IBM Tivoli for NetView z/OS

Product update

IBM Tivoli NetView for z/OS V5.3: Addressing the Challenges of Enterprise Management

As the scope and complexity of your network expand, as the network becomes a critical element in your e-business environment, so does NetView's power to manage it. From integration with other management technologies and products to TCP/IP management to management from the Tivoli Enterprise Portal, graphics, productivity and more, IBM Tivoli NetView for z/OS V5R3 extends the already rich and robust capabilities for which the product is known, to provide you with even more of the functions you need and have asked for. Some of them are described below.

Expanded Tivoli Enterprise Portal (TEP) Integration.
NetView for z/OS V5.2 took the first steps toward integration with the TEP by providing workspaces for the display of IP connection data, log browse, various DVIPA data, packet trace, selected NLDM session data and session configuration data, the ability to issue NetView line-mode commands, and cross-product linkage with OMEGAMON XE for Mainframe Networks. To provide broader enterprise management, NetView for z/OS V5.3 offers expanded interoperability with the OMEGAMON XE suite of products via the TEP, as well as situations and expert advice, and expanded workspaces. Examples of this expanded TEP support include:
- NetView health
  NetView already provides several self-management functions, notably TASKMON and the NetView Resource Manager (NRM),which allow for monitoring and managing NetView's usage of system resources such as CPU, I/O rates, message queue lengths, and storage. Current and historical data from these is now available in two new workspaces. Situations are provided that trigger when the monitored performance metrics exceed customer-definable thresholds.
- New stack configuration and status workspace.
  You have the capability to see all stacks in your sysplex which NetView is monitoring. It also aids configuration management and problem determination.
Cross-Product Integration.
- OMEGAMON XE product suite.
  NetView for z/OS V5.3 provides expanded workspace linkage to the OMEGAMON suite of products (including OMEGAMON XE for Mainframe Networks, OMEGAMON XE on z/OS, and OMEGAMON XE for CICS), allowing for greater correlation of availbility and performance data, thus providing for greater insight into problem impact and problem determination.
- Discovery Library Adapter (DLA).
  NetView's DLA extracts TCP/IP resource information and relationships from the NetView for z/OS Resource Object Data Manager (RODM) data cache, formats the data into an output XML file, and sends the information to the IBM Configuration and Change Management Database (CCMDB). NetView for z/OS TCP/IP data in the CCMDB database enables consuming applications, such as Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager (TADDM), to locate resources discovered by other providers, such as an FTP server or router, in a TCP/IP network. This resource correlation helps operators and network analysts to solve outages and improve configuration and change management. Of particular value is the correlation in CCMDB between TCP/IP z/OS resources discovered by NetView for z/OS, and z/OS resources discovered by the z/OS Discovery Library Adapter.
Sysplex Monitoring.
Sysplex environments are increasingly important. NetView already discovers the z/OS images within a sysplex and the stacks on each of those images, and provides management capabilities for such environments. NetView also discovers a variety of DVIPA-related information, including connections through a sysplex distributor and DVIPA connection status. Although related, the two types of information have been collected, stored, and displayed independently of each other. With NetView for z/OS V5.3 you can now bring related information together, and more easily manage these environments.
Enhanced IP Management.
Building on the TCP/IP and SNMP management capabilities in previous releases, NetView for z/OS V5.3 introduces or expands several capabilities:
- IPv6 enablement.
  Base NetView commands and services that accept and process IP addresses now fully support IPv6 addressing
- Managing SNA Over IP Enterprise Extender(EE) support.
  - Identification of EE sessions.
    Building on the existing NLDM SESS command, this new function allows users to select SNA sessions that traverse a given resource. The resource no longer needs to be a session endpoint. This allows users to see what sessions traverse an ALS (CNRnnnnn), as requested by EE customers.
  - Additional path information.
    Building on the function provided by the existing DIS command, this new function offers detailed information about paths to EE-connected session partners. For outboard resources (DLURs), for example, this may include information about the path to the owing CP, EEDIAG test results, and RTP pipe informationfrom the remote host.
