Collecting performance data across partitions

IBM^® Performance Management for iSeries™ (PM eServer™ iSeries) automatically triggers Collection Services to gather nonproprietary performance and capacity data from your server and then sends the data to IBM for analysis.

One of the analyses PM iSeries provides is to plot the growth of the system to determine when an upgrade may be necessary. For a system that is not partitioned, this is a straightforward process. However, if your system has been partitioned into multiple i5/OS™ partitions, the data arrives at IBM from each partition separately, which makes forming a reliable view of the entire system performance more difficult. If the partitions are running AIX^® or Linux^®, or if any of the i5/OS partitions have PM iSeries turned off, then no data is sent, which makes forming a view of the entire system nearly impossible.

To address these problems, Collection Services, with IBM Director Multiplatform, can now retrieve data about CPU usage and number of processors available from your server partitions regardless of the operating system running on them. PM iSeries summarizes the data before it gets shipped to IBM. Providing a cross-partition view of CPU utilization helps you and IBM do a much better job of managing your system resources. This includes balancing workload across the current set of processors as well as being able to plan for the purchase of more or faster processors when necessary.

How does it work?

The graphic below illustrates how the collection of CPU utilization data across logical partitions works. The "central system" has the IBM Director Server installed on an i5/OS partition that is running Collection Services with the *LPAR category selected. Each of the other partitions must have the IBM Director Agent installed and configured so that IBM Director Server can collect performance data from them. Each partition must also have the Director Multiplatform extension for Collection Services installed. IBM Director Server retrieves the CPU utilization data for each partition, including itself, at regular intervals and stores that data in the Collection Services *MGTCOL object. The data is then processed and written to the QAPMLPAR database file. Finally, PM iSeries collects and aggregates the data and prepares to transmit it to IBM. Although this graphic shows Management Central and IBM Electronic Service Agent™ (ESA) set up to transmit data on the same partition as the IBM Director Server and Collection Services, the transmission mechanism to IBM could actually be running on a completely different system and still be set up to gather the cross-partition data from PM iSeries and send it to IBM, business as usual.

Key
Dir Srvr = IBM Director Server Dir Agnt = IBM Director Agent Col Srv = Collection Services MC = Management Central ESA = IBM Electronic Service Agent Ext for Col Srv = Director Multiplatform extension for Collection Services RETAIN = Remote technical assistance information network URSF = Universal remote support facility MRPD = Machine Reported Product Data

Set it up

The following list provides you with an overview of the steps you must complete to collect performance data across logical partitions:

1. Ensure your IP network is properly configured for all partitions on the same physical system.
2. Ensure you are running a supported operating system on each partition for which you want to collect performance data:
   • i5/OS, Version 5 Release 4
   • AIX 5L™, version 5.3
   • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS, version 3.0, for IBM PowerPC^®
   • SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 8 for IBM pSeries^® and IBM iSeries
   • SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 for IBM pSeries and IBM iSeries
3. Ensure that you have applied the following Collection Services fixes to the partition that acts as your management server:
   • SI12971
   • SI13838 (superseded by SI16328)
   • SI15131 (superseded by SI16499)
   • SI16328 (Linux support)
   • SI16499 (AIX support)

   For the latest information about Collection Services cross-partition support for Linux operating systems, see the informational APAR II13986.

   Go to Fix Central for the latest PTF fixes.

