Robot Monitor

June 2024

Version 15.03

July 15, 2024

Enhancements

Added authorization list, MSMAUTL, because we have changed *PUBLIC access to *EXCLUDE on programs, files, and commands. To authorize users to the product, use the command WRKAUTL MSMAUTL. Take Option 2, and add USERIDs to the authorization list.
A confirmation message now displays before processing a Delete Dashboard request.
On the Threshold Detail panel, "Preset" has been changed to "Display Settings" to better explain the parameter's purpose.
Improved security by changing the product commands to be *PUBLIC *EXCLUDE.
Installation instructions now include steps for configuring the local firewall on Linux endpoints to allow the Robot Monitor central host to communicate with those endpoints.
The Performance Navigator version that can be installed has been upgraded to 19.05.

Fixes

The maximum number of allowed data definitions has now been increased to 9999 definitions.
Fixed issue with the File Record Count monitor dropping intermittently.
Fixed issue with the local threshold queue, MONTHRLC, not being populated in certain situations.
Fixed issue with MONRESUM jobs failing under certain circumstances.
Robot Monitor now handles multiple MQ Series Queue Managers correctly.
Fixed issue with GET.PTF job failing under certain circumstances.
The MSM user profile has been changed to be owned by QSECOFR, instead of the user that installed the product.
Fixed issue with History Summary widget showing monthly data as zero on a One Year view.
The command calling program for MONLOCAL command has been corrected to be MON020B.
Fixed issue where the Show Details window would only list a maximum of 25 entries, instead of 30 as defined.
Fixed issue with the MONDSKADT report not honoring the selection criteria that has been entered.

March 2023

Version 15.02

March 8, 2023

Enhancements

Assure MIMIX 10 monitors are now included in the GUI software.
Created a new job, MONDMMX2R, to collect data for the new Assure MIMIX 10 monitors.

Fixes

Fixed minor threshold issue for Default Threshold for MQ Queue Depth. “Replace all values with defaults” button can be used to fix an existing threshold.
Added an ASP Group parameter to the User Data Collection Job screen.

September 2022

Version 15.01

September 26, 2022

Enhancements

Robot Monitor now supports the monitoring of Assure MIMIX 9.0
Improved Record Count definition to handle when members contain more than 2,147,483,647 records.
Upgraded Robot Monitor's cryptography for improved protection.
Expanded the size of the Verify panel to better identify connectivity issues.

Fixes

Fixed issue with Real-Time Disk Collections ignoring configured exclusions in certain situation.
Fixed issue with API incorrectly specifying "Auxiliary storage pool (ASP) control" parameter.
Short-Term History view now correctly handles deleted items and other scenarios correctly.

October 2021

Version 14.24

October 26, 2021

AIX systems need to update RPM to a 4.x version to be compatible with Robot Monitor 14.23 and above.
Fixed issue with looping MM messages when upgrading.
Updated installer now shows correct message when installing PC software and user is not a Windows Administration account.
Fixed issue with error message "File MMCPWTLA in library *LIBL not found or inline data file missing" appearing in joblog.

June 2021

Version 14.23

June 2, 2021

Enhancements

Numeric and threshold values no longer have a limit of 2,147,483,647.
Stopwatch feature now accounts for Daylight Savings Time.

Fixes

Fixed issue with blank Home Dashboard when opening Robot Monitor on PC.
Fixed issue with incorrect collection type description when Mimix items trigger threshold.
Missing History Summary data now appears correctly. Can now handle issues with ASP size data.
Fixed issue with no data appearing in the Available Items box when adding a new historical element.
MON020R changed to retrieve the disk unit type correctly when multiple records are found.
The value *NA will be returned in all adapter metrics if Robot Monitor cannot get the necessary data from the adapter. If the adapter is not found on the node, Robot Monitor will return a value of *NF.
VIOS disk adapter port elements now show the valid list of ports when prompted.

August 2020

Version 14.22 (14.2.2)

August 12, 2020

Enhancements

Robot Monitor now uses RELMOD version standard consistent with the other Robot products.
Routing entry for all IBMi partitions now installed.

