OVSM/400 System Status Tool

Technical Documentation

Author:
René H. Hartman

A technical overview of
the OVSM/400 System
Status Tool that was
developed to provide a
single command view,
print or email of system
and application status
for use by HP staff.

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OVSM/400 System Status Tool

Technical information in this document is subject to change without notice.

IBM, AS/400 and iSeries are US Registered Trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation.

 Hewlett Packard Company 2003. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction, adaptation, or translation without
prior written permission is prohibited, except as allowed under the copyright laws.

Version History
Ver. No. Ver. Date Revised By Description
0.1 04 February 2004 René H. Hartman Initial version
0.2 12 August 2004 René H. Hartman Major overhaul
0.3 30 August 2004 René H. Hartman Added new functionality
0.4 10 December 2004 René H. Hartman Added functionality, introduced licensing

Licensing
In order to protect HP’s investment in the System Status Tool and avoid uncontrolled copying by third parties,
licensing has been incorporated. After installing the tool, a license key must be obtained from the HP
Netherlands AS/400 & iSeries team in order to be able to use the it. License key requests should be sent by
email to iseries.emea@hp.com.

The requester needs to provide system name and system serial number, and specify application code
SYSTS. The license key will then be issued by email, with instructions on how to apply it. The application
instruction will be different for systems having the HP Tools License Manager application (in library
HPTOOLS) and systems that do not. Also, HP Tools License Manager will allow the user to verify key
expiration dates, whereas without this application the user will need to rely on the 30-day warning that is
issued when a key is about to expire.

HP Tools License Manager can be obtained free of charge from the HP Netherlands AS/400 & iSeries team.

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OVSM/400 System Status Tool

Overview
The OVSM/400 System Status Tool was developed to provide a quick, one command view of the system’s
status and that of its critical applications. There are three output options, display, print and email.

Implementation
The tool is integrated with the System Monitoring tool and is located in library HPOVSR400. Tool-specific
objects are:
OVSMSSC *PGM CLLE OVSM: System Status Display
OVSMSSFR *PGM RPG OVSM: Maintain System Status Display
OVSMSSS *PGM CLP OVSM: System Status Display
OVSMSSD *FILE DSPF OVSM: System Status Display
OVSMSSF *FILE PF-DTA OVSM: System Status Display
OVSMSSFD *FILE DSPF OVSM: Maintain System Status file
OVSMSSL1 *FILE LF OVSM: Resequence path on OVSMSSF
OVSMSSOF *FILE PF-DTA OVSM: Outfile for OVSMSS
OVSMSSW *FILE PF-DTA OVSM: System Status Display - DBCS co
OVSMSS *CMD OVSM: System Status Display
OVSMSSS *CMD OVSM: System Status Display
HPLICSYSTS *DTAARA OVSM: SYSTS License key
OVSMEML *DTAARA OVSM: Target email address for OVSMSS
OVSMVER *DTAARA OVSM: Version number

Additional objects used (from System Monitoring):

OVSMGD *PGM RPGLE OVSM: Get Date (V3R7 and up)
OVSMJTIR *PGM RPG OVSM: Maintain Ignored MSGW Jobs/Task
OVSMMCFR *PGM RPG OVSM: Maintain Managed Configuration
OVSMJTI *FILE PF-DTA OVSM: Jobs to ignore having MSGW stat
OVSMJTID *FILE DSPF OVSM: Maintain Ignored MSGW Jobs/Task
OVSMMCF *FILE PF-DTA OVSM: Managed Configuration Files
OVSMMCFD *FILE DSPF OVSM: Maintain Managed Configuration
OVSMGD *CMD OVSM: Get Date
OVSMMC *CMD OVSM: Maintain Configuration

All objects are owned by QPGMR and are USER(*PUBLIC) AUT(*EXCLUDE).

Sources are in QCLSRC, QCMDSRC, QDDSSRC and QRPGSRC (development system only).

All display files have been compiled with MAXDEV(256) for multi-user usage and RSTDSP(*YES) to avoid
headers and footers being dropped during operation.

