance of the production system when the changes are implemented, and enable you to plan option changes, equipment changes, scheduling changes, and other methods for stopping a performance problem from arising.

Related tasks
Performance monitoring and review
Deciding on monitoring activities and techniques
Developing monitoring activities and techniques
Planning the performance review process
Planning your monitoring schedule
Reviewing performance data
Typical performance review questions
Confirming that the system-oriented objectives are reasonable
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