using activ8 7.31 from an as400 terminal

Using ACTIV8 7.31 from an AS400 Terminal

Users Guide

This edition of the ACTIV8 Manual applies to Release 4.06 and above of ACTIV8. This manual and the ACTIV8 Product contain proprietary information of ASNA (Amalgamated Software of North America, Inc). No component of the ACTIV8 product, including the software and the documentation may be reproduced, disassembled, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language, in any form, without the written permission of ASNA.

Copyright 1994 - 2001 ASNA - Amalgamated Software of North America. All rights reserved. Microsoft and Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

Release 7.31

Last Revision – May, 2001

Amalgamated Software of North America, Inc.

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UNITED KINGDOM 31 Frederick Sanger Road Surrey Research Park Guildford Surrey GU2 5YD United Kingdom Tel: (01483) 570666 International: +44 1483 570666

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Contents

Chapter 1 - ACTIV8 QUICK START ........................................................ 1 The ACTIV8 Menu .............................................................................................................. 2 The ACTIV8 Tutorial .......................................................................................................... 2 Running ACTIV8 “Out of the Box”...................................................................................... 2

Starting ACTIV8 ........................................................................................................... 2 Viewing Statistical Information While ACTIV8 is Running ........................................... 3 To Change ACTIV8 Parameters While ACTIV8 is Running .......................................... 3 Ending ACTIV8 ............................................................................................................ 3

Running the Job Manager Evaluator ..................................................................................... 3 Tips for Running ACTIV8 Evaluator ............................................................................. 4 Viewing the Job Manager Evaluation Statistics .............................................................. 4 Ending the Job Manager Evaluator ................................................................................ 5 Running the Job Manager Evaluator With Different Profiles .......................................... 5

Simple ACTIV8 Parameter Changes That Can Help Performance ......................................... 5

Chapter 2 - ACTIV8 Commands............................................................. 7 ACTIV8 Commands from the Command Line ...................................................................... 8 ACTIV8 Commands in QSYS or QGPL Libraries ................................................................ 8 STRAT8 Command - Starting ACTIV8 ................................................................................ 8 System Value Prompt ..........................................................................................................10 Job Manager Prompts..........................................................................................................10 STRAT8 Command Parameters ...........................................................................................11 Pool Manager Prompts ........................................................................................................16 Starting ACTIV8 from a CL Program..................................................................................17 CHGAT8 Command - Change ACTIV8 Parameters .............................................................18 ENDAT8 Command - Ending ACTIV8 ...............................................................................19 POOLRST Command - Restoring Pools ..............................................................................19 PUTJMDB Command - Write Job Manager Profile to a Database File.................................19 PRTJMPRF Command - Print Job Manager Profile .............................................................21 PUTPMDB Command - Retrieve information about a pool manager profile.........................22 PRTPMPRF Command - Print Contents of File ...................................................................23 STRAT8RCD Command - Starting the Activ8 Flight Recorder ............................................24 PRTAT8RCD Command - Printing the Activ8 Flight Recorder............................................27

FILE - File Name..........................................................................................................27 MBR - Member Name ..................................................................................................27 TYPE - Type of Data to Print .......................................................................................27

PRTAT8SUM Command - Printing the stored Activ8 Statistics ...........................................28

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Chapter 3 - ACTIV8 Evaluation ............................................................ 33 Job Manager Evaluator........................................................................................................34 STRAT8EVL Command - Start Job Manager Evaluator ......................................................34 ENDAT8 Command - End Automated Evaluator .................................................................35 DSPAT8STS Command - Evaluator Statistics Display.........................................................35 DSPAT8STS Command Parameters ....................................................................................36 DSPAT8STS Displays.........................................................................................................37

Performance Summary..................................................................................................37 Pool Manager Statistics ................................................................................................38 *CPUIO “System Busy” Response Time Graph.............................................................39 *CPUIO “Overall Performance” Response Time Graph ................................................39 *NOCHG “System Busy” Response Time Graph...........................................................40 *NOCHG “Overall Performance” Response Time Graph ..............................................41 Reviewing Parameters ..................................................................................................41

STRAT8EVL - Job Manager Evaluator Parameters .............................................................43 Deleting Profile History Files..............................................................................................46

Chapter 4 - ACTIV8 Profiles................................................................. 47 CRTJMPRF - Create Job Manager Profile ...........................................................................48 CRTJMPRF Command Parameters ......................................................................................49 CHGJMPRF -Change Job Manager Profile ..........................................................................50 CRTPMPRF - Create Pool Manager Profile.........................................................................50 CRTPMPRF Command Parameters .....................................................................................51 CHGPMPRF - Change Pool Manager Profile ......................................................................51

Chapter 5 - ACTIV8 Statistics - NPT.................................................... 53 DSPAT8STS Command - Display Statistics ........................................................................54 DSPAT8STS Command Parameters ....................................................................................54 Using DSPAT8STS.............................................................................................................55 Transaction Throughput Statistics .......................................................................................55 ACTIV8 Performance Summary Screen...............................................................................56

Current Data .................................................................................................................57 System Busy Data.........................................................................................................57 Overall Performance Data.............................................................................................58 Percentage of Transactions with Sub-second Response .................................................59 Performance Summary Function Keys...........................................................................59

Response Time Graphs........................................................................................................59 Response Time Graph Function Keys............................................................................61 ACTIV8 Parameter Display ..........................................................................................62

Chapter 6 - ACTIV8 Concepts.............................................................. 63 Job Manager Concepts ........................................................................................................64

Job Manager Interval Parameter....................................................................................64 Minimum CPU Activity Parameter................................................................................64 System Abuser Type Parameter.....................................................................................64 Priority Change Value Parameter ..................................................................................65 Time Slice Change Direction Parameter........................................................................65 Time Slice Change Value Parameter .............................................................................66

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Abusing Job Factor Parameter ......................................................................................66 Pool Manager Concepts.......................................................................................................67

How the Pool Manager Works ......................................................................................67 What are Page Faults ....................................................................................................67 Why are Page Faults Bad for Performance ....................................................................67 Change in Maximum Activity Level..............................................................................68 How Reducing the Number of Active Jobs Helps Throughput .......................................68 Pool Manager Defaults .................................................................................................68

Chapter 7 - ACTIV8 Log File ................................................................ 69 Accessing Log Files ............................................................................................................70 Log File DDS Specifications ...............................................................................................71

Appendix A - Recommended Parameter Values................................. 73 Job Manager Parameters .....................................................................................................73

Index..................................................................................................... 75

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C H A P T E R 1

ACTIV8 QUICK START

This chapter is designed to provide a simple and quick guide using ACTIV8 from an AS/400 terminal. A full description of all the available options is provided in the following chapters of the manual.

Contents • Running ACTIV8 “Out of the Box”

• Starting ACTIV8

• Job Manager Evaluation

• Common Parameter Changes that Can Help Performance

2 Using ACTIV8 from an AS/400 Terminal

The ACTIV8 Menu All the basic ACTIV8 Commands can be run or prompted from the ACTIV8 Menu. This Menu can be displayed by entering the Command:

GO ACTIV8/ACTIV8

The ACTIV8 Tutorial A good way to get a quick and basic understanding on the capabilities of ACTIV8 is to run the ACTIV8 tutorial, which explains the screens and commands used by ACTIV8.

To start the tutorial either select option 3 from the ACTIV8 menu or enter the command:

ACTIV8/STRAT8TUT

Running ACTIV8 “Out of the Box” ASNA highly recommends that you run ACTIV8 for a while on your system BEFORE running the ACTIV8 Evaluator. We recommend that you run ACTIV8 with all defaults except:

• If the average CPU utilization is over 90%, change ACTIV8 to monitor for Jobs that have been moved to the Time Slice End Pool with the Command STRAT8 ABUSE (*TSEND). Be sure the system value QTSEPOOL is set to *BASE.

• If a separate Subsystem is set up for communications and run out of its own Pool, and a large number of communications Job (PC connections, remove lines, etc.) run on the system, then, in the Pool Manager, set a larger minimum for this Subsystem than the ACTIV8 default of 300 K.

Note: The defaults are designed for the “average” system, and may not be set optimally for your system.

Starting ACTIV8 By default, ACTIV8 Job Manager monitors for abusive interactive users whenever the CPU usage exceeds 75%. Abusive Jobs monitored are those with heavy CPU or I/O use. The Pool Manager is also activated. The default settings are listed in “Appendix A, Recommended Parameter Values”.

Unlike running the Evaluator, the statistics capture is not automatically turned on when you initiate this command. You will notice that ACTIV8 requires significantly fewer resources when not logging or gathering statistics.

To Run ACTIV8 1. To start ACTIV8 Job Manager and Pool Manager with all the default settings either select option 1

from the menu or enter:

ACTIV8/STRAT8

Chapter 1 Quick Start 3

Viewing Statistical Information While ACTIV8 is Running After starting ACTIV8 with all the defaults, you can view the statistical information screens on the AS/400.

The screens are easy to follow. A full description of all the displays can be found in ACTIV8 Control Panel for Windows.

If a hard copy of this information is required, use the AS/400 print screen facility.

To View Statistical Information While ACTIV8 is Running 1. The following command instructs ACTIV8 to accumulate Performance Statistics. To view the

statistical information screens on the AS/400, enter:

ACTIV8/CHGAT8 STATS(*YES)

2. The following command displays Performance Statistics. To view the statistical information screens on the AS/400, either select option 3 from the Menu or enter:

ACTIV8/DSPAT8STS

To Change ACTIV8 Parameters While ACTIV8 is Running Current parameters can be displayed and changed as required. The full list of options is described in “Chapter 3, ACTIV8 commands.”

To Change Parameters while ACTIV8 is Running 1. To change parameters while ACTIV8 is running, enter:

ACTIV8/CHGAT8

2. Press F4.

Ending ACTIV8 ACTIV8 runs in its own Subsystem which is also ended by the above command. To ensure that all Jobs and system parameters are returned to their original state, do not end ACTIV8 by just canceling either the Job or the Subsystem.

To End ACTIV8 1. To end ACTIV8, either select option 2 on the menu or enter:

ACTIV8/ENDAT8

Note: The ACTIV8 Statistics cannot be displayed after ACTIV8 has been ended. If you wish to keep a copy of the statistics, please take print screens before ending ACTIV8.

Running the Job Manager Evaluator A Statistics History File is automatically opened when the Evaluator is started (called “Profile History”). The performance data is retained for later review by the DSPAT8STS Command or ACTIV8 for Windows, so make a note of the Profile History name. The default name is AT8HSTnn, where nn is the sequential number to differentiate each Profile History.

By default, the Job Manager Evaluator runs for five minutes with ACTIV8 monitoring and acting upon abusive interactive Jobs (CPUIO Profile). Then ACTIV8 resets all Jobs to their original state, and runs for the next 5 minutes just collecting statistics without changing any Jobs’ Run attributes (NOCHG Profile).


The Evaluator runs for eight hours swapping between the CPUIO and NOCHG Profiles each five minutes, then automatically terminates.

Once the Evaluator has started, any changes to the Profiles will not take affect until the next time an Evaluation is run.

To Start the Job Manager Evaluator 1. To start the Job Manager Evaluator either select option 8 on the Menu or enter:

ACTIV8/STRAT8EVL

2. To end the Evaluator, either select option 2 on the menu or use the command:

ACTIV8/ENDAT8

Tips for Running ACTIV8 Evaluator If, when viewing ACTIV8 statistics, the elapsed time the Job Manager is active is a small percentage of the Overall Elapsed time, end the Evaluator (ENDAT8), and restart it after changing ACTIV8 to become effective when the CPU usage rises above 50%. The default is not to be become active till 75% CPU utilization. This change can be made to the default Profiles by either taking option 12 on the menu then starting the evaluator with option 8. Or entering the following commands:

CHGJMPRF JMCPUIO MINSYSUSE(50)

CHGJMPRF JMNOCHG MINSYSUSE(50)

STRAT8EVL

On a very busy system, where the average CPU utilization is over 90% end the current evaluator session (ENDAT8), and restart it so that it will only act on interactive Jobs that have reached the end of their timeslice. This can be achieved with the Command:

STRATEVL PROFILE 1 (*TSEND)

As an alternative, on systems with a high average CPU utilization start the evaluator so that ACTIV8 will only start affecting Job priorities when the CPU utilization is over 90%. This can be done by either selecting option 13 from the ACTIV8 menu followed by option 8. Or by the following commands:

CHGJMPRF JMCPUIO MINSYSUSE(90)

CHGJMPRF JMNOCHG MINSYSUSE(90)

STRAT8EVL

Viewing the Job Manager Evaluation Statistics To View the Job Manager Statistics

1. To view Statistics while the Evaluator is running, select option 5 on the menu or enter:

ACTIV8/DSPAT8STS

2. To view the Statistics after the Evaluator has finished prompt option 5 on the menu or enter:

ACTIV8/DSPAT8STS AT8HSTnn

Where nn is the number issued to the Profile History when the Job Manager Evaluator was started.

3. The statistics screen will show the comparison of response times with and without ACTIV8 tuning. From the performance statistics display, press F24 to display the graphs to compare the number of transactions processed by response time ranges. Press F15 to toggle between the two Profiles. Taking print screens of these Profiles will provide hard copy of the results.

Chapter 1 Quick Start 5

Ending the Job Manager Evaluator The Job Manager Evaluator will automatically end after eight hours.

To End the Job Manager Evaluator 1. If you want to end the Evaluator before the time has elapsed, either select option 2 from the menu

or enter:

ACTIV8/ENDAT8

Note: DO NOT end the evaluator by canceling either the Job called ACTIV8 or the ACTIV8 Subsystem - this my leave your pools sizes and Job priorities in an undesirable state.

Running the Job Manager Evaluator With Different Profiles The default for the Job Manager Evaluator is to compare ACTIV8 monitoring abuser type *CPUIO with ACTIV8 making no changes to any Jobs (*NOCHG). Other standard Profiles are available for other abuser types:

*TSEND Act only on Jobs that reach their time slice end (Time Slice End Pool).

*IO Act only on Jobs that are input/output abusers.

*CPU Act only on Jobs that are CPU abusers.

To Run the Evaluator with other Profiles 1. To run the Evaluator with other Profiles either take option 10 on the menu or enter:

ACTIV8/STRAT8EVL

2. Press F4. The prompt screen will allow you to enter the names of Profiles you want the Evaluator to compare. The Evaluator can also be run with user created Profiles. When starting the Evaluator there is no option to enter the ACTIV8 parameters - these must be entered into a Profile using the option 17 on the menu or the CRTJMPRF command.

Simple ACTIV8 Parameter Changes That Can Help Performance Symptom When reviewing ACTIV8 Statistics, the elapsed time the Job Manager is active (“System

Busy”) is small in comparison with the overall elapsed time.

