Prerequisites for monitoring IBM i metrics: Click here
Using the REST API to add a new IBM i monitor: Click here
To create a new IBM i monitor, follow the steps given below:
There are situations where the host gets automatically discovered with the Monitor running in the host. To disable the default option, disable it using Global Settings.
It is important to note that if Applications Manager server is running in Windows machine, then it can monitor any type of host but if the server is running in Linux, then it can monitor Windows only if an SNMP agent is running in it. Also, any type of user can be used to log into Linux, whereas only Admin users can log into Windows. Learn more about Applications Manager's IBM AS400 Monitoring.
Note: The important configuration details that are required while discovering host resource by Applications Manager are available under Data Collection for Host Resource topic.
The attributes for IBM i monitored are classified under the following tabs by Applications Manager:
| Parameters | Description |
|---|---|
| Server Snapshot |
Server snapshot provides an quick overview of current server's auxillary storage pool's usage in percentage, processing units' usage in percentage, permanent address usage in percentage, temporary address usage in percentage and interactive performance usage in percentage. ASP Usage: The amount of hard disk capacity available in your system is called Auxiliary Storage Pool (ASP). This can be a deceiving number if you have more than one ASP defined on your system, because this number only reflects the System ASP. Applications Manager provides you with the percentage of disk storage in your System ASP that is currently used. If the percentage exceeds 90 percentage the system can fail. The performance of your IBM i server is affected if the percentage usage crosses 80 percent. You can create an alarm for this percentage and alert you whenever the percentage exceeds 80. Permanent addresses percentage and Temporary addresses Usage: Applications Manager provides you the usage in percentage for the two addresses - Permanent and Temporary Addresses - which refer to the possible system addresses created for permanent and temporary objects in your IBM i. Any variation in these values may reflect on rapid changed in the creation or destruction of objects in your IBM i at much rapid pace. This may affect the performance of your server. |
| System Status | This displays the value and health of ASP percentage, Disk Utilization, Processing Unit percentage, Permanent and Temporary Addresses percentage. |
| History | Displays bar charts showing the Availability History and the Performance History for the last 6 hours. |
| Monitor Information | This provides general information about the IBM i server such as name of the server, current health of the server, type, system model, system serial, and latest polled values. In addition, it also displays system configuration details such as security level, version number, Previous System End, Auto Device Configuration, System Console, Job Message Queue Initial Size, Job Message Queue Maximum Size, Spooling Control Initial Size, Maximum Jobs Allowed, Password Valid Days and Query Processing Time Limit. |
| Job Counts | Provides the various job counts of various job types currently running in IBM i server. The information is displayed in a pie-chart with clearly distinction of each job types contribution to total job count. By default, the following services job count is displayed:
|
| Disk Utilization | Specifies the hard disk space utilized by the system and updates with the peak and current value, and current status of the Disk Partition parameter.(The parameter includes C, D, E, F drives, etc. in windows, /home, etc. in Linux.) |
| System Information | System information displays the shared processing pool information, uncapped CPU utilization and current processing capacity resources. |
| Memory Utilization | Memory utilization for IBM i is displayed through pool size, reserved size, DB pages and Non DB pages and through DB faults and Non DB faults. |
Under Status tab, Applications Manager monitors the status of various attributes of IBM i server. You can also configure alarms for each of these attributes by clicking on 'Configure Alarms' link.
| Parameters | Description |
|---|---|
| System Information | This contains details of your IBM i main storage, number of processors, number of pools, number of partitions and the number of active threads in your system along with the health of each individual attribute. |
| System Status | This displays the value and health of ASP percentage, Disk Utilization percentage, Processing Unit percentage, Permanent and Temporary Addresses percentage. |
|
ASP Percentage |
The amount of hard disk capacity available in your system is called Auxiliary Storage Pool (ASP). This can be a deceiving number if you have more than one ASP defined on your system, because this number only reflects the System ASP. Applications Manager provides you with the percentage of disk storage in your System ASP that is currently used. If the percentage exceeds 90 percentage the system can fail. The performance of your IBM i server is affected if the percentage usage crosses 80 percent. You can create an alarm for this percantage and alert you whenever the percentage exceeds 80. |
| Auxillary Storage | The auxillary storage displays ASP total value and health, current unprotected useage and maximum protected usage along with the health of each attribute. |
| Additional Information | Displays information like Current Processing Capacity, Current Interactive Performance Percentage, Shared Processor Pool Used Percentage and Uncapped CPU Capacity Used Percentage. |
| Jobs | Displays the total number of jobs, number of active jobs, number of batch jobs, jobs waiting for messages, and maximum number of jobs in your IBM i server along with the health of each attribute. For number of active jobs, the 7/30 reporting is enabled. |
| Batch Jobs | Displays the number batch jobs ended, ending, held on queue and held while running along with the health of each attribute. It also displays the batch jobs on unassigned job queue and waiting to run/already scheduled jobs in IBM i server. For number of batch jobs on jobqueue, the 7/30 reporting is enabled. |
| Users | Displays the values for total number of users signed on and signed off, along with users suspended by group jobs, users suspended by system request and users temporarily signed off. For number of users signed on, the 7/30 reporting is enabled. |
Applications Manager provides you in-depth details for Pool such as Pool Name, Pool Size, DB pages, DB faults, Non DB pages and Non DB faults. The health and alarm configuration for each corresponding attribute is also provided. Click on the metric names (say Pool Name, Pool Size or DB pages) for column-wise sorting.
