EntireX Version 9.7
 —  Application Monitoring  —

Application Monitoring MashApp

This document covers the following topics:


General Information

The Application Monitoring Data Collector collects the response time data of each involved software component of selected synchronous EntireX RPC, CICS ECI or IMS Connect services and stores it in CSV (comma-separated values) files.

MashZone is a browser-based application from Software AG which enables you to visualize any data from various, independently distributed data sources in a so-called MashApp. Software AG provides a sample Application Monitoring MashApp which shows and evaluates the data which is collected by the Application Monitoring Data Collector. It is a showcase how a KPI-specific visualization can be achieved with MashZone.

The Application Monitoring MashApp supports MashZone 2.3 and above.

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Preparing to Use the MashApp

The following topics are covered below:

Downloading the MashApp

The Application Monitoring MashApp and related data are provided in a zip file in Empower, as a download component for EntireX. To download the zip file, proceed as follows:

  1. Log in to Empower (https://empower.softwareag.com/).

  2. Go to Products & Documentation > Download Components > EntireX - Application Monitoring MashApp.

  3. Download the "Application Monitoring MashApp" component (EXX_AppMon_MashApp.zip).

    In addition to the zip file, Empower also provides a readme file (Readme_EXX_AppMon_MashApp.txt) which contains the latest update information.

Unpacking the Zip File

You have to unpack the EXX_AppMon_MashApp.zip file to the following MashZone user data directory, depending on the MashZone version that you are using:

where <installation-directory> is the MashZone installation directory.

After unpacking the zip file, the following directories are available in the MashZone user data directory:

Directory Content
importexport\ApplicationMonitoring_<date> MashApp for application monitoring.
resources\ApplicationMonitoring\Definition Resources used by the MashApp. Initially, this directory contains the resources which do not have to be edited.
resources\ApplicationMonitoring\Definition_src Source directory for resources which have to be edited (further information is provided below) and copied into the resources\ApplicationMonitoring\Definition directory.
resources\ApplicationMonitoring\Data Default application monitoring directory. This is the directory where the MashApp expects by default the application monitoring overview and data files.
assets\colorschemes Color schemes. The color schemes for application monitoring are named AppMon_*.xml.

Editing the Resource Files

To adapt the Application Monitoring MashApp to your requirements, you have to edit the resource files in the resources\ApplicationMonitoring\Definition_src directory as described below. The resource files are CSV files with commas (,) as separators. To edit them, any tool which is able to handle text files can be used.

The following resource files are provided:

Activating the MashApp

To activate the Application Monitoring MashApp, make sure you have a Professional, Enterprise or Event license file, that you have administrator rights, and then proceed as follows:

  1. Copy all resource files from resources\ApplicationMonitoring\Definition_src to resources\ApplicationMonitoring\Definition.

  2. Invoke MashZone.

  3. Go to the Administration page (see the corresponding link at the top of the page) and then to the Import/Export/Delete page.

  4. Import the MashZone archive file (*.mzp) from the importexport\ApplicationMonitoring_<date> directory using the Import function.

    The MashApp in the importexport\ApplicationMonitoring_<date> directory is named as follows:

    M_Application Monitoring <version>_<revision>_<date>-<time>.mzp

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Special Configuration for Application Monitoring

The following configuration parameters of the Application Monitoring Data Collector (see Configuration for Application Monitoring) require special settings when data is to be evaluated by the Application Monitoring MashApp.

Parameter Special Configuration
entirex.appmondc.directory If the MashApp is to continuously monitor the application monitoring data, set this parameter to

<MashZone-user-data>/resources/­Application­Monitoring/Data

Alternatively, you can also use a different subdirectory of the resources/ApplicationMonitoring directory. In this case, you have to adjust the Directory.csv resource file accordingly.

entirex.appmondc.maxlines MashZone Version 9.6 and above is able to process a maximum of 100000 lines in a table. For previous versions, the maximum value is 10000 lines.