Correction Reduce the minimum CPU% that defines how busy the machine must be before ACTIV8 will start tuning abusive Jobs. The ACTIV8 default is 75% CPU utilization. Either change this when ACTIV8 is started or enter:

ACTIV8/CHGAT8 MINSYSUSE(nn)

Where nn is the new CPU utilization level where the ACTIV8 Job Manager will start tuning abusive Jobs.

To change the minimum CPU% for a Profile, enter the command:

ACTIV8/CHGJMPRF JMPRF(xxx) MINSYSUSE(nn)

Where xxx is the name of the Profile and nn is the new CPU utilization level where ACTIV8 Job Manager will start tuning abusive Jobs.

Symptom On a very busy machine the Job Manager seems to be slowing the system. This can happen if a machine is running at an average CPU utilization of 90% or above.

Correction Instruct ACTIV8 to only monitor for interactive Jobs that exceed their time slice. Change the Abuse Type parameter to *TSEND.


The system value QTSEPOOL must be set to *BASE to move interactive Jobs exceeding their time slice to the *BASE pool. With the *TSEND parameter, ACTIV8 acts only upon interactive Jobs having been moved to *BASE by the system. This significantly reduces the ACTIV8 workload.

To change the system value enter:

CHGSYSVAL QTSEPOOL *BASE

To change ACTIV8 to system abuser type *TSEND, enter:

ACTIV8/CHGAT8 ABUSE(*TSEND)

To change a Profile’s system abuser type to *TSEND, enter:

ACTIV8/CHGJMPRF JMPRF(xxx) ABUSE(*TSEND)

Where xxx is the name of the Profile to be change.

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C H A P T E R 2

ACTIV8 Commands

ACTIV8 has several commands that can be entered from the OS/400 command line. This chapter gives an explanation of these commands, what they do, and how to use them.

Contents • ACTIV8 commands from the command line

• ACTIV8 commands in QSYS or QGPL Libraries

• Job Manager prompts

• Pool Manager prompts

• Printing commands


ACTIV8 Commands from the Command Line ACTIV8 has the following commands that can be entered from the OS/400 command line:

STRAT8 Start ACTIV8. CHGAT8 Change ACTIV8 parameters while ACTIV8 is running. ENDAT8 End ACTIV8. POOLRST Restore all Pools and activity levels to original values. CRTJMPRF Create Job Manager Profiles. CHGJMPRF Change Job Manager Profiles. CRTPMPRF Create Pool Manager Profiles. CHGPMPRF Change Pool Manager Profiles. DSPAT8STS Display ACTIV8 statistics over elapsed time. STRAT8EVL Start the Job Manager Evaluator. PUTJMDB Write Job Manager Profile to a database file. PRTJMPRF Print the database file in which Job Manager Profile was written to. PUTPMDB Write Job Manager Profile to a database file. PRTPMPRF Print the database file in which Pool Manager Profile was written to. STRAT8RCD Start ACTIV8 Flight Recorder, which writes current status of jobs in the system

at regular intervals throughout the day to a database file. PRTAT8RCD Print the database file in which system jobs were written to. PRTAT8SUM Print a History Profile of the ACTIV8 statistics collected during the running of

ACTIV8.

ACTIV8 Commands in QSYS or QGPL Libraries When the product is installed, these commands reside in the library ACTIV8. It may be more convenient to copy them to QSYS or QGPL. This will eliminate qualification by library name (as in: ACTIV8/STRAT8) or adding the ACTIV8 library to the library list.

Note: If evaluating ACTIV8 for the first time, review this chapter, then continue with “Chapter 3, ACTIV8 Evaluation”. The Evaluator will run ACTIV8 automatically and prepare valuable statistics on ACTIV8’s effectiveness.

STRAT8 Command - Starting ACTIV8 To start ACTIV8, the user must have special authority of Job Control (*JOBCTL).

To Start ACTIV8 1. Enter the following command:

ACTIV8/STRAT8

2. When entering this command, be aware of the two methods of starting ACTIV8:

• Start ACTIV8 with all the parameters set to the default values (as shown in “Appendix A, Recommended Parameter Values”) by entering the above command. The default will initiate both the Job Manager and Pool Manager modules unless a single module is authorized for ACTIV8.

• Press F4 and the following prompt screens will be displayed, allowing selected modules to be initiated and their respective parameters to be changed before starting ACTIV8. Job and Pool Management parameters may also be set up in advance and saved as Profiles with the CRTJMPRF and CRTJMPRF commands.

Chapter 2 Commands 9

3. The first STRAT8 prompt screen allows selection of the ACTIV8 module(s) to initiate. Additional parameters on this prompt screen are common to both Job and Pool Management modules.

4. For more information, see chapter 4, ACTIV8 Profiles.

RUNJM - Run Job Manager *YES The Job Management module is to be initiated. When *PROMPT is given in the next

parameter, all Job Manager parameters will be prompted in subsequent screens.

*NO The Job Management module is not initiated and no further prompting for Job Manager parameters occurs.

Note: When the Job Management module is not authorized, the default for this parameter is *NO.

JMPRF - Job Manager Profile *DFT Use the default Job Manager parameters provided with ACTIV8. No further prompting

for Job Manager parameters occurs. See also “Appendix A, Recommended Parameter Values” for a listing of default values.

*PROMPT The default Job Manager parameters provided with ACTIV8 will be displayed in subsequent prompt screens where modifications may be made.

Name ACTIV8 is to use the parameter settings developed previously with the CRTJMPRF command. Enter the name of the Profile.

Library The library where the Profile resides. When no library is given, the ACTIV8 library is assumed.

Note: See “Appendix A, Recommended Parameter Values” for ranges and relationships of parameters.

RUNPM - Run Pool Manager *YES The Pool Management module is to be initiated. When *PROMPT is given in the next

parameter, all Pool Manager parameters will be prompted in subsequent screens.

*NO The Pool Management module is not initiated and no further prompting for Pool Manager parameters occurs.

Note: When the Pool Management module is not authorized, the default for this parameter is *NO.

PMPRF - Pool Manager Profile *DFT Use the default Pool Manager parameters provided with ACTIV8. No further prompting

for Pool Manager parameters occurs. See also “Appendix A, Recommended Parameter Values” for a listing of default values.

*PROMPT The default Pool Manager parameters provided with ACTIV8 will be displayed in subsequent prompt screens where modifications may be made.

name ACTIV8 is to use the parameter settings developed previously with the CRTPMPRF command. Enter the name of the Profile.

Library The library where the Profile resides. When no library is given, the ACTIV8 library is assumed.


STATS - Collect Response Time Statistics Instructs ACTIV8 to collect response time data to be used by the DSPAT8STS command. DSPAT8STS cannot be requested unless ACTIV8 is running and the value for this parameter is *YES. The default is *NO.

The DSPAT8STS command now takes an extra parameter, OUTPUT. This defaults to *SCREEN, but can be changed to *OUTFILE which will direct all output to a multi-format logical file that can be queried at a later time.

*YES Maintain statistical data for review with the DSPAT8STS command.

*NO Do not maintain statistical data. The DSPAT8STS command will not be functional.

Note: ACTIV8 will require more system resources to collect and maintain statistics.

System Value Prompt

SYSVALUES – System Values A new parameter SYSVALUES on the STRAT8 command allows you to either turn off (*OFF) or unchange (*UNCHG) the system values QDYNPTYSCD and QPFRADJ (IBM's performance tuning tools).

A proper message is sent to QSYSOPR message queue depending on whether the user selected to turn them off or keep them unchanged.

Job Manager Prompts When Run Job Manager is *YES and Job Manager Profile is *PROMPT, the following prompt screens are presented.

The prompts enable modification of the Job Manager parameters, permitting ACTIV8 to be customized for each individual system.

The following screen is displayed after rolling up for more parameters:

1To exclude a Subsystem from ACTIV8, roll up for more parameters:


To override the response time categories used in the Statistical Displays, press F10.

STRAT8 Command Parameters The following narrative describes each parameter used to start the ACTIV8 Job Manager. See also “Chapter 6, ACTIV8 Concepts” and “Appendix A, Recommended Parameter Values”.

MINPRIOR - Minimum Priority Level The minimum priority level (highest priority) of Jobs that ACTIV8 should monitor. Any monitored Job with its priority level below this value will not be affected by ACTIV8. Remember that the lower the priority level, the higher the priority of the Job.

The default value for this parameter is 11. IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THIS VALUE NOT BE SET TO LESS THAN 11. Because the system console runs at priority 10, it is imperative that ACTIV8 does not change the system console to a priority below other interactive Jobs.

MAXPRIOR - Maximum Priority Level The maximum priority level (lowest priority) for monitored Jobs that ACTIV8 should affect. Any monitored Job with its priority level greater than this value will not be affected by ACTIV8.

The value given in this parameter plus the value of PRCHG is the highest level to which ACTIV8 will reduce a Job’s priority.


Example: If PRCHG is defined as 3, MAXPRIOR is defined as 35, a Job’s priority level can be reduced to 38. However, once the prioirty level exceeds MAXPRIOR, the Job remains at that priority until it is no longer an abuser when it will be returned to its original priority.

MAXPRCHG - Maximum Priority Changes The maximum number of priority level changes that ACTIV8 will make to a given Job from its original priority.

The priority level to which a Job will be changed is a multiple of this number and the value of the PRCHG parameter defined below.

Example: If MAXPRCHG is defined as 3, PRCHG is defined as 5, and an abusive Job’s original priority is 20, its priority could be reduced by as much as 15 levels (3 * 5), i.e., to priority level 35.

*NOMAX The number of priority level changes from the Job’s original level will not be limited. ACTIV8 will automatically govern the total change in priority level. Once the priority level is changed to a number higher than the MAXPRIOR value, the Job is penalized no further.

*NONE Prevents ACTIV8 from making any changes to priority levels.

PRCHG - Priority Change Value The priority level increment that a Job will be changed at any one time. This parameter has no meaning if MAXPRCHG is *NONE. The default is 5, which means that each time ACTIV8 changes a Job’s priority level, the change will be by five priority levels.

Setting this value to 1, for example, would instruct ACTIV8 to change the priority of an abusing Job only one level at a time. The higher the value, the faster ACTIV8 can push an abusing Job to its lowest priority level.

MAXTSCHG - Maximum Time Slice Changes The maximum number of time slice changes that ACTIV8 will make to a Job from its original time slice.

Each time a time slice change is made, the TSCHG parameter is used to determine by how much to change the time slice. Example: If the value of 2 is given for this parameter and the value of 200 milliseconds is given for the TSCHG parameter, the time slice for any Job will never be decreased or increased (depending upon the time slice change direction) more than 400 milliseconds from its original value.

*NOMAX The time slice deviation from the Job’s original level will not be limited. ACTIV8 will automatically govern the overall change in the time slice.

*NONE Prevents ACTIV8 from making any changes to time slice.

TSCHG - Time Slice Change Value The number of milliseconds to increase or decrease the time slice each time it is changed. The default for this parameter is 200 milliseconds. See the above narrative of MAXTSCHG for more about how this value is used. This parameter has no affect if the MAXTSCHG value is *NONE.

TSCHGDIR - Time Slice Change Direction The direction ACTIV8 will modify an abusing Job’s time slice. The default is *INC. This parameter has no effect if the MAXTSCHG value is *NONE.


*DEC Each time slice change to a Job will decrease the total time slice value.

*INC Each time slice change to a Job will increase the total time slice value. Increasing a Job’s time slice, while at the same time decreasing its priority, effectively places it into a batch-like processing environment.

ABUSE - System Abuser Type The type of system resource abuse that should merit a priority change or time slice change for a Job.

*CPU Specifies system processor abuse to be monitored.

*IO Specifies excessive auxiliary I/O accesses to be monitored.

*CPUIO Monitor for both CPU and I/O abuse.

*TSEND Monitors only Jobs that have been moved to the time slice end Pool. (The system value QTSEPOOL must have been set to *BASE. Please refer to chapter 6, ACTIV8 Concepts, for more information on working with this system value.) This option may prove to be the most effective for machines with over 90% CPU utilization.

CAUTION: If the time slice end Pool option is not active when this parameter value is given, ACTIV8 will issue the error message “system value QTSEPOOL must be *BASE to use ABUSE(*TSEND) option.”

*NONE ACTIV8 is to do no policing, but it will still gather transaction statistics if the parameter STATS is set to *YES.

ABSFACT - Abusing Job Factor This value is for “fine tuning” ACTIV8, and defines the statistical boundary that determines which Jobs are considered abusers. The default value is 1. Its value may range from 0.1 through 9.9. The impact of this parameter upon ACTIV8 differs depending upon its value relative to 1. This parameter has no effect on ACTIV8 if the value of ABUSE is *TSEND.

<1.0 When less than 1, ACTIV8 will lower its statistical threshold for determining which Jobs are abusive. More Jobs will be considered to be abusive and ACTIV8 will more readily change their priorities and time slices. The smaller this value the greater the number of Jobs that will be acted upon.

>1.0 When greater than 1, ACTIV8 will raise its statistical threshold for determining which Jobs are abusive. Fewer Jobs will be considered to be abusive and ACTIV8 will less readily change their priorities and time slices. The larger this value, the fewer the Jobs that will be acted upon.

MINSYSUSE - Minimum CPU Activity (percent) This parameter defines the minimum amount of CPU usage, as a percentage, that must be taking place before ACTIV8 will attempt to change any Jobs. The default value is 75, which means that the CPU must be at least 75% utilized before ACTIV8 will change any Jobs.

Note: For systems with little CPU utilization above 75%, set this parameter to a lower value to allow ACTIV8 more time for tuning.


JOBTYPE - Job Types The Job types that ACTIV8 will monitor for Job Management are defined here. Regardless of the Job types selected, only Jobs meeting the Run attributes specified in MINPRIOR and MAXPRIOR parameters are affected by ACTIV8.

Note: Monitoring truly batch Jobs (*BCH) running at the normal priority 50 level is counter-productive, since all such Jobs would be considered abusers. The *BCH Job type should be selected only for Jobs running in batch that have interactive characteristics (e.g. client-server applications).

The valid Job types to monitor are:

*INT Interactive

*BCH Batch

*EVK Evoked Started by a procedure start request

*ASJ Autostart

*BCI Batch Immediate

*MRT Multiple Requester Terminal

*PJ Prestart Job

*PDJ Print Driver Job

*RDR Reader

*WTR Writer

INTERVAL - Time Interval This specifies the frequency that ACTIV8 will monitor and change the Run attributes of abusing Jobs. The lower its value, the more responsive ACTIV8 will be, but it will utilize more of the system’s resources. Conversely, the higher its value, the less overall CPU time ACTIV8 will use, but this will cause ACTIV8 to be less responsive to Jobs that are abusing, or have stopped abusing the system. The default value is 4000 milliseconds (4 seconds).

LOGFILE - Log File This is the Source or Date File name and library where all actions attempted by ACTIV8 are to be logged. ACTIV8 also logs average response times for all interactive Jobs approximately every 5 minutes.