Command OVSMSS has been compiled with PGM(*LIBL/OVSMSSC) and PRDLIB(HPOVSR400). This way,
the tool can be invoked by entering HPOVSR400/OVSMSS, after which the library list is set correctly for the
tool to run.

The items to be monitored and their status criteria are stored in file OVSMSSF which is maintained through
command OVSMMC (see document OVSM Configuration File Maintenance Tool.doc).

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OVSM/400 System Status Tool

Functionality
OVSMSS Command OVSMSS invokes the status tool. It takes a number of parameters, depending on its
use and passes control to program OVSMSSC. Key parameter to OVSMSS is OUTPUT, which
can be *, *PRINT, *EMAIL or *OUTFILE.
When OUTPUT(*) is selected (output to screen, the default) the user is prompted for the auto-
refresh interval, which defaults to 120 seconds.
When OUTPUT(*PRINT) or OUTPUT(*EMAIL) is selected, output is directed to spoolfile
QPRINT, which in case of OUTPUT(*EMAIL) is subsequently mailed and deleted. When
*EMAIL is selected, the user is prompted for an email address, which defaults to *OVSMEML,
indicating that the address should be taken from data area OVSMEML.
When *OUTFILE is selected, the user is prompted for Output file details.

OVSMSSFR Program OVSMSSFR is the maintenance program for file OVSMSSF, which holds the settings
for the interactive System Status Monitoring tool. Upon program startup, all entries are
displayed. F11=View can be used to page through the four available functions *CFG, *JOB,
*SPLF and *SYS, and back to *ALL (figure 1).

F6=Create (or option 3=Copy) will allow for the creation of new entries. F6=Create is
independent of the current view, e.g. even if the current view is set to function *SPLF,
F6=Create can be used to create a new *SYS entry. A maximum of 999 entries can be defined.

When adding entries, only fields referring to the Function being defined are shown, making
sure the user is only presented with fields relevant to the task at hand. This avoids confusion
and reduces the risk of invalid entries. All required fields are checked to make sure an entry is
provided, while restricted fields like Function and Alert color are also checked for validity.

Figure 1 – OVSM System Status Entry main screen.

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OVSM/400 System Status Tool

On pressing F6=Create, only the top three lines of the maintenance screen (figure 2) are
shown. Pressing either F3=Exit or F12=Cancel at this point will return the user to the main
screen. The remainder of the screen will be shown after the details for the initial lines have
been entered, based on the (promptable) Function defined. Once the full maintenance screen
is shown, pressing F3=Exit will take the user back to the main screen, while F12=Cancel will
return the user to the top three lines, allowing for modification of the initial entries.

Figure 2 – System Status Monitor settings maintenance initial screen, Function prompted

The Display sequence number must be unique for the Function to be defined. If not, the
existing entry for that combination will be shown while showing a message on the status line.
The Suppress on autorefresh/status OK field can have one of three values: N for No
supression, A for suppression on autorefresh, S for suppression when the status is OK or B for
Both. The purpose of these suppression options is to aid in keeping the visible information on
one screen, where only the most relevant info will be shown.

The Check on fields allow for selection of the days and period that the check should be
performed. Days are numbered 1-7, where 1 represents a Sunday. The interval is defined per
day, i.e. the end time must lie after the start time.

On the full maintenance screen, Status/check values 1 through 3 are checked against the
actual status of the configured item at runtime as specified in the Test field. If any or all of
these fields, as specified by Check logic, matches the runtime condition, the status is
considered to be a match. If no match occurs, the actual status for the item will be shown in the
color defined in Alert color. If Alert color is left blank it is interpreted as Y for Yellow (attention).
Other choices are G for Green (normal), R for Red (alert) and A for Alarm (red with alarm
beep). R and A should only be used for conditions that require the user’s immediate attention.

The full maintenance screen for the *JOB function is shown in figure 3, where the three
possible check values have been extended to twelve. Since a job’s status is four characters

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OVSM/400 System Status Tool

max and a job can easily have more than three valid statuses, the check lines are divided in
four blocks of five positions to allow entry of up to four statuses per line. Please note that this is
valid for the *JOB function only. A subsystem monitor job can be checked by entering the
special value *SBS as the job name.

