You are here: DIME Home > Software Reviews > Ideal Characteristics of a Good Mainframe Network Monitor

Ideal Characteristics of a Good Mainframe Network Monitor

Timely and comprehensive monitoring is crucial for mainframe management. When mainframe network monitoring happens in real time, it is easier to track any network problems and fix them before they turn into outages.

Author: Sdsusa.com
Date: Dec 5, 2012 - 7:40:57 AM

Printer friendly page

Timely and comprehensive monitoring is crucial for mainframe management. When mainframe network monitoring happens in real time, it is easier to track any network problems and fix them before they turn into outages.

Real-time monitoring
A network monitor helps improve network performance only when it reports the status and performance of a network in real time, without itself being a drag on network performance. A network monitor should get data frequently enough to provide immediate alerts and real-time reports, yet run efficiently enough that it does not interfere with performance of the network.

Consumes lesser CPU resources
An ideal network monitor consumes little of CPU capacity. A monitor that consumes 1% or less of CPU capacity is much more helpful than one that needs 5% of CPU. Consuming less CPU capacity also means quicker providing of real-time alerts and reports.

In order to use less CPU resources, a good mainframe network monitor should follow efficient data-collection architecture, like getting MIB data without SNMP requests, measuring stack traffic without constant packet tracing, etc.

Enables central view of the entire network
Another characteristic of a truly useful network monitor is that it provides a central view of all of the network's z/OS hosts, TCP/IP stacks, applications, and connections. Thus it presents a single, coherent image of system health and configuration. It provides graphic summary reports that show the health of multiple TCP/IP stacks on multiple z/OS systems. It also creates intuitive links to TCP/IP resources such as stacks, interfaces, applications and connections and also to z/OS resources such as Enterprise Extender, OSA, Sysplex Distributor, and CSM buffers.

Easy to use interface
A good network monitor uses a browser-based GUI to provide simple and intuitive navigation to any detail. It monitors all the stacks, interfaces, TCP and SNA applications, routers, and buffers from a single screen, and summarizes system health, critical statistics, and alerts in a single image. But it also lets users easily drill down to individual applications, interfaces, and stacks, and to details regarding every individual resource and event on the network.

Browser-based tool for using system operator commands
Finally, an ideal network monitor provides easy-to-use, browser-based graphic tools for network diagnosis, management and repairs. In case of a TCP/IP problem, users can easily diagnose and take immediate corrective action; the intuitive interface guides them through the process. A graphic, on-line IP packet trace facility provides an extremely powerful problem-solving tool. When the monitor suspects a security breach, its operator command interface makes it simple to query the intrusion detection systems at every z/OS image from single browser screen.

Network performance and availability are important for business. Thus a good network monitor is crucial for maintaining your mainframe network without outages, and without slowing network performance in the process.

Since 1982, Software Diversified Services is providing first-quality software and technical support for IBM mainframes and VM, VSE, mainframe ftp and z/OS systems. SDS mainframe software provides security, encryption, and compression for mainframe data; secure file transfer (SFTP); SNA and IP network management and automation; and performance monitoring for applications and networks.

View all articles by Sdsusa.com

Link to this article:

Code to copy:

<a href="http://www.dime-co.com/software-reviews/Ideal-Characteristics-of-a-Good-Mainframe-Network-Monitor.shtml">Ideal Characteristics of a Good Mainframe Network Monitor</a>

---

Search for articles: Advanced Search

Recommended Associates

Latest Articles in All Categories

Putting Up a Small Commercial Printing Business

So You Might Be Unemployed And Desire To Become A San Francisco Real Estate Investor Now

Meditation and Mindfulness: Dealing With Emotion

CPA Websites: Five Essential Ideas for Composing Convincing Articles

Set Goals In Order to Come Up With Your Action Plan

Is the Air in Your Home Safe to Breathe?

Coarse Fishing Tackle Review: The JW Young 13ft Trotter Rod

Section 1031 Exchanges For San Diego Real Estate Investors

Phoenix Real Estate Investing For Highest Possible Earnings

Legendary are the Volk Racing TE37 Wheels

Developing the Next Generation Wall Station (ChaseDesk™) for Healthcare - A Case Study

What are step down transformers?

Introducing Sharehype, the Revolutionary Tool for Online Marketers

Rewards To Shopping For Austin Real Estate On The Web

Hydroponics for Beginners

Do you write?

Would you like submit your articles and have them approved on a priority status? Find out more about how you can become a Priority author for pennies a day! Click here.

News Feed

Dime-co.com Home

Business (9328)

Computers & The Internet (5740)

Entertainment (1348)

Family (958)

Finance (1963)

Health (4246)

Home and Living (6670)

Marketing (6113)

Shopping & Product Reviews (2624)

Sports (694)

Travel and Vacations (1689)

Video Articles (1)

Editors Pick (1)