Performance Navigator

January 2024

Version: 19.05

January 31, 2024

Enhancements

• Created a graph of Disk GB for All ASPs.

• Added a Current Day graph for SQL CPU microseconds, with lines for scaled, unscaled and the ratio between them.

• Various improvements have been made to the AIX monthly summary, including using a new rPerf Average Day graph.

• PERFNAVIFS can now collect information on files smaller than 1MB. Users should note that this will increase the size of the file MPGIFS, since more records will be created each time we collect the data.

• Data for segments transmitted and received is now kept historically.

• Created six graphs for Current Day CPU%, Top Current Users for QRWTSRVR.

• Removed "go back" buttons from the top of several Power Analytics scripts as they are no longer relevant. Users can use the back buttons in their browser.

• Added a parameter for Profile Group on the CRTUSRPRF command when we create MPGSCHRUN during install.

• Added support in What-If for odd number of mirrored NMVe drives.

• Added -V Volume Group when collecting nmon data for mpgdata2 file.

• Improved the speed of generating the list of libraries for Power Analytics.

• TR level is now displayed in System Information. Host code must be on 19.05, as well.

• Created an rPerf Average Day graph for AIX systems.

• Added additional columns to the PEP2 analysis portion of What-If.

• The initial phase of refreshing the UI has been taken in this release, amending the default colour of backgrounds to White. Further changes will be made to match Fortra guidelines in later releases.

• Sign-on box now informs the user if Caps Lock is turned on.

Fixes

• Improved the calculated Disk Response Time graph in What if and Graphs > Disk > Disk Response Time (Calculated)

• A few fields in the AIX Healthcheck have been corrected.

• The Power Analytics Report has been improved to take ASP number into account when calculating percentages.

• The link on the "Download Latest" button now points to the correct URL.

• Prior Day Performance summary now uses yesterday's data to determine the number of distinct ASPs.

June 2023

Version: 19.04

June 6, 2023

Notes

• Due to a recent development environment change, all Script IDs for AIX/Linux host code have been reset to commence from 1. Now the date in the $Id line is a much better way to check which version of a script is being used.
• Performance Navigator has been added to the RBO (Robot Automated Operations Solution) menu as Option 26.
• Performance Navigator product version has been amended to use Robot's RELMOD format for release and modification, thus the release following 19.2D is now 19.04. The next release will be 19.05, and so on.

Enhancements

• The list of graphs available to use in Edit > Report Sets is now searchable.

• If an ODBC driver is not present, Performance Navigator will alert the user and recommend steps to obtain one.

• New report containing information from the Collection Services file QAPMLPARH can be found under Reports > System Activity > Frame Overview. This report only works if the user has "Enable Performance Information Collection" checked off in the General Properties of the HMC.

• Add D-Raid 6 to Protection Type in What-If.

• Enhanced use of What-If with Power 10 models.

• Update GO MPGLIB/PERFNAV, option 5 to bring the user there instead of WRKJOBSCDE if Robot Schedule is used for jobs.

• Graphs > CPU > Frame > Cores Used (HMC) will show how busy a frame is as a whole. This graph only works if the user has "Enable Performance Information Collection" checked off in the General Properties of the HMC.

• "Graphs" and "Reports" tabs on the left have been removed. All their items can be found in the Graphs and Reports menus in the menu bar.

• Performance Navigator has been added to the RBO (Robot Automated Operations Solution) menu as Option 26.

• Added new messaging in "rackdata.sh -T" for Topas data.

• Performance Navigator product version has been amended to use Robot's RELMOD format for release and modification, thus the release following 19.2D is now 19.04. The next release will be 19.05, and so on.

• Added additional columns to the PEP2 analysis portion of What-If.

• Automated jobs are added to IBM i Basic Scheduler and are no longer added to Robot Schedule.

• MPGMOVSCH command created to move Performance Navigator jobs between the IBM i Basic and Advanced Job Schedulers and Robot Schedule (if installed and licensed).

• A new job, PERFNAVDRK, is scheduled monthly to run the command MPGDRK, This is so the reports that rely on this command (such as the File Reorg Summary) have relatively up-to-date data without the user having to manually run the command.

• The install now uses library qualified calls to system objects.

Fixes

• Fixed issue where list of libraries for the "Why is my disk growing by object" option was missing libraries that start with special characters.

