LEVEL 3: Advanced Automation Suite

Optimize Performance, Disk Space, and Spooled File Management on Your IBM i

PRODUCT SUMMARY

Does This Sound Familiar? 

How would you answer the following questions?

  • Are you making effective use of system resources by running jobs at the best time?
  • Do you receive alerts if performance thresholds are breached?
  • Can you quickly identify resource-grabbing jobs and/or users and take prompt, corrective action?
  • Can you automate disk space management, freeing technical resources for other projects?
  • Can you manage disk space quickly and easily across your IBM i partitions and analyze trends?
  • Can you free up disk space by not retaining spooled files directly on the system?
  • Do you automatically email spooled files to users?
  • Do you monitor system-critical messages and alert appropriate personnel quickly?

If you said, NO to any of these questions, Level 3: Advanced Automation Suite can help!

What Is Level 3?

Level 3 of the Halcyon IBM i Server Suites, Advanced Automation Suite, helps ensure your systems are running to their full potential, maximizes system uptime for your business, saves significant operational costs, and reduces the risk of human error.

Corporate data centers, managed service provides (MSPs), and IBM i customers look to Level 3 for real-time monitoring, notification of potential problems, automatic
initiation of required responses to fix issues, and action logs. This eliminates repetition of the same problem and avoids late-night support calls and IT staff troubleshooting.

Level 3 provides early warning systems that could impact the business. IT teams can achieve significant savings by automating all manual tasks, checking procedures, and achieving more efficient utilization of system resources. This enables your organization to grow without additional IT support staff.

Halcyon’s solutions interface with recognized open source systems such as Security Information Event Managers (SIEM), Log Amalgamators, IBM Tivoli, HP Openview, CA Unicenter, BMC Patrol, and any Syslog or SNMP-compliant system. The software also interfaces with both in-house and proprietary help desk systems.

Who Is Level 3 For?

IT teams use Level 3 to proactively monitor key business applications, effectively manage disk space and spooled files, and ensure system performance stays within service level agreement thresholds. Level 3 customer success teams include:

  • IT teams that need an extremely flexible monitoring solution for stand-alone use
  • IT teams that need to incorporate an extremely flexible monitoring solution into their own third-party software, for example help desk applications
  • Managed service providers (MSPs) and outsourcers supporting multiple clients
  • System administrators and operators at all levels

How does Level 3 help these teams succeed? In short, it allows them to do more with less. With Level 3, these teams can:

  • Receive alerts of impending issues that may impact business, such as suspension of disk mirroring or imminent disk failure
  • Manage and control critical business applications such as Lawson M3 (Movex), SAP, JD Edwards, Misys Equation, Midas Plus, and