FAQs

What is insure/MONITOR for OneWorld® and how is it different than anything else on the market?

insure/MONITOR for OneWorld® is a real-time GUI operations workbench/window that captures, organizes and displays key system and application metrics for J.D. Edwards OneWorld®. This IT management tool provides powerful, flexible views into the AS/400 or iSeries, bringing together system, database, user and OneWorld® activity. It addresses key issues in efficiently monitoring complex applications like OneWorld® with a large number of users. insure/MONITOR for OneWorld® gives "deep status visibility" to the systems management team. Problems are identified quickly, so effective action can be taken early and accurately.

How does the information and functionality that insure/MONITOR for OneWorld® provides differentiate it from other tools?

insure/MONITOR for OneWorld® knows how the OneWorld® application works, and goes beyond the basic job monitoring of traditional tools. Today, IT is expected to make sure that systems work and that critical applications perform. This means high availability and fast transaction/query processing. To succeed, IT needs timely, specific, and in-depth information - without becoming overwhelmed by raw data that provides no value. For example, client/server applications are notoriously difficult to monitor and manage. Because these applications are distributed, it is more difficult to determine who the real user is and what they are doing in real-time. We solve this problem by providing comprehensive activity and user tracking so system operators and application administrators can perform pro-active problem identification and diagnosis.

insure/MONITOR for OneWorld® features include:

• New job filtering functions so all jobs, client/server jobs, or only OneWorld jobs are displayed.
• Display of OneWorld users and groups to allow IT personnel to associate AS/400 and iSeries jobs with end-users (for the majority of OneWorld accounts that use generic system profiles for all users).
• Pie/bar charts of system and application performance metrics such as CPU and disk I/O.
• Seven new built-in data views so users can easily switch between management "topics" such as security, communications, performance, and applications.
• Usability enhancements designed to make data easy to interpret at a glance

How does insure/MONITOR for OneWorld® enable pro-active system management?

One key to effective application and systems management is to detect potential problems early and take corrective action. Through early detection, issues that arise can be addressed quickly so they impact a minimum number of people. With the current trend of system consolidation, this becomes an even more important mission. Again, insure/MONITOR for OneWorld® provides selective application and system metrics to allow application and systems managers to react quickly and respond with the right information.

Additional real-time monitoring technologies offered by Leftfield fully integrate with insure/MONITOR for OneWorld® to expand the system or application views desired. Currently, insure/MONITOR for OneWorld® can be enhanced with modules like:

• disk/HUNTER to control disk spikes and manage IFS activity
• insure/RESOURCES to monitor/control query activity
• insure/SECURITY to monitor the use of client/server interfaces, object use, and enforcement of security policies

What information does insure/MONITOR for OneWorld® provide that is difficult to obtain with traditional methods?

At a basic level, insure/MONITOR for OneWorld® provides job information normally obtained with the use of green-screen commands like Work Active Jobs (WRKACTJOB). This includes information such as job priority, run statistics, locks, open files, and the job log. Our approach to information displays in insure/MONITOR for OneWorld® however, has the advantage of being searchable and can be sorted easily to make the data more useful. Further, graphical views of numeric data are provided to make interpretation easier.

Secondly, unique information is provided that is impossible, difficult or awkward to obtain without insure/MONITOR for OneWorld®. For example, the last requests for middleware such as ODBC are surfaced so operations and programming personnel can see client/server flows. Furthermore, this allows IT to see what "applications" users are accessing as well as the objects those interfaces are accessing (e.g. what files are being downloaded by an FTP user).

Thirdly, insure/MONITOR for OneWorld® can focus on critical applications. For example, with it your OneWorld application can be isolated so the systems operator can quickly focus their monitoring efforts.

Lastly, the information display can be fully customized. For example, different data views are built into insure/MONITOR for OneWorld® to allow the user to quickly switch between topical areas such as performance and TCP/IP information.

What are some typical problems that insure/MONITOR for OneWorld® can solve?

insure/MONITOR for OneWorld® can help identify a wide variety of system and application problems including intense queries, lock contention, runaway jobs, application errors/messages, and excessive temporary storage use. Because of its flexible and customizable display, a systems operator can fine-tune the data displays to address their specific priorities, needs, and procedures.

How long does it take to install and configure insure/MONITOR for OneWorld®?

Installation of insure/MONITOR for OneWorld® typically takes about 15 minutes. Most of the configuration is completed during the install, so the total time to have a functional display is less than one hour.

What releases does insure/MONITOR for OneWorld® work on? Are there any other pre-requisites for the product?

insure/MONITOR for OneWorld® will work on iSeries and AS/400 releases V4R4 and higher. There are no other software pre-requisites to run the product.

Can insure/MONITOR for OneWorld® be used to remotely monitor a system?

Yes insure/MONITOR for OneWorld® is built using an efficient data stream using TCP/IP sockets. This makes it usable over dial-up connections with good performance. The TCP/IP port can be configured (changed) to work with most firewalls to allow access over the Internet.