• Enhanced the calculation for showing when a disk will reach the guideline percentage.

• The menu option "Power Analytics > Disk / Library / IFS Analysis > Why is disk growing? (over time) > By Object" has been updated to allow for more than 1000 libraries.

• Corrected some fields in the Healthcheck for VIOS systems.

• Fixed some fields pertaining to ASPs other than the System ASP in the Specs page of the Monthly Summary.

• In order to enhance the navigation of all graphs and reports, the "Graphs" and "Reports" tabs on the left panel of the interface have been removed. All their items are still available in the Graphs and Reports menus on the menu bar.

August 2022

Version: 19.2 D

August 3, 2022

Other Fixes

• Minor bug fix with automated jobs in schedule application.

June 2022

Version: 19.2 C

June 30, 2022

Enhancements

• Automated jobs now run in Robot Schedule.
• Enhanced the purge of historical data on the IBM i.
• PERFNAVDS job updated to add the *allasp parm.
• Added the Enterprise Performance Overview for the current month under Power Analytics > Management Reporting > Enterprise Performance Overview (current month). We now have options for both current month to date and last month.

• Added IBM i Purge Configuration (settings).

• QPI performance ratings for the new Power 10 systems have been added to the hardware table.
• Added a graph displaying temporary storage with both allocated and deallocated graphs under Graphs > Current Day > Jobs > Top Jobs/Temp Storage (alloc-dealloc).
• Six graphs for the DDM/DRDA server job QRWTSRVR (IO, Faults, Sync IO, Async IO, Logical IO, Temp Storage) have been added.
• The user now receives appropriate and useful feedback if:
  • There is an issue with the user profile or password they enter to connect to their IBM i.
  • There is an issue with the connection to the IBM i timing out.
  • There is an issue with a firewall blockage or timeout affecting the connection to the IBM i.
  • There is an issue with a server application blocking the connection to the IBM i.

Other Fixes

• Updated the calculation for estimated recoverable space for: - Reports > Libraries and Objects adn IFS > File Reorg Summary - Power Analytics > Disk / Library / IFS > File Reorg Analysis by Recoverable Space - Power Analytics > Disk / Library / IFS > File Reorg Analysis by Percent of Deleted Records

September 2021

Version: 19.2 B

September 24, 2021

Client

Enhancements

• Added new disk controller, flash systems and NVMe cards to our hardware table. They can now be used in our What-If analysis.

• Added Power 10 systems to our hardware table. They can now be used in What-If analysis.

• Added Shared Ethernet Adapter transmission and Shared Ethernet Adapter Packet count graphs for AIX systems (Graphs/Reports > Network > SEA Send/Receive KB/sec and Graphs/Reports > Network > SEA Packet Count respectively).

• Added firmware level, time zone, and nominal frequency to View > System Information.

• You can now see if HMC data collection is turned on or off by going to View > System Information, going to the “Performance Data” tab, then the “Current Day/Collection Services Data” sub-tab.

• Added Library size change percent to Reports > Libraries & Objects & IFS > Library Size Change.

• Added ASP column to Reports > Libraries & Objects & IFS > Library Detail.

• Updated Monthly Interactive and Noninteractive Summaries to include internal model in System Specs page.

November 2020

Version: 19.2 A

November 4, 2020

AIX/Linux

Enhancements

• Latest version of Nigel’s Monitor (nmon) 16n for nmon on recent versions of Linux/Unix

• Automatic reduction of data in the archive for mpgdata2 mpgdata3 and the rdhist.hostname files.

  • New files mpgd2_arcgztrim.sh, mpgd3_arcgztrim.sh, and rdhist_trim.sh

  • These run automatically once a month.

  • The amount of reduction defaults to 366, but can be set from 180 days and up in the pn.config file.

• Latest nmonchart version 40 is included.

IBM i Host and Client

Enhancements

• New preconfigured reports to allow customer to monitor a Daily Health Check and Monthly Interactive and Noninteractive Summaries
  • Supports both IBM i and AIX
  • For IBM i supports multiple ASPs
• New graphs
  • CPU – Frame - PEP2 Analysis
  • CPU - Frame - Cores Used (HMC)

Fixes

• CPW calculations for What-If when viewed by core

• New fields in QAPMDISK caused an error when getting SOS data from IBM i's with 7.2, problem resolved.

