Even for the smallest organizations, there comes that moment when an event triggers the realization that monitoring operations with your eyes alone isn't enough.

Written by Bytware

Editor's Note: This article introduces the white paper "Solving the Little Things with Automation for IBM Power Systems" available free from the MC White Paper Center.

At some point, IT departments both large and small choose to hand the task of overseeing their IBM Power Systems to the server itself.

There are many benefits to this move, and in this paper we'll talk about some of them. We'll look at how you can get started with the basic concepts of automated monitoring, how these capabilities can be expanded through automated notification, and how regulatory compliance plays into the process. Finally, we'll look at how smaller organizations can harness the power of automation without breaking the bank.

Editor's note: This article introduces the white paper "Analyzing IBM i Performance Metrics," available free from the MC White Paper Center.

Written by Chuck Losinski

In every industry, business-critical processes depend on application performance. Interruption of real-time processing, customer service delays, and missed SLAs and deadlines are all plausible outcomes with all-too-real consequences. Fortunately, IBM i and third-party vendors offer significant power to prevent such disaster.

Adopt a modern approach, add to your skill set, and meet the service-level agreements of your organization.

Written by Halcyon Software

Editor's Note: This article is an introduction to the white paper "3 Essential Steps to Successful Performance Management," which is available free from the MC White Paper Center.

The art of performance management is often made to look cumbersome and complex, but does it have to be?

This new white paper by Ash Giddings, IT industry expert, discusses the art of performance management today. He reflects on the IT industry of the 1980s, recognizing how different it is today, or is it?

This resource will help make your decision easier and your rollout more manageable.

Written by Help/Systems

Editor's Note: This article is an excerpt from the white paper "IBM i Scheduling Survival Guide," available free from the MC Press White Paper Center.

Imagine yourself at the base of a mountain, looking up. Jagged outcroppings obscure your view of the peak, though you know it must be up there…somewhere. You've heard stories about the pride and satisfaction that comes from reaching the summit, and you consider making the climb. And yet, from your perspective, all you see are obstacles and uncertainty.

Could you be managing your data center energy usage more effectively? IBM Active Energy Manager can help you find out and then do something about it.

Written by Steve Pitcher

IBM Active Energy Manager (AEM) is an integrated component of IBM Systems Director, the systems management backbone of IBM System x, System z, Power Systems, and BladeCenter servers. Originally a plug-in component, AEM has been packaged and installed along with IBM Systems Director server since version 6.3.

Want to know what's in the IBM Systems Director 6.3 enhancements? And maybe before that you'd like to know what Systems Director is and how it fits in with Ops Nav?

Written by David Shirey

Did you ever offer to do something and then be very sorry that you did? Yeah (raising my right arm), that's the case with me and this article.

In principle, I thought it would be pretty simple. Just get a list of the enhancements to the IBM Systems Director package release 6.3 for the i and write a short blurb for each one. How hard could that be? Can you spell "slam dunk"?

More important than ever, performance monitoring and tuning solutions for IBM i are expanding to help keep an eye on other platform servers as well.

Written by John Ghrist

Given how the dependence of enterprises on their computer systems is doing nothing but growing, it follows that the importance of monitoring the performance of those systems is increasing too. Particularly in 24/7 operations environments, maximizing throughput for business systems can be key to productivity and, by extension, profitability.

Whether the method is old-fashioned backup and restoration or modern cloud-based disaster recovery, the need for archiving the work of the enterprise remains vital.

Written by John Ghrist

It can't escape those of us who appreciate the ironies of life that, while magnetic tape started vanishing in the '80s when the eight-track music tape lost popularity, tape has started disappearing from the computer industry in earnest just since the turn of the millennium.

It's ironic, of course, because the computer industry has for so long been culturally emblematic of technological progress. Yet, say the word "backup" to a computer person and most of them, if only for a second, will likely visualize a mag tape reel.