The aim of the “Control for i” product is to monitor 100% of an IBM i partition using a product such as Nagios and plenty other tools (e.g.: Centreon, CheckMK, Pandora, PRTG, ServiceNav, Shinken, SolarWinds, Zabbix, etc…). Yes, you can keep the usual GUI interface of your enterprise monitoring solution !
Nagios and “Nagios-like” tools, have really basic capacities to survey IBM i (system checks as ping, disk space used and some more …) but they cannot be used to monitor:
The plugin supplied with ‘Control For i’ enables the connection between the “Nagios-like” tool and the IBM i partition.
The only input parameter is an IBM i command which will be executed on the IBM i partition. The message returned from this command will be the text displayed by Nagios or sent by e-mail if it concerns an error.
The product is supplied with numerous check commands which cover most of needs related to IBM i, IBM i applications and middleware operations.
The commands can of course be used interactively in a 5250 session to test and validate a check (or in a CLP program written by the user).
All the commands are written to be executed extremely quickly in order to avoid timeouts during checks performed by Nagios.
With 150 Plug & Play controls provided, more than 95% of our customers needs are covered.
But in some cases, a specific control is still needed. We provide templates to create new ‘CONTROL for i’ commands, that will be used as well by Nagios.
On the IBM i partition, an agent is running permanently. Its role is to accept requests from Nagios, and to return the answer (with relevant message).
The scheduling and the frequency of the controls are managed by Nagios.
The ‘Control for i’ product is available in English and French versions.
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The commands below are some example of the ones used to monitor IBM i operations .
According to the number of parameters available with each command, the entire product represents MORE THAN 150 DIFFERENT UNIT CONTROLS !
SEE SOME EXAMPLES BELOW (for more complete list, download the brochure)
The CTCHKBCH command checks whether a job has been executed within a time range passed as a parameter. It can be used for example to check that a night batch, or a backup job has actually started, and has actually ended, within the time range passed in parameter.
The CTCHKBRM command check that the backups made by BRMS have been correctly performed.
The CTCHKBRMEX command is used to check the availability of expired volumes for a given media class in BRMS. This control realized in the afternoon makes it possible to avoid an error during the backup for lack of supports.
The CTCHKCPU command generates an alert if the power consumed exceeds the percentage passed in parameter. It is possible to select a job list, a list of subsystems, or the entire system.
The CTCHKDSK command is used to generate an alert if the disk space utilization exceeds the limit passed in parameter.
The CTCHKDTAA command checks if the content of a Data Area corresponds to the value passed in parameter. If the value is not the same, an alert is generated.
This command makes it possible, among other things, to carry out a specific check very quickly.
The CTCHKJOB command checks if a job is active, or inactive.
The CTCHKJOBQ command checks that the number of jobs present in a JOBQ does not exceed a certain number, passed in parameter.
The CTCHKLCKW command generates an alert if at least one job is in the LCKW (Lock Wait) state in the system.
The CTCHKMSGW command generates an alert if at least one job is in the MSGW (Message Wait) state in the system.
The CTCHKPING command makes it possible to check that a correspondent is available (via the PING command) from the IBM i partition.
The CTCHKPRB command generates an alert when a system problem is detected. System problems are visible with the WRKPRB command.
The CTCHKSAV command checks that the backups have been correctly performed by the SAVSECDTA, SAVCFG, SAVLIB, SAVDLO and SAV system commands.
The CTCHKSBS command checks that a subsystem is active, or on the contrary that it is stopped. It also allows you to check a list of jobs that must be active in this subsystem.
The CTCHKUSR command is used to generate an alert if a profile is disabled, based on a list passed in parameter.
The commands below are used to monitor the operation of Quick EDH and MIMIX High Availability software.
The CTCHKEDH command checks that the replication provided by the product Quick EDD-HA (of the company Traders) is correct, and undergoes no excessive delay.
The CTCHKMMXAG command checks that all elements of a MIMIX Application Group are active, or in a state that allows a proper replication.
The CTCHKMMXDG command checks that all elements of a MIMIX Data Group are active, or in a state that allows a proper replication.
The CTCHKMMXDS command checks that there is no delay in the replication of a MIMIX Data Group, no errors are detected, and no objects are temporarily excluded from replication.
The controls below are used to monitor the operation of one of the ERP on the market : M3. They are based on the data provided by the Grid and the Server View. Other probes of the same kind, for other ERPs, will come or will be developed depending the need of our customers or prospects…
The CTM3HSTSTS command checks that the Hosts are active and the level of memory they use.
The CTM3JOBSTS command is used to check the level of CPU utilization and the activity level of M3 jobs (*AUTOJOB, * INTERACT, * BATCH, * MIJOBS).
The CTM3NBAJ command checks that the number of Autojobs is correct.
The CTM3NODSTS command is used to check the CPU and memory usage level of the M3 Nodes.
The CTM3SVCSTS command is used to check that the services are actives.
Some more explanations ? Click here !
