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| JAdams |
 Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 6:07 am Post subject: MQ admin tool |
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Apprentice
Joined: 11 Jul 2002
Posts: 47
Location: Lakeland, FL
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Hello,
I currently have no admin tool or monitoring in place for my MQ environment other than the IBM distributed MQ explorer and ISPF panels. Currently I have 4 queue managers on z/OS (3 test & 1 production). I also have on 4 W2k hub queue mangers(3 test & 1 production). We are a retail company and have 800+ stores (also W2k). Each store has a queue manager. I have a hub/spoke configuration with the z/OS and W2k queue managers being my hubs. All of our stores have identical configurations. I do all definitions via RUNMQSC scripts. We do have Unicenter but have not turned on any monitoring fuctions for MQ.
My question is I that am I trying to justify to myself and my management whether or not I need a tool. I would like to hear from other users in the real world about how they are using their admin/monitoring tools (no sales folks please). As it stands right now I can not justify the cost of a tool. I am getting by just fine right now with out one. Is there more to these tools that I am not aware of? Is there more ROI than I can find? Seems to me that these tools are just "really nice to have", but not a definite "must have".
Again I would like to hear the opinions of real companies that are using the tools, not a sales pitch from a vendor.
Thanks!
_________________
Jason Adams
IBM Certified Specialist MQSeries |
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| PeterPotkay |
| Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2004 2:40 pm Post subject: |
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Poobah
Joined: 15 May 2001
Posts: 7722
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| jefflowrey |
| Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 8:04 am Post subject: |
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Grand Poobah
Joined: 16 Oct 2002
Posts: 19981
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Well, I'm a consultant, so I'm not currently actually using in production a professional monitoring/management tool.
However, in a past life I evaluated (and rejected) the CA-Unicenter MQ stuff. It was fairly from a usability standpoint as a combined monitoring/management tool.
The next choice we made was MQSoftware's QPasa, and we had some reasonable success with it - although the process of upgrading from 2.x to 3.x was uncessarily complicated from a variety of standpoints. Also, I have heard first-hand stories of scalability and cost/performance issues with the QPasa product. My understanding is that you would have to purchase a significantly large piece of hardware to support the database requirements of Qpasa to manage an installation base of roughly 900 queue managers.
I've recently been exposed to the contact admin product, and have been very impressed with what I've seen.
As for justification, that really depends on your situation. How expensive is it when an application fails to do it's job? How much money does the company lose while an application is down? How much work has been put into making your applications "visible" to your monitoring systems? How long can channels be down before it causes a business problem? How difficult is it for you to audit your environment for changes (i.e., will you know if someone get disables a queue or changes a channel definition inappropriately *before* it causes a problem for your applications)?
Basically, what questions about your current environment do you need to be able to answer - and how much money is it worth to have those answers?
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I am *not* the model of the modern major general. |
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| LuisFer |
| Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 12:30 pm Post subject: |
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Partisan
Joined: 17 Aug 2002
Posts: 302
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Our installation (two years ago) needed a Monitor tool for MQ (on MVS) for controlling the performance, monitoring & accounting.
We do a comparison with CCC Reports (Candle), MQControl, QPasa & ASG-TMon.
The winner was ASG because:
-No need more Hardware/Software
-Quick & easily use (3270 interface).
-Low cost than others.
-At that moment the only tool that showed the number of Calls by Queue.
-Event Monitoring implemented.
-DLQ.
-Alarms by performance.
At the end , we changed all the monitors (MVS,IMS,CICS,DB2) from Candle to ASG. (before Candle, we had Boole & Babagge (act. BMC).
This monitors are a great tool for MVS. |
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| fjb_saper |
| Posted: Fri Aug 27, 2004 4:59 pm Post subject: |
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Grand High Poobah
Joined: 18 Nov 2003
Posts: 20756
Location: LI,NY
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We are using QPasa from MQSoftware. We have it set so that it automatically emails the status of 43 queues over 4 queue managers suppressing the ones with 0 queue depth. Pretty cool. We send the email twice a day.
We have also created a "scoreboard" to give application and system people visibility on the queues/channels. We have a number of alerts set up and linked them to email. Our environment is still growing.
If you wish you can substitute page to email...
The history feature gives neat statistics and can be used for sizing purposes.
Works great for us.
F.J.
Thanks |
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| JAdams |
| Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2004 12:04 pm Post subject: |
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Apprentice
Joined: 11 Jul 2002
Posts: 47
Location: Lakeland, FL
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Thanks all for your input. I will use this dialogue to do further analysis.
I have installed the M071 support pac and it is pretty cool for a free download.
Jason
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Jason Adams
IBM Certified Specialist MQSeries |
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| Javax |
| Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 2:39 pm Post subject: |
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Newbie
Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 5
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Does the MO71 function with OS/390 or ZOS, I've been testing PCF's programs but I cant do it work with this OS's |
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| fjb_saper |
| Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 2:45 pm Post subject: |
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Grand High Poobah
Joined: 18 Nov 2003
Posts: 20756
Location: LI,NY
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Yes there is a little check box that says MVS that you need to check on the location.
MF does not yet understand PCF. Normal MQSC type commands will be executed.
Enjoy  |
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| Javax |
| Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 2:52 pm Post subject: |
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Newbie
Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 5
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| fjb_saper wrote: |
Yes there is a little check box that says MVS that you need to check on the location.
MF does not yet understand PCF. Normal MQSC type commands will be executed.
Enjoy |
Ok, thanks. Do you have examples or a link with information about remote MQSC Command for the Z/OS, I'm working in a Monitoring tool, it works on solaris with PCFs, and I need do one for Z/OS. |
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| RogerLacroix |
| Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2004 3:01 pm Post subject: |
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Jedi Knight
Joined: 15 May 2001
Posts: 3264
Location: London, ON Canada
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Hi,
There is a Search icon / button in the upper-right-hand corner. This question has been answered many, many, many times. Do a search for plain text commands and you will get many hits for what you are looking for.
Regards,
Roger Lacroix
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