Defining Model Builder Tasks

The Model Builder Tasks tool provides you with the ability to build cost models based on current data from the CDB server. Once defined and scheduled, Model Builder Tasks generate the models required for the Software Contract Reporting, Monthly Reporting, and Planning tools.

You can build a variety of models to affect the scope of your analysis. In general, if you have multiple CDB servers, you have to define multiple Model Builder Tasks to run. If you have more than one workload type you want to process, you can define one Model Builder Task for all of the workloads. It is not necessary to create a separate task for each workload type.

However, if you want to run a Model Builder Task for multiple workload types, you can specify only one filter. If you need to specify different filters for different workloads, you need to create a separate Model Builder Task for each workload that you want to filter.

Model Builder tasks provide advanced options where you can:

• Exclude particular LPARs from the cost calculations
• Designate the LPARs that use zNALC licensing for z/OS products
• Enable trace messages to the log file to assist in diagnostics

To define Model Builder Tasks

1. From the Cost Analyzer console, click Administration Tools.

2. In the Administration Tools window, click Manage Model Builder Tasks.The Manage Model Builder Tasks dialog opens, listing all of the tasks that have been defined:

   :

    

   From the dialog you can add, modify, or remove Model Builder Tasks.

3. Perform one of the following actions:

   • To add a new Model Builder Task, click the Add button.
   • To modify an existing Model Builder Task, select the icon of the task you want to modify from the list, and then click the Modify button.

   The Add/Modify dialog is displayed as shown in the following figure:

   

4. Complete each field based on the following table:

   Warning

   Note

   It is possible to create models from data in separate Source CDB Servers and/or databases by creating multiple Model Builder Tasks. In this situation, you must select the same workload types for each Model Builder Task.

   Table: Add Model Build Task fields

   Field	Description
   Task name	Name to be assigned to the task Success Tip Make a record of the task name because you need it to schedule the Cost Analyzer Model Builder Proxy application.
   Task description	(optional) Description of the task
   Workload type	Click one or more of the following types: Suites* Service Class* Report Class* Subsystem Address Space Importance Workload Manager Warning Note The * indicates that you can specify a filter for the workload. For more information, see Cost-Analyzer-workloads.
   Workload Filter	Filter for the workload Workload filters can be specified for Suites, Service Class, and Report Class workloads. For these workloads, you can enter a list of comma delimited workload names or wildcard character patterns to be used as a filter to reduce the size of the cost model. Warning Note A very large number of workloads may significantly degrade performance of Cost Analyzer. The workload filter provides the ability to specify which workloads to process.
   Source CDB Server	Desired CDB Server Profile
   Source CDB Database	Desired CDB Database accessible from the specified CDB Server The database needs to be compatible with Cost Analyzer.
   Time Zone Offset	Desired time zone offset You can specify an offset from the time zone of the data in the CDB database. Warning Note When using the Planning tool, all CPCs included in the plan must be built with the same time zone offset.

5. (optional) If you want to exclude particular LPARs from the cost calculation, designate zNALC LPARs, specify NO89 commands, or enable Trace messages, click Advanced Options.The Advanced Options dialog displays as shown in the following figure:

   

   1. To designate zNALC LPARs, enter the name of the zNALC LPAR you want to include, and then click Add.

      Warning

      Note

      You can enter LPARs either individually or you can list multiple LPARs separated by commas.

      Entries are case-sensitive, so be sure to enter the LPAR name exactly as it appears in z/OS, which primarily uses capital letters for all LPAR names.

   2. To exclude LPARs from the cost calculation click the Exclude LPARs tab, enter the name of the LPAR you want to exclude and then click Add.

      Warning

      Note

      Exclude LPARs should be used only if all activity for a particular LPAR needs to be completely excluded from the cost calculation. If you need to exclude just data for a specific time period or for the activity of a specific MLC Product, you must use the EXCLUDE command. For more information, see EXCLUDE89-command.

   3. To specify the NO89 command for a MLC product or a priced feature that does not create SMF Type 89 records, click the NO89 command tab, then enter the command as follows:NO89 productID[:featureCode]=[CPCSN:]lparName,... | *All

      The following table defines the value of the variables:

       

      Variable	Description
      productID	IBM product number
      featureCode	IBM priced feature number
      CPCSN	The CPC serial number
      lparName	List of LPAR names separated by commas Warning Note You must enter the LPAR name and not the SID

      Warning

      Note

      The following guidelines apply with regard to N089 commands:

      • You must enter a separate command for each MLC product or priced feature that does not create SMF type 89 records.
      • If the NO89 command was already specified in the JCL that runs the Universal Information Exchange batch job, you do not need to enter a command for that particular MLC product or priced feature.

      For more information, see NO89-command.

   4. To specify an EXCLUDE command for an interval that must be excluded from the peak R4HA calculation, click the EXCLUDE89 commands tab, then enter the command as follows:

       EXCLUDE89 CPC=<xxxx> IMAGE_ID=<lparname>,... | *ALL
                        PRODUCT_ID=<productid>,...|*ALL
                        START=<yyyy m d h>
                        RESUME=<yyyy m d h>
                        ACTIVE=Y|N

      Error

      Warning

      When you specify an EXCLUDE89 command in a Model Builder Task, all previous EXCLUDE89 commands added to the UIE JCL for any other intervals are ignored. In order to maintain the correct cost data in the cost models, all of these EXCLUDE89 commands need to be added to the Model Builder Task. For more information, see EXCLUDE89-command.

   5. To enable Trace messages, click the Trace tab, change the toggle switch to Yes.

      Warning

      Note

      Enabling Trace messages can dramatically increase the size of the log file and should only be enabled for troubleshooting.

   6. When finished with Advanced Options, click Accept.
6. When finished with all selections, click Add Task.The task appears as a listing in the Model Builder Tasks dialog.
7. Click Save Changes to save the Model Builder Task to the server.