By default, the MashApp concatenates seven CSV files. It is therefore recommended to restrict this parameter to 14000 for MashZone Version 9.6 and above, or to 1400 for previous versions. If you plan to concatenate less CSV files in general, you can use a higher value.

entirex.appmondc.usezeroasnullvalue Set this parameter to yes to avoid errors in the MashApp.

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Using the MashApp

After you have specified all required information as described above, you can proceed as follows:

  1. Invoke MashZone.

  2. Open the MashApp "Application Monitoring".

  3. Select the Overview tab.

Tabs

The MashApp consists of several tabs offering various functions for monitoring and analyzing the application monitoring data. It also has one tab for data file selection, and one tab for the overview. The overview page shows a brief description of the tabs and charts available in the MashApp (see also the following table) and provides links to the corresponding functions.

Tab Name Function Name Description
Response Time Response Time Monitor Provides history charts which show the general performance and system load consumed by your distributed application.
Transactions Transaction Monitor Provides history charts which show the general service usage.
Successful Successful Transactions Provides a response time analysis for successful transactions.
Error Error Transactions Provides a response time analysis for error transactions.
Average Average Response Time Provides a performance analysis for the components of your distributed application.
Total Total Response Time Provides an analysis of the system load consumed by the components of your distributed application.
Distribution Distribution Shows the distribution of the selected KPI (transactions, response times, database calls) over the instances of selected components (scenario, application, program, client host, client application, or client user).
High Values High Values Shows for each component the most used instances, maximum response times, and more.
Aggregation Aggregation Shows summarized information for all instances of the selected aggregation criterion.
Data Files Data File Selection Allows you to select the CSV data files that are to be evaluated by the MashApp.
Overview Application Monitoring Overview Gives an overview of the functions and charts of the MashApp, including links to the corresponding tabs.

The following topics are covered below:

Common Master View

On most tabs, a common master view is shown at the top.

Common master view

In general, the master view contains the following elements (from left to right, and from top to bottom):

Response Time Monitor

The Response Time tab shows the history of the response time according to the selected time range and components. The data is aggregated according to the selected aggregated time interval.

Response time monitor

The upper chart shows the history of successful transactions; the lower chart shows the history of error transactions. You can select the following from the Criterion for Aggregation selection box:

The summarized data at the top of the tab shows the average, maximum or total response time for the selected successful transactions and error transactions. For the average and maximum response times, icons indicate good, average or poor performance according to the settings in the Properties.csv file.

Transaction Monitor

The Transactions tab shows the history of the number of transactions according to the selected time range and components. It is an indicator for the general service usage. The data is aggregated according to the selected aggregated time interval.

Transaction monitor

The upper chart shows the history of successful transactions; the lower chart shows the history of error transactions.

The summarized data at the top of the tab shows the total number of successful transactions and error transactions, and the total of both for the selected time range and components.

Successful Transactions

The Successful tab shows the successful transactions in the selected time range for the selected components.

Successful transactions

The table shows the application monitoring KPIs for each transaction. These are the KPIs for the successful requests as described in KPI Definitions for Application Monitoring.

In addition to the application monitoring KPIs, the table lists the Transaction ID which uniquely identifies each transaction. The transaction ID consists of the sequence number of the currently used data file in the appmon.overview.v1.csv file and (for the last six digits) the number of the record in the data file. By default, the transactions in the table are sorted by the transaction ID. You can change the sorting by clicking on the header of any column.

The Response Time column is colored according to the settings in the Properties.csv file, indicating good, average or poor performance.

When you select (click) a transaction, all available column values are shown at the bottom of the tab and the distribution of the measured times is visualized in the right bar chart below the transaction table. The left bar chart shows the response time of the currently selected transaction and compares it with the minimum, average and maximum response times of all transactions in the table. By default (if no transaction is selected), both charts show the average response time and the background is colored according to the settings in the Properties.csv file, indicating good, average or poor performance.