You can enable or disable data collection for a monitor by clicking on the Enable/Disable Pool button on the top right hand corner of the Pool Details table. In the Performance Polling Settings window that pops up, un-check the metrics that you need to disable and click Apply to save the settings. You can also apply the same settings to other IBM i servers by clicking on Apply to Selected Monitors link.
| Parameters | Description |
|---|---|
| Pool Name | Name of the pool. By default, there are four predefined storage pools: *MACHINE, *BASE, *INTER, and *SPOOL. There are up to 12 user-definable storage pools available. |
| Pool Size | This displays the amount of memory assigned to each default pools such as *MACHINE, *BASE, *INTER and *SPOOL. You can also edit the amount of memory allocated for each pool by executing the Change Subsystem Description (CHGSBSD) command through Non-interactive Command available in the Admin tab of the monitor. Better allocation would help improve the performance of the server. |
| Reserved Size | This displays the pool's reserved memory allocation size. The information provided here gives better understanding to how much of the memory allocation has been used by jobs and how much memory is still unused. This reserved size can affect system performance. If insufficient memory is not provided to the default *MACHINE pool, then it can affect overall performance of your IBM i server. Hence monitoring this attribute becomes critical for maintaining better performance of your IBM i server. |
| DB and Non DB Faults and Pages | This displays the DB and Non DB pages and fault for each pool. This bascially displays how program instructions and database information enter and leave the pool's memory. Monitoring this information provides better visibility on various programs and jobs that are being executed in IBM i server. |
Applications Manager monitor Jobs status and health in detail. You can easily configure alarms for Job details by clicking on 'Configure Alarms' link. Following are the list of tabular metrics that are monitored under the Jobs tab:
Following are the list of attributes that are monitored under the Job Details / Monitored Job(s) section:
| Parameters | Description |
|---|---|
| Job Name | The name of the job as identified by IBM i. |
| User | The user name is the same as the user profile name and can come from several different sources, depending on the type of job. |
| Number | The system-assigned job number. |
| Type | The type of active job. Possible values are:
|
| Status | This displays the status of the initial thread of the job. Only one status is displayed per job. The status 'NONE' represents an initial thread that is in transition. |
| Pool | This displays the system-related pool from which the job's main storage is allocated. |
| Function | This displays the last high-level function initiated by the initial thread. This field is blank when a logged function has not been performed. The field is not cleared when a function is completed. |
| Priority | This displays the run priority of the job. A lower number indicates a higher priority. System jobs and subsystem monitors with a run priority higher than priorities allowed for user jobs show a priority of 0. Run priority ranges from 1 (highest) to 99 (lowest). Jobs with the highest priority receive the best service from the CPU. This value is the highest run priority allowed for any thread within the job. Individual threads may have a lower priority. |
| Threads | Displays the number of active threads in the job. |
| Queue | Displays the name of the Queue where the job is located. |
| Subsystem | The name of the subsystem that holds the job. |
| CPU (ms) | Displays the amount of CPU time used by the job (in milliseconds). |
| Uptime (mins) | Displays the amount of time the job is running (in minutes). |
| Logs | Displays the logs for any particular job on clicking on the log icon for the respective job. |
The job status in IBM i is classified into three types:
If you wish to define a particular job status as Critical, edit AS400server.properties file located under <Applications Manager Home>\conf directory and include the particular job status as Critical.
The file consists of jobs in pre-defined classification under Clear, Warning and Critical categories. If you would like to include a particular job status, say CMNA as Critical, add CMNA in the following line as follows:
am.as400.critical = MSGW, CMNA
Once done, save the file and restart Applications Manager. After the next polling interval, you will find that the particular job is now classified as a Critical job status.
