What's new in IBM i 7.1

This topic describes what information is new or significantly changed in this release.

Collection Services

  • Additional data collection categories have been added:
    • Removable Storage - This category supports data collection for tape devices attached to an IBM® i partition. The Create Performance Data (CRTPFRDTA) command will export this data to a new database file QAPMTAPE.
    • External Storage - This category supports collection of non-standard data associated with certain external storage subsystems attached to an IBM i partition. Since the format of this data is subsystem dependent and may change, CRTPFRDTA exports the data as a character string to a new database file QAPMXSTGD. This data can be viewed within iDoctor.
    • System Internal - This category supports the collection of internal system data. If provided, this data is intended for use within IBM.
  • The collection and reporting impacts of short lifespan threads and tasks have been reduced. Data for these tasks and threads will be reported cumulatively rather than individually. See Short lifespan threads and tasks for additional information.
  • To allow more detailed analysis of disk I/O operations, Disk Response Time Groups (which show the distribution of I/O response times instead of averages) have been enhanced:
    • The number of group definitions has increased
    • Time will be in microseconds instead of milliseconds
    • Read and write times have been separated into individual groups
    • The new response time group data is provided in a new file QAPMDISKRB.
      Note: For compatibility, the response time groups defined prior to 7.1 will continue to be provided in the QAPMDISK file.
  • Additional data is being collected for jobs that have done save or restore operations. This data is provided in a new file QAPMJOBSR.
  • Several existing files have changes and additional fields. See the Collection Services data files topics for information.

IBM Systems Director Navigator for i Performance interface

Several enhancements were made to Performance Data Investigator which can be accessed by selecting the Investigate Data task:
  • General Health Indicators: A new content package is included which shows the general health of your partition, configurable for user-defined health thresholds.
  • View cross-partition CPU metrics: Collection Services has the ability to collect high-level cross-partition processor performance metrics for all logical partitions on the same single physical server regardless of operating system. This is available on POWER6® and above systems, with a minimum firmware level xx340_061. When this data is available, it can be viewed via several perspectives found under "Physical System".
  • Export: Data can now be exported to an image (charts only), comma delimited, or tab delimited file.
  • Size Next Upgrade: Investigate Data can now send data from your current session to Workload Estimator for use in sizing a future system using current performance characteristics.
  • Interactive Perspective Development: New charts and tables can be developed from within Investigate Data. Adding views, modifying SQL statements, modifying data series information can all be performed without leaving the page.
  • Metric Finder: With the large number of metrics provided by Investigate Data, sometimes knowing which perspective contains the metric you want to see isn't trivial. Now you can choose your perspective by searching for a metric name. Look for this feature under the "Search" button when you launch Investigate Data.
  • Performance Explorer Content Package: A simple Performance Explorer content package is included to start analysis of Performance Explorer data.
  • New Metrics: Many new perspectives have been added to Investigate Data, and many new metrics have been added to existing perspectives. The new metrics include SAN, Virtual I/O, Energy Management, Virtual Memory, and Communication data, plus much more.
  • Miscellaneous Enhancements: Miscellaneous changes were made to improve the overall capabilities of the performance tasks. Examples within Investigate data include: persistent options, new collection context at the top of each perspective, and a new menu bar which allows for quicker navigation and more-complete History data.
Note: These new features will also be available on IBM i 6.1 with the following PTFs: SI35659, SI35663 and SI36093.

Performance Management Agent

PM Agent has removed the capability to transmit performance data to IBM by the use of SNA. Only the Electronic Service Agent™ will be used for performance management data transmission. Three entries in the GO PM400 option 2 display (Work with Automatically Scheduled Jobs) are no longer presented. These jobs used SNA for performance data transmissions.

Support for GO PMAGT has been added and has the same functionality as GO PM400. Two new options are added to the PMAGT/PM400 menu:
  • The capability to verify whether Electronic Service Agent is connected to IBM
  • The capability to start the transmission of performance data

Two commands were removed from the system: PMLINMON and CFGPMLIN.

What's new as of 10 September 2010

The JBFLDR2 and JBFLDR3 fields of Collection Services data files: QAPMJOBMI are changed. The *SYSLVL category of Collection Services data files: System category and file relationships is changed. Collection Services data files: QAPMSYSWLC is new.

How to see what's new or changed

To help you see where technical changes have been made, this information uses:
  • The Start of change image to mark where new or changed information begins.
  • The End of change image to mark where new or changed information ends.

To find other information about what's new or changed this release, see the Memo to users.

Parent topic: Performance