See “Chapter 7, ACTIV8 Log File”, for the DDS specifications. See also “Chapter 7, ACTIV8 Concepts” for discussion on how the Log File may be used for Job analysis and fine tuning of ACTIV8.

If the File does not exist, ACTIV8 will create it as a Date File. Otherwise, the existing named File will be used. If a Source File is desired, it must be created prior to its reference in this parameter by using the command CRTSRCPF. The default is *NONE.

*NONE Specifies that no logging is to be done.

Note: ACTIV8 will require more system resources to maintain the Log File.


LOGMBR - Log Member Specifies the name of the member to create or use if a Log File was specified. The default is *FILE.

*FILE Use the File name as the member name.

LOGCLR - Clear Log File Specifies whether the Log File should be cleared before ACTIV8 starts logging. The default is *NO.

*YES Clear Log File.

*NO Do not clear Log File.

USERS - Users To Ignore This parameter is used in conjunction with USERSET where up to 30 users and/or user groups may be specified for ACTIV8 to disregard or examine exclusively while monitoring. Any combination of user and group Profiles may be specified. For each user name given, specify the user’s Profile type.

When USERSET is *ALL, only this list of users is ignored. When USERSET is *ALLXCPT, only this list of users is monitored.

The default is blank, which means all users will be monitored.

*USRPRF The user name given is a user Profile.

*GRPPRF The user name given is a group Profile.

USERSET - User Set Qualifies the USERS to ignore while monitoring. Depending upon this entry, either the specified users will be ignored, or ignore all other users except those given. The default is *ALL to ignore given users.

*ALL Ignore only those identified in the USERS parameter.

*ALLXCPT Ignore all users except those identified in the USERS parameter. In other words, only those users specified will be affected by ACTIV8.

*SBSD Subsystems to exclude.

This parameter allows up to 30 Subsystems to be specified for the Job Manager to ignore when monitoring abusive Jobs. If a Subsystem name is given, ACTIV8 will assume that the Subsystem resides in the library QSYS unless otherwise denoted with a library name. The library list is not searched for the Subsystem name. By default, the Job Manager will monitor all Subsystems

RSPCAT - Response Time Categories When starting ACTIV8 and the STATS value is *YES, the bar graph categories displayed in the DSPAT8STS command can be user specified. If no user defined categories are given, the defaults are used. There are seven categories, six of which may be specified. The seventh category represents all response times that are greater than the highest category specified. Each category boundary represents the maximum time, in seconds, for that category. Each boundary must be in increments of at least 0.2 seconds.

*DFT Default category boundaries are 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, 12.0 and 24.0 seconds.


Boundary 1...6 - User Defined Boundaries User defined response time boundaries may only be specified in the STRAT8 command. The categories may be established even though STATS is *NO. The CHGAT8 command may be issued at any time to collect statistics for DSPAT8STS by setting STATS to *YES.

Pool Manager Prompts When Run Pool Manager is *YES, Run Job Manager is *NO and Pool Manager Profile is *PROMPT, the following prompt screens are presented. Minimum activity levels and Minimum/maximum Pool sizes may be selectively overridden.

The following narrative describes each parameter used to start the ACTIV8 Pool Manager.

POOLNAME - Shared Pool or Subsystem Name Although ACTIV8 automatically determines Pool minimum and maximum sizes and activity level minimums, these values may be overridden for selected Pools and Subsystem.

Note: Overriding Pool sizes is typically unnecessary.

DFT ACTIV8 will automatically adjust Pool sizes and activity levels with the following limitations:

The *MACHINE Pool size will not be reduced below its current size.

The *BASE Pool size will not be reduced below 5% of total memory.

Other Pools will have a default minimum of 300KB.

Maximum Active Jobs will not be reduced below 50% of the original configuration when ACTIV8 was initiated.

The Activity level for the *BASE Pool is not changed.

The Activity level will not be reduced below the number of processors on the machine.

name Valid Pool names are: *MACHINE, *BASE, *INTERACT, *SHRPOOL1...*SHRPOOL10, *SPOOL or Subsystem name.

Min size Minimum size of the Pool in K-bytes. A 6-megabyte Pool minimum is entered as 6000.

Max size Maximum size of the Pool in K-bytes. A 10-megabyte Pool maximum is entered as 10000.


Min Activity Lowest maximum activity level that ACTIV8 will establish for the Pool.

Note: ACTIV8 will not automatically reduce the activity level of an interactive Pool below 50% of its original assigned value unless overridden in this parameter.

PMINTERVAL - Pool Manager Interval This is the interval in milliseconds that the Pool Manager monitors the status of each Pool. The default is twice the value of the Job Manager Interval (normally 8000 msec.). Reducing the Pool Manager interval below the default value is not recommended.

Note: Where CPU utilization exceeds 90%, increase this value to 24 to 30 seconds (24000 to 30000 milliseconds) for better results.

Starting ACTIV8 from a CL Program ACTIV8 may also be initiated from a CL program using the following parameter names:

STRAT8 + RUNJM (*YES/*NO) + JMPRF (name/*DFT) + RUNPM (*YES/*NO) + PMPRF (name/*DFT) + STATS (*YES/*NO) + MINPRIOR (value/11) + MAXPRIOR (value/45) + MAXPRCHG (value/5/*NOMAX/*NONE) + PRCHG (value/5) + MAXTSCHG (value/6/*NOMAX/*NONE) + TSCHG (value/500) + TSCHGDIR (*INC/*DEC) + ABUSE (*IO/*CPU/*CPUIO/*TSEND/*NONE) + ABSFACT (value/1.0) + MINSYSUSE (value/75) + JOBTYPE (*INT/type1 type2...type8) + INTERVAL (value/4000) + LOGFILE (name/*NONE) + LOGMBR (name/*FILE) + LOGCLR (*YES/*NO) + USERS (Profile/userid) + USERSET (*ALL/*ALLXCPT)+ PMINTERVAL (value/16000) SBSD (lib/name1 ... lib/name30) POOLNAME (actlvl/max/min/name1 ... actlvl/max/min/name14) RSPCAT (*DFT/value1 value2...value6)+


CHGAT8 Command - Change ACTIV8 Parameters Any ACTIV8 parameter except RSPCAT, INTERVAL, and PMINTERVAL, (Response Time Categories, Job Manager Interval, and Pool Manager Interval, respectively), may be modified while ACTIV8 is running.

Pool and Job Managers may be initiated and terminated in this command. Changes made to parameters in use from a Custom Profile may be changed as well. However, any changes made will not modify the Custom Profile itself.

To Change ACTIV8 Parameters 1. Enter the following command ACTIV8/CHGAT8.

2. Press F4 to prompt the current parameters. When both the Job and Pool Managers are running the Job Manager parameter list is displayed first. Otherwise, only the parameter list for the Manager currently running will be displayed.

3. Indicate which of the Managers to modify, add, or remove and press <ENTER>.

CHGAT8 can also be run from a CL program using the same parameter names as the STRAT8 command.

Note: To change the response time parameters for the DSPAT8STS display, ACTIV8 must be ended (see below), then re-started with the new category values.

To change the Job or Pool Manager interval parameters, ACTIV8 must be ended, then re-started with the new values.


ENDAT8 Command - Ending ACTIV8 To End ACTIV8

1. Enter the following command ACTIV8/ENDAT8.

2. This will end ACTIV8 and the ACTIV8 Subsystem. This command will not clear the Log File or the statistical data of an evaluation.

Note: ALWAYS USE THIS COMMAND TO TERMINATE ACTIV8. DO NOT END ACTIV8 WITH THE WRKACTJOB COMMAND.

POOLRST Command - Restoring Pools At any time while the ACTIV8 Pool Manager is running, Pool sizes can be reset to their original values.

To Restore Pool Sizes 1. Restore Pool Sizes by entering the following command:

ACTIV8/POOLRST

2. This command is helpful, for example, when the Pool Manager parameters have been changed with the CHGAT8 command and it is desirable to have the Pool allocations reset immediately. In the event of an AS/400 system failure while the Pool Manager was running, the command will also ensure the Pools are reset.

PUTJMDB Command - Write Job Manager Profile to a Database File

The PUTJMDB command retrieves the parameters stored in a Job Manager Profile and writes them to a database file, so they can be printed using the PRTJMPRF command (see page 23).

You can write more than one profile to a database file by specifying CLEAR(*NO) on the command.

To Write Job Manager Profile to a Database File 1. Write Job Manager Profile parameters to a database file by entering the following command:

ACTIV8/PUTJMDB

2. The following screen will display.

Write JM Profile To db File (PUTJMDB)

Type choices, press Enter.

Job Manager profile . . . . .

Library . . . . . . . . *DFT

File name . . . . . . . .

Library . . . . . . . . *DFT

Member name . . . . . . . . *FILE

Clear file . . . . . . . . *NO

F3=Exit F4=Prompt F5=Refresh F12=CancelF13=How to use this display F24=More Keys


The parameters PRFNAM, OUTFILE, OUTMBR and CLEAR will display. Refer to the following section for a description of each.

PRFNAM - Job Manager Profile Name Enter the name of the Job Manager Profile.

Library The library where the Profile resides. When no library is given, the ACTIV8 library is assumed (*DFT). *LIBL will use the library list to find the profile specified.

OUTFILE - Database File Name OUTFILE specifies the file name to log the Job Manager profile information to. If the file name does not exist, it will be created.

Name Enter the name of the file to log the Profile information to.

Library The library where an existing file resides, or where a new file will reside. When no library is given, the ACTIV8 library is assumed (*DFT).

OUTMBR - Member of Database File OUTMBR specifies the name of the member to create or use to log the Job Manager profile information to. The default is *FILE.

*FILE Use the file name as the member name.

Name Enter the member name.

CLEAR - Clear Contents of File CLEAR specifies whether to clear the contents of the outfile before starting the logging process, or to append the profile information to the end of the file. This enables you to write multiple profiles to the same file.

*YES Clears the contents of the outfile before logging the new information.

*NO Appends the profile information to the end of an existing file.

Output File Definition from PUTJMDB command Data Field Buffer Buffer Field Field

Field Type Length Length Position Usage Text

JMNAM CHAR 10 10 1 Both Profile Name

JMLIB CHAR 10 10 11 Both Library Name

JMTXT CHAR 50 50 21 Both Profile Text

JMMNPR CHAR 2 2 71 Both Minimum Priority

JMMXPR CHAR 2 2 73 Both Maximum Priority

JMMXPC CHAR 6 6 75 Both Maximum Priority Changes

JMPCHG CHAR 2 2 81 Both Priority Change Value

JMMXTC CHAR 6 6 83 Both Maximum Timeslice Changes

JMTCHG CHAR 4 4 89 Both Timeslice Change Value

JMTDIR CHAR 4 4 93 Both Timeslice Change Direction

JMABS CHAR 6 6 97 Both System Abuser Type

JMAFAC PACKED 2 1 2 103 Both System Abuse Factor

JMMNCP CHAR 2 2 105 Both Minimum CPU Usage

JMJBC PACKED 2 0 2 107 Both Number of Job Type

JMJBL CHAR 10 10 109 Both List of Job Types

JMINT CHAR 5 5 119 Both Interval

JMLOGF CHAR 20 20 124 Both Log File


JMLOGM CHAR 10 10 144 Both Log File Member

JMLOGC CHAR 4 4 154 Both Clear Log File

JMUCNT PACKED 2 0 2 158 Both Number of User Profiles

JMULST CHAR 600 600 160 Both User Profiles to Ignore

JMUSET CHAR 8 8 760 Both User Set

JMSCNT PACKED 2 0 2 768 Both Number of Subsystems

JMSLST CHAR 600 600 770 Both Subsystems to Ignore

PRTJMPRF Command - Print Job Manager Profile The PRTJMPRF command prints the contents of the file created with the PUTJMDB command (see page 21). If there are multiple records in the file, the PRTJMPRF program will print one profile per page.

The program that actually does the printing is BBPRTJM, and the source is available for modification.

To Print a Job Manager Profile 1. Print the file in which Job Manager profile information was written to with the PUTJMDB

command by entering the following command:

ACTIV8/PRTJMPRF


Write JM Profile To db File (PRTJMPRF)


File name . . . . . . . .

Library . . . . . . . . *DFT



The parameters FILE and MBR will display. Refer to the following section for a description of each.

FILE - File Name FILE specifies the name of the file to print, which was created using the PUTJMDB command.

Name The name of the file to print.

Library The name of the library in which the file resides. When no library is given, the ACTIV8 library is assumed (*DFT).

MBR - Member Name MBR specifies the member name of the file to print. The default is *FILE.


Name The name of the member.


PUTPMDB Command - Retrieve information about a pool manager profile

The PUTPMDB command retrieves the parameters stored in a Pool Manager Profile and writes them to a database file, so they can be printed using the PRTPMPRF command (see page 25).

You can write more than one profile to a database file by specifying CLEAR(*NO) on the command.

To Write Pool Manager Profile to a Database File 1. Write Pool Manager Profile parameters to a database file by entering the following command:

ACTIV8/PUTPMDB


Write PM Profile To db File (PUTPMDB)


Pool Manager profile . . . . .

Library . . . . . . . . *DFT

File name . . . . . . . .

Library . . . . . . . . *DFT


Clear file . . . . . . . . *NO


The parameters PRFNAM, OUTFILE, OUTMBR and CLEAR will display. Refer to the following section for a description of each.

PRFNAM - Job Manager Profile Name Enter the name of the Pool Manager Profile.

Library The library where the Profile resides. When no library is given, the ACTIV8 library is assumed (*DFT).

OUTFILE - Database File Name OUTFILE specifies the file name to log the Pool Manager profile information to. If the file name does not exist, it will be created.

Name Enter the name of the file to log the Profile information to.


OUTMBR - Member of Member to Create OUTMBR specifies the name of the member to create or use to log the Pool Manager profile information to. The default is *FILE.




CLEAR - Clear contents of File CLEAR specifies whether to clear the contents of the outfile before starting the logging process, or to append the profile information to the end of the file. This enables you to write multiple profiles to the same file.



Output File Definition from PUTPMDB Data Field Buffer Buffer Field Field


PMNAM CHAR 10 10 1 Both Profile Name

PMLIB CHAR 10 10 11 Both Library Name

PMTXT CHAR 50 50 21 Both Profile Text

PMENT PACKED 2 0 2 71 Both Number Of Entries

PMDTA CHAR 500 500 73 Both Entry Data

PMINT CHAR 5 5 573 Both Interval

PRTPMPRF Command - Print Contents of File Use the PRTPMPRF command to print the contents of the file created with the PUTPMDB command (see page 24).

If there are multiple records in the file, the PRTPMPRF program will print one profile per page.

