New Option for 24/7 IBM i Monitoring
September 19, 2018 Alex Woodie
It’s important to keep one’s eyes on IBM i server metrics in order to nip problems in the bud. But hiring a night-shift operator can be expensive, and moving your applications to a private cloud might not be feasible. A third option was presented last week by Data Storage Corporation in the form of IBM Power Monitor 24, a new service that promises to provide continuous 24/7 monitoring of client’s IBM i servers.
Like all cloud service providers, Data Storage Corporation invests in systems monitoring and management. After all, if you’re running critical IBM i servers on behalf of clients, it behooves you to make sure the lights on the servers are flashing, the bits are getting crunched, and the users are happy. Unexpected downtime that violates service level agreements (SLAs) also eats directly into the cloud provider’s profits, so automated monitoring solutions that minimize the odds of such occurrences are de rigueur.
Now DSC is providing its monitoring solution to non-cloud customers via a new offering called Power Monitor 24. According to DSC, the service runs continuously and checks the health of critical systems metrics, including processor utilization, ASP utilization, DASD utilization, and system connectivity. It keeps an eye on messages in the QSYSOPR and QSYSMSG logs, as well as basic job queue monitoring.
If a problem is detected, DSC’s technical staff in the United States will alert the client to the problems. If the client has contracted with DSC to take management actions, the company will go ahead and execute any escalation routines that have been agreed to ahead of time.
In addition to the monitoring and optional management services, DSC offers other administrative services, including executing backups and managing data replication as part of a high availability setup. The company offers both software-based HA (using remote journaling) and hardware-based HA (using SAN-level block data replication).
Although DSC has offered private cloud hosting and HA/DR services, the delivery of 24×7 system monitoring service is a change for DSC, says Tom Kempster, president, president of DSC’s operations group. “Our high-level monitoring services were only available to our clients that purchased IBM equipment from us, as well as our IaaS Power Cloud,” he said in a press release.
The Power Monitor 24 service is a “valuable IT insurance policy” for IBM i shops, Kempster said. “This will ensure a lower technical staff cost, while providing an outsourced monitoring backed by our 24/7 support,” he stated. “Because we are continuously monitoring, our customers will receive the peace of mind knowing they are always fully supported.”
DSC obtained the software used for the Power Monitor 24 service through an OEM agreement with another vendor, a company spokesman told IT Jungle. The service is priced based on the number of LPARs under management.
The Melville, New York-based company offers private cloud hosting for AIX, Windows, and Linux in addition to IBM i. It also sells IBM servers and storage, and offers email archive and voice and data connectivity solutions. For more info, see www.datastoragecorp.com.
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