Managing Monitoring Candidates

To create a list of monitoring candidates, both the SMF Candidate PreLoader Utility and the AutoLoader uses various performance standards to determine if the job step should be placed on the candidate list. Three of these standards were based on criteria that would indicate heavy resource consumption. Both the PreLoader and the AutoLoader use elapsed time, TCB time, and the number of EXCPS consumed by a job step to determine whether it should be placed on the monitor candidate list. Even if a job step runs only occasionally, it may require monitoring if any of these three criteria indicate high usage.

Tip

If a job step exceeds any of the criteria on more than one date, the job step name could appear on the list more than once.

Another indicator of a job step that may be eligible for monitoring is frequency-of-run. The job step’s resource consumption may not be high enough to qualify it for the candidate list on an individual run, but if the job runs often enough, it may equal or surpass the resource consumption of a job step that runs infrequently. So a job step that executes on a high weekly average may also require monitoring. (A frequency-of-run threshold only applies if you are using the SMF PreLoader utility.)

Choosing option 4 MANAGE CANDIDATES on the Strobe- AutoStrobe Options panel displays the Strobe - AutoStrobe Process Candidates panel (see Strobe - AutoStrobe Process Candidates Panel and Strobe - AutoStrobe Process Candidates Panel (Scrolled Right Once). This panel shows the job steps that were placed on the monitor candidate list because either the SMF Preloader or the AutoLoader determined that on at least one occasion that the step ran, it exceeded the threshold for elapsed time, or TCB time or number of EXCPs. Following Strobe - AutoStrobe Process Candidates Panel (Scrolled Right Once, descriptions are provided of how to use the Strobe- AutoStrobe Process Candidates panel to manage the monitoring candidates.

To manage job steps that made the candidate monitoring list because the PreLoader found it ran more often than the minimum value for the frequency of run threshold, type Y in the View Frequency List panel field. The Strobe- AutoStrobe Frequency List is displayed. The section called Managing Frequently Run AutoStrobe Monitoring Candidates explains how to manage these monitoring candidates.

Strobe- AutoStrobe Process Candidates Panel

Strobe- AutoStrobe Process Candidates Panel (Scrolled Right Once)

SWITCH TO AutoStrobe TRANSACTION OPTION

If you type Y, AutoStrobe displays the Strobe- AutoStrobe Manage Transaction Candidates panel, which enables you to manage CICS transaction candidates. See Using-AutoStrobe-to-Monitor-CICS-Transactions for more information. The default value is N, which does not change the panel.

List Filters

The Jobname, Stepname, Program and System fields can be used as filters to sort programs that you want appear on this panel.

JOBNAME

Lists the job name for the monitoring candidate. This field can be used as a filter. For example, you could specify a field value S*, which lists only candidates with a job name that begins with S.

STEPNAME

Lists the step name for the monitoring candidate.

PROGRAM

Lists the program name for the monitoring candidate.

SYSTEM

Lists the system name for the monitoring candidate.

Line Options and Commands

There are several line commands and options you can choose to manage and perform other types of candidate processing-related tasks.

Modify Exclusion List

Typing Y in the Modify Exclusion List field displays the Strobe - AutoStrobe Candidate Exclusion panel. You can then edit the list if necessary.

View Frequency List

Typing Y for the View Frequency List field displays the Strobe- AutoStrobe Frequency List. This panel displays the frequency with which the job step ran. This threshold is set in Strobe - AutoStrobe SMF Candidate Utility Panel. From the Strobe- AutoStrobe Frequency List panel, you can add AutoStrobe requests, view and edit the exclusion list, add a queued measurement request or delete a candidate from the frequency list. Deleting a candidate from the frequency list does not delete it from the Strobe - AutoStrobe Process Candidates panel list.

Change Sort

Typing Y in the Change Sort field displays the Strobe - AutoStrobe Candidate Sort panel.

A - AutoStrobe

Enables you to add an monitoring request for the job step. Typing A as a line option displays the Strobe - Add AutoStrobe Request panel.

Q - Add Queued

Enables you to add an ADD QUEUED request for the job step. Typing Q as a line option displays the Strobe- Add Queued Measurement panel.

E - Add to Exclusion List

Enables you to add the job step to Monitoring Candidate Exclusion List. Typing E as a line option displays the Strobe - AutoStrobe Candidate Exclusions panel.

D - Delete

Enables you to delete the job step from the Monitoring Candidate Process list.

Additional Panel Fields

The remaining Strobe- AutoStrobe Process Candidates panel fields provide additional information about the candidate.

EXCEEDED DATE TIME

Lists the last date and time that the job ran and exceeded the thresholds defined for making the measurement candidate list.

Elaps/Thres (MINUTES)

Total amount of elapsed time (expressed in minutes) observed during the run.

Threshold will be displayed after 5 or more occurrences have been observed and a valid threshold can be calculated. If a large single value is observed, it may skew the results and a threshold will not be displayed.

Tcb /Thres

Total amount of TCB time (expressed in minutes) observed during the run.

Excps

Scrolling the panel right twice displays an additional field in the following figure that indicates the total number of EXCP requests (direct invocations of execute channel programs, representing I/O) observed during the run.

Strobe- AutoStrobe Process Candidates Panel (Scrolled Right Twice)

Last Action

Scrolling the panel right again displays the last action taken in regard to the job.

Strobe- AutoStrobe Process Candidates Panel with Last Action

Managing Frequently Run AutoStrobe Monitoring Candidates

This section explains how to manage monitoring candidates that were placed on the list because the job step exceeded the SMF PreLoader utility frequency of run threshold. You can manage these job steps from the Strobe- AutoStrobe Frequency List panel. After the example panel, descriptions of using the panel fields to manage the monitoring candidate list are provided.

Strobe- AutoStrobe Frequency List Panel