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Multi-Platform Virtualization - how to manage multiple platforms from a single
location without paying for an expert?

 

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM EDT

 

Can't attend the live event?  Please register and we will be happy to provide you with a link to the recorded webinar. 

 

Multi-platform systems management specialist, Donnie MacColl provides a practical “how to” technical demonstration of the most common issues faced by IT operators. Donnie shows you how to monitor and manage Windows, AIX and IBM i environments simply and easily, with very little resource, and eliminating the need to be an expert in every operating system.

Why attend?
Do you need to do more with less?
Do you have employees who are skilled in Windows but have to manage i5/OS or AIX machines?  

This technical demonstration will open your eyes to how easy you can make your working life, relieve pressure and make you look good.  

Will this technical demonstration enhance your knowledge?
You’ll be shown how to automatically monitor, manage, and be alerted to errors or thresholds being breached. In particular how to monitor Disk Space utilization, CPU utilization, and memory utilization, plus

• If your internet access is available?
• If your email server is working correctly?
• Are there any files or folders that are growing too quickly?
• How do i monitor my windows alert logs for errors?
• How do i know my AIX servers are working correctly?

 

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM EDT

 

Can't attend the live event?  Please register and we will be happy to provide you with a link to the recorded webinar.  

 

 

Halcyon Software, Inc.

Address

         196 West Ashland Street, Doylestown, PA, USA, 18901

Phone

         +1-267-895-1703

Fax

         +1-267-895-1701

Website

http://www.halcyonsoftware.com/

Halcyon Software is an international software company with over 20 years experience in systems management. Halcyon develops solutions for IBM enterprise class systems, supporting the IBM i®, AIX®, Windows®, UNIX® and Linux® platforms. Large multi-nationals, corporate data centers, as well as small to medium-sized businesses, use Halcyon Software products to proactively manage and automate their IT operations.

The Halcyon integrated solutions enable companies to ensure that mission-critical systems, core applications and services are always available. “Early warning systems” detect potential issues so that they can be quickly resolved without impacting service levels.

A company known for developing quality solutions backed by excellent customer support, Halcyon thrives on challenge and going “the extra mile”. Regional clients are supported by a global network of technical centers located across the USA, Europe and Asia Pacific.

Manually reclaiming storage is a hassle. Wouldn't you rather automate that process?

Every now and again, a System i administrator should run the Reclaim Storage (RCLSTG) command on the system. If you've got limited experience with the platform, the system, or even the command itself, then you may not be aware of what it does and how best to schedule it.

Why Should I Run a RCLSTG? 

Look at the RCLSTG as a "spring cleaning" for your system. The process checks the headers and pointers on all objects in the Auxiliary Storage Pool (ASP) and attempts to validate and reclaim orphaned, damaged, and incorrectly updated objects.

As the RCLSTG command also deletes unusable objects or fragments, it's especially relevant after a sudden power failure or system crash.

How Long Will It Take to Run? 

This is very difficult to estimate, but probably the best way is to check how long it ran the last time. Display the data area QUSRSYS/QRCLSTG using this command:

DSPDTAARA DTAARA(QUSRSYS/QRCLSTG)

Figure 1: Determine how long RCLSTG ran.

Our example shows that the last RCLSTG ran from 1740 to 1911 (5:40 p.m. to 7:11 p.m.) on February 9, 2009.

What Preparation Should I Undertake?

As the RCLSTG could (albeit unlikely) impact the day-to-day running of the system, it's advisable to perform a full system backup and if possible an IPL prior to running the command.

How Do I Run a RCLSTG? 

You'll need to sign on using a QSECOFR profile or an equivalent profile before bringing the system to a restricted state (all jobs need to be ended apart from the system console). After ensuring that all users have signed off and that all batch processes are complete, a restricted state can be achieved by using this command:

 ENDSBS SBS(*ALL) OPTION(*IMMED)

The system is in a restricted state when you see the CPF0968 message on the QSYSOPR message queue.

Figure 2: CPF0968  indicates that the system is in a restricted state.

Once the system is ready, issue this command:

RCLSTG

Of course, the process described is very manual and somewhat dated, so why not schedule the whole process using Halcyon's Restricted Task Manager? It's so simple!

Decide when you want to run it.

Figure 3: Choose when to run RCLSTG.

Then decide how you'd like to achieve a restricted state--by automatically notifying the online users or not.

Figure 4: Choose how to achieve a restricted state.

Next, decide what you want to run--in our example, a SAVSYS, *NONSYS, SAVDLO, and a SAV followed by RCLSTG, all with built-in error recovery and Short Message Service (SMS) task-completion capabilities.

Figure 5: Choose what you want to run.

Post-RCLSTG Checks

1.  Informational status messages will be sent to the session running the RCLSTG, but it's good practice to check the QSYSOPR message queue for any anomalies when RCLSTG completes. 

2.  Any objects found to be secured by damaged or missing authorization lists are assigned to the QRCLAUTL authorization and should be reviewed by using the command DSPAUTLOBJ AUTL(QRCLAUTL).

3.  Check for any objects discovered that are owned by a damaged or deleted user profile or any objects that have no owners as assigned to QDFTOWN. These objects can be reviewed by using the command WRKOBJOWN USRPRF(QDFTOWN).

4.  Any objects that are lost from their original specified location are placed in QRCL for qsys.lib objects and /QReclaim or /QOpenSys/QReclaim for IFS objects. Review these by using the commands below:

DSPLIB LIB(QRCL)

WRKLNK OBJ('/QOpenSys/QReclaim')

WRKLNK OBJ('/QReclaim')

Automatically reclaiming storage is easy and painless with Halcyon's Restricted Task Manager. Eliminate the hassles of manual storage reclamation!

Check out Halcyon's other offerings in the MC Showcase Buyer's Guide. Also see Halcyon's Webinar.