Fixes

Fixed issue with MON020B job holding a large number of locks on MONPRMLA.
Interactive jobs now showing correctly on High CPU screen on partitions running IBM i 7.4.
Fixed issue with file record count failing with MCH1210.
Drive type data collection optimized.
Fixed issue with column or global variable not found while monitoring MIMIX.

May 2020

Version 14.2.1

May 7, 2020

New Features

Linux metrics can now be monitored
Dashboard Slideshows give the ability to cycle through configured dashboards until a configured severity is reached.
Inquiry messages can now be responded to from Work with Job screen.
Block device storage information is collected for Linux systems.
ASP statuses for user ASPS 1-32 can be monitored.
MPG's Performance Navigator is now installed as part of the first-time installation process. The product can then be activated when required.

Enhancements

New Assure MIMIX metrics have been added.
New metrics Disk Wait Time and Disk Service Time have been added.
Under ASP Information, the list within the Physical Disks section contains a new column Unit Type, the values in this column reflect the correct unit type (HDD or SSD).
System group view Short-Term History now handles time zones correctly.
Improved PTF export function to allow for Group PTF data to be exported.
On the Data Collection panel, the Filter Unix Processes now includes Subsystem Status (Process).
Column Header now correctly named I/O for Highest CPU Processes view for AIX/VIOS.
When viewing Key Statistics for multiple partitions for one element (i.e. CPU), drilling down into one system now correctly displays Short Term History for the selected partition.
System View panels now have auto-hide feature.
When adding a new element for AIX/Linux/VIOS, the default description now references the item being monitored.
On a Dashboard, when adding the High CPU Users item, the options for Report Type now include High CPU Jobs using SQL.
The MIB files have been renamed.
- MI2 file "ccssreg" has been renamed "hsrmreg"
- MI2 file "ccssmsm" has been renamed "hsrm"
RGZPFM command can now be configured ahead of submission.
The AIX, VIOS and Linux installed package version is now displayed on a partition's system record.
Users can now specify CPW Parameters.
Disk name completion for disk metrics now include descriptions of disk, partition, mpath, loop and lvm.
When listing logical volume names to monitor in the metric form, we now include VG name as a description.
Improved status reporting for systemd status.
"Metric Collection Time" has been added under the group "System Performance" to be available on all node types.

Fixes

Values for Processor and CPU based metrics now align with values returned by topas and prtconf.
The Short-Term History widgets now update correctly to match the collection interval.
Fixed issue with RNX0122 error on MON.SUMARY job.
Fixed inconsistent results when using authority lists.
Fixed issue with "Code 0xC0000005: Access violation" error.
Improved performance in High SQL Jobs CPU usage processing.
Fixed issue with File Record Count Data Definition failing on error MCH0601
A new collector is started when one or more new MIMIX elements have been defined.
Fixed issue with job disk.prl error MON0119 Heap space has reached it allowed maximum size.
Network Server Status under Communications Status has been disabled for Linux. Subsystem Status (Process) in Unix Processes should be used instead.

August 2019

Version 14.1.9

More than two adapters now correctly show when prompting on the adapter field.
Changed parameter on The System Default Maintenance screen from "No of Highest DCP Jobs" to "No of Highest SQL Jobs".
The default setting of Maximum SQL Jobs has been set to zero.
The model 22A EP19 has been added to the MONCPW file.
When using Export to CSV function from the Detailed History view, it is now downloaded at the original time interval (30 seconds).
The Node Type field on the MON810R System Data screen can now be prompted to show the allowed entries of: *NATIVE, *AIX, and *VIOS.
Minor help text improvements, included the added mention of "Use Robot Schedule if Available" on the Default Summarization Options panel.

April 2019

Version 14.1.8

New Features

Users can now perform actions on selected Jobs through the new Actions menu on the Job Details window. The available actions are the following: Change, Hold, Release, and End.
You can now monitor Disk Arm utilization through five new monitor types: Disk Arm Seeks, Disk Blocks Read, Disk Blocks Written, Disk Read Commands, and Disk Write Commands.
To collect Disk Arm Utilization data for monitoring, review APAR SI63673 regarding service program QPYPFIFC. You must change QPYPFIFC *SRVPGM public authority to *USE. This change is necessary to collect Disk Arm data.
You can now monitor the health of your Power HA environment with three new monitor types: Cluster Status, Cluster Node Status, and Cluster Resource Group Status.
You can now drill into individual Cluster Groups to view the status of individual Sites.