Message Information display gives you more detailed information about the various message(s) being received in the message queue (By default we are monitoring 'QSYSOPR' message queue, but user can change this value for key am.as400.messagequeue in AS400Server.properties file'). The messages are displayed with in-depth details such as message ID, severity of the message, type of the message, message text with a cause and recovery information if applicable, date and time of the message generated and help information for that particular message. You can view more detailed information of a particular message by clicking on the Help icon - 
.
By default only messages that need a reply are displayed. To view all the messages click on the link Show all messages. From the pop-up window that appears, the user can also view filter messages by Messages Need Reply / All Messages. This can be done for a specific monitor or for all IBM i monitors from For Monitor drop down menu.
The number of messages collected from the server is set to most recent 100 messages by default, which can be changed by the user by changing the values in AS400Server.properties file. The user can create thresholds for 'Messages' and configure alarms for MESSAGE ID, SEVERITY, and MESSAGE to capture the critical messages. The user can sort messages column-wise by clicking on the metric names. Following are the list of attributes that are monitored under this tab:
| Parameters | Description |
|---|---|
| Message ID | The message ID identifies the type of message. This is useful when doing problem analysis. |
| Severity | A 2-digit value ranging from 00 through 99. The higher the value the more severe or important the condition. |
| Type | The following values may be shown:
|
| Message | The text of the message. |
| Date | This is the date (in job format) that the message was sent. |
| Default Reply | Displays the default reply that was generated by your IBM i server for the particular generated message. |
| Help | Displays in-depth details for the particular message from your IBM i server. It displays the following values:
|
Following are the list of tabular metrics that are monitored under the Spool tab:
Displays a wealth of information on various spooled files being executed in IBM i server. The user can sort spools column-wise by clicking on the metric names. You can enable or disable data collection for a monitor by clicking on the Enable/Disable Spool button on the top right hand corner of the Spool Details table. Following are the list of attributes that are monitored under the Spool Details section:
| Parameters | Description |
|---|---|
| Spool Name | The file name that was specified by the user program when the file was created, or the name of the device file used to create this file. |
| Number | The system-assigned spool number. |
| Job Name | The name of the job that produced the spooled file. |
| Job Number | The number of the job that produced this spooled file. |
| Job Owner | The name of the user who owns the spooled file. |
| Status | The status of the spooled file. The following list of values is used to describe the file's status:
|
| Printer Name | The name of the printer in which that spooled file is assigned. |
| Pages | The total number of pages or records in the file (pages for print, records for diskette). If the file is still open, this field is blank for diskette files or will have the current number of pages spooled for printer files. An "R" is displayed after the value if the file is a diskette file. |
If a user does not need printer details, he can disable data collection for printer by clicking on the Enable/Disable Printer option in the top right hand corner of the Printer Details table. The user can also sort printer details column-wise by clicking on the metric names. Following are the list of attributes that are monitored under this tab:
| Parameters | Description |
|---|---|
| Device Name | Specifies the Printer or Device name. |
| Device Class | Specifies the class of the device. For Eg: virtual/ LAN. |
| Device Type | Specifies the manufacturer type of the device. |
| Status | Specifies the status of the printer device. Possible values are:
|
| Job Name | Specifies the name of the job that created the spooled file. |
| Job Number | Specifies the number of the job that created the spooled file. |
| Job Status | Specifies the status of the writer job. Valid values are STR, END, JOBQ, HLD and MSGW. |
| Job Owner | Specifies the name of the user that created the spooled file. |
| Started By | Specifies the name of the user who started the writer. |
| Spooled File Name | Specifies the name of the spooled file. |
| Spooled File Number | Specifies the spooled file number. Special values allowed are -1 and 0. The value *LAST is encoded as -1, the value *ONLY is encoded as 0. |
| Output Queue Name | Specifies the name of the output queue. |
| Output Queue Status | Specifies the status of the output queue. Valid values are RELEASED, HELD. |
The Disk Status display shows performance and status information about the disk units on the system. It displays the number of units currently on the system, the type of each disk unit, the size of disk space, whether the disk is currently on the system, the percentage of disk space used, the average amount of data read and written, and the percentage of time the disk is being used.