The summarized data at the top of the tab shows the number of successful transactions and the average, maximum and total response times for all successful transactions in the selected time range for the selected components. For the average and maximum response times, icons indicate good, average or poor performance according to the settings in the Properties.csv file.

Error Transactions

The Error tab shows the error transactions in the selected time range for the selected components.

Error transactions

The upper table shows an overview of all error codes and messages. For each error code, you can see how often this error has occurred and its average, maximum and total response times. The columns for the average and maximum response times are colored according to the settings in the Properties.csv file, indicating good, average or poor performance.

The lower table shows the application monitoring KPIs for each transaction. These are the KPIs for the failed requests as described in KPI Definitions for Application Monitoring.

In addition to the application monitoring KPIs, the table lists the Transaction ID which uniquely identifies each transaction. The transaction ID consists of the sequence number of the currently used data file in the appmon.overview.v1.csv file and (for the last six digits) the number of the record in the data file. By default, the transactions in the table are sorted by the transaction ID. You can change the sorting by clicking on the header of any column.

The Response Time column is colored according to the settings in the Properties.csv file, indicating good, average or poor performance.

When you select (click) a line in the upper table, only the transactions with the selected error code and message are shown in the lower table.

When you select (click) a transaction in the lower table, all available column values are shown at the bottom of the tab. The bar chart below the table shows the response time of the currently selected transaction and compares it with the minimum, average and maximum response times of all transactions in the table. By default (if no transaction is selected), the chart shows the average response time and the background is colored according to the settings in the Properties.csv file, indicating good, average or poor performance.

The summarized data at the top of the tab shows the number of error transactions and the average, maximum and total response times for all error transactions in the selected time range for the selected components. For the average and maximum response times, icons indicate good, average or poor performance according to the settings in the Properties.csv file.

Average Response Time

The Average tab shows the average response times of the selected successful transactions grouped by scenario, application, program, client application, client user or client host according to the setting of the Criterion for Grouping selection box. By default, all data is summarized into one group.

Average response time

The average response time is an indicator for the performance of your distributed application. The lower the average response time, the better the performance. Good, average or poor performance is indicated by the colored background according to the settings in the Properties.csv file.

The line chart at the top shows the history of the average response time. There is one line for each instance of the selected grouping criterion. The data in the line chart is aggregated according to the selected aggregated time interval.

The bar chart in the middle shows the distribution of single measured times. There is one bar for each instance of the selected grouping criterion.

The bar chart at the bottom shows the measured times in three groups: layer time, transport time and server time. There is one bar for each instance of the selected grouping criterion.

By default, both bar charts show the average time of all selected transactions. When you click on a point in the line chart, the bar charts show only the response times of the corresponding point of time.

The summarized data at the top of the tab shows the number of successful transactions and the average, maximum and total response times for all successful transactions in the selected time range for the selected components. For the average and maximum response times, icons indicate good, average or poor performance, according to the settings in the Properties.csv file.

Total Response Time

The Total tab shows the total response times of the selected successful transactions grouped by scenario, application, program, client application, client user or client host according to the setting of the Criterion for Grouping selection box. By default, all data is summarized into one group.

Total response time

The total response time is an indicator for the system load consumed by your distributed application. Even an application with a good performance may have a high system load if it is called very often.

The line chart at the top shows the history of the total response time. There is one line for each instance of the selected grouping criterion. The data in the line chart is aggregated according to the selected aggregated time interval.

The bar chart in the middle shows the distribution of single measured times. There is one bar for each instance of the selected grouping criterion.

The bar chart at the bottom shows the measured times in three groups: layer time, transport time and server time. There is one bar for each instance of the selected grouping criterion.

By default, both bar charts show the total time of all selected transactions. When you click on a point in the line chart, the bar charts show only the response times of the corresponding point of time.