Enhancements

A Show Highest SQL Jobs option has been added to the High CPU Users view to display jobs utilizing SQL that are using large amounts of CPU.
Users now have the ability to add gauge-style widgets to dashboards.
The informational icon displayed when a license code expires has been updated.
A number of additional fields have been added to the General Details panel linked to the new Work with Jobs functionality.
A Spooled Files tab has been added to the Job Details window. This will show all available spooled files for the selected job.
On the Short-Term History view, users now have to option to add graph color differentiation between different systems and items.
On a Detailed History widget, users now have to option to add graph color differentiation between different systems and items.
On a Short-Term History widget, users now have to option to add graph color differentiation between different systems and items.
A right-click context menu has been added to the Show Dashboards List view to allow users the ability to remove dashboards without having to open the dashboard.
To improve the performance of the Disk Summary, an option 'Group numeric file extensions' has been added to the Disk Summary Schedule that, when enabled, adds files with file extensions starting with numbers to the *NUMERIC group.
The ability to toggle between Color Set by Item and Color Set by System on dashboard widgets for Short-Term History and Detailed History has been added to allow for color differentiation between items and systems.
On the Detailed History view, users now have to option to add graph color differentiation between different systems and items.
Restoring dashboards from the File menu has been changed to keep the existing dashboards rather than clearing them.

Fixes

MONHIP is now purged when the default Purge Detailed Data is set to *YES in MONPURGE.
Added model 22A EPXD details into MONCPW.
The default unit of measurement on Disk Summary views has been changed from megabytes (MB) to gigabytes (GB).
Fixed an issue with exported History Summary View data being corrupted when Translated setting was turned on.

November 2018

Version 14.1.7

Users without administrator rights can now install Robot Monitor by removing the prefix 'setup' from the Robot Monitor executable file name. Renaming the executable file to exclude the words 'setup' or 'installer' will forgo the administrator rights requirement.
The shortcut key functionality and labels have been removed from the Sort sub-menu within the application right-click menu.
Fixed an issue with MONDISK failing when the QSYSOPR queue is locked.
Users can now override the PC name from the GUI using the Job Name parameter on the Advanced settings.
Selected elements are now retained on Short-Term History, Detailed History, and History Summary views when navigating between views and partitions.

October 2018

Version 14.1.6

New Features

Users can now monitor the health of their Robot HA environment by using the new Import Preset Elements feature on the Data Definitions screen to select and import Robot HA elements to monitor within a dashboard or view.
A Current Thresholds widget that displays the list of Current Thresholds being exceeded is now available to add to a dashboard.
The ability to add a widget to a dashboard that displays a list of the Highest CPU Jobs has now been provided.
System has been added as a sort by value on the Data Definition view.
An SQL tab has been added to the Work with Jobs screen to allow you to monitor SQL statements that are causing performance issues.

Enhancements

The previously saved location will now be the defaulted location when using the Backup to File function.
A Refresh option has been added to the drop down fields in the User Data Collection Job screen and a Reset Object Cache button has been added to the Miscellaneous section of the Options screen.
The display joblog feature now shows the Date and Time stamp per line.
A Show Summary of Elements (selected by default) option has been added to the widget. Deselecting the option shows all selected elements.
A new "Resize Icon" option has been added. Once selected, the icon and its text can be resized in a similar manner as any other widget.
The Host's TLS version is now displayed in the verification data.
Disk and disk adapter usage metrics are now being updated correctly under the conditions of volume group activation and filesystem resize.
Upon drilldown from the High CPU Jobs view, you can now view the library list and call stack of a job via the new Library List and Call Stack tabs on the Work with Job screen.