To Print a Pool Manager Profile 1. Print the file in which Pool Manager profile information was written to with the PUTPMDB

command by entering the following command:

ACTIV8/PRTPMPRF


Write PM Profile To db File (PRTPMPRF)


File name . . . . . . . .

Library . . . . . . . . *DFT



The parameters FILE and MBR will display. Refer to the following section for a description of each.


FILE - File Name FILE specifies the name of the file to print, which was created using the PUTPMDB command.



MBR - Member Name Specifies the member name of the file to print. The default is *FILE.



STRAT8RCD Command - Starting the Activ8 Flight Recorder The ACTIV8 Flight Recorder is used to automatically log information about the current status of jobs in the system (including the Activ8 job itself) to a file at regular intervals throughout a given time period.

The file can then be printed using the PRTAT8RCD command (see page 29).

To Start the Flight Recorder 1. Start the ACTIV8 Flight Recorder by entering the following command:

ACTIV8/STRAT8RCD


Start Activ8 flight recorder (STRAT8RCD)


File name . . . . . . . .

Library . . . . . . . . *DFT


Clear file . . . . . . . . *NO

Data to log . . . . . . . . *BASIC

Interval (Minutes). . . . . 5

Recorder termination method. . . *ELAPSED


The parameters OUTFILE, OUTMBR, CLEAR, TYPE, RCDINTVAL and RCDENDTYP will display. Refer to the following section for a description of each.


OUTFILE - Database File Name OUTFILE specifies the file name to log the jobs in the system to. If the file name does not exist, it will be created.

Name Enter the name of the file to log the job information to.


OUTMBR - Member of Member to Create OUTMBR specifies the name of the member to create or use to log the system information to. The default is *FILE.



CLEAR - Clear Contents of File CLEAR specifies whether to clear the contents of the outfile before starting the logging process, or to append the profile information to the end of the file. This enables you to write multiple profiles to the same file.



TYPE - Type of Data to Log TYPE specifies whether to log just the Job information (*BASIC), or both Job & Pool information (*FULL). *BASIC is the default.

*BASIC Logs only the Job information to the file.

*FULL Logs both the Job and Pool information to the file.

Note: The *FULL option requires more overhead for calling the necessary APIs to retrieve this information that may affect system performance.

RCDINTVAL - Interval to Log Data RCDINTVAL specifies the interval, or time in minutes to automatically log the current status of jobs. 5 minutes is the default.

Interval Enter the number of minutes to wait before logging the current job status.

RCDENDTYP - Clear contents of File RCDENDTYP specifies how long to run the Flight Recorder continuously. You can end it after a specified time period (*ELAPSED), or continuously (*NOMAX). *ELAPSED is the default.

*NOMAX The Flight Recorder will run continuously.

*ELAPSED Specify a specific hour and minute in which you want the Flight Recorder to stop. The parameters RCDENDHR and RCDENDMIN will display when *ELAPSED is specified.


RCDENDHR - Hour to Stop the Flight Recorder (RCDENDTYPE *ELAPSED) RCDENDHR specifies the hour in which to stop the Flight Recorder.

Hour Enter the hour in which to stop the Flight Recorder.

RCDENDMIN - Minute to Stop the Flight Recorder (RCDENDTYPE *ELAPSED) RCDENDMIN specifies the minute in which to stop the Flight Recorder.

Minute Enter the minute in which to stop the Flight Recorder.

Output File Definition from the Flight Recorder Data Field Buffer Buffer Field Field


STAMP CHAR 26 26 1 Both Timestamp

PRFDSC CHAR 50 50 27 Both Active JM profile

ACTJOB PACKED 9 0 5 77 Both Active jobs

JOBCHG PACKED 9 0 5 82 Both Jobs changed

INTJOB PACKED 9 0 5 87 Both Interactive jobs

CPU PACKED 5 2 3 92 Both CPU Usage

TRNCNT PACKED 9 0 5 95 Both Total transactions

AVGRSP PACKED 5 2 3 100 Both Average response time

SYSPL PACKED 2 0 2 103 Both System pool

PLSZ PACKED 7 0 4 105 Both Pool size

RSVSZ PACKED 7 0 4 109 Both Reserved size

MAXACT PACKED 7 0 4 113 Both Max active jobs

DBFLT PACKED 7 1 4 117 Both Database faults

DBPAG PACKED 7 1 4 121 Both Database pages

NDBFLT PACKED 7 1 4 125 Both Non database faults

NDBPAG PACKED 7 1 4 129 Both Non database pages

ACTWT PACKED 7 1 4 133 Both Active->wait

WTINL PACKED 7 1 4 137 Both Wait->ineligible

ACTINL PACKED 7 1 4 141 Both Active->ineligible

PLNAM CHAR 10 10 145 Both Pool name

SBS CHAR 10 10 155 Both Subsystem name

SBSLIB CHAR 10 10 165 Both Subsystem library

PAGOPT CHAR 10 10 175 Both Paging option


PRTAT8RCD Command - Printing the Activ8 Flight Recorder The PRTAT8RCD command prints the contents of the file created with the STRAT8RCD command (see page 26).

The PRTAT8RCD command calls the programs BBPRTFLTCL and BBPRTFLT. The source for these programs is available for modification.

If *BASIC was used on the STRAT8RCD command, the pool information will be all zeroes.

To Print the Activ8 Flight Recorder 1. Print the file in which job status information was written with the STRAT8RCD command by

entering the following command:

ACTIV8/PRTAT8RCD


Print Activ8 flight recorder (PRTAT8RCD)


File name . . . . . . . .

Library . . . . . . . . *DFT


Report type . . . . . . . . *JOB


The parameters FILE, MBR and TYPE will display. Refer to the following section for a description of each.

FILE - File Name FILE specifies the name of the file to print, which was created using the STRAT8RCD command.



MBR - Member Name Specifies the member name of the file to print. The default is *FILE.


TYPE - Type of Data to Print TYPE specifies whether to print just the Job information (*JOB), Pool information (*POOL), or both Job & Pool information (*FULL). *JOB is the default.

*JOB Prints the Job information.

*POOL Prints the Pool information.

*FULL Prints both the Job and Pool information.


PRTAT8SUM Command - Printing the stored Activ8 Statistics The PRTAT8SUM command opens the history profile information and reports on the information held in the sample RPG program - BBPRTSUM. No parameters are necessary.

Using this program, you can create a small CL program that will perform the DSPAT8STS OUTPUT(*OUTFILE) at regular intervals throughout the day and build up a picture of exactly how the system is performing. (See page 39 for information on the DSPAT8STS command).

The BBPRTSUM program can then be called at the end of the day to report on the contents of this file.

Print Activ8 stats summary (PRTAT8SUM)


Output File Definition from DSPAT8STS OUTPUT(*OUTFILE) Output from this command goes to a multi-format logical file, GRPHMULTI in library ACTIV8. The file field descriptions are detailed below, along with the individual format names.

Record Format Information

Record format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : BARS

Field Level Information

Data Field Buffer Buffer Field

Field Type Length Length Position Usage

TIMDATE CHAR 18 18 1 Both

TEXT CHAR 50 50 19 Both

RELEASE CHAR 7 7 69 Both

CON75 CHAR 36 36 76 Both

PRFBSYELP CHAR 29 29 112 Both

ELPTIME CHAR 8 8 141 Both

BSYELPTIME CHAR 8 8 149 Both

TRANSHR CHAR 6 6 157 Both

INTJOBS CHAR 5 5 163 Both

AVERSPT CHAR 6 6 168 Both

BSYBAR1 ZONED 7 0 7 174 Both







FILL CHAR 2 2 223 Both

CAT1 CHAR 11 11 225 Both









Record format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : SUMMARY






AT8START CHAR 18 18 26 Both

AT8END CHAR 18 18 44 Both

AV8ELPTIM CHAR 8 8 62 Both

JBSAFF CHAR 6 6 70 Both

INTJOBS CHAR 5 5 76 Both

CURCPU CHAR 4 4 81 Both

TRANTOT2 CHAR 7 7 323 Both

AVECPU CHAR 4 4 330 Both

AVECPU2 CHAR 4 4 334 Both

SUBSEC CHAR 4 4 338 Both

SUBSEC2 CHAR 4 4 342 Both

PEAKCPU CHAR 4 4 346 Both

AV8MONJOB CHAR 5 5 85 Both


SYSABS CHAR 6 6 140 Both

TEXT2 CHAR 50 50 146 Both

SYSABS2 CHAR 6 6 196 Both

BSYELPTIME CHAR 8 8 202 Both

BSYELPTIM2 CHAR 8 8 210 Both

MINCPU CHAR 2 2 218 Both

MINCPU2 CHAR 2 2 220 Both

BSYAVERSP CHAR 6 6 222 Both

BSYAVERSP2 CHAR 6 6 228 Both

BSYTRNSHR CHAR 6 6 234 Both

BSYTRNSHR2 CHAR 6 6 240 Both

ATTRCHG CHAR 7 7 246 Both

ATTRCHG2 CHAR 7 7 253 Both

BSYAVECPU CHAR 4 4 260 Both

BSYAVECPU2 CHAR 4 4 264 Both

BSYSUBSEC CHAR 4 4 268 Both

BSYSUBSEC2 CHAR 4 4 272 Both

ELPTIME CHAR 8 8 276 Both

ELPTIME2 CHAR 8 8 284 Both

AVERSPT CHAR 6 6 292 Both

AVERSPT2 CHAR 6 6 298 Both

TRANSHR CHAR 6 6 304 Both

TRANSHR2 CHAR 6 6 310 Both

TRANTOT CHAR 7 7 316 Both

PEAKCPU2 CHAR 4 4 350 Both

ACTIVE1 CHAR 1 1 354 Both

ACTIVE2 CHAR 1 1 355 Both



Record format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : PARMS







MINPR CHAR 2 2 76 Both

MAXPR CHAR 2 2 78 Both

MAXPCG CHAR 6 6 80 Both

PRCHG CHAR 2 2 86 Both

MAXTCG CHAR 6 6 88 Both

TSCG CHAR 4 4 94 Both

TSDIR CHAR 4 4 98 Both

SYSABS CHAR 6 6 102 Both

ABSFAC CHAR 3 3 108 Both

MINCPU CHAR 2 2 111 Both

TIMINT CHAR 4 4 113 Both

LOGF CHAR 10 10 117 Both

LOGLIB CHAR 10 10 127 Both

LOGMBR CHAR 10 10 137 Both

LOGCLR CHAR 4 4 147 Both

STATS CHAR 4 4 151 Both


Record format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : PARMSFL





VALUE CHAR 10 10 41 Both


Record format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : PARMSFLCTL







Record format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : PARMCMD




PARMCMDFLD CHAR 10 10 1 Both



Record format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : PMDATASFL




SYSPOOL ZONED 2 0 2 1 Both

NAME CHAR 10 10 3 Both

SIZE ZONED 6 0 6 13 Both

ITVFLTS ZONED 5 1 5 19 Both

RUNFLTS ZONED 5 1 5 24 Both

NOPMSIZE ZONED 6 0 6 29 Both

NOPMFLTS ZONED 5 1 5 35 Both


Record format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : PMDATACTL






AT8START CHAR 18 18 26 Both

AT8END CHAR 18 18 44 Both


Record format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : PMDATACMD




OVRITVFLTS ZONED 5 1 5 1 Both

OVRPMAVE ZONED 5 1 5 6 Both

OVRNOPMAVE ZONED 5 1 5 11 Both

PMELPTIM CHAR 8 8 16 Both

NOPMELPTIM CHAR 8 8 24 Both

33

C H A P T E R 3

ACTIV8 Evaluation

To evaluate ACTIV8 as a complete performance tuning package, the Job and Pool Management modules should be run individually. Each module addresses different performance issues in the AS/400. As such, it is important to identify the benefit of each module. Once the individual Evaluations are completed, both modules may be run concurrently. ACTIV8 also provides Automated Evaluator for the Job Management module.

Contents • Job Manager Evaluator

• STRAT8EVL Command - Start Job Manager Evaluator

• ENDAT8 Command - End Automated Evaluator

• DSPAT8STS Command - Evaluator Statistics Display

• DSPAT8STS Command Parameters

• DSPAT8STS Displays

• STRAT8EVL - Job Manager Evaluator Parameters

• Deleting Profile History Files


Job Manager Evaluator Analyzing the effectiveness of the ACTIV8 Job Manager is typically achieved by comparing transaction throughput with ACTIV8 against the AS/400 in its normal operating state. Without this Evaluator such analysis would prove difficult because identical workloads are needed for comparison. For example, comparing Monday’s workload with ACTIV8 to Tuesday’s workload without ACTIV8 may produce skewed results because one day may have a heavier workload than the other.

The Automated Evaluator resolves the problem of uneven workloads by instructing ACTIV8 to utilize two different sets of parameters over alternating time periods. The Evaluator will accumulate statistics for each set of parameters, called Job Manager Profiles, so that at the end of an Evaluation period the effectiveness of the Profiles may be compared. In other words, ACTIV8 will run with the parameters defined in the first Evaluation Profile for a specified period of time, say five minutes, and then run for the same period of time with parameters as defined in the second Evaluation Profile. This process of running with alternate Profiles is repeated for the term of the Evaluation. When changing from one Profile to the other ACTIV8 will reset the Run attributes (priority and time slice) of affected Jobs to their original values before restarting with the alternate set of parameters.

The simplest comparison is between the standard Job Manager Profiles, *CPUIO and *NOCHG, supplied by ACTIV8. The Profile *CPUIO uses all the ACTIV8 default settings and affects interactive Jobs that are either CPU or I/O abusers. The Profile *NOCHG instructs ACTIV8 not to change any Jobs, which is the equivalent to the system running without ACTIV8. These two Job Manager Profiles are used as examples throughout this Chapter.

Once the Evaluation is complete, the statistics displays reveal the actual effect that ACTIV8 Job Manager has had upon maintaining optimal interactive transaction throughput in your system.

After working with the standard Profiles, i.e., *CPUIO versus *NOCHG, Custom Job Manager Profiles may be created for comparison with each other or against standard Profiles. For example, after having determined that the most effective system abuser type is *CPUIO, additional performance improvement may be obtained by working with Job Manager parameters. See “Chapter 5, ACTIV8 Profiles”.

STRAT8EVL Command - Start Job Manager Evaluator Run the Evaluation during the heaviest interactive processing period in the day.

To Start Job Manager 1. Start the Evaluation by entering the following command:

ACTIV8/STRAT8EVL

2. Press F4 and the following prompt screen will be displayed. Enter the parameters values as shown before starting the Evaluator. A complete description of the STRAT8EVL parameters is located later in this chapter.

Chapter 3 ACTIV8 Evaluation 35

After the Evaluator starts running, proceed to “Evaluator Statistics Display”.

Note: The Evaluator may not be started if ACTIV8 is already running. Use the ENDAT8 command to stop ACTIV8 before starting the Automated Evaluator, which automatically starts ACTIV8.

