Dynatrace supports the installation of code modules for CICS, IMS, and Java on z/OS to achieve seamless observability for IBM Z mainframes with trace and metric insights. These code modules interact with the Dynatrace z/OS Data Collection subsystem (zDC) and the zRemote module to process observability data efficiently.
Architecture
The zDC subsystem controls communication between the code modules and the zLocal. The zLocal, hosted in the z/OS Unix environment, runs as part of zDC. It handles the TCP/IP connection and transfers binary data from the code modules to the zRemote module.
The zRemote processes binary data received from the code modules and relays aggregated data to a Dynatrace ActiveGate. The zRemote can run in a Windows or Linux environment and thereby offloads much of the processing from the code modules incurred in instrumenting subsystems and applications.
To get started, see z/OS installation overview.
FAQ
How much CPU time do code modules consume while instrumenting subsystems and applications?The code modules consume some CPU time while instrumenting subsystems and applications on IBM Z, but this overhead is typically very low (in the range of 1%-2%, depending on the type of monitored transactions). See the examples below.
| Industry of customer | Country | Code module | Measured in year | Measurement method | CPU time overhead |
|---|
| Financial (Bank) | Spain | CICS | 2020 | HIS profiling1 | < 1.0 % |
| Insurance | Germany | CICS | 2020 | ran their own tests | < 1.0 % |
| Insurance | Germany | IMS | 2020 | HIS profiling1 | < 1.0 % |
| Financial (Bank) | Germany | CICS | 2019 | ran their own tests | < 1.0 % |
| Insurance | Germany | IMS | 2017 | HIS profiling1 | < 1.61 % |
| Insurance | Germany | IMS | 2017 | HIS profiling1 | < 0.33 % |
| Financial (Bank) | Austria | CICS | 2015 | HIS profiling1 | < 2.04 % |
|
Notes
- The CPU time overhead numbers are calculated relatively to the address spaces in which the code modules are running. When you compare the CPU time overhead relatively to the LPAR, then these numbers are even lower.
- For example, 2% CPU time overhead in CICS address spaces represents only 1% CPU time overhead per LPAR if the CICS workloads consume only 50% of the total CPU time on a given LPAR compared to other workloads (such as jobs and system tasks).
What does a volatile service mean and how can I solve related problems?A volatile CICS or volatile IMS is created automatically by Dynatrace when the maximum number of service IDs that can be generated per region (process) is exceeded. To increase the limit of service IDs that can be generated, please contact a Dynatrace ONE product specialist by selecting the chat button in the upper-right corner of the Dynatrace menu bar.