If a user does not need disk details, he can disable data collection for disk by clicking on the Enable/Disable Disk option in the top right hand corner of the Disk Details table. The user can also sort Disk Details column-wise by clicking on the metric names. Following are the list of attributes that are monitored under this tab:
| Parameters | Description |
|---|---|
| Disk Arm Number | Specifies the unique identifier of the unit. Each actuator arm on the disk drives available to the machine represents a unit of auxiliary storage. The value of the unit number is assigned by the system when the unit is allocated to an ASP. |
| Drive Capacity (in MB) | Total number of auxiliary storage provided on the unit for the storage of objects and internal machine functions when the ASP containing it is not under checksum protection. The unit reserved system space value is subtracted from the unit capacity to calculate this capacity. |
| Drive Available Space (in MB) | Total number of auxiliary storage space that is not currently assigned to objects or internal machine functions, and therefore is available on the unit. |
| Blocks Write | Number of blocks written: The block length is 520 bytes, which includes 8 bytes of system control information. |
| Blocks Read | Number of blocks read: The block length is 520 bytes, which includes 8 bytes of system control information. |
| ASP | Specifies the ASP to which this unit is currently allocated. A value of 1 specifies the system ASP. A value from 2 through 32 specifies a basic ASP. A value from 33 to 255 specifies an independent ASP. A value of 0 indicates that this unit is currently not allocated. |
| Unit Status | Local mirroring status.1 = active2 = resuming3 = suspended |
| Disk Wait Time | Combined wait (queue) time of all disk operations completed since last sample (milliseconds). Divide by number of read and write commands to obtain average wait (queue) time. Add to disk service time to obtain disk response time. Set to zero if data is not available. |
| Arm Utilization(%) | The part of the total interval that the arm was being used for I/O operations. |
If a user does not need problem details, he can disable data collection for disk by clicking on the Enable/Disable Problem option in the top right hand corner of the Problem Details table. The user can also sort Problem Details column-wise by clicking on the metric names. Following are the list of attributes that are monitored under this tab:
| Parameters | Description |
|---|---|
| Problem ID | Specifies the problem identifier of the problem being selected. Problems with different system origins can have the same identifier. This parameter can be used with the ORIGIN parameter to select a single problem from a particular system origin. |
| Problem Severity | This specifies the severity level of the problem. Severity levels are assigned by the user when the problem is prepared for reporting. The four severity levels are:
|
| Problem Type | Specifies which type of problems to work with. Possible values are:
|
| Status | Specifies the status of the problem log entries. The various status are: OPENED,READY,SEND,ANSWERED,PREPARED,VERIFIED,CLOSED. |
| Date Opened | Specifies the date the problem was opened. |
| Time Opened | Specifies the time the problem was opened. |
Following are the list of tabular metrics that are monitored under the Subsystem tab:
Displays a wealth of information on various subsystems present in IBM i server. If a user wants to monitor a specific subsystem, they can add subsystem(s) by clicking on the link Add Subsystem(s) to Monitor. Users can also perform actions like START, END, DELETE and REFRESH from the Actions drop down list and subsystems can be removed from monitoring by a click on the Remove Subsytem(s) link. These actions can also be performed from the double click mouse event. You can enable or disable data collection for a monitor by clicking on the Enable/Disable Subsystems button on the top right hand corner of the Subsystem Details table. The user can sort subsystems column-wise by clicking on the metric names. Following are the list of attributes that are monitored under the Subsystem Details section:
| Parameters | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | The name of the subsystem that was specified on the STRSBS (Start Subsystem) command. |
| Current Active Jobs | The number of jobs active in the subsystem. If more than one interactive job is started from the same work station (with system request or Transfer to Group Job), they are counted as only one job on this display. |
| Status | The status of the subsystem, which can be either ACTIVE, END (in the process of ending), or RSTD (the controlling subsystem is in the restricted condition). More information on the restricted condition of the controlling subsystem is in the online help information for the ENDSBS command. |
| Library | The name of the library where the subsystem description is located. |
| Maximum Active Jobs | The maximum number of jobs active allowed in the subsystem. |
Display of history log contents, will help you to track the system activities, such as messages related to system failure, security vulnerabilities , warning messages which are send to QHST and dumped. Following are the list of attributes that are monitored under this tab:
| Parameters | Description |
|---|---|
| History Log Details | |
| Message ID | The message ID identifies the type of message. This is useful while doing problem analysis. |
| Severity | A 2-digit value ranging from 00 through 99. The higher the value the more severe or important the condition. |
| Type | The following values may be shown:
|
| Message | The text of the message. |
| Date | This is the date when the log was sent. |
Note:
1. Monitoring of history log is supported for versions IBM i 6.1 & above. For other versions, you can monitor an alternate message queue if specified in the AS400Server.properties file for the key 'am.as400.historylogalternative'.
2. Double click on the history log details table , to find options such as 'Configure Alarms', 'Show All Messages', 'Show Debug Info', 'Enable/Disable History Log'.
3. 'Show All Messages' pop up, helps you to navigate through clear/warning/critical messages depending upon the configured alarms for any IBM i or all IBM i servers.
