Collecting information about the application
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Before you begin managing an application, you will need to collect some information about it.
Answer the following questions to gain an understanding of the application and its users. You can print the Application information worksheet to help with this task.
What are the components of the application?
Identify the components of the application, for example
- Batch jobs
- CICS transactions
- DASD volumes
- Db2 databases and plans
- IMS transactions, programs, and databases
- JES resources, such as lines and printers
- LPARs dedicated to the application
- Started tasks
- TSO users
- USS processes
- VTAM and TCP/IP resources
- MQ queue manager queues
Talk to the application programmers to get a clear picture of what their code does. Explain that you are collecting information to help ensure the application's availability and performance; they are likely to be supportive.
Talk to the systems programmers who support the application’s components and environments to get additional details about the application.
Where do the application components execute or reside?
Identify interfaces to other platforms through MQ where the transactions and databases execute, and the use of UNIX System Services resources. If possible, relate the databases to DASD volumes or SMS entities.
Who uses the application?
Determine the core users of the application and any critical time periods for them to use the application.
Which metrics should you monitor?
Focus on the metrics that are most likely to impact the core users. You can add additional metrics as your monitoring needs evolve. See Important BMC AMI Ops metrics for more information.
What is the business process flow?
Consider creating a diagram of the application’s business process flow. A visual representation of the process flow can help you identify components, connections, and considerations that you might otherwise overlook. A sample diagram is shown here.
