Sampling data and producing records


The Extractor executes samplers to monitor hardware usage (CPU, channel paths, I/O queuing, and I/O devices) and software activity (the SRM, paging, enqueue contention, TSO usage, and common storage allocations), as well as other system resource information.

A sampler is a program module that creates data by using one of the following methods of measuring the performance of a specific area of your system:

  • DIE (disabled interrupt exit)
  • SRB (service request block)
  • SRM (System Resources Manager)
  • TCB (task control block)

Each sampler uses one or more of the four sampling methods to collect this data.

A sampler executes only when a corresponding Extractor control statement is defined in the Extractor JCL. (For more information, see Defining-Extractor-control-statements.) The manner in which each sampler executes is controlled by parameters associated with each Extractor control statement. (For more information, see How Extractor statements control sampler operations.)

As a sampler gathers information, the data gets accumulated in CSA. At the end of the interval time for the CPM or IPM monitoring mode, another function of the Extractor writes the data collected in CSA as records to SMF or CMF data sets. (For more information about monitoring modes, see When to use CMF MONITOR Extractor CPM and IPM modes. For more information about writing records, see Writing-records.)

Methods of sampling data

The Extractor uses four sampling methods to collect data.

DIE

Disabled Interrupt Exit—CMF keeps the time spent in the DIE samplers to a minimum to avoid degrading system performance

SRB

System Request Block—several samplers use the SRB sampling method


Under SRB, higher resolution sampling is provided and system interrupts can still be honored.

SRM

System Resources Manager—the SRM event-counting method is used for sampling functions that are driven directly by SYSEVENTs (such as TSO or ENQUEUE)


SRM sampling is driven by an event, not a time value.

TCB

Task Control Block—a separate subtask that can be dispatched on any processor, when required, by internal data-gathering mechanisms in the operating system

How Extractor statements control sampler operations

Most of the Extractor statements provide you with parameters that allow you to control the manner in which a particular sampler functions.

Extractor statements that do not provide you with parameters are typically for samplers that are event-driven and, therefore, function only when the particular circumstance occurs in your system.

Parameters affect sampler operations such as the rate frequency at which a sampler gathers measured data and places it in CSA. System components can be measured at different user-selected sampling rates; for example, device activity can be sampled once a second, while CPU activity can be sampled 10 times a second.

Other parameters in Extractor control statements allow you to control the scope of resources being monitored, the type of information being collected, and many other data-gathering options.

All of this control through statement parameters is provided so that you can tune the Extractor samplers to collect only the data your site requires, which allows the Extractor to perform its monitoring functions on your system in the most efficient manner possible.

The sampling functions occur continuously. All samplers write out records based on the recording interval, with the exception of the sampler for the REPORT (GBLS sampler) Extractor control statement:

The GBLS sampler writes records more frequently due to the volume of data that it is recording.


Record types

The Extractor samplers produce records that can be processed later by the CMF Analyzer or by the RMF postprocessor, or used by other BMC Software products.

The SMF and CMF user record types produced by CMFMON and by the Extractor for the CMF MONITOR Analyzer are shown in the table in Numeric list of SMF record types. User programs that are written to process SMF record types, such as MICS, MXG, or SLR, can process CMF MONITOR records.

Changing the default CMF record type ID

A default CMF user record SMF ID of 240 is used. This default value can be changed, however, by defining a different ID value at the SMFRECID parameter of the REPORT control statement.

Numeric list of SMF record types

The table below shows the SMF record types used by CMF MONITOR in ascending numeric order.

SMF record types with corresponding Extractor statements and samplers

Record type

Description

Sampler

Control statement

SMF 42-6

Dataset Activity

(SMF 42-6 records are created by SMS, and not CMF.)

not applicable

not applicable

SMF 70-1

CPU activity

CPUS

CPU

SMF 70-2

Cryptographic activity

CRYS

CRYPTO

SMF 71

paging activity

PAGS

PAGING

SMF 72-3

workload activity by service class

WLMS

WORKLOAD

SMF 72-4

resource usage and delay data by service class/period1

PGDS

PGDDLAY

SMF 72-5

serialization delay data

LOCK

LOCKDATA

SMF 73

channel activity

CHNS

CHANNEL

SMF 74-1

device activity

DEVS

DEVICE

SMF 74-2

Cross-System Coupling Facility (XCF) data

XCFS

XCFDATA

SMF 74-3

Open Edition MVS data

OMVS

OMVS

SMF 74-4

coupling facility data1

CFTS

CFDATA

SMF 74-5

cache data records

CA3H

CA5H

CA6H

CACHE

SMF 74-6

HFS statistics

HFSS

HFS

SMF 74-7

FICON Director statistics

FCSW

FICONSW

SMF 74-8

Enterprise Storage Server (ESS) statistics

CA3H

CA5H

CA6H

CACHE

SMF 74-9

PCI Express (PCIe) data

PCIE

PCIEDATA

SMF 75

page data set activity

ASMS

ASMDATA

SMF 76

system control block trace data

TRAS

TRACE76

SMF 77

enqueue activity

This sampler does not run in IPM mode.

EQES

ENQUEUE

SMF 78-2

virtual storage data

VSMS

VSMDATA

SMF 78-3

I/O queuing data for 3090, ES/9000 series, or later processors

IOQS

IOQ

Warning

Note

Note: SMF records 79-1 through 79-14 are created by the CMFMON component of CMF MONITOR.

SMF 79-1

address space state data

not applicable

ASD

SMF 79-2

address space resource data

not applicable

ARD

SMF 79-3

central storage/processor/SRM activity

not applicable

SRCS

SMF 79-4

system paging activity data

not applicable

SPAG

SMF 79-5

address space SRM data

not applicable

ASRM

SMF 79-6

enqueue reserve data

not applicable

SENQR

SMF 79-7

enqueue contention data

not applicable

SENQ

SMF 79-9

device activity data

not applicable

DEVICE

SMF 79-11

page data set activity

not applicable

PGSPP

SMF 79-12

channel path activity

not applicable

CHANNEL

SMF 79-14

I/O queuing activity by logical control unit for the 3090, ES/9000 series processors CMFMON

not applicable

IOQ

SMF103-1

SMF103-2

HTTP Server Report

not applicable

not applicable

SMF108-1

SMF108-3

LOTUS DOMINO Server Report

not applicable

not applicable

CMF 240-00

SRM constants, installation performance specifications, and Extractor control cards data

RECD

REPORT

CMF 240-01

CPU data

CPUS

CPU

CMF 240-02

ASM data

ASMS

ASMDATA

CMF 240-03

paging data

PAGS

PAGING

CMF 240-05

device data

DEVS

DEVICE

CMF 240-06

Extractor summary data2

EXTS

EXTSUM

CMF 240-09

ASM data

ASMS

ASMDATA

CMF 240-11

global bit map

GBLS

REPORT

CMF 240-16

LPA mapping data

LPAM

LINKMAP

CMF 240-18

CMF trace record data

TRCE

TRACE

CMF 240-20

TSO command summary record data

TSOS

TSODATA

CMF 240-21

TSO user summary record data

TSOS

TSODATA

CMF 240-24

disabled time sampling record data

DITS

DISTIM

CMF 240-29

common storage usage by jobs2

CSMS

CSMON

CMF 240-50

output writer statistics data

not applicable

not applicable

CMF 240-98

used to identify invalid records

not applicable

not applicable

CMF 240-99

used to identify invalid records

not applicable

not applicable

1 This sampler does not function unless the MVS PAS data collectors are active.

2 This sampler does not run in IPM mode.



 

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CMF MONITOR 6.1