Running playback mode

Use playback mode to run a retrospective analysis of your data to see what caused problems that you had in the past.

When you run playback, all of the displays in BMC AMI Ops Insight reflect the results based on the historical data. 

This topic includes the following procedures:

• • Before you begin
  • To create a playback file
  • To delete a playback request that is in error status
  • To pause playback
  • To stop playback

Before you begin

To run playback mode you must meet the following requirements:

• You must have administrator privileges.
• BMC AMI Ops Insight cannot be running projections on real-time data. If you are running real-time projections, playback is disabled.

To run playback, you must have a playback file. Use the following procedure to create a playback file from your SMF data.

To create a playback file

1. Click the Administration icon  in the title bar. 
2. Click Playback Scoring > Playback File Creation in the menu on the left side.
3. Click .
   
   

4. In the Create New File dialog, on the General Information tab, enter the following settings:

   Field	Description
   Data Set Name	Names of the historical SMF data sets that contains the source data for the playback file You can enter up to 50 data set names. The data sets must follow TSO dataset naming conventions. The data must be sorted in STCK order. Tape data sets and migrated data sets are not supported.
   Sort SMF	Select this to use BMC's sorting algorithm (recommended) to sort the model data by date and time, to minimize resource consumption. Unless you have a specific issue that prevents you from using BMC's sorting algorithm, leave this selected. Important If you select Sort SMF, Pacing Record Count is disabled.
   Pacing Record Count	Number of records processed before there is a pause in building the playback file Use Pacing Record Count to control resource usage of your request. When the number of records is processed, operations are suspended for an interval equivalent to the amount of time it took to process the previous batch of records and to write them to the output file. Important If you select Sort SMF, Pacing Record Count is disabled.
   Date Range of Model Data	Start date/time and end date/time for the historical SMF data set name. Dates and times are according to the local date/time of the Db2 instance.
   Label / Short Description	Description for the playback file This description is displayed on the list of models to help you identify your playback file. You can use this an alias for the playback file to allow you to easily identify it and to differentiate it from your other playback files.
   Output Folder	USS directory path to store the playback file This path must follow USS naming conventions. The path is created within the DAT folder of your installation folder. You must have write access for this path and sufficient space to store the data. Playback file sizes depend on the amount of data included.

5. Click .

6. In  Model Type & Details , select the Model Type and enter the details:
   

   Important

   You can create playback files of both Model Types in the same request.

   Model Type	Field	Description
   LPAR	Sysplex	Creates files for all LPARs in the SysplexSysplex can be up to 8 characters long and must match the SMF70XNM field in the SMF data.
   	LPAR	Creates a file only for the individual LPARLPAR can be up to 8 characters long and must match the SMF70SNM field in the SMF data.
   Db2 Subsystem	Data Sharing Group	Creates files for all subsystems in the Data Sharing Group Data Sharing Group name can be up to 8 characters long and must match the QWHADSGN field in the SMF data.
   	Db2 Subsystem Name	Creates a file only for the individual subsystemDb2 Subsystem Name can be up to 4 characters long and must match the QWHAMEMN field in the SMF data.

7. Click .

Created playback files are listed in the grid on the screen. You can perform the following actions:

• Click on the filename to see the details of the playback file.
• Click the Copy File Path button  to copy the file path for running playback.

To delete a playback request that is in error status

If a playback request finishes in error, it is marked with . To delete it, click on the trash icon .

To run playback

1. Click the Administration icon  in the title bar. 
2. Click Playback Mode > Playback Scoring in the menu on the left side.

3. Select the option you want to use for playback file selection:

   • Option 1 - Select Files: Use this option for running playback with files created on this instance of the product.
   • Option 2 - Provide Path: Use this option for running playback files that were created on another instance of the product.

   • Option 1 - Select Files
   • Option 2 - Provide Path

   Select folders and files that you want to use for playback. If you select a folder, all files in the folder are selected.

   

   To select individual files, click the > expander next to the folder name, and then select the individual files you want to use. Another option is to select the entire folder, and then click Deselect for files you don't want to include in the playback.

   

   Enter the path of the file or folder that you want to use for playback. The file or folder must be within the DAT folder. The path you enter here must exist in the path within the DAT folder.

   If you enter a folder, all files within the folder are included in the playback.

4. Click Next.

5. Enter an Ingestion Rate for your playback. The Ingestion Rate is the rate at which the application processes data and refreshes the display

   Important

   Each ingestion cycle processes 1 minute of data regardless of the selected speed.

   Default: 20 seconds

   Important

   The value you use here depends on the amount of data you are processing and the resource availability on the machine you are using.

6. Click .

On the Playback Scoring page, you can see the details of the current playback.

While playback is running:

• All of the displays in the application reflect the results based on the historical data.
• Playback Active is displayed on the Playback Scoring page.
  
• Playback Active is displayed in the footer of all pages throughout the application.
  

To pause playback

You can pause playback while it's running to temporarily stop its progress and analyze the results.

You can use the Pause and Play buttons in the footer of the application, or you can use the following procedure:

1. Click the Administration icon  in the title bar. 
2. Click Playback Mode > Playback Scoring in the menu on the left side.
3. Click the pause button ().
   • Playback Active changes to Playback Paused on the Playback Scoring page and in the footer.
   • The pause button  () changes to a play button(). Click the play button to continue playback.

To stop playback