Monitor LPARs and regions
IBM Z mainframes are equipped with a variety of configuration options, including different processor types for special purposes. The most important processor types are the General Processor (GCPU) and the System z Integrated Information Processor (zIIP). You can optimize your expenses by moving workloads from GCPUs to zIIPs, because the latter are not subject to license costs and maintenance fees.
Dynatrace can help you to achieve such a cost-effective IBM Z configuration by providing infrastructure metrics for LPARs (represented as Hosts) and regions (represented as Processes).
All metrics listed below are provided by the zDC subsystem as builtin metrics.
LPAR metrics
On the host level, Dynatrace provides you with the following metrics:
| Metric name | Metric description | Metric source |
|---|---|---|
GCPU usage | Actively used GCPU time of the LPAR as a percentage of available GCPU time. It indicates if GCPUs are running at full capacity or are capped. In this case, capping means that GCPUs could have processed more workload, but were limited to a certain capacity to control license costs. | System Control Blocks |
zIIP eligible time processed on GCPU | If zIIP eligible time is available, workloads can be offloaded to less expensive zIIPs, but currently they don't have enough resources. In such a case, you can change your system configuration and add more zIIPs to reduce costs. | System Control Blocks |
Rolling 4-hour average MSU value | The peak rolling 4-hour average MSU value determines the chargeable MSU in the IBM sub-capacity licensing model. If you're using this licensing model, you should try to balance and distribute your workloads as much as possible. | System Control Blocks |
Consumed MSU hours | zDC version 1.245+ zRemote version 1.245+ The number of consumed MSUs per hour on this LPAR. | SMF70EDT |
MSU capacity | The MSU capacity of your mainframe as outlined in the IBM Large Systems Programming Reference. | System Control Blocks |
GCPU time | zDC version 1.253+ zRemote version 1.253+ Total GCPU time consumed per minute on this LPAR. | System Control Blocks |
zIIP usage | zDC version 1.253+ zRemote version 1.253+ Actively used zIIP time of the LPAR as a percentage of available zIIP time. | System Control Blocks |
zIIP time | zDC version 1.253+ zRemote version 1.253+ Total zIIP time consumed per minute on this LPAR. | System Control Blocks |
Additionally, Dynatrace provides you with the following system data:
- CPU model and serial number
- Number of general processors and zIIPs
- Total physical memory
The number of processors provides you an overview of the current CPU configuration, while the CPU model and serial number help you to identify the correct "replacement part" if something is broken.
Region metrics
On the process level, Dynatrace provides you with the following metrics:
| Metric name | Metric description | Metric source |
|---|---|---|
GCPU usage | Actively used GCPU time of the process as a percentage of the overall used GCPU time. | System Control Blocks |
GCPU time | GCPU time per minute consumed after process start. | System Control Blocks |
zIIP eligible time processed on GCPU | If zIIP eligible time is available, workloads can be offloaded to less expensive zIIPs, but currently they don't have enough resources. In such a case, you can change your system configuration and add more zIIPs to reduce costs. | System Control Blocks |
zIIP eligible time | zIIP time per minute consumed after process start. This indicates the workload already running on zIIPs. | System Control Blocks |
Consumed Service Units | zDC version 1.253+ zRemote version 1.253+ The calculated number of consumed Service Units per minute. | System Control Blocks |