Figure 3 – System Status Monitor settings maintenance screen for function *JOB

The Command to show details field must hold the command to be executed to display detailed
info about the monitored item. When the tool is run and the user places the cursor on the line
showing this item, pressing enter will execute the command entered here, thus providing
instant information on the item and/or the error condition.

The full maintenance screen for the *SYS function is shown in figure 4. A limited number of
predefined Identifiers can be entered and the Status/check values have predefined severities:
value 1 is a warning (yellow), value 2 a problem (red) and value 3 an alert (red + beep).

Valid identifiers, their value length (leading zeros required) and meaning are:
- *CPU (5) % CPU used
- *DB (5) % DB capability
- *ASP (5) % system ASP used; *ASPnnn shows ASP number, e.g. *ASP002
- *JOBS (6) The number of jobs in the system
- *PERMADD (5) % perm addresses
- *TEMPADD (5) % temp addresses
- *CURRUNP (5) Current unprotect used
- *MAXUNP (5) Maximum unprotect
- *JOBQ (5) The number of jobs waiting on active jobqueues
- *MSGW N/A Jobs that are in status MSGW, waiting for intervention

Validity is not verified at entry time; an invalid Identifier will result in a *CHKFAIL status at run
time.

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OVSM/400 System Status Tool

Figure 4 – System Status Monitor settings maintenance screen for function *SYS

The full maintenance screen for the *SPLF function is shown in figures 5 and 6. The Spool
scan strings 1 and 2 follow the same logic as the Scan / check value fields, and are used to
determine which line(s) in the spoolfile created by the *SPLF creation command should be
read to obtain the desired status parameter. The Status/check value holds the actual value that
should match that parameter, found at the specified Position at the same line. The Data length
and Position fields specify the value to be displayed in case the check does not match.
Scanning of the spoolfile stops at the first mismatch, so when the user is verifying the reported
condition he or she should keep an eye out for other problems in the same area.

Although probably the trickiest to configure, the *SPLF function provides enormous flexibility.
The example shown in figure 5 shows how this function is used to monitor the ITO transfer.
Data area OVSMITO is maintained by OVSM’s main routines and updated each minute. It will
hold the number of minutes since the last time the ITO server picked up the data. If ITO fails to
pick up the data for 21 minutes, a red field will show the actual number of minutes on the
System Status screen. Placing the cursor over the field (in the Status Screen) and pressing
[Enter] will then invoke the ITO Transfer Monitoring tool, allowing the user a look at which
events have been registered but not picked up. Obviously, this is only useful at the intermediate
system or its backup system(s), as the other systems are not accessed from the ITO server.

The example shown in figure 6 shows how a special *DATE function can be used to perform
checks against dates, based on the actual run date (maximum offset + or – 99 days. Syntax is
*DATE:<offset days>:<date format>:<separators Yes/No>

A word of caution on the spool scan positions: these must all be one higher than one would
expect from looking at the spoolfile. When copying the spoolfile to the workfile for processing,
all text is shifted one position to the right due to the workfile being DBCS compatible. This
compatibility is required to accommodate systems that use DBCS languages.

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OVSM/400 System Status Tool

Figure 5 – System Status Monitor settings maintenance screen for function *SPLF

Figure 6 – System Status Monitor settings maintenance screen for function *SPLF

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OVSM/400 System Status Tool

Specials
OVSMSSS Command OVSMSSS invokes program OVSMSSS. It takes a CHECK identifier and up to five
parameters. The CHECK identifier identifies the desired function. The required number of
parameters and their meaning depend on the requested CHECK.

OVSMSSS Program OVSMSSS was developed to accommodate a number of special functions. Although
the program takes up to five parameters for flexibility, all functions are hardcoded due to their
nature. New functionality therefore requires amending the program, but at least this provides a
means to accommodate very specific functions with a common entry point.