To start the Evaluator, the user must have special authority of Job Control (*JOBCTL).

Leave the defaults as *CPUIO for Profile 1 and *NOCHG for Profile 2 leaving the remainder of the parameters as the defaults. Take note of the name of the Profile History parameter, this name may be used to retrieve data at a later time.

ENDAT8 Command - End Automated Evaluator The Evaluator will terminate automatically when the default elapsed time is reached. Otherwise, an Evaluation may be ended, regardless of the termination method selected, by issuing the following command:

ACTIV8/ENDAT8

DSPAT8STS Command - Evaluator Statistics Display During or after the Evaluation period, Statistical Displays may be reviewed demonstrating the effect upon system performance resulting from ACTIV8. The Display ACTIV8 Statistics Command, DSPAT8STS, is used to display this information and is further discussed in “Chapter 6, ACTIV8 Statistics”.

The information is presented in Response Time Graphs, Performance Summary, Pool Sizing and Page Faulting displays corresponding to the Profiles specified in the STRAT8EVL commands. Color graphics are available to view these statistics from any PC running in Windows. See ACTIV8 Control Panel for Windows for installation and operating instructions.


It is not necessary to view the statistics while the Evaluator is running. The information from the Evaluation is retained under the Profile History Name specified in the STRAT8EVL commands. The details of the Evaluation are displayed by specifying the Profile History Name in the DSPAT8STS command.

To Start Evaluator Statistics Display 1. Enter the following command:

ACTIV8/DSPAT8STS Name

2. Where name is the Profile History Name to be displayed.

3. Press F4 and the following prompt screen is displayed, requesting the Profile History Name to be reviewed.

4. DSPAT8STS may also be initiated from a CL program using the following parameter names:

DSPAT8STS HISTORY(*CURRENT/name) + FROM(*START/*CURRENT)

Note: When starting DSPAT8STS immediately following STRAT8 or STRAT8EVL, the error message, “ACTIV8 is not active”, may occur. Wait a few seconds, then request DSPAT8STS again. Some delay does occur when ACTIV8 is initiating.

DSPAT8STS Command Parameters

HISTORY - Profile History The *CURRENT default displays the statistics data accumulated for the ACTIV8 session currently running. The data began accumulating at the time ACTIV8 was started. *CURRENT is only valid if ACTIV8 or the Evaluator is currently running.

To display the statistics accumulated during a pervious Automated Evaluation run, specify the name and library of the Profile History defined for that run. When recalling a Profile History, ACTIV8 does not have to be running.

FROM - Display Statistics From This parameter is valid only when ACTIV8 is running. It specifies whether to reset the run statistics before displaying the graph and performance summary.

*START Display the accumulated statistics data since ACTIV8 was initiated. This is the default.

*CURRENT Display statistical data commencing with this request only. Previously stored statistics since the initiation of ACTIV8 are not lost.

Note: Requesting F22=Reset Start in the statistics display screen functions the same as DSPAT8STS FROM(*START). All data will be displayed as accumulated from the initiation of ACTIV8.

OUTPUT - Output information This parameter is valid only when ACTIV8 is running. It allows the ACTIV8 statistics to be displayed on the screen or written to a file. The command DSPAT8STS OUTPUT(*OUTFILE) can be run at regular intervals throughout the day to create a picture of exactly how the system is performing.

*SCREEN Displays ACTIV8 statistics on the screen.

*CURRENT Writes ACTIV8 statistics to an output file.


Use the PRTATSUM command to print the data from the outfile. See page 30 for more information.

DSPAT8STS Displays The following are examples of statistical displays for the two Job Manager Profiles, *CPUIO and *NOCHG, displayed while the ACTIV8 Evaluator is running. Key ACTIV8/DSPAT8STS, then press <ENTER>.

Performance Summary

The Performance Summary is the first statistics display and provides access to all other statistics displays. It contains specific data about the number of interactive Jobs running, CPU utilization, Job attribute changes and transaction throughput for both Job Manager Profiles. When evaluating only the Pool Manager, all statistics are accumulated into the *NONE Evaluation Profile column.

The summary is divided into three groups of data: Current, System Busy and Overall Performance.

• The Current section provides the Evaluation start, end and elapsed time, plus the current number of abusive Jobs (which is zero when abuse type *NONE is active), interactive Jobs, total Jobs monitored and CPU%.

• The System Busy section identifies the processing activity and transaction throughput experienced when CPU utilization has exceeded the minimum CPU% for ACTIV8 tuning (also known as the threshold level) at which ACTIV8 begins adjusting Job attributes. Whenever the “Current CPU%” falls below this value, ACTIV8 will not make any attribute changes.

The left column of data represents the results from the Profile that is active when the statistics are displayed and the right column reflects the inactive Profile. Note the “ACTIVE” displayed above one of the columns. This means that ACTIV8 is now running under Control of that Profile. After its interval period expires, this Profile becomes inactive, and the alternate Profile becomes ACTIVE.

The “Average response time”, “Transaction throughput per hour” and “Percentage of transactions with sub-second response” are the most valuable statistics to be compared between the two Profiles. They are the best indicators of the effectiveness of ACTIV8. The “Run attribute changes to abusive Jobs” during this section’s elapsed time also reveals the level at which ACTIV8 is working on Jobs that are typically responsible for poor response times for other users.

Note: ACTIV8 Response Times does not include transactions exceeding 24 seconds in length nor transactions initiated in one Evaluation Profile and completed in the alternate Profile. This means the times will differ from those reported elsewhere (e.g., WRKACTJOB and IBM Performance Monitor).


ACTIV8 Response Time Statistics are not intended to correspond to the data presented in PM/400. These statistics reflect the effect of ACTIV8 tuning with respect to your most important users who require consistent response times and maximum transaction throughput.

• The Overall Performance section provides similar data, but for the entire Evaluation period for both Profiles regardless of CPU utilization.

Pool Manager Statistics Press F17 from the Performance Summary to display the Pool Manager Statistics. Each Pool is identified by Pool number and name, instantaneous page faulting rate, current Pool size, and average fault rate for the Evaluation period. Pool sizes and average fault rates are maintained for each period the Pool Manager was active and inactive.

Total AverageFaulting WhilePool ManagerTuning

Total AverageFaulting WhilePool ManagerNOT Tuning

Note: Pool Manager Inactive Pool sizes should remain static unless they are being adjusted by QPFRADJ or another memory Pool tuner. ACTIV8 automatically terminates all other Pool tuners when Pool Manager Active.

The Interval Fault indicates the instantaneous fault rate (as would be displayed in WRKSYSSTS) at the time the display was refreshed. This column is blank if the Evaluation has completed.

The Pool Size for Pool Manager Active and Pool Manager Inactive reflect the size of the Pools each time the display is refreshed. Upon completion of the Evaluation, the Pool sizes are reset to their original values if Pool Management was selected.

The Average Fault rates for Pool Manager Active and Pool Manager Inactive are the cumulative average fault rates for the Evaluation for each portion of the Evaluation. If this value is blank, then there was no faulting in that Pool.

Now press F12 to return to the Performance Summary. Then press F24 to display the Status Graph displays for the Evaluation Profiles.


*CPUIO “System Busy” Response Time Graph

The first screen is the Status Graph for the active Profile. In this case, it is the *CPUIO Evaluation Profile. This display references transactions processed only during the time when ACTIV8 is actually tuning Jobs. In other words, this is when CPU utilization has exceeded the minimum CPU% defined in the Profile parameter set.

This display provides a general view of transaction throughput where the bar graph reflects the number and percentage of transactions with response times grouped from less than .5 second to 24 seconds and above.

Note the “ACTIVE” displayed at the upper left of the screen. This means that ACTIV8 is now running with the *CPUIO Profile. After its interval period expires, this Profile becomes INACTIVE, at which time the alternate *NOCHG Profile becomes active.

Now press F7 to display the “Overall Performance” Status Graph for the *CPUIO Profile.

*CPUIO “Overall Performance” Response Time Graph

P ercen tage an d coun t of tran sa c tion scom p le ted w ith sub -secon d resp on setim e for th e en tire eva lua tion p er iod .

A C T IV 8 T u n in g fo r C P U & I/OA b u s e

This display references all transactions processed for the *CPUIO Profile for the duration of the Evaluation.

Like the previous display, it provides a general view of transaction throughput where the bar graph reflects the number and percentage of transactions with response times grouped from less than .5 second to 24 seconds and above.

Again, the “ACTIVE” displayed at the upper left of the screen indicates ACTIV8 is now running with the *CPUIO Profile.


Now press F7 to return to the *CPUIO “System Busy” Status Graph. Then press F15 to toggle to the “System Busy” Status Graph for the *NOCHG Profile. Toggling between Profile displays may be done at any time and the toggle will be to the like display. That is, toggling from the “Overall Performance” Status Graph for Profile 2 will display the “Overall Performance” Status Graph for Profile 1 and so on.

After becoming familiar with all the status displays, toggling between like screens will be quite useful.

*NOCHG “System Busy” Response Time Graph

Note fewer transactionscompleted in sub-second timewhen system was most busy.

ACTIV8 Not AdjustingAbusive Jobs

The “System Busy” Status Graph for the *NOCHG Profile reflects the transactions processed when CPU utilization has exceeded the minimum CPU% defined in the parameter set for Profile 2. The CPU utilization values are always 75% for the standard ACTIV8 Profiles.

Note: Care must be taken when Evaluating ACTIV8 using a Custom Job Manager Profile and the *NOCHG standard Profile. Be sure both Profiles under Evaluation have the same Minimum CPU Activity parameter value.

Note the number and percentage of transactions with the response time groupings in comparison to the same graph for the *CPUIO Profile. For equivalent elapsed times, fewer transactions will have been processed with the *NOCHG Profile, and a greater percentage will have had longer response times.

Now press F7 to display the “Overall Performance” Status Graph for the *NOCHG Profile.


*NOCHG “Overall Performance” Response Time Graph

This display references all transactions processed for the *NOCHG Profile for the duration of the evaluation.

Note again the number and percentage of transactions with the response time groupings in comparison to the same graph for the *CPUIO Profile. For equivalent elapsed times, fewer transactions will have been processed with the *NOCHG Profile, and a greater percentage will have had longer response times.

After running the ACTIV8 Evaluator for several hours, or at least during the busiest part of the day, a good representation of the effectiveness of ACTIV8 is demonstrated by the two sets of Status Graphs and Performance Summaries. Refer to “Chapter 6, ACTIV8 Statistics - NPT” for more narrative on the Statistics Display Function Keys.

Because the Profile Histories are retained in uniquely named user spaces, the data is available for comparison with other runs of the Evaluator.

Additional Evaluations can be run using different standard Profiles or Custom Profiles. “Chapter 5, ACTIV8 Profiles” explains how to set up Custom Job Manager Profiles where ACTIV8 parameters can be set to desired values for further testing.

Reviewing Parameters To Review Parameters

1. From either the Performance Summary or Status Graph displays, press F13 to review the parameters used by ACTIV8 for the Evaluation.


2. At any time from the Status Graph or Performance Summary displays, the parameters used by ACTIV8 may be reviewed. Parameters for the active Profile are always displayed first. This information is retained in the Profile History for future reference.

3. Now rollup to display the parameter settings for the second Profile.


4. Roll Down to display the remaining parameters.

Note the only difference between the parameter set for the *CPUIO Profile and *NOCHG Profile is the “System abuser type”.

Note the “ACTIVE” displayed on the screen. This means that ACTIV8 is now running with this Profile. After its interval period expires, this Profile becomes INACTIVE, at which time ACTIV8 will alternate and make the next Profile ACTIVE.

5. Now press F12 to return to the Performance Summary.

STRAT8EVL - Job Manager Evaluator Parameters The following describes each parameter entered when starting the Job Manager Evaluator.

RUNJM - Run Job Manager *YES The Job Management module is to be initiated. When *PROMPT is given in the next

parameter, all Job Manager parameters will be prompted in subsequent screens.

*NO The Job Management module is not initiated and no further prompting for Job Manager parameters occurs.

Note: When the Job Management module is not authorized, the default for this parameter is *NO.

JMPRF1 - Profile 1 This is the name of the Job Manager Profile containing the first set of ACTIV8 parameters to be used in the Evaluation.

The four standard Profiles below are provided that use the ACTIV8 default with the exception of the abuse type. Only *INT Job types are monitored when using the standard Profiles. A custom Profile may contain additional Job types.

*TSEND Only changes Jobs that have been moved into the time slice end Pool. To use this Profile the system value QTSEPOOL must be set to *BASE.

*CPUIO ACTIV8 monitors for both CPU and I/O abusers.


*CPU Monitors only for those Jobs that are heavy CPU users.

*IO Monitors only those Jobs that are heavy I/O users.

name Use a Custom Job Manager Profile previously created with the CRTJMPRF Command see “Chapter 5, ACTIV8 Profiles.

Library This is the library where Profile 1 resides. The standard Profiles reside in the ACTIV8 library. Custom Profiles may reside in any library.

JMPRF2 - Profile 2 This is the name of the Job Manager Profile containing the alternate set of ACTIV8 parameters to be used in the Evaluation. Like Profile 1, standard or Custom Profiles may be used.

Note: Running the Evaluator with two identical Profile parameter values is of no value. The user must take care to ensure that Job Manager Profiles do not have the same parameter values as the Profile they are running against.

For Profile 2, any of the supplied standard Profiles can be used. The standard Profile, *NOCHG, is additionally provided and can only be entered as Profile 2.

*NOCHG With this Profile, ACTIV8 makes no changes to any Jobs. This Profile should be used to produce statistics for the system running without ACTIV8.

name Use a Custom Job Manager Profile previously created with the CRTJMPRF command.

Library This is the library where Profile 2 resides. The standard Profiles reside in the ACTIV8 library. Custom Profiles may reside in any library.

RUNPM - Run Pool Manager The Pool Manager may be run with the Evaluator at the same time the Job Manager is Evaluated. It is best to have evaluated the Job and Pool Managers independently before Evaluating both modules concurrently.

*NO Do not include Pool Management in the Evaluation.

*YES Include the Pool Manager in the Evaluation.

PMPRF - Pool Manager Profile When Run Pool Manager is *YES, ACTIV8 will dynamically tune the memory Pools using its standard defaults or a Custom Pool Manager Profile may be specified.

*DFT Use the standard ACTIV8 defaults of no minimum and maximum Pool sizes and no minimum activity levels.

Name Use a Custom Pool Manager Profile previously created with the CRTPMPRF command.

Library This is the library where the Pool Manager Profile resides. Custom Profiles may reside in any library.

EVLINTVAL - Evaluation Interval in Minutes This is the time interval, in minutes, that the Automated Evaluator will alternately run ACTIV8 for each Evaluation Profile. To ensure a fair work load it is recommended the interval be in the range 5 to 10 minutes.

