Operating Systems

Starting with z/VSE 4.3, IBM has developed an application framework that lets you monitor your z/VSE systems using standard monitoring interfaces. This application framework is based
on the common standards TCP/IP and the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). It includes an open interface that lets you use your own programs to collect other data.

Here we provide a summary of the z/VSE SNMP capabilities and an example you can use to monitor your z/VSE console and inform your monitoring appliance (via an SNMP Trap) when a specific console message occurs.

z/VSE SNMP Capabilities

The z/VSE SNMP capabilities can be seen as two parts:

• The z/VSE Monitoring Agent responding to SNMP v1 requests
• The z/VSE Trap Client sending SNMP v1 traps to any monitoring appliance (that has SNMP capabilities).

The z/VSE Monitoring Agent

The z/VSE Monitoring Agent consists of three logical layers:

• A monitoring appliance or a client; this can be a workstation, server, wireless telephone or personal digital assistant (PDA) where monitoring software is installed
• The z/VSE Monitoring Agent, which lies at the center of the application framework and processes requests from clients and controls access to business logic and data
• Plug-ins that provide access to z/VSE data and other data via your own programs.

The z/VSE Monitoring Agent is a batch application that runs in a z/VSE (static or dynamic) partition. It implements an SNMP agent that replies to SNMP v1 requests from SNMP clients.

The z/VSE Monitoring Agent collects the data (which it provides) from different plug-ins (system plug-ins, CPU plug-ins, vendor plug-ins, etc.). The system plug-in and the CPU plug-in are shipped with z/VSE. If you want to extend the z/VSE Monitoring Agent with your own data, the z/VSE e-business Connectors User’s Guide explains how to write your own plug-in.

You can set up the z/VSE Monitoring Agent using these simple steps: 

1. Create a configuration file. You can use the sample configuration file SKMASCFG and sample job IESMASCFG (both provided in VSE/ICCF Library 59) to create a new/customized configuration file in PRD2.CONFIG.
2. Specify in the configuration file the SNMP communityname, the port and the plug-ins you want to use. We recommend you change the communityname for security reasons. It’s used for authentication of clients (i.e., a type of password), which is transmitted in clear text.
3. To start the z/VSE Monitoring Agent, you can use the sample job SKSTMAS (also provided in VSE/ICCF Library 59), which will use the configuration you previously created.

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