Performance Toolkit FCXTREND file
We've been running the Performance Toolkit since October, and the
<sysname> FCXTREND file is getting a bit large. I wrote a pipeline
to break this file down into monthly segments, and thought I had a way
of using them via the FCXSUM command, documented in the manual...
But once I got to that point, there appears to not >be a FCXSUM command
in the actual product.
The FCXSUM 'command' was a separate module, required up to PerfKit FL440 to
split off the last piece of trend file data in 'summary file' format.
Starting with PerfKit FL510 summary files could be created directly by means
of the 'FC MONCOLL RESET ..' command. The FCXSUM MODULE is obsolete now, and
any reference to it should be removed from the documentation since it
apparently is no longer shipped.
Note, however, that PerfKit summary files are intended only for submission
to some other program, to be collected into some other history data base
(each summary file contains data for a single period only). They are NOT a
replacement for FCXTREND files.
Is there another way to boil down the FCXTREND file into data that is
usable by the product for reporting, or is it strictly for writing your own
reports against? Should this file just be cleaned up on a regular basis if
you're not using it for your own reporting? Is there anything out there
that
would use the data to produce some trend reports for the system?
FCXTREND files can be used 'as is' by PerfKit, as input
- for viewing/printing the collected data in TRNDSCAN mode
- to create history graphics, for use in capacity planning / trend analysis
(requires implementation of the PerfKit Web interface if you want to
see nice line graphics).
Methods for pruning the file:
- Splitting the FCXTREND file into chunks of single months is certainly
a possibility. The easiest way for doing that would be to use the FCXRENAM
EXEC, and to just rename the previously active FCXTREND file at the
beginning
of each new month.
However, the resulting multiple files won't allow creation of trend
graphics
for the whole period you have data for, except in multiple pieces again.
So having a single file is probably better.
- As mentioned in an earlier append, there's also an FCXTREND module
that can be used for deleting old records based on specifications in a
control file.
Contact me directly if you want to try it.
Where the trend data are not used at all creation of the file should be
avoided,
by adapting the 'FC MONCOLL RESET ..' statement in the initialization file.
Makes more sense than regularly deleting the file without ever looking at it
..
Eginhard Jaeger
