Monitoring Network Connections

Scenario

Tom is a iSeries Technology Specialist in an IT organization. He manages and monitors the iSeries infrastructure to ensure that the existing infrastructure runs efficiently and does not cause any network connection issues.

Current problem: Tom wants to know whether the network resources are utilized optimally and efficiently. He wants to identify whether there are any waiting or idle connections, the amount of data sent and received for all the connections, maximum idle time of a connection and take necessary actions on such infrastructure elements. 

Solution: Tom can use the Network Connection monitor type to quickly get the information that he wants. The Network Connection monitor type provides a couple of attributes that can help him identify the amount of data sent and received for all the connections, maximum idle time of a connection, and other information about the connections. 

Prerequisites: Let us assume that John, the TrueSight Presentation Server administrator, has already completed the necessary prerequisite tasks to set up the PATROL for iSeries product so that Tom can use the monitor type to view data.

• Define a monitoring policy from the TrureSight console.
• Ensure that you have provided the required user permissions before configuring the KM. 
• Configure the iSeries binaries on the remote host
• Establish a trust relationship between iSeries host and JRE running on the PATROL Agent system
• Configure the PATROL for iSeries product for monitoring. Ensure that Job Queue monitoring is enabled while configuring the KM.
• Grant Tom the required permissions to view the monitored data

Workflow

The following illustration provides a high-level view of the process.

Steps

Tom performs the following steps:

1. Open the Devices page

   1. Log on to the TrueSight console.
   2. In the left navigation pane, click Monitoring > Devices 

2. Select the Device that contains the configured iSeries host

   The Device Details page is displayed. In the Monitors tab, expand the iSeries host to view the configured monitor types.

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3. Select the Connection monitor. This is a container (Network Connection Container) that holds all Network Connection instances.

   Select the Connection monitor to view the metrics.

   Attribute name	Unit	Description
   Collection Status	0 - OK 1 - ERROR	Reports the collection status of the Network Connection Container (AKN_CONNECTION_CONTAINER) monitor type. The status is reported as: 0 - Okay 1 - If any error is encountered while collecting data. Details of the error, probable root cause and the solutions are displayed in the annotation message of the parameter if the value is 1.
   Number of Connections	#	Displays the total number of connections on the system.

   Out of the box thresholds are defined for this attribute. You can view the event details in the Event tab. 

   By default, some columns are hidden. Use the action menu  that is located next to the table title to display the hidden columns.

4. Expand the Network Connection Container monitor type. Select the Network Connection instance to review the metrics

   The attributes that are marked as default Key Performance Indicators (KPI) are displayed. You can dynamically change the metric or other graph data using the graphing options.

   Attribute name	Unit	Description
   Max Idle Time	Seconds	Displays the idle time, in seconds, of the qualifying connection that has been idle for the longest time.
   Max Status Code	#	Displays the maximum status code for the qualifying connections. When no connections match the selection criteria entered for the connection ID, the MaxStatusCode attribute displays -1 value.  Click here to view the Strings and State Codes TCP State Code State String  -1 No connections match the selection criteria entered for the connection ID. 0 Listen - Waiting for a connection request from any remote host. 1 SYN-sent - Waiting for a matching connection request after having sent a connection request. 2 SYN-received - Waiting for a confirming connection request acknowledgement. 3 Established -The normal state in which data is transferred. 4 FIN-wait-1 - Waiting for the remote host to acknowledge the local system request to end the connection. 5 FIN-wait-2 - Waiting for the remote host request to end the connection. 6 Close-wait - Waiting for an end connection request from the local user. 7 Closing - Waiting for an end connection request acknowledgement from the remote host. 8 Last-ACK - Waiting for the remote host to acknowledge an end the connection request. 9 Time-wait - Waiting to allow the remote host enough time to receive the local system's acknowledgement to end the connection. 10 Closed - The connection has ended. 11 State value not supported by protocol
   Number of Connections	#	Displays the number of connections that match the selection criteria entered for this connection ID.
   Total Data Received	Bytes	Displays the total number of data received (in bytes) from the remote host for all qualifying connections since they were established.
   Total Data Sent	Bytes	Displays the total number of data sent (in bytes) to the remote host by all qualifying connections since they were established.

   By default, some columns are hidden. Use the action menu  that is located next to the table title to display the hidden columns.