4. Use the Virtualization Engine™ to install IBM Director Server on the i5/OS partition that you want to act as the management server. Consider the management server the central control point that communicates to managed systems, devices, and Collection Services. When the Virtualization Engine installation wizard is complete, IBM Director Server and IBM Director Agent are installed on the i5/OS partition that you want to act as the management server.
5. Install IBM Director Agent on the partitions that you want to be managed by IBM Director Server. These partitions must be on the same physical system as the partition where IBM Director Server is installed.
6. Install IBM Director Console on the system that you want to function as your Director Multiplatform management console.
7. Complete the required configuration steps:
   1. Authorize users for i5/OS on the management partition.
   2. Start Director Multiplatform on each partition.
   3. Start IBM Director console on your management console.
   4. In IBM Director Console, add each partition on which you want to monitor performance by right-clicking in the Group Contents pane and selecting New > IBM Director Systems.
   5. After you have added each partition, request access to manage the partition. In the Group Contents pane right-click the partition and select Request Access.
8. On the i5/OS management partition, install the Director Multiplatform extension for Collection Services by copying the necessary files for Collection Services from the Collection Services directory to the appropriate Director Multiplatform directory. The Collection Service files are ColSrvLparDataExt.TWGExt, ColSrvLparDataSubagt.TWGSubagent, and ColSrvDir.jar. Copy the Collection Services files using the following commands:

   CPY
   OBJ('/qibm/proddata/os400/collectionservices/lib/ColSrvLparDataExt.TWGExt')
       TODIR('/qibm/userdata/director/classes/extensions')

   CPY
   OBJ('/qibm/proddata/os400/collectionservices/lib/ColSrvLparDataSubagt.TWGSubagent')
       TODIR('/qibm/userdata/director/classes/extensions')

   CPY
   OBJ('/qibm/proddata/os400/collectionservices/lib/ColSrvDir.jar')
       TODIR('/qibm/userdata/director/classes')

9. Distribute the Collection Services files from the management partition to the i5/OS partitions from which you plan to collect performance data. You can do this by File Transfer Protocol (FTP) with the binary option, or by mapping a drive and copying the files to the file system, or by any other distribution mechanism that you might have in place. You can access the files on the i5/OS management partition in the directory, /qibm/proddata/os400/collectionservices/lib.
   1. Distribute ColSrvLparDataExt.TWGExt to the Director Multiplatform extensions directory, /qibm/userdata/director/classes/extensions, on the i5/OS partition that you want to manage.
   2. Distribute ColSrvLparDataSubagt.TWGSubagent to the Director Multiplatform extensions directory, /qibm/userdata/director/classes/extensions, on the i5/OS partition that you want to manage.
   3. Distribute ColSrvDir.jar to Director Multiplatform classes directory, /qibm/userdata/director/classes, on the i5/OS partition that you want to manage.
10. On each Linux partition, install the Director Multiplatform extension for Collection Services by installing the Collection Services RPM file, ColSrvDirExt.rpm.
    1. Distribute the Collection Services RPM file from the management partition to the Linux partitions from which you plan to collect performance data. You can do this by File Transfer Protocol (FTP) with the binary option, or by mapping a drive and copying the files to the file system, or by any other distribution mechanism that you might have in place. You can use Qshell to access the RPM file in the i5/OS management partition directory, /qibm/proddata/os400/collectionservices/lib/ColSrvDirExt.rpm.
    2. On each Linux partition, run the following command from the directory where the RPM file exists:

       rpm -Uhv --force ColSrvDirExt.rpm

11. On each AIX partition, install the Director Multiplatform extension for Collection Services by installing the Collection Services package, aix-ColSrvDirExt.bff.
    1. Distribute the Collection Services package file from the management server to the AIX partitions from which you plan to collect performance data. You can do this by File Transfer Protocol (FTP) with the binary option, or by mapping a drive and copying the files to the file system, or by any other distribution mechanism that you might have in place. You can use Qshell to access the package file in the i5/OS management partition directory, /qibm/proddata/os400/collectionservices/lib/aix-ColSrvDirExt.bff.
    2. On each AIX partition, run the following command from the directory where the BFF file exists:

       installp -Fac -d  aix-ColSrvDirExt.bff ColSrvDirExt

12. In IBM Director Console, update the collection inventory on each partition by right-clicking the partition and selecting Perform Inventory Collection.
13. Activate PM iSeries, which automates the start of Collection Services and then creates the database files during collection. If PM iSeries is already running, use the following Start Performance Collection (STRPFRCOL) command:

    STRPFRCOL CYCCOL(*YES)

You can use the following tools to track performance data across partitions:

• Collection Services
• PM iSeries
• IBM eServer Workload Estimator