4. History log monitoring will only monitor latest messages. The number of messages collected from the server is set to 100 by default, which can be changed by the user by changing the values in AS400Server.properties file.
5. When there is no data available for historylog or for the alternate message queue configured due to errors like authority failure/ message queue not found/ version not supported , an error message will be displayed under message tab.
Data queues provide a fast means of inter-process communication, and is a method used to pass information to another program.
Applications Manager allows you to monitor pre-defined system library data queues and objects to let you maintain the overall performance of IBM i server. Queues monitoring is of importance to operators as they are the holding areas for messages, printed reports, batch jobs, and other work that is waiting to be received, released to the CPU, or accessed by a specific user. You can perform in-depth data queue monitoring viz., job queues and output queues and set up alerts for when the queue exceeds resources available over a specified period of time.
Out Queue's can be added to monitoring by clicking on Add Queue(s) to Monitor link , from the pop up we can select the available out queues (Queues with TYPE *OUTQ) to monitor. User can search and fetch available data queue's from IBM i server or from data base if available (we will store the queue info which are fetched from IBM i server for the first time in our DB).
Following are the list of parameters that are monitored under this tab:
| Parameters | Description |
|---|---|
| Monitored Data Queue(s) | |
| Data Queue | The data queue being monitored. |
| Library | The name of the library where the data queue resides. |
| Sequence | Specifies the sequence in which entries are received from the data queue. |
| Object Size (KB) | The object size information of the data queue object in kilobytes. |
| Object Unchanged (Mins) | The time this object is unchanged in minutes |
| Number of Messages | The number of messages(Entries) currently on the data queue. |
| Entries Allocated | The number of entries that will fit into the data queue before it is extended |
| Max.Entries | The maximum data queue entries allowed in a library. |
| Current Entries (%) | Percentage of Entries Currently Present in the Queue. |
| Utilized Allocation (%) | The percentage of allocated storage currently in use by the data queue. |
| Monitored Job Queue(s) | |
| Job Queue |
The qualified name of the job queue or queues. |
| Library | The library in which the specified job queue resides. |
| Sequence | The job queue entry sequence number. The subsystem uses this number to determine the order in which job queues are processed. |
| Subsystem | The name of the subsystem that can receive jobs from this job queue. |
| Status | The status of the job queue. The status may be one of the following values:
RELEASED - The job queue is released.HELD - The job queue is held. |
| Object Size (KB) | The object size information of the job queue object in kilobytes. |
| Number of Jobs | The current number of jobs in the job queue. |
| Current Active | The current number of active jobs that came through this job queue entry. |
| Monitored Out Queue(s) | |
| Out Queue | The qualified name of the output queue. |
| Library | The library in which the specified job queue resides. |
| Sequence | The order of spooled files on this output queue. |
| Status | The status of the output queue. The status may be one of the following values:
|
| Object Size (KB) | The object size information of the out-queue object in kilobytes. |
| Number of Files | The number of spooled files that exist on the output queue. |
| Writer | The name of the spooling writer for which information is to be displayed. |
| Writer Status | The status of the spooling writer. The status may be one of the following values:
|
| Printer | The system name of the printer device to which the output is sent. |
| Parameters | Description |
|---|---|
| System Value List | |
| System Value List | Displays some of the key attributes on which certain actions can be performed. You will be able to execute Non-interactive commandsfrom Applications Manager and also will be able to edit any of the System Value list attributes. |
| Message and Logging, Network Attributes, Date and Time, System Control, Library List, Storage, Allocation, Security | Displays a pop-up window with the parameter details for a particular monitor. You can view parameters like Name, Value and Description. You can edit the System Values by clicking on the respective icon in the edit column. |
| Tools | Some of the key attributes on which certain actions can be performed are as given below |
| Non-Interactive Command | You can execute non-interactive commands from Applications Manager. Enter the Command in the text box in the pop up window and click on Execute. |
| Job Log | Displays the job log for any job if you enter the job name, user, job number of the required job in the respective text boxes. |
| Product List | Displays a pop-up window with the Product list parameter details for a particular monitor. You can view parameters like Product ID, Product options and Description. |
| User List | Lists User list with details like User Name , Description, Status, Group profile Name, Limit Capabilities, Storage Allocated in Bytes, Storage occupied by this user's owned objects in bytes and Number of days left for password expiration. |
Note:
Error Message: [ibm][db2][jcc][10109][10354] The version of the IBM Universal JDBC driver in use is not licensed for connectivity to QDB2 databases.
The above error occurs when adding DB2 7.1 installed over Z/OS and to fix it, need to copy the db2jcc_license_cisuz.jar file from your DB2 installation.
For troubleshooting tips, go to our Support Portal.