Functions currently available include:

PRB#DSP Displays the Problem Log (WRKPRB)
PARM1=Start time (previous working day)
PRB#PRT Prints the Problem Log
PARM1=Start time (previous working day)

BRM#DSPEXP Displays BRMS Expired Media listing (WRKMEDBRM)

PARM1=LOC, PARM2=MEDCLS
BRM#PRTEXP Prints BRMS Expired Media listing to obtain the number of expired tapes
PARM1=LOC, PARM2=MEDCLS

BRM#DSPMI Displays BRMS Media Information (WRKMEDIBRM)

BRM#PRTMI Prints BRMS Media Information
PARM1=*LCL
BRM#PRTRUN Prints BRMS ControlGroup Information
PARM1=*LCL, PARM2=CTLGRP, PARM3=Start time (previous working day)

BRM#DSPLOG Displays BRMS Log (DSPLOGBRM)

BRM#PRTLOG Prints BRMS Log
PARM1=SEV, PARM2=Start time (previous working day)

JOB#DSPAJC Display active joblist (WRKACTJOB SEQ(*CPUPCT))

JOB#PRTAJC Print active joblist to determine Top CPU Usage job
PARM1=*ALL or PARM1-PARM5=SBSD

MSG#DSP Display messages

PARM1=MSGQLIB, PARM2=MSGQ, PARM3=SEV
MSG#PRT Print messages to obtain error count.
PARM1=MSGQLIB, PARM2=MSGQ, PARM3=SEV

RBT#GM Runs Robot Good Morning program

PARM1=Robot library name

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OVSM/400 System Status Tool

Running the tool

OVSMSS Command OVSMSS runs the tool. When OUTPUT(*) (default) is selected, the status screen is
shown, and the cursor is positioned to the first error with the highest severity, if present. If no
errors are found, the cursor is positioned to the first output line (figure 7).

Figure 7 – Sample OVSMSS output; two warnings, cursor positioned at first warning.

If in figure 7 a problem had been shown for e.g. the Mainframe connection line, the cursor
would have been positioned to that line, since a problem’s severity is higher than a warning’s.
When both problems and alerts are present, the cursor will be positioned to the (first) alert, in
which case this may not be the first red line on the screen; an alert is defined as a problem-
with-an-attention-beep. Pressing Enter will show details on the error; pressing F6=Print will
make a report of the items currently on display and their status.

Please note that selecting OUTPUT(*) and pressing F6=Print will produce different output from
selecting OUTPUT(*PRINT) when starting OVSMSS. OUTPUT(*PRINT) will create a report for
all configured checks, while with OUTPUT(*) certain checks may not be shown, depending on
the configured suppression settings.

OUTPUT(*EMAIL) produces the same results as OUTPUT(*PRINT), which are then emailed to
the desired destination. Finally, OUTPUT(*OUTFILE) will also produce a full set of data,
regardless of suppression settings.

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OVSM/400 System Status Tool

Troubleshooting
PROBLEM: *CHKFAIL being displayed in status column.
- The definition in OVSMSSF is faulty.
- Authority problem in obtaining the required information.
- Librarylist not properly set.

PROBLEM: OUTPUT(*EMAIL) does not produce an email as expected.

- Email address EMLADDR is invalid.
- With EMLADDR(*OVSMEML), data area OVSMEML is set to an invalid email address.
- Sending UserID has no valid entry in the system directory
- Sending UserID has no valid Name for SMTP in the system directory
- The iSeries SMTP server is not set up correctly for internet mail.

PROBLEM: Process is shown to be in error but running normally.

- Verify that all valid run statuses have been entered as allowed statuses.

PROBLEM: Message LICENSE KEY WILL EXPIRE ON is shown when starting OVSMSS.
- Your license key will expire on the date specified, contact iseries.emea@hp.com

PROBLEM: Message LICENSE KEY EXPIRED! is shown when starting OVSMSS.

- Your license key has expired, contact iseries.emea@hp.com

PROBLEM: Message INVALID LICENSE KEY is shown when starting OVSMSS.

- You probably have a pirated copy, contact iseries.emea@hp.com

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