Fixes

A general failure issue causing high CPU usage has been fixed.
Additional models (22A, 41A and 42A) have been added to the MONCPW file.
There was an issue with first-time installations onto IBMi partitions, but this has now been fixed.
On the Robot Monitor connection screen, the text 'Use Secure Sockets Layer' has been changed to 'Use Secure Connection'.
Various variables connected to the Robot Monitor GUI have been changed from type float to double to accommodate for the maximum value of 999999999999.999 (15,3).
The Accounting Summary Color Set option is now working the same way as on other views.
The user cannot configure a Robot Alert setting on a threshold if the threshold is a Local Threshold. Local Thresholds are only relevant on the PC using the monitor and should not have been used to raise alerts.
IBM has released two PTFs (V7R2 SI66890 and V7R3 SI66901) dealing with files larger than 2.2TB. These are recommended for customers to install if they have files greater than 2.2TB.
The long description for the Default Threshold for W/I over A/W has changed to "W/I over A/W is high". To correct the description on this threshold, access the "Global Threshold" for the "W/I Over A/W" definition and select the "Replace all values with defaults option".
Tool Tips now appear as expected on History Summary views.
The History Summary view options now persist after being selected.
Disk Summary view options now persist after being selected.

July 2018

Version 14.1.5

Fixed an issue with high CPU usage during real time disk collection when a library has been changed.
There was an issue with MON706R not being updated with a newer fix version after an upgrade, but this has now been fixed.

May 2018

Version 14.1.4

New Features

From the System Data view, you now have the ability to launch the ASP Information view from a selected ASP.
To improve security, Security officers can now set the password for the MSM profile to *NONE to prevent the profile from being used for authentication in additional settings.
A Show JobLog button has been added to the Work with Job Details screen.
You now have the ability to drill down from a History Summary view into a Detailed History view.
Back and Forward navigation buttons have been added to the GUI so that you can move back and forth between previously viewed screens.

Enhancements

Partition IDs higher than 255 are now displayed in the GUI.
The System View no longer displays the DCP (Database CPU).
When backing up or restoring, the tree expansion in the selection pane tree is now consistent.
From the ASP Information view, you now have the ablility to sort the table data.
The Short-Term History view has been enhanced to provide better usability.
Default Global Thresholds have been added for SSP (System Storage), MemUsed% (Real memory usage), Swap Space% (Swap Space usage), and Errcnt (Error Report Count).
The Short-Term History view now has an Auto Adjust Scaling feature.
The Short-Term History view has been changed so that only the CPU Usage Item displays by default. Other items can be added to the view by selecting them in the Item Selection panel.
You can now copy and paste dashboard widgets. You can also duplicate widgets across different systems using the Paste for Multiple Systems command.
The report date can now be included as part of the automated report export file name by including the variables %y, %m, and %d.
The previously saved location will now be the defaulted location when using the Backup to File function.
The collection of output log data for AIX/VIOS has been simplified for support purposes.

Fixes

In the case that Robot Schedule is installed on a partition after Robot Monitor has been installed and the product is configured to use Robot Schedule if it exists: Robot Monitor will need to be stopped (including the MONTCPSVR job) and restarted, due to an addition that Robot Schedule makes to the System Library List.
In the GUI, English (UK) spellings of some common words have been changed to the English (US) spellings.
When multiple items are selected and deleted from the dashboard, selecting undo now adds all of them back at once.
The "Make this system central" parameter on the MONBCK command has been removed.
DISK.PRL jobs no longer create unnecessary audit journal entries.
You can now include a '/' character in a new system group name without issue.
Calendars and calendar rules are now editable after initial creation.
The Downloading data date is now correct in the Detailed History view.
Intermittent Short-Term History widget display issues have been fixed.
*ALL is now included in the Error Report Count selection criteria.
Within the Data Collection tab, the right-click choices on 'From Port' and 'To Port' within the Monitor Type 'TCP Port Status' are now correct.
A value of '0' is no longer accepted for ASP Space Free/Used.
Pressing F8 within the MONCFG command no longer creates a program dump.
When the "Report size as" parameter for an Object Size definition is changed from its default value of "Mb" to "Gb", the value is now correctly depicted in gigabyte.
Selecting no items in History Summary now shows 'no data available'.
The AIX/VIOS installer now checks and corrects all product permissions and ownership during an install.
The AIX/VIOS system response to disconnects has been improved.
Selecting Auto Export from a single system principle group now displays the export correctly.
Restoring a saved configuration, minus the ALL and All Systems groups, now works as expected.
IBM i options referencing the English (UK) spelling of the word 'summarise' have been changed to the English (US) spelling 'summarize'.
The Current Processor graph now shows the exact amount of processor available when there is less than 1 full processor available on a system.
An error had occurred when creating a new system group and using the 'Select All' option when adding systems, but this has now been fixed.

