Using screen definitions to solve problems

If you frequently experience problems in a given area—for example, excessive CPU utilization—you might want to create a screen definition so that you can start debugging the problem immediately.

Creating a screen definition

Open multiple windows.
Display a different view in each window; for example, JCPU in window 1, CPUSTAT in window 2, and WCPU in window 3.
On the COMMAND line, type SAVE Screen.
Assign a unique name to the screen definition; for example, CPUDATA.
The next time you notice that CPU utilization is high, on the COMMAND line type SCReen CPUDATA.
Note
All three views are displayed in the exact same configuration that you saved. You can divide the display area into a maximum of 20 windows.
The MainView for z/OS product ships several screen definitions to help you get started in solving performance problems: MMRSCR01, MMRSCR02, MMRSCR03, and the default screen definition, MVMVS. These screen definitions should help you form ideas for creating your own definitions. All of them provide a starting point from which you might begin using hyperlinks to explore system performance.

Example

The following example demonstrates how you might use screen definitions.

Suppose you find that you frequently display a particular combination of views, and that you always display the views in the same windows, as shown in the following figure.

Sample window configuration

10NOVYYYY   09:51:35 -------- MAINVIEW WINDOW INTERFACE (Vv.r.mm) -------------
COMMAND ===>                                                 SCROLL ===> PAGE
CURR WIN ===> 3        ALT WIN ===>
W1 -SYSSTAT-----------SYSE-----*--------10NOVYYYY==HH:MM:SS----MVMVS----D----1
C SMFID %Util %Util %Util %Util %Util %Util I/O %Ut-R %Ut-R %Ut-R %Ut-R I/O
- -----    CP zAAP zII    Bat   TSO   STC Intr   CPU   Bat   TSO   STC IntrR
   SYSE   30.5   4.4   0.3         4.2 26.3 101.8 18.8         4.7 14.1 26.3

W2 -WOBJ--------------SYSE-----*--------10NOVYYYY--10:01:35----MVMVS----D---49
C Workload Typ #AS       % Service Objective Tran   Tran   Job Jobs
- -------- --- ---       0.......50......100 Rate Total Total /Min
   TSONRM   SCL 16 250.0 *****************+ 0.37     31
   STCLOW   SCL   1 100.0 *****************
   SYSTEM   SCL 17 76.00 *************
   STCPAS   SCL   6 48.00 ********
W3 =WKLIST============SYSE=====*========10NOVYYYY==10:02:13====MVMVS====D===65
C Workload Type Description                    Istatus Cstatus Obj Begin End
- -------- ---- ------------------------------ ------- ------- --- ----- -----
   ALLASCH ASCH All ASCH Address Spaces        Active Active NO 00:00 00:00
   ALLBAT   BAT All Batch Address Spaces       Active Active NO 00:00 00:00
   ALLOMVS OMVS All Open MVS Address Spaces    Active Active NO 00:00 00:00
   ALLSTC   STC All Started Tasks              Active Active NO 00:00 00:00
   ALLTSO   TSO All TSO Address Spaces         Active Active NO 00:00 00:00
   ALLWKLDS COMP All Address Spaces             Active Active NO 00:00 00:00
   APPC     WKLD APPC Workload                  Active Active YES 00:00 23:59

The screen is divided into three windows, each window containing information about a different performance aspect:

Window 1 contains the SYSSTAT view, which displays an overview of the entire system.
Window 2 contains WOBJ, which shows how well workloads are meeting their service objectives.
Window 3 contains WKLIST, which allows you access to any workload on the system.

Without the ability to create screen definitions, each time that you require this information, you would have to type the commands explicitly to display each view and direct the output to one of the three windows—a rather tedious process, especially if you perform it often.

If you create a screen definition, however (perhaps under a name such as OVERVW), you can type SCReen OVERVW on the COMMAND line at any time to display the SYSSTAT, WOBJ, and WKLIST views in the exact same configuration, as shown in Sample window configuration.

Selecting an initial display

After you become experienced with the MainView for z/OS product, you might find that you want to see a particular screen definition immediately when you initialize MainView for z/OS.

You can do this by specifying a screen definition as an initial display. For information about choosing an initial display, type HELP FIRSTSCREEN on the COMMAND line.

Note

Only a screen definition can be designated as the initial display; views are not eligible.

Selecting a different screen for each MainView product

Because the MainView Parameters Editors menu affects all MainView products, the screen definition that you name for one product is displayed the next time that you access any MainView product.

You can choose to have a unique screen definition for each MainView product—one for CMF MONITOR, one for MainView for z/OS and so on.

To create different screen definitions

Create a screen definition for a single MainView product—for example, MainView for z/OS.
See for information about creating screen definitions. Give the screen definition the same name as the product identifier. For MainView for z/OS, you would name the screen definition MVMVS.
To display the MainView Parameter Editors menu, type MVParms on the COMMAND line.
Select 2 – DISPLAY.
Make sure that the Initial screen field is blank.
This step is important because MainView displays whatever is in the Initial screen field first. So, if you explicitly specify MVMVS, MainView for z/OS tries to display the MVMVS screen definition for every MainView product, not just MainView for z/OS.
When the Initial screen field is blank, MainView looks for a screen definition by the same name as the product that is being initialized. In other words, by leaving this field blank, you implicitly specify that you want MVMVS displayed only when you are entering MainView for z/OS.
Create screen definitions for your other MainView products by using these identifiers:
MainView for z/OS
MVMVS
CMF MONITOR
CMF
Plex Manager
PLEXMGR
MainView VistaPoint
MVVP
MainView for DB2
MVDB2
MainView for CICS
MVCICS
MainView for IMS
MVIMS
MainView for WebSphere MQ
MVMQ