The summarized data at the top of the tab shows the number of successful transactions and the average, maximum and total response times for all successful transactions in the selected time range for the selected components. For the average and maximum response times, icons indicate good, average or poor performance, according to the settings in the Properties.csv file.

Distribution

The Distribution tab shows four pie charts. Each pie chart displays the distribution of the selected KPI over the instances of a selected component. Only successful transactions are evaluated in this tab.

Distribution

You can select the KPIs from the following areas from the Criterion for Distribution selection box:

The layer, transport and server times are summaries of other KPIs. These KPIs are marked by an asterisk (*) in the above list. In the selection box of the MashApp, these KPIs are indicated by a leading ">".

Each pie chart shows the distribution for the component which is currently selected in the selection box directly above the pie chart. For each pie chart, you can select one of the following components:

The selections in the master view at the top of the page can be used as pre-selections, for example, if only the values of a specific application or user are to be evaluated.

When you select (click) a section in a pie chart, the corresponding component instance will be used as a filter for the subsequent pie charts. For example, when you click the section for the SQUARE program (see the above image), the other pie charts to the right will show only those client hosts, client applications and client users which have called the SQUARE program.

The table at the bottom lists the successful transactions filtered by the selections in the pie charts. The columns in the table are the same as in the Successful Transactions function.

The summarized data at the top of the tab shows the following values for the currently selected distribution KPI: the total, the average per transaction and the average per minute.

High Values

The High Values tab shows for each component the number of component instances, the name of the most-used instance and the percentage of the transactions referring the most-used instance.

High values

The following information is shown for some KPIs: the average value per transaction, the maximum value and the total. Note that database calls are only counted for calls against a Natural RPC server on a mainframe, whereas the Average per Transaction refers to all transactions.

If desired, the values can be restricted to successful transactions or error transactions only. By default, all transaction types are evaluated.

The summarized data at the top of the tab shows the total number of successful transactions and error transactions and the total of both for the selected time range and components.

Aggregation

The Aggregation tab shows summarized information for all instances of the selected aggregation criterion.

Aggregation

You can select one of the following aggregation criteria from the Criterion for Aggregation selection box:

By default, all data is summarized.

The table lists all instances of the selected aggregation criterion. The following information is shown for each instance: the number of transactions, the date of the first and last transaction referring the instance, and the average, maximum and total response times. By default, the table shows the values for all transaction types. This can be restricted to successful or error transactions only.

The Avg Response Time and Max Response Time columns are colored according to the settings in the Properties.csv file, indicating good, average or poor performance.

The above image shows an example of a client application aggregation. The table lists all client applications which have been monitored in the selected time range.

Data File Selection

The Data Files tab shows the currently selected data files.

Data file selection

You can select the directory containing the data files according to the entries in the Directory.csv file, the number of subsequent data files (at most seven data files) and the data files that are to be evaluated.

The Data File(s) selection box shows as time range the start date of the first selected data file and the start date of the file which comes after the last selected data file. If the last selected file is the last file in the appmon.overview.v1.csv file, "most recent" is shown as the end date of the time range.

The table lists all data files of the selected directory according to the entries in the appmon.overview.v1.csv file. It shows the start time (when the first data was written to the data file), the name and the path (full name) to the data file. In addition, it indicates whether a data file is currently selected or not. This is also visualized by the color of the Nbr column.

All evaluations of the MashApp are restricted to the data of the currently selected directory. The values selected from Max. Number of Evaluated Data Files and Data File(s) are used when a Last … time range is selected on another tab of the MashApp.

The data at the top of the tab shows the path to the currently selected directory, the name of the overview file, how many data files are currently selected from all available data files, the names of the first and last selected data files, and the time range that is used by the selected data files.

Application Monitoring Overview

The Overview tab provides a short description of the functions, charts and selections of the Application Monitoring MashApp.

overview

When you click an entry in the Tab or Value column, the corresponding page of the MashApp is shown with all selections set to their initial default values (including the data file selection).

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