ACTIV8 will run under Control of Profile 1 for the interval period, then reset all Job Run attributes to their original level and run under Profile 2 for the next interval period. ACTIV8 continues to alternately run under Profiles 1 and 2 for the duration of the Evaluation period, or until the ENDAT8 Command is issued.


EVLENDTYP - Evaluation Termination Method The Evaluation period may be set to automatically terminate after a given elapsed time or at a given time of day. Alternatively, the Evaluator can be set to run indefinitely until the ENDAT8 Command is issued.

*ELAPSED The Automated Evaluator will terminate after a given number of days, hours and minutes.

*TIME The Automated Evaluator will terminate at a given time of day up to nine days from starting the Evaluation.

*NOMAX The Automated Evaluator will run indefinitely until the ENDAT8 Command is issued.

Regardless of termination method selected, the Automated Evaluator may be terminated at any time with the ENDAT8 command. All statistical data gathered up to the time of termination is retained for later review.

EVLENDDAY - Day If either *ELAPSED or *TIME is given as the Termination Method, up to nine days may be selected as the duration of the Evaluation.

EVLENDHR - Hour When *ELAPSED is given as the Termination Method, the number of hours selected (plus days and minutes) will be the duration of the Evaluation.

When *TIME is given as the Termination Method, the duration will be time of day (plus minutes) on the nth day selected. Military time is used where, for example, 3:00 PM is 15 hours.

EVLENDMIN - Minutes When *ELAPSED is given as the Termination Method, the number of minutes selected (plus days and hours) will be the duration of the Evaluation.

When *TIME is given as the Termination Method, the duration will be the minutes of the hour on the day and hour selected.

HISTORY - Profile History This is the name of the File where the accumulated data for an Evaluation is maintained. When reviewing an Evaluation from the DSPAT8STS Command, this name is used for the Profile History parameter. If no File is given, ACTIV8 automatically assigns a history File in the format AT8HSTnn, where nn is incremented each time the Evaluator is run, starting with 01.

The Profile history is maintained as three user spaces in the selected library. The naming convention for the Files is filename.A, filename.B and filename.C, where filename is the Profile History name.

Library This is the library where the Profile History resides, which may be any library. If no library is given, the ACTIV8 library is assumed.

CLEARHIST - Clear History When a Profile History File is reused for Evaluation, it will not be automatically cleared by ACTIV8. An existing Profile History File accompanied with *YES for this parameter will clear the existing data.

*NO When a Profile History already exists, ACTIV8 will NOT reset the data. All existing data is preserved and the STRAT8EVL Command is terminated. This is the default.

*YES When a Profile History already exists, ACTIV8 will reset the data and initiate STRAT8EVL. All prior history is lost.


Deleting Profile History Files After the Evaluation process has completed, Profile Histories may be deleted by entering the following command for each Profile History user space created:

DLTUSRSPC Lib/Profile

Where Profile is the name of the Profile History (appended by .A, .B or .C), and Lib is the library name of where the Profile History exists.

Note: The Profile History is maintained as three user spaces in the selected library. The naming convention for the Files is filename.A, filename.B and filename.C, where filename is the Profile History name.

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C H A P T E R 4

ACTIV8 Profiles

Custom sets of Job and Pool Manager Command parameters may be created for later use by the STRAT8, CHGAT8, and STRAT8EVL commands.

This chapter explains how to create, modify and delete Job and Pool Manager Profiles.

Contents • CRTJMPRF - Create Job Manager Profile

• CRTJMPRF Command Parameters

• CHGJMPRF - Change Job Manager Profile

• CRTPMPRF - Create Pool Manager Profile

• CRTPMPRF Command Parameters

• CHGPMPRF - Change Pool Manager Profile


CRTJMPRF - Create Job Manager Profile

To Create Job Manager Profile 1. Enter the following command to create Custom Job Manager Profile:

ACTIV8/CRTJMPRF

2. Press F4 and the following prompt screens are displayed, allowing the Job Manager Profile to be defined.

3. The following screen is displayed after rolling up for more parameters.

4. The following screen is displayed after pressing F10 for additional parameters:

5. The following screen is displayed after rolling up for additional parameters:

Chapter 4 ACTIV8 Profiles 49

CRTJMPRF Command Parameters The following narrative describes each parameter used to create a Job Manager Profile.

JMPRF - Profile Name This is the user-defined name of the Job Manager Profile being created. The Profile is created as a *USRSPC in the given library, therefore another user space with the same name cannot already exist in the same library.

JMPRFTXT - Profile Text Use this parameter to describe the Profile. The description entered here will appear on the statistics displays (DSPAT8STS) for easy reference.

MINPRIOR...SBSD - Minimum Priority ... Subsystem to Exclude These are the STRAT8 Command parameters and are defined in chapter 2, ACTIV8 commands.

Note: The RSPCAT, Response time categories, parameter is not allowed to be entered in a Job Manager Profile. The default values will be used.

Care must be taken when evaluating ACTIV8 using a Custom Job Manager Profile and the *NOCHG standard Profile. Be sure both Profiles under evaluation have the same Minimum CPU Activity parameter value.


CHGJMPRF -Change Job Manager Profile Any Custom Job Manager Profile may be modified at any time.

Refer to chapter 2, ACTIV8 Commands or all valid Job Manager parameters.

To Change Job Manager Profile 1. Enter the following command:

ACTIV8/CHGJMPRF

2. Press F4 to prompt for the following screen. After entering the Job Manager Profile name and library, press <ENTER>. In this example, the Profile is named “JMPROF1”.

3. The following screens display the current parameters for the Job Manager Profile JMPROF1. Make the required changes and press <ENTER>.

CRTPMPRF - Create Pool Manager Profile

To Create Custom Pool Manager 1. Enter the following command to create Custom Pool Manager Profile:

ACTIV8/CRTPMPRF

2. Press F4 and the following prompt screens is displayed, allowing the Pool Manager Profile to be defined.

Chapter 4 ACTIV8 Profiles 51

CRTPMPRF Command Parameters The following narrative describes each parameter used to create a Pool Manager Profile.

PMPRF - Profile Name This is the user-defined name of the Pool Manager Profile being created. The Profile is created as a *USRSPC in the given library, therefore another user space with the same name cannot already exist in the same library.

PMPRFTXT - Profile Text Use this parameter to describe the Profile. The description entered here will appear on the statistics displays (DSPAT8STS) for easy reference.

POOLNAME...PMINTERVAL - Pool name ... Pool Manager Interval These are the STRAT8 Command parameters and are defined in chapter 2, ACTIV8 Commands.

CHGPMPRF - Change Pool Manager Profile A Custom Pool Manager Profile may be modified at any time.

Refer to chapter 2, ACTIV8 Commands.

To Change Custom Pool Manager Profile 1. Enter the following command to change Custom Pool Manager Profile:

ACTIV8/CHGPMPRF

2. Press F4 to prompt for the following screen. After entering the Pool Manager Profile name and library, press <ENTER>. In this example, the Profile is named “PMPROF1”.

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C H A P T E R 5

ACTIV8 Statistics - NPT

This chapter covers displaying ACTIV8 performance statistics on a Non-Programmable Terminal (NPT).

The DSPAT8STS command is provided to demonstrate the extent ACTIV8 is benefiting users as a whole. The STATS parameter for STRAT8 must be *YES to accumulate the data.

Note: The Automated Evaluator, STRAT8EVL, set the STATS parameter to *YES by default.

The CHGAT8 command can be used to set the STATS parameter to *YES if ACTIV8 is already running.

Contents • DSPAT8STS Command - Display Statistics

• DSPAT8STS Command Parameters

• Using DSPAT8STS

• Transaction Throughput Statistics

• ACTIV8 Performance Summary Screen

• Response Time Graphs


DSPAT8STS Command - Display Statistics To Start Display Statistics

1. Enter the following command to start Display Statistics:

ACTIV8/DSPAT8STS

2. When entering this Command, be aware there are two methods of initiating DSPAT8STS:

• Start DSPAT8STS with all the parameters set to the default values by entering the above command.

• Press F4 and the following prompt screen will be displayed, allowing any parameters to be changed before starting DSPAT8STS.

3. DSPAT8STS may also be initiated from a CL program using the following parameter names:

DSPAT8STS HISTORY(*CURRENT/name) + FROM(*START/*CURRENT)

Note: When starting DSPAT8STS immediately following STRAT8 or STRAT8EVL, the error message, “ACTIV8 not active”, may occur. Wait another few seconds, then request DSPAT8STS again. Some delay does occur when ACTIV8 is initiating.

DSPAT8STS Command Parameters

PROFILE HISTORY - Evaluation Profile *CURRENT The *CURRENT default maintains the statistics data accumulated from the ACTIV8 session currently running. The data begins accumulating at the time of the initial request of ACTIV8.

Note: *CURRENT requires that ACTIV8 be started with, or changed to, the STATS parameter as *YES before the DSPAT8STS Command may be used. STRAT8EVL and automatically set STATS to *YES.

To display the DSPAT8STS statistics previously accumulated during Automated Evaluation, specify the name and library of the Profile History to be reviewed. When recalling a Profile History, ACTIV8 does not have to be running.

55

Note: Statistics data accumulated while ACTIV8 is running from STRAT8 is not retained for later viewing. Refer to chapter 3, ACTIV8 Evaluation, regarding the retention of data in an Evaluation Profile.

Name Use a Profile History previously created with the STRAT8EVL command.

Library This is the library where the Profile History resides. ACTIV8 is the default library. However, Profile Histories may reside in any library.

Display Statistics From This parameter is valid only with PROFILE(*CURRENT) and specifies whether to reset the run statistics before displaying the graph.

*START Continue displaying accumulated statistical data since ACTIV8 was initiated.

*CURRENT Display statistical data commencing with this request only. Previously stored statistics since the initiation of ACTIV8 are not lost.

Note: Requesting F22=Reset Start in the statistics display functions the same as requesting DSPAT8STS FROM(*START). All data will be displayed as accumulated from the initiation of ACTIV8.

Using DSPAT8STS To use the DSPAT8STS command, start ACTIV8 with STATS(*YES) or STRAT8EVL and then start the DSPAT8STS display. Press F5 occasionally to observe how the response time statistics develops. Initially it may change drastically because it has recorded very few transactions. After a short period, the statistical and graphical data will smooth out. At the end of the monitoring period, simply Print-Key the screens for later use or comparisons.

A graphical indication of the efficiency of ACTIV8 is that the higher percentage of transactions in the lower response time categories. There may also be an increase of transactions in higher response time categories, representing the abusing Jobs. Penalized abusive users can expect slightly increased response times, while non-abusing users should expect improved response times.

The Performance Summary provides data on how many Jobs are being affected by ACTIV8 and the amount of Run attribute changes. The most vital of the statistics is the Transactions Processed per Hour indicating interactive transaction throughput.

Note: ACTIV8 itself requires resources to run, though its requirements are minimal. Its use of system resources will increase when running with STATS(*YES) or LOGFILE (name).

Transaction Throughput Statistics The Job Manager penalizes Jobs that are utilizing excessive resources for the abuse type being monitored (i.e., CPU, IO, CPUIO, TSEND). These users may notice an increase in average response time. However, the typical user should expect an improvement in average response time because the (usually few) users that normally take most of the resources will have been penalized.

The ACTIV8 Job Manager information is displayed on four screens. The first screen presented is the performance summary, and then by using Command Keys statistical graphs of response time for “System Busy” and “Overall Performance may be displayed.

The following are examples and descriptions of the Performance Summary display followed by the “System Busy” and “Overall Performance” Status Graph displays.


ACTIV8 Performance Summary Screen

The Performance Summary display contains cumulative and snapshot information gathered while the Job Manager is running. The summary is divided into three groups: Current (Top block of data), System Busy (Middle block of data), and Overall Performance (Lower block of data).

The fields displayed in this screen are described below.

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Current Data

Start Time The date and time ACTIV8 was started or when, the STATS parameter set to *YES. When running the Evaluator, this is the time STRAT8EVL was initiated.

End Time When displaying a Profile History, this is the date and time STRAT8EVL was terminated. While either ACTIV8 or the Evaluator are still running, there is no end-time display.

ACTIV8 Total Elapsed Time When running the Evaluator, this is the total time for the evaluation and is the sum of the Overall Performance Profile Elapsed Times (discussed below). When running ACTIV8, this is the time elapsed from Start Time.

Current Abusive Jobs The number of Jobs whose Run attributes are currently modified by ACTIV8 from their original levels. It is an instantaneous value, and is updated each time F5, F10 or <ENTER> is pressed.

When the Evaluator is running under *NOCHG, this value will be zero, since ACTIV8 is not monitoring for, nor affecting, abusive Jobs.

Monitored Interactive Jobs The number of interactive only Jobs currently monitored by ACTIV8. It is an instantaneous value, and is updated each time F5, F10 or <ENTER> is pressed.

Total Monitored Jobs The number of all Jobs currently monitored by ACTIV8. It is an instantaneous value, and is updated each time F5, F10 or <ENTER> is pressed.

Current CPU % The current percentage of CPU being used. It is updated each time F5, F10 or <ENTER> is pressed.

ACTIV8 Profiles When using the Automated Evaluator (STRAT8EVL), the Job Manager Profile descriptions are displayed for Profiles 1 and 2, respectively. Over each column is the Abuse Type from each Profile.

When running ACTIV8, the heading indicates abuser type for the STRAT8 command.

ACTIVE When ACTIV8 is running under control of the Evaluator, “ACTIVE” is displayed above the column of data for the Profile currently in evaluation.

System Busy Data When the Evaluator is run, this data is displayed in two columns, one for each Job Manager Profile.

Elapsed Time The total time the CPU utilization exceeded the minimum CPU% parameter value (MINSYSUSE) specified in the STRAT8 Command, or given in the Profiles in the STRAT8EVL command.

If the amount of time during which the AS/400 was “busy” is small relative to the overall elapsed time, lowering the Minimum CPU% (below) will increase ACTIV8’s opportunity to conduct tuning.


Minimum CPU% for ACTIV8 Tuning The CPU utilization threshold level at which ACTIV8 begins adjusting Job attributes. Whenever the “Current CPU%” falls below this value, ACTIV8 will not make any attribute changes.

Average Response Time The average response time, in seconds, for the complete transactions processed during “System Busy” periods.

Note: Certain transactions are omitted from this calculation. They are 1) Transactions exceeding 24 seconds; 2) Transactions from unmonitored Jobs; 3) Transactions initiated in one evaluation Profile and completed in the alternate Profile. This means the times may differ from those reported elsewhere (e.g., WRKACTJOB and IBM Performance Monitor).

ACTIV8 Response Time Statistics are not intended to correspond to the data presented in PM/400. These statistics reflect the effect of ACTIV8 tuning with respect to your most important users who require consistent response times and maximum transaction throughput.

