Usage scenario for the Dump Analyzer
Before you begin using the tool it can be beneficial to understand the realistic scenario in
which the tool might be used. Here is a typical scenario for the use of this tool.
- A System Administrator determines that something is not working properly within their system
and decides to use the Dump Analysis tool to investigate.
- The System Administrators uses the IBM Support Assistant (ISA) to trigger and collect a
system dump from the target system.
- The System Administrator calls a Problem Analyst to help examine this dump (or changes hats
and becomes the Problem Analyst).
- The Problem Analyst uses the Dump Analyzer tool in ISA to perform a simple health/status
check against the dump.
- The health/status check prints out some information about the dump and some potential
anomalies but there is not enough information to fully diagnose the problem.
- The Problem Analyst uses the Dump Analyzer tool in ISA to run a drill-down specialized report
to produce more information about the status and potential problems.
- The specialized report does not show sufficient information to fully diagnose the problem.
The Problem Analyst decides that he/she needs expert assistance from IBM Support to continue
the investigation.
- The Problem Analyst opens a PMR and sends the system dump along with a description of the
problem with this PMR and output from the Dump Analyzer to IBM.
The roles referenced in the preceding description are defined as follows. The formal roles
at your company might differ.
- System Administrator or Operator
-
A person who monitors the system and notices that a problem has occurred. He/she uses the
facilities provided by the system to generate a system
dump and copies the dump to a location where it can be read by the dump analysis tool.
- Problem Analyst
- A person who uses the dump analysis tool to read one or more system dumps and
attempts to determine the cause of the problem from which the dumps have been
collected. There may be multiple Problem Analysts of various levels of expertise involved
throughout the troubleshooting process. Some of them may be part of the staff at a
Customer and some of them may be IBM Support personnel. The System Administrator
or Operator may sometimes also serve as the first level of Problem Analyst when a
problem is initially discovered and a dump is collected.