May 2020

Version: 19.1 C

May 14, 2020

Enhancements

• Updated Graphs and Reporting:

  • Created Reporting Framework in PerfNav client.

  • Create scripts/HTML to support Reporting Framework.

  • Other updated scripts/HTML.

  • Added “Total I/Os” to Before vs. After script.

  • Added more detail to some fields in our historical shift data.

  • Added graph for Current Day Temporary Storage by type.

  • Added graph for Current Day SQL CPU stats.

  • Added wait time buckets 17-32 to data for the graph Current Day > Specific Job > Wait vs CPU (Pie chart).

  • More series shown on Unix I/O adapter graphs.

  • Added fields to disk arm drill down report.

  • Added Current Day graph for Systemwide Job Wait Bucket Total MS.

  • Added new disk response time graph that splits out read response time and write response time

• Improved support of SSL logins to the IBM i.

• Default to proper Collection Services library if we’re not looking in the proper place.

• Using HS logo/branding/copyright notice/contact info instead of MPG logo/branding/copyright notice/contact info.

• Removed old/obsolete files from shipped product.

• Added scripts for refreshing system information and clearing all stored passwords.

• Client can now handle mis-named AIX/Linux current day data file.

Fixes

• Report Sets over multiple systems now puts the proper system name in the output file path.
• Improved “Paste from Clipboard” button for applying keys.
• Clicking on “previous interval” or “next interval” in rapid succession in the report window no longer gives an Access Violation error.
• Fixed SQL errors when running Dashboard.
• Fixed reporting failure during AIX/Linux install.
• Removed unnecessary copy of files when changing output directories.
• Took out hard-coding of the year in the What-If script, it’s now dynamic and doesn’t have to be changed every year.
• Fixed typo in What-If script.
• Fixed typos in Memory analysis scripts.
• Fixed typo in Solid State Drive Data Analysis Summary.
• Fixed typo in Current Day Total Workload Wait Analysis graph.
• Changed legend of Max cores graph to say “24 hr maximum”.

May 2019

Version 19.1

New Features

• New key codes for convenient individual LPAR requirement.
• New Enterprise Reporting framework.
  • New MSP check box.
  • Many new @ built-in color functions.
  • New @ImageHeight and @ImageWidth functions.
  • New @StrValue() function.
  • New @ListLPAR() function.
  • New @IPAddress() function.

• New Enterprise Reporting Dashboard

  • Unique reports can be set up for individual LPARs

  • Includes ALL FRAMES view

  • Includes new MSP CUSTOMER view

  • Includes new DATA CENTER view

  • ERD Dashboard is also branded based on customer branding specifications (Using your company logo & colors)

Enhancements

• Enhanced View / Performance Data Files.
• Added click-to-graph capability. Good for ad-hoc graph of any performance metric.

Fixes

• Fix for very long passwords. Should accommodate phrases with 20 to 30 characters.
• Job Start/End report will have an accurate start time.
• The old Dashboard had issues running more than one occurrence simultaneously.
• Fixes to accommodate corrupt nmon data and old data.
• Added HealthCheck_Unix.GpS - a fix for running against old data.
• Routine updates to FCandCPW.txt for IBM hardware anouncements.

March 2019

Version 19.0 C

Enhancements

• Defaults to top data collected in nmon.
• If multiple defaults are detected for nmon then they are all used for nmon settings in the pn.config file.

May 2018

Version 19.0

Enhancements

• Performance Management Dashboard

  • Core metrics graded with guidelines you define

  • Automatically updates based on your collection services interval

  • Comprehensive drill down reporting for all key metrics (Includes peak time analysis)

  • Easily identifies disk space utilization issues preventing a potential system crash

• New & Improved Power Analytics “Works Like You Think”

  • Introducing Before vs. After Month vs Month performance comparisons

  • Allows you to understand the impact of any change inside your virtualized IT world

  • Includes new top user and top job accounting reporting

  • New What’s Different format for faster / more efficient problem determination

  • Improved MEMORY / DASD analysis (Includes new enterprise disk space reporting)

  • Improved JOB analysis scripts (Includes new multi-system comparisons!)

• Create Output Package (COP)

  • Gives the flexibility to create a quick professional ad hoc report using any graph / window

  • Personalized comments can be added to each saved page

  • All output packages are saved and can be can modified at a later date / time

  • A recommendations / summary page can be included for each personalized report

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