Using AutoStrobe to Monitor CICS Transactions

You can use  AutoStrobe to monitor CICS transactions and trigger a Strobe measurement or warning whenever one of them exceeds an average CPU or response time threshold. If you want  AutoStrobe to monitor selected CICS transactions, you submit a transaction monitoring request.

If you do not know what transactions are likely to have performance problems, you can submit an AutoStrobe Create Transaction Candidates request to identify them for you. For more information, see Using AutoStrobe to Identify CICS Transactions for Monitoring.

Both  AutoStrobe and Strobe for CICS must be licensed for the processors on which  AutoStrobe will be used for monitoring CICS transactions.

This section explains how to:

  • Submit a transaction monitoring request
  • View the status of a transaction monitoring request
  • Change a transaction monitoring request.

 AutoStrobe can also create candidates for batch monitoring and can monitor batch performance. See AutoStrobe Batch Candidate Lists and Monitoring and Managing AutoStrobe Batch Candidate Processing and Monitoring for more information.

Benefits of Transaction Monitoring

An  AutoStrobe transaction monitoring request tracks the CPU and response times of specified CICS transactions against pre-established thresholds and triggers a Strobe measurement or warning only when one of the transactions exceeds its threshold.  AutoStrobe transaction monitoring can help you to improve the performance of a CICS region by:

  • Improving the chances that data collected during a triggered measurement was pertinent to poor performance.
  • Reducing the need to periodically review monitoring reports to determine if the performances of critical transactions have degraded.
  • Helping to quantify how changes made to a transaction (based on a triggered measurement) affect performance by resuming monitoring of the transaction.

How  AutoStrobe Detects Abnormal Behavior

When  AutoStrobe monitors transactions in a CICS region, it calculates a rolling average for each transaction’s CPU time and response time over an analysis interval during the monitoring periods of the days you specify.

Every minute,  AutoStrobe compares the average CPU and response times over the analysis interval with the thresholds that you specified in the transaction monitoring request.

 AutoStrobe triggers a measurement or a warning when a transaction exceeds a threshold and one of the following conditions is met:

  • The transaction executed ten or more times during the analysis interval
  • The transaction executed fewer than ten times during the analysis interval, but it exceeded the threshold by double the amount you specified.

Choosing Transactions to Monitor

When selecting transactions that you want AutoStrobe  to monitor, choose transactions that have any or all of the following characteristics:

  • Mission critical
  • Suspected to have performance problems.

You can use a Create Transaction Candidates request to enable you to identify the transactions of interest.

Specifying Thresholds for the Transactions to be Monitored

The transaction monitoring request allows you to specify the CPU and response time thresholds for each transaction you want to monitor. You can use:

Characteristics of an AutoStrobe  Triggered CICS Measurement

When AutoStrobe  triggers a measurement of a CICS region, the Performance Profile has the following characteristics:

  • The Measurement Session Data report specifies: AUTOStrobe  INITIATED MEASUREMENT DUE TO and one of the following conditions:
    • EXCESSIVE CPU TIME IN TRANSACTION nnnn
    • EXCESSIVE RESPONSE TIME IN TRANSACTION nnnn.
  • The CICS Transaction Profile reports are produced for the transactions submitted in the transaction monitoring request.

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