- Packet filtering by protocol.
  Expanding on the Real-time Packet Trace Formatting offered in NetView for z/OS V5.2, this function allows users to select traced packets by protocol. Protocols can be specified as a number (0 through 255) or one of 3 names (TCP, UDP or OSPF). Protocol can be specified in conjunction with other critera (such as local and remote address or port) to provide more granular filtering of packets, and thus simplify the process of network debugging by excluding extraneous packets.
- Identify hung listeners.
  A hung listener is defined as a port that refuses connections but appears to be normal in a netstat command. Currently, users have no way of pro-actively monitoring for and managing hung listeners. System administrators only find out that a listener is hung when a user calls in complaining that an application is unavailable. NetView for z/OS V5.3 allows for monitoring critical ports, using timers for the customer-defined monitor interval. When a port is found to be hung, an automable message is issued, to allow recovery. If the port is not hung, the connection is ended.
- Handling of traps.
  Through its Event/Automation Service (E/AS) running under UNIX System Services (USS) or an MVS started task, NetView has long provided the ability to receive or send traps. While it remains available through E/AS, that function is now also available in the NetView address space, thus removing the need for USS setup. This new SNMP trap automation is only for receiving traps. The function still provides for traps to be routed through NetView automation, and now supports SNMPv2c and SNMPv3. This function will receive traps within an IPv6 network as well as receiving traps over TCP.
Core NetView Functions.
- Session Monitor PIU formatting.
  In prior releases, NetView's Session Monitor displayed SNA PIUs in hexadecimal and EBCDIC formats. NetView for z/OS V5.3 now interprets certain PIUs and displays the information In a readable format with annotations to explain each field.
- Dynamic pipelines.
  Some commands, when run in a PIPE, do not give up control to the PIPE until the command completes. This means that no output from the command can be obtained until successful completion of the command. And, in fact, a command that terminates abnormally returns no data at all. Dynamic pipelines allow for the return of intermediate output from commands. The function is implemented as a new option (TRAP) for the PERSIST pipe stage. TRAP specifies that messages are to be added to the message queue of the REXX procedure that called the pipeline containing the PERSIST TRAP stage. Such messages satisfy a REXX WAIT FOR MESSAGES command and are accessible to a REXX MSGREAD command.
- Command response suppression.
  Since responses to some system commands, especially TCP/IP-related commands, can be lengthy or repetitious, leading to unwanted command responses filling the Syslog, NetView now provides a means to enable or disable the system logging of correlated responses to MVS commands in NetView or in a NetView pipeline. This allows you to specify whether responses to MVS commands, issued from within NetView or from other message traffic naming a console owned by a NetView operator, are sent to the system log. System logging of all other messages is not affected.
- Check for CLIST existence.
  NetView now verifies that a command/clist/REXX procedure exists before attempting to verify the user's authorization to issue the command/clist/procedure. This provides a performance improvement and prevents possibly erroneous security violation messages and SMF records in such situations.
- Reestablish RMTCMD connections over IP.
  NetView now allows RMTCMD connections using IP to be re-established if the IP connection between the source and target is disrupted. Previously, under some conditions the target of the RMTCMD would reject attempts to re-establish such connections.
- Ship AON CLISTS as source code.
  NetView now ships its AON component's CLISTS as interpreted REXX code rather than compiled REXX code. This facilities debugging AON problems.
- Additional platform support
  NetView now supports the Multisystem Manager IP agent on Intel Linux platforms.
Time To Value/Ease Of Use.
- Updated Report Generator for CNMSTYLE.
  This tool provides a report that shows the layout of the NetView stylesheet (CNMSTYLE) and its included members. It allows you to quickly and easily see which towers and subtowers have been activated and which parameter values are actually in effect. This helps to reduce the time to value and to prevent unwanted recycles of NetView due to parameter values that are syntactically correct and semantically valid, but not the desired values.