October 2017

Version 14.1.3

New Features

Added new data definitions monitorable on AIX and VIOS partitions. You can filter these by selecting AIX Elements or VIOS Elements in the Data Collection screen.
When you create a new group, you can now specify the system types: Native, AIX, VIOS, or System Groups.
Added installation and upgrade support for secure FTP.
You can now create a data definition from the Data Definitions view.
The AIX/VIOS Show Details functionality now matches the Show Details functionality within IBM i.
You can now drill down into libraries and directories in the Disk Summary view within AIX and VIOS partitions.
Updated the Monitor Graph widget to allow you to run IBM i commands on widgets created from select elements.
You can now monitor and log errors using error report elements.
Added PTF Comparison Report support for AIX and VIOS.
You can now combine multiple elements in the History Summary view.

Enhancements

Enhanced the drill down functionality in Key Statistic, Short-Term History, and Hi-CPU Jobs.
Updated the Storage Information view for AIX and VIOS to include Blocks used and Inodes used.
Enhanced some visual aspects of the user interface.

Other Updates

MONCPW entries have been added to support MHE systems.
Data Definition parameters now accept lowercase entries.
The listing order in the Views drop-down has been changed to improve usability.

June 2017

Version 14.1.2

We fixed a minor defect in the Limits dialog on the Detailed History Properties screen.

March 2017

Version 14.1.1

AIX and VIOS partitions are now supported in Robot Monitor!

Here are some of the new features in this release:

Added dozens of new data definitions monitorable on AIX and VIOS partitions. You can filter these by selecting AIX Elements or Vios Elements in the Data Collection screen.
Added a Storage Information view for AIX and VIOS partitions. This allows you to see technical information for any AIX and VIOS volume groups on a system.
Updated the System Data view and made it accessible to AIX and VIOS partitions.
Key Statistic — This new widget can be added to your dashboards. It displays an element, such as CPU Usage, for a single system, system group, or all systems. (Available for IBM i, AIX, and VIOS)

For information on how to install Robot Monitor on an AIX or VIOS partition, click here.

September 2016

Version 14.0.2

The individual PTF comparison now works as expected
PC connection jobs have been modified to use less CPU
Automated reports now retain all ‘Include Days’ selections
We updated the High CPU Users view to default to the current time
The dashboard widgets remain populated after restarting the PC software
The Disk Summary Schedule default screen loads correctly after install
The Online Graph widget was renamed. It’s now the Monitor Graph widget
Minor cosmetic and language updates were made to the Robot Monitor GUI

July 2016

Version 14.0.1

The Robot Monitor GUI (graphical user interface) has been updated with a contemporary look and additional functionality.
- New icons and menus were used.
- The Home Menu sidebar provides easy access to multiple views, including your dashboards, systems, and threshold activity.
- Licenses can be loaded and managed through the GUI.
NEW! Robot Monitor now has customizable dashboards.
- The dashboards display a mix of real-time, historical, and disk summary information across multiple monitored systems.
- You can add a variety of widgets to your dashboard that allow you to analyze data across your network from one screen.
- Dashboards can be personalized with text and image widgets.
You can view several systems, as well as system groups, in the GUI through a list of available systems.
Robot Monitor views allow you to monitor, analyze, and export different types of data.
- Views can contain a single system, a group of systems, or all systems.
- There are ten types of views available, including a Monitor view, Short-term History view, Detailed History view, History Summary view, System Data view, and High CPU Users view.
The PTF Comparison view allows you to group and compare PTFs on systems at the same release level without using a 5250 session.
Robot Monitor supports environments of any size, whether you’re running a single partition or more than 100 partitions.

August 2013

Version 8.08 (V7R1, V6R1) 7.14 (V5R4)

QTEMP objects from Monitor menu created with owner of current user

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Last Published: 202412201143