June 2011

Using Storage Collections and Thresholds with Robot/SPACE

Need a little help finding those rogue DASD eaters and old unused objects?

Robot/SPACE can collect library, object, and file statistics from your system, including size, last used, ownership, and growth information. It even can categorize and account for disk space use down to the object level, and graphically display size and trend information.

You can use Robot/SPACE collections to gather information for any combination of library, object, IFS directory, file, and output queue. When your collections run, Robot/SPACE helps you spot potential size or growth issues for your database or directories. You can even compare collections for library, object, file, member, directory, stream file, and output queue sizes to help pinpoint potential issues. Let’s take a closer look at the possibilities.

Classifying Collection Group by Department

First, a few assumptions: You’ve been asked to collect and compare information about the data used by various departments in your company. These departments consume disk space for library and directory objects. Each department’s applications and files are in separate libraries and directories so this makes our job easier.

We’ll create a collection classification and link it to our Collection Group Library and IFS Filter. First we create the classification in Robot/SPACE by right-clicking Collection Classification under Storage Collections and selecting Add. From the Classification window (Figure 1), we specify the details for our classification. For example, here is the PAYROLL classification:

Note: In this example, we specified a Robot/CPA Accounting Code for billing DASD use.

Figure 1: Robot/SPACE Classification window

Attach Filters

Next, we attach the classifications directly to the library and directory filters in our Collection Group definition. Under Collection Group, double-click your group to display the Collection Group window. From the Library Filter tab (Figure 2), select your classification and select Add.

Figure 2: Robot/SPACE Collection Group, Library Filter tab

Next, from the IFS Filter tab (Figure 3), select your classification and select Add.

Figure 3: Robot/SPACE Collection Group, IFS Filter tab

View Graphical Comparison

We can graphically compare DASD usage by classification (Figure 4) to help determine trends based on department. Right-click Collection Group and select Collection Summary Graph to display a graphical comparison by department (we could extend the classification to the file level to capture department-level use.)

Figure 4: Robot/SPACE Collection Summary Graph

Comparing Differences Between Collection Times

You also can compare collections that occurred on different days or times. For example, assume that you’re collecting information weekly and you want to compare this week’s collection to the one from the same week a month ago.

First, launch the Collection Explorer from the Robot/SPACE toolbar. The Explorer lists the history of all your collected data for a collection group. Use the Control key and your mouse to select two collections. Then, right-click and select an option to compare libraries, objects, file members, IFS directories, IFS files, or output queues (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Robot/SPACE Collection Explorer

Robot/SPACE displays the results of your comparison graphically (Figure 6).

Figure 6: Robot/SPACE Graphic Collection Comparison

Notification Of Threshold Events

You can set up events in Robot/SPACE to notify you if a library, directory, object, or file exceeds a certain growth rate or size, or exists beyond a certain date. This notification can be a Robot/NETWORK status message and/or a message from Robot/ALERT.

To define the Collection Event in Robot/SPACE, select Collection Event Thresholds under Storage Collecting. Right-click the collection event for which you want to specify a threshold and select Properties. From the Event Threshold window (Figure 7), specify the details of your threshold and click OK to attach the event to the filter in your collection group.

Figure 7: Robot/SPACE Event Threshold window

In this example, we’ll be notified if a library, object, directory, or file grows more than 25 percent between collections for any collection group. Robot/SPACE will send a warning status to Robot/NETWORK, and Robot/ALERT will send a message to the database administrator’s device.

Monitoring database growth is a smart idea. Don’t wait for a critical DASD storage issue. Proactively monitor your DASD growth closely to spot issues and deal with them fast.

Contributed by Chuck Losinski, Product Support Manager

Q & A

How can I copy my current report distribution to a new Robot/REPORTS user?

In Robot/REPORTS, prompt the REPCPYDST (Copy Report Distribution) command and specify the From and To Recipients and Yes (Y) for Copy Distribution List reports.

I would like to be notified if my Robot/ SCHEDULE job runs longer than 30 minutes. How can I make this happen?

From the Robot/SCHEDULE Job Monitor, select Job Overrun and select either Maximum Duration or Must complete by. You can send a message to a message queue for Robot/CONSOLE to pick up, send a message using Robot/ALERT to a device defined on the Robot/SCHEDULE job, escalate a status to the Robot/NETWORK Status Center, or end the job.