Transactions Processed Per Hour This is the transaction throughput computed for the “System Busy” period. This efficiency rating is the best means of determining the effectiveness of ACTIV8 while it is changing Job attributes.

Total Run Attribute Changes to Abusive Jobs The cumulative number of Run attribute changes made by ACTIV8 for the elapsed time. This count is incremented each time a Job’s Run attributes are changed up or down by ACTIV8.

Average CPU % The average percentage of CPU time used during the System busy period. Note this value will always be in excess of the Minimum CPU% for ACTIV8 tuning.

Percentage of Transactions with sub-second response This value is the percentage of transactions completed in the “System Busy” period that fall into the sub-second response time range. For example, if this value is 58.3, it means that 58.3% of transactions completed when the system was above the threshold, and had a response time of less than 1 second.

Overall Performance Data When the Evaluator is run, the data is displayed in two columns, one for each Job Manager Profile.

Elapsed Time The total time since the ACTIV8 or the Evaluator Command was executed.

Average Response Time The average response time, in seconds, for all transactions processed after ACTIV8 was started or for each evaluation Profile.

Note: Certain transactions are omitted from this calculation. They are 1) Transactions exceeding 24 seconds; 2) Transactions from unmonitored Jobs; 3) Transactions initiated in one evaluation Profile and completed in the alternate Profile. This means the times may differ from those reported elsewhere (e.g., WRKACTJOB and IBM Performance Monitor).

59

ACTIV8 Response Time Statistics are not intended to correspond to the data presented in PM/400. These statistics reflect the effect of ACTIV8 tuning with respect to your most important users who require consistent response times and maximum transaction throughput

Transactions Processed Per Hour This is the transaction throughput computed from the Total Transactions Processed for the elapsed time.

Total Transactions Processed The cumulative number of transactions completed for the duration of data accumulation.

Average CPU % The average percentage of CPU time used during the evaluation Profile system busy elapsed time. This is the same value that would be displayed in the WRKACTJOB command.

Percentage of Transactions with Sub-second Response This value is the percentage of transactions, for all monitored Jobs, that fall into the sub-second response time range. For example, if this value reads 61.2, it means that 61.2% of all transactions have a response time of less than 1 second.

Performance Summary Function Keys F3=Exit Exit the DSPAT8STS program.

F5=Refresh Refresh the display screen with data accumulated since the last display. Pressing <ENTER> will also refresh the display.

F10=Reset Current Reset the statistics and graphs to zero. All statistical and graphical displays, except for snapshot and total elapsed time statistics are reset. Refer to F22=Reset Start Function Key to refresh the cumulative statistics from the original start period.

F12=Cancel Exits the DSPAT8STS program.

F13=Parms Display the parameter list currently used by ACTIV8.

F17=Pool Stats Display Pool size and page faulting data.

F22=Reset Start Resets the statistics and graph displays to include all data captured since commencing with the initiation of ACTIV8, or the Evaluator.

F24=Graph Displays the “System Busy” status graph for the first Job Manager Profile given on the STRAT8EVL.

Response Time Graphs The System Busy and Overall Performance Status Graphs display the distribution of transaction response times over the displayed time interval since ACTIV8 was initiated with, or changed to STATS (*YES).

The horizontal axis displays the response time categories for the interactive transaction, in seconds. The vertical axis indicates the percentage of transactions that fell into that response time bracket during the elapsed time interval.


At the top of each bar is the actual number of transactions falling within that response time bracket. The sum of the values at the top of each bar will equal the total number of transactions listed at the top of the display.

Press F24 from the Performance Summary screen to display the System Busy Status Graph.

ACTIV8 Tuning(example)

The System Busy Status Graph is the distribution of transaction response times over the displayed time interval during which the minimum CPU utilization exceeded the MINSYSUSE parameter value specified in the STRAT8 command.

ACTIV8 NotTuning

(example)

The Overall Performance Status Graph is the distribution of all transaction response times over the displayed time interval.

ACTIVE When “ACTIVE” is displayed in the upper left portion of the screen, ACTIV8 is running and gathering statistics for the status displays. This reference is important when running the Evaluator.

ACTIV8 Profile Displays the text of the Profile currently in use. When no Profile is used, the name is “ACTIV8”.

Profile Time CPU Above 75% The time interval over which the CPU was utilized in excess of 75%. The percentage is based on what is specified on the parameter MINSYSUSE.

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Profile Elapsed Time The time interval over which the displayed data is collected.

Transactions Per Hour The total number of interactive transactions completed per hour during the elapsed time interval.

Interactive Jobs The number of interactive Jobs currently in the system. It is an instantaneous value, and is updated each time F5, F10 or <ENTER> is pressed.

Average Response Time The average response time in seconds for the transactions completed during the elapsed time interval.

Note: Certain transactions are omitted from this calculation. They are 1) Transactions exceeding 24 seconds; 2) Transactions from unmonitored Jobs; 3) Transactions initiated in one Profile and completing in the alternate Profile.

Response Time Categories The graph indicates the number and percentage of transactions with response times in each of the response time categories. Refer to the RSPCAT parameter on page to customize the ranges.

Response Time Graph Function Keys F3=Exit Exit the DSPAT8STS display.

F5=Refresh Refresh the display screen with data accumulated since the last display. Pressing <ENTER> will also refresh the display.

F7=Toggle Graph Toggle between the System Busy and Overall Performance Status Graphs.

F10=Reset Current Reset the statistics and graph to zero. All statistical and graphical displays, except for snapshot and total elapsed time statistics are reset. Refer to F22=Reset Start Function Key to refresh the cumulative statistics from the start of the display.

F12=Cancel Return to the Performance Summary display.

F13=Parms Displays the parameter list currently used by ACTIV8 or the parameters for the Profiles used by the Evaluator.

F15=Toggle Profile Use this Function Key to toggle between the statistics displays of the Job Manager Profiles under evaluation. Toggling is between like screens. In other words, when toggling from the System Busy Graph from Evaluation Profile 1, the System Busy Graph for Evaluation Profile 2 is displayed. F15 is only available when the automated Evaluator is running.

F22=Reset Start Reset the statistics and graph display to include all data captured since commencing with the initiation of ACTIV8.


ACTIV8 Parameter Display To Display ACTIV8 Parameters

1. Press F13 from either the performance Summary or Response Time Graphs to display the parameters used by ACTIV8.

63

C H A P T E R 6

ACTIV8 Concepts

This chapter contains the concepts for the Job and Pool Manager.

Contents • Job Manager Concepts

• Job Manager Parameters

• Pool Manager Concepts

• Pool Manager Parameters


Job Manager Concepts When running ACTIV8 for the first time, it is suggested the default parameters be used. This creates a basis for comparison when fine tuning. Abusing Jobs differ from site to site depending upon the Job mix. Therefore, varying the parameters can focus ACTIV8’s resources upon the heaviest abusers.

The parameters that affect the way ACTIV8 polices the system are discussed in detail below.

Job Manager Interval Parameter At each interval (the default is 4 seconds), ACTIV8 interrogates the status of the Jobs it is monitoring. If a Job is judged to be either an abuser or no longer an abuser, its Run attributes are changed at this time. If the Job is still an abuser, its priority and time slice values will be changed again. Conversely, a Job no longer abusing will be reset to its original priority and time slice.

ACTIV8 interrogates the system for initiated Jobs every three intervals. Therefore, with a four second interval, a newly initiated Job could be running as long as 12 seconds before ACTIV8 would begin to monitor its performance.

Increasing the value for this parameter will reduce the system resources used by ACTIV8, but degrade its responsiveness. However, you may wish to work with values in 2 second increments as long as ACTIV8 continues to provide desired results.

Decreasing this value will make ACTIV8 more responsive but may cause it to use an undesirably high amount of system resources, thereby resulting in an overall degradation of response times.

Minimum CPU Activity Parameter The Minimum CPU Activity parameter defines the minimum amount of CPU usage, as a percentage, that must be taking place before ACTIV8 will attempt to change any Jobs.

The default value is 75, which means that the CPU must be at least 75% utilized before ACTIV8 will change any Jobs. ACTIV8 remains “dormant” when system utilization is below this value, but commences its policing action once utilization exceeds the value. While dormant, ACTIV8 uses nearly no resources. This value may be adjusted depending upon system use.

Note: For systems will little CPU utilization above 75%, set this parameter to a lower value to allow ACTIV8 more time for tuning.

System Abuser Type Parameter Normally, the combination of CPU and I/O abuse should be monitored using the *CPUIO default. However, because of the Job mix on your system, Jobs that are heavy in I/O are being penalized more than preferred. In this case, the Abuse Type value can be changed to *CPU so that the I/O heavy Jobs are left alone.

To reduce the resources used by ACTIV8 and to utilize the inherent Job management of the AS/400, change the Abuse Type option to *TSEND. With the time slice end Pool active, OS/400 will automatically move any interactive Job that has exceeded its time slice into this Pool. With Abuse Type set to *TSEND, ACTIV8 will only police Jobs that are in this Pool; no other Jobs are monitored. This reduces the number of Jobs for which ACTIV8 must develop statistical analyses, thereby reducing the system resources it will utilize.

Refer also to the narratives on Priority Change Value and Time Slice Change ValueDIR parameters for settings that best utilize the *TSEND feature.

65

To establish the time slice end Pool, set the system value QTSEPOOL to *BASE. There are two methods of changing this system value by entering:

CHGSYSVAL QTSEPOOL *BASE, or

WRKSYSVAL QTSEPOOL

From the WRKSYSVAL menu, select the change option and change the value to *BASE.

Note: To eliminate the time slice end Pool, use the value of *NONE instead of *BASE.

This system value change becomes effective the next time each user signs on to the system.

It is recommended the *TSEND option be used for any system where the average CPU utilization is above 90%.

Priority Change Value Parameter Priority Change Value is the priority level increment that a Job will be changed at any one time.

This parameter has no meaning if MAXPriority Change Value is *NONE. The default is 5, which means that each time ACTIV8 changes a Job’s priority level, the change will be by five priority levels.

The number of priority levels the Job is changed is based upon the value of Priority Change Value.

Setting this value to 1, for example, would instruct ACTIV8 to change the priority of an abusing Job only one level at a time. The higher the value, the faster ACTIV8 can push an abusing Job to its lowest priority level. Higher values here will also make ACTIV8 more effective, particularly when using a longer Job Manager Interval parameter value.

Time Slice Change Direction Parameter Time Slice Change Direction is the direction ACTIV8 will modify an abusing Job’s time slice. The default is *INC. This parameter has no effect if the Maximum Time Slice value is *NONE.

When Maximum Time Slice value is not *NONE, an abusing Job’s time slice will be changed by the value given in the Time Slice Change Value parameter. As the priority of a Job is reduced, the more it approaches the status of a batch Job. Therefore, setting the value of this parameter to *INC, ACTIV8 will increase time slice toward the default level of a batch Job. This works particularly well when Jobs are quickly pushed to very low priority levels because of a higher value given for the *Priority Change Value parameter.

By giving lower priority Jobs a larger time slice, the Job has a better chance of reaching completion quickly. Since it is at a lower priority, all other higher priority Jobs are idle, and system resources can be safely extended to the Job.

This practice works well especially when using the *TSEND value for the Abuse Type parameter. When a Job is moved to the time slice end Pool by the operating system, there is little memory available in this Pool. As a result, a Job having a small time slice will use most of that time getting paged into memory, and will have little time remaining to actually execute.


Time Slice Change Value Parameter An abusing Job has its time slice changed by the value of this parameter for each interval period while it continues to abuse (if Maximum Time Slice value is not set to *NONE).

By increasing this value, ACTIV8 will quickly move an abusing Job to the desired time slice. Higher values here will also make ACTIV8 more effective when using a longer Job Manager Interval value.

Abusing Job Factor Parameter Statistically, ACTIV8 considers a Job to be an abuser if its monitored characteristics (i.e., *CPU, *IO or *CPUIO) are above one standard deviation from the mean of all Jobs being monitored. The Abusing Job Factor parameter value is a multiplier of that standard deviation. Hence, if the value is 0.5, ACTIV8 would consider any Job above one half a standard deviation to be an abuser. On the other hand, if the value is 2.0, ACTIV8 would consider fewer Jobs to be abusers since only the highest percentage of abusing Jobs would be above this boundary.

The value calculated for the CPU boundary will be in system units time and the value of I/O in number of Auxiliary Disk I/Os (including paging). The value used shows in the BOUND field of the ACTIV8 Log File.

The default for Abusing Job Factor is 1, which statistically represents 1 standard deviation of the mean when determining which Jobs are abusive. In these figures, the shaded areas represent the relationship of Jobs that are considered abusive to all monitored Jobs that are running.

Here the value of Abusing Job Factor is .5, or one-half standard deviation of the mean. Note that a much larger percentage of Jobs are considered abusive.

67

In this figure, the value of Abusing Job Factor is 2, indicating that only Jobs 2 standard deviations of the mean are considered abusive. A much larger number of Jobs are considered non-abusive (unshaded area).

Pool Manager Concepts

How the Pool Manager Works The Pool Manager dynamically distributes memory to the Pools where there is the most activity. It basically administers a tax and welfare system, the wealthy Pools are taxed and their wealth redistributed to the poor. As with any taxation system it cannot create wealth - purely attempt to balance the distribution. The Pool Manager decides a Pool is “needy” if its average number of Page Faults per second is beyond one standard deviation from the mean number of Page Faults per second for all the Pools. The “rich” Pools are those with little or no Page Faults. ACTIV8 Pool Manager smoothes the distribution of Page Faults which, in turn causes faults to be decreased overall.

What are Page Faults The system’s memory is divided into 16KB blocks called Pages, each page is divided into page frames of 512 bytes. The page frame is the smallest unit of memory that can be allocated to a Job. The system maintains a map of the pages, which pages are allocated to which Pool and within each Pool which page frames are being used by which Job and when that page frame was last accessed.

When a Job requires more memory it looks through the page map for its Pool. If no page frames are free then it will be allocated the least recently used page frame, but first it will copy the data in that page frame to the hard disk. If the Job that originally owned that page requires the information it will be read back into memory and subsequently logged as a page fault Page faults can also be logged whenever a Job requires information that is not currently stored in memory.

Why are Page Faults Bad for Performance Each fault requires two DISK accesses - one to store the data on disk, thereby freeing the memory for use by another task within the same Pool, and the second to retrieve it when the original Job requires the information. Each disk access is a mechanical action. The head has to be physically positioned over the correct sector of the moving disk before it can read the data. While the Job that was needing the page waits for the correct sector to be read, another Job will be utilizing the CPU. This second Job could cause a different part of the first Job’s memory area to be paged out, so that when the first Job does a get another go at the CPU it has to retrieve the other page!

So it goes back into a wait state and the circle continues - a process known as thrashing.


Complex algorithms are used to determine the redistribution of memory but they do follow some simple rules.

• The Pools sizes must never be outside the maximum and minimums either set by the user or the defaults set by ACTIV8.

• The MACHINE Pool should not be allowed to page.

• The machine Pool must never go below the reserve required by the system plus 400KB.

Change in Maximum Activity Level If there is no spare wealth to give to the needy Pool, then the number of active Jobs within that Pool is reduced, this will reduce the amount of memory required within the Pool and thereby reduce the amount of Page Faults. ACTIV8 will continue reducing down the Maximum Activity Level for needy Pools until either:

• The page faulting is reduced to an acceptable level.

• Jobs within the Pool are moved to the ineligible state (i.e., the Job is requiring CPU time but the number of Jobs currently active, using or waiting for CPU time is at the maximum level set by ACTIV8). In this situation the activity level will be increased by one.

• The minimum/maximum activity level set by the user is reached.

Note: The activity level of a Pool will never be reduced below the number of processors.

How Reducing the Number of Active Jobs Helps Throughput As stated earlier, if there is not enough free memory within the Pool, then memory used by other Jobs within that Pool must be paged out to disk. For example, if each Job requires 1000KB of memory and 4 Jobs can be active then there would be no paging if the Pool size was 4000KB. If there was only 3000KB with 4 active Jobs then Page Faults could occur.

If only 3 Jobs were active then there would be no need to swap any pages out of memory. What happens to the fourth Job - because no memory swapping is involved the other Jobs complete their transactions quicker and the fourth Job gets to run as soon as one of the other 3 either complete a transaction or reach the end of their allotted timeslice. So by reducing the number of active Jobs we have reduced the amount of page faulting and made the system more efficient.

Interactive Jobs spend most of their time waiting for either input from the workstation or access to the database, they do very little CPU processing. This means that on a 100 user system, the activity level can be as low as 10 without any users noticing.

Pool Manager Defaults The Pool Manager starts with the following defaults:

*Machine The minimum size of the machine Pool will be its current size when ACTIV8 starts.

*BASE 5% of total memory.

Other Pools All other shared and private Pools are set at 300KB.

Interval The sampling period is 16 seconds.

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C H A P T E R 7

ACTIV8 Log File

This chapter describes Log Files and its contents.

Contents • Accessing Log Files

• Log File DDS Specifications

70 Using ACTIV8

Accessing Log Files When a Log File is specified in the STRAT8 Command, it may be accessed in different ways depending on how the LOG FILE is established. It may be browsed if a Source File using SEU when created by the Command CRTSRCPF, used with Query if a Data File, or by using DSPPFM to display the Data File member.

Note: At this time, data reflecting the actions of the Pool Manager are not recorded to the Log File. Pool Manager logging will be implemented in subsequent releases of ACTIV8.

The physical file member shown below consists of all occurrences where Jobs’ run attributes have been changed by ACTIV8. Also contained in this File are records of transaction Response Time Data taken at five minute intervals.

The following is a sample of the Log File contents and description of each field entry.

Chapter 7 ACTIV8 Log File 71

Job The system assigned name of the Job whose run attributes were changed.

User The user-id of the user running the Job.

Number The Job number.

Typ The type of monitored abuse for which the Job’s run attributes were changed.

CPU CPU usage exceeded the statistical upper bounds.

IO Auxiliary I/O transactions exceeded the statistical upper bounds.

TSE Job has been moved to the Time Slice End Pool as it exceeded it’s given time slice.

NRM The Job is not as abusive as it had been, so the priority and time slice have been stepped back toward their original values.

TRN The abusive transaction has completed, so the priority and time slice have been changed back to their original values.

+- The direction of the run attribute change is expressed as either positive or negative. When positive (+), the priority level or time slice was increased. When negative (-), the priority level or time slice was decreased.

Adj To The value to which the run attribute (priority or time slice) has been adjusted.

P/S The run attribute changed by ACTIV8.

P Priority

S Time Slice

This value will be zero when ACTIV8 is running with ABUSE parameter of *TSEND.

Time The system time of day when ACTIV8 requested the change of the Job’s run attributes.

Log File DDS Specifications When ACTIV8 creates the Log File as a Physical File, it uses DDS specifications held in the QDDSSRC File in library ACTIV8, the member name is LOGFILE.

72 Using ACTIV8


73

A p p e n d i x A

Recommended Parameter Values

Job Manager Parameters

Description Default Recommended Values for Optimum Performance

Customer Values

Minimum priority 11 No lower than 11 _______

Maximum priority 45 No higher than 45-50, otherwise it exceeds batch _______

Maximum priority changes 5 5-10 Maximum priority changes _______

Priority change value When multiplied by Maximum Priority Changes, value not to exceed 30

5 1-10 Priority change value _______

Maximum time slice changes 6 2-6 Maximum time slice changes _______

Time slice change value Maximum Time Slice Changes multiplied by Time Slice Change Value not to exceed 3,000

500 200-1000 Time slice change value _______

Time slice change direction *INC *INC _______

System abuser type For very heavily used systems, use *TSEND (QTSEPOOL must be *BASE)

*CPUIO *CPUIO _______

Abusing job factor 1.0 0.5 to 2 _______

Minimum CPU activity (percent) 75 50 or above _______

Job types *INT *INT *BCH _______

74 Using ACTIV8

Time interval 8000 8000 to 16000 Default Pool Manager Interval is twice this value.

_______

Log file *NONE Do not use _______

Library *CURLIB Do not use _______

Log member *FILE Do not use _______

Clear log file *NO Do not use _______

Collect response time stats *NO Do not use _______

Users to ignore NONE Do not use _______

User set *ALL Leave as default _______

Subsystems to exclude NONE Leave as default _______

Response time categories: Leave as defaults _______

Boundary 1 0.5 _______

Boundary 2 1.0 _______

Boundary 3 2.0 _______

Boundary 4 4.0 _______

Boundary 5 12.0 _______

Boundary 6 24.0 _______

75

Index

* *CPUIO, 39 *NOCHG, 40, 41

A ABSFACT, 13 ABUSE, 13 Accessing

log files, 70 ACTIV menu, 2 ACTIV8

commands, 8 ending, 3 ending using ENDAT8, 19 running, 2 running it Out of the Box, 2 starting from CL program, 17 starting with STRAT8, 8 tutorial, 2

Activ8 flight recorder starting, 24

Activ8 parameters changing, 18

Activ8 statistics printing, 28

Activity level change in (maximum), 68

Average CPU%, 58, 59 Average response time, 58

C Changes that help performance, 5 Changing

job manager profiles, 50 parameters using CHGAT8, 18 pool manager profiles, 51

Changing ACTIV8 parameters, 18 CHGAT8, 18 CHGJMPRF, 50 CHGPMPRF, 51 CL program

starting ACTIV8 from, 17 CLEAR, 20 Clear History, 45 CLEARHIST, 45

Clearing contents of file, 20, 25 log file, 15

Collecting response time stats, 10

Command DSPAT8STS, 35 ENDAT8, 19, 35 JMPRF, Job Manager Profile, 9 PMPRF, Pool Manager Profile, 9 POOLRST, 19 PRTAT8RCD, 27 PRTAT8SUM, 28 PRTPMPRF, 23 PUTJMDB, 19 PUTPMDB, 22 RUNJM, Run Job Manager, 9 RUNPM, Run Pool Manager, 9 STATS, collect response time, 10 STRAT8, 8 STRAT8EVL, 34 STRAT8RCD, 24

Command parameter ABSFACT, abusing job factor, 13 ABUSE, system abuser type, 13 DSPAT8STS, 36, 54 FROM, 36 HISTORY, profile history, 36 INTERVAL, time interval, 14 JOBTYPE, job types, 14 LOGCLR, clear log file, 15 LOGFILE, log file, 14 LOGMBR, log member, 15 MAXPRCHG, maximum priority changes, 12 MAXPRIOR, maximum priority level, 11 MAXTSCHG, maximum time slice changes, 12 MINPRIOR, minimum priority level, 11 INSYSUSE, minimum CPU activity, 13 PMINTERVAL, Pool Manager interval, 17 POOLNAME, shared pool/susbsytem name, 16 PRCHG, priority change value, 12 RSPCAT, response time categories, 15 RUNJM, run job manager, 43 STRAT8, 11 TSCHG, time slice change value, 12 TSCHGDIR, time slice change direction, 12 USERS, users to ignore, 15 USERSET, user set, 15

Commands

76 Using ACTIV8

entered from command line, 8 Concepts

Job Manager, 64 Pool Manager, 67

Contents of file clearing, 20, 25

Creating job manager profile, 48 pool manager profiles, 50

CRTJMPRF, 48 command parameters, 49

CRTPMPRF, 50 Current abusive jobs, 57 Current CPU%, 57 Current data, 57

D Database File Name, 20 Day, 45 Defaults

Pool Manager, 68 Deleting

profile history files, 46 Display

statistics, 54 statistics from, 55

Displays DSPAT8STS, 37

DSPAT8STS, 35, 36, 37 display statistics, 54 using, 55

E Elapsed time, 57, 58 End time, 57 ENDAT8, 19, 35 Ending

ACTIV8, 3 automated evaluator, 35 Job Manager evaluator, 5

Evaluation interval, 44 termination method, 45

Evaluation profile, 54 Evaluator

ending, 35 Job Manager, 34 starting, 34 statistics display, 35

Evaluator display starting, 36

EVLENDDAY, 45 EVLENDHR, 45 EVLENDMIN, 45 EVLENDTYP, 45 EVLINTVAL, 44

F Flight recorder

hour to stop, 26 minute to stop, 26

FROM, 36 Function keys

performance summary, 59

G Graph

overall performance response time, 39, 41 response time, 59 system busy response time, 39, 40

H Helping performance

parameter changes, 5 HISTORY, 36, 45 Hour, 45 Hour to stop flight recorder, 26

I INTERVAL, 14 Interval to log data, 25

J JMPRF, 9, 49 JMPRF1, 43 JMPRF2, 44 JMPRFTXT, 49 Job

types, 14 Job manager

changing profile, 50 Job Manager

concepts, 64 ending the evaluator, 5 evaluator, 34 evaluator parameters, 43 interval parameter, 64 JMPRF, 9 parameters (chart), 73 prompts, 10 run, 43 RUNJM, 9 running the evaluator, 3 running the evaluator with different profiles, 5 start evaluator, 34 tips for running evaluator, 4 viewing the evaluation statistics, 4

Job manager profile, 22 creating, 48 printing, 21 write to database, 19

Index 77

Job manager profile name, 20 JOBTYPE, 14

L Libraries

commands in QSYS or QGPL, 8 Log

file, 14 member, 15

Log file accessing, 70 clearing, 15 DDS specifications, 71

LOGCLR, 15 LOGFILE, 14 Logging data

interval, 25 LOGMBR, 15

M MAXPRCHG, 12 MAXPRIOR, 11 MAXTSCHG, 12 Member of Database File, 20 Minimum CPU% for tuning, 58 Minimum priority, 49 MINPRIOR, 11 MINPRIOR…SBSD, 49 MINSYSUSE, 13 Minute to stop flight recorder, 26 Minutes, 45 Monitored interactive jobs, 57

N Name of job manager profile, 20, 22

O OUTFILE, 20, 22 OUTMBR, 20, 22 Overall performance

response time graph, 39, 41 Overall performance data, 58

P Page faults, 67

why they are bad for performance, 67 Parameter

abusing job factor, 66 minimum CPU activity, 64 priority change value, 65 system abuser type, 64 time slice change direction, 65 time slice change value, 66

Parameter changes that can help performance, 5

Parameter display, 62 Parameters

DSPAT8STS, 54 Job Manaer Evaluator, 43 Job Manager (chart), 73 reviewing, 41

Performance summary, 37 function keys, 59 reviewing parameters, 41

PMINTERVAL, 17 PMPRF, 9, 44, 51 PMPRFTXT, 51 Pool manager

changing profiles, 51 concepts, 67 creating profiles, 50 defaults, 68 how it works, 67 interval, 17 PMPRF, 9 profile, 44 prompts, 16 run, 44 RUNPM, 9 statistics, 38

Pool name, 51 POOLNAME, 16 POOLNAME…PMINTERVAL, 51 POOLRST, 19 PRCHG, 12 PRFNAM, 20, 22 Print contents of file, 23 Print Job Manager Profile, 21 Printing

activ8 flight recorder, 27 Priority

change value, 12 Priority changes

maximum, 12 Priority level

maximum, 11 minimum, 11

Profile pool manager, 44

Profile 1, 43 Profile history, 45, 54

deleting files, 46 Profile name, 51

JMPRF, 49 Profile text, 51

JMPRFTXT, 49 Profiles, 57 Prompts

Job Manager, 10 Pool Manager, 16

PRTAT8RCD command, 27 PRTAT8SUM command, 28 PRTJMPRF, 21

78 Using ACTIV8

PRTPMPRF command, 23 PUTJMDB command, 19 PUTPMDB, 22

R RCDENDHR, 26 RCDENDMIN, 26 RCDENDTYP, 25 RCDINTVAL, 25 Reducing

number of active jobs, 68 Response time categories, 15 Response time graph, 59

function keys, 61 Restoring

pools, 19 Retrieve information about a pool manager profile, 22 Reviewing

parameters, 41 RSPCAT, 15 Run Pool Manager, 44 RUNJM, 9, 43 Running

ACTIV8, 2 Job Manager Evaluator with different profiles, 5 the Job Manager evaluator, 3

RUNPM, 9, 44

S Specifications (DDS)

log file, 71 Start time, 57 Starting

ACTIV8, 8 evaluator statistics display, 36 from a CL Program, 17

Starting the Activ8 flight recorder, 24 Statistical Information

viewing while ACTIV8 is running, 3 Statistics

display, 54 display from, 36 evaluator display, 35 Pool Manager, 38

STATS, 10 Status graph

reviewing parameters, 41 STRAT8, 8

command parameters, 11 STRAT8EVL, 34, 43 STRAT8RCD command, 24

Sub-second response, 59 Subsystems

to exclude, 49 Summary screen, 56 System

abuser type, 13 System busy

response time graph, 39, 40 System busy data, 57 System Value Prompt, 10 SYSVALUES, 10

T Terminating

evaluation period, 45 Time interval, 44 Time slice

change direction, 12 change value, 12

Time slice changes maximum, 12

Tips running ACTIV8 Evaluator, 4

Total elapsed time, 57 Total monitored jobs, 57 Total run attribute

changes to abusive jobs, 58 Total transactions processed, 59 Transactions

processed per hour, 58, 59 sub-second response, 58 throughput statistics, 55

TSCHG, 12 TSCHGDIR, 12 Tutorial

ACTIV8, 2

U User Defined Boundaries, 16 USERS, 15 USERSET, 15

V Viewing

Job Manager Evaluation Statistics, 4 statistical information while ACTIV8 is running, 3

W Write job manager profile to database, 19

using activ8 7.31 from an as400 terminal

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