IBM InfoSphere Data Replication Dashboard

The dashboard is a rich, customizable web tool that summarizes information to help you quickly identify and troubleshoot problems. It allows drill down into details in addition to at-a-glance status of programs, queues, Q subscriptions, and other objects.

Before you install InfoSphere Data Replication Dashboard, ensure that your system meets the following hardware and software requirements:

• Minimum hardware requirements for the dashboard web server
  • 512 MB of RAM
  • Free disk space:
    • For installation with embedded dashboard web server:
      • 392 MB for web server
      • 222 MB for temporary installation files
    • For installation into existing WebSphere Application Server:
      • 24 MB on system where WAS is installed

• Minimum hardware requirements for the browser client
  • 512 MB of RAM

• Software requirements

The InfoSphere Data Replication Dashboard supports the following operating systems:
• For installation with embedded dashboard web server:
  • Microsoft Windows^® Server 2003 Standard Edition with R2 SP2™ or later
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with R2 SP2 or later
  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional Edition SP3
  • Microsoft Windows 2008 Server
  • Microsoft Windows 7
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux^® 4 (32 bit / IA32)
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (32 bit / IA32)
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 (64 bit / EM64T, AMD64)
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (64 bit / EM64T, AMD64)
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 for IBM System z
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 with SP4 (32 bit / IA32)
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 (32 bit / IA32)
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 with SP4 (64 bit / EM64T, AMD64)
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 (64 bit/ EM64T, AMD64)
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 for IBM System z
  • VMWare Server 1.0.9
  • IBM AIX 5L™ Version 5.3 (64 bit /PPC64)
  • AIX systems must be at the required IBM Java™ 5 maintenance level. Refer to the following Web site for the Java 5 AIX^® maintenance level matrix: http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/java/jdk/aix/service.html .
• For installation into existing WebSphere Application Server:
  • WebSphere Application Server Version 7.0 and higher
    
Data servers: The InfoSphere Data Replication Dashboard supports replication health monitoring for the following data servers:
• DB2 Version 9.1 for Linux, UNIX^®, and Windows or later
• DB2 Universal Database for z/OS^® Version 9.1 or later
• Oracle Database 10.2 and later

Web browsers: The InfoSphere Data Replication Dashboard requires one of the following Web browsers:
• Internet Explorer 9.0 or later
• Mozilla Firefox ESR V10 or later
• Google Chrome V24 or later

Both JavaScript™ and cookies should be enabled in your browser.
• The InfoSphere Data Replication Dashboard supports VMWare Server 1.0.9.
• The mobile-site version of the dashboard is supported on the default browsers for iOS 4.x or later and Android 2.2 or later and does not require the Adobe^® Flash Player.
• The full-site version of the dashboard requires Adobe Flash Player Version 10.0 or later.

1. In the "Download package" section below, click the HTTPS link for your operating system, or for installation with WebSphere Application Server.
2. Download the InfoSphere Data Replication Dashboard installation file and one of two compressed files that contain installation instructions and release notes:
   • For installing with WebSphere Application Server: IBM_QReplDash_10.2_GA_readme_WAS.zip
   • For installing with the dashboard web server: IBM_QReplDash_10.2_GA_readme.zip
3. Extract the compressed readme file and follow the instructions in one of the following files:
   • For installing with WebSphere Application Server: IBM_QReplDash_10.2_GA_readme_WAS.html
   • For installing with the dashboard web server: IBM_QReplDash_10.2_GA_readme.html

The following functions are new in this release:

Subscriptions tab has more comprehensive information
The Subscriptions tab has been enhanced to provide more details about source and target tables and Q subscriptions. When you click either the source or target table name, the details window shows database name, subsystem name (z/OS) and table space name in addition to the following new information:

• Number of columns in the table
• Number of columns in the Q subscription
• The table cardinality, with the respective timestamp of when the statistics were collected
• Timestamps for when the table was created and altered

When you click the Q subscription name, a details window opens showing the following new information:

• Conflict rule
• Conflict action
• Error action
• Spill queue
• Search condition

The subscription table also has an additional column to show the send queue that is used for the Q subscription. The column can be displayed by clicking Actions > Customize Columns.

All queues in a group can now be displayed on a single screen
You can now specify to view the status of all queues in all configurations in the monitoring group on a single screen in the dashboard. Previously, queues could be displayed for each Q Capture-Q Apply pair in a monitoring group. By selecting All configurations on the Queues tab, you avoid needing to select each configuration to view the status of the queues.

Issue SQL statements against databases in your monitoring groups
You can now issue SQL SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements from the dashboard against any database server that contains replication control tables and is included in a monitoring group. The SQL feature is available for the user roles of administrator and operator. When the result of a SELECT statement is shown, you can filter the columns and rows and view the data type of each column. You can also print the result. This feature can be found on the Control Tables and SQL tab of the dashboard.

Latency report now features data aggregation
When you generate a dashboard latency report, you can now specify that data in the latency graph and details section be aggregated. Previously, each data point represented a row from the monitor table. With this change, you can specify that each row represent anywhere from seconds to several minutes or even a day of data from the monitor table. Each row in the details section, when aggregated, will show the highest latency of all data points that make up this row, and the total number of rows applied by the Q Apply program.

Use the dashboard as an alert monitor
You can now set up the dashboard to function as an alert monitor, sending emails when enabled alert conditions occur. To use the dashboard in this mode, you specify that the dashboard monitor in the background for alert conditions and suspend its usual queries for visual health information when the browser is closed.

Quickly identify situations when queue depth is not current
If the Q Apply program is not running or the receive queue is inactive, no new monitoring rows are inserted into IBMQREP_APPLYMON table and the current queue depth cannot be determined. In this situation, the dashboard displays the word "Unknown" rather than an outdated queue depth value. The green icon next to queue depth is also replaced with a yellow icon to indicate a potential problem.

Restrict dashboard users to view only selected monitoring groups
A new, more limited version of the Viewer role enables dashboard administrators to restrict users to view only certain monitoring groups. The Restricted Group Viewer role has the same privileges as the Viewer, but the administrator can choose which monitoring groups the user is allowed to view. The administrator can also enable this user to perform all subscription operations and change Q Capture and Q Apply parameter values.



More information

• To see previous improvements to the dashboard, see What's new in the Q Replication Dashboard.
• For the latest videos and blogs on Data Replication and Event Publishing, see Channel DB2.
• Send questions to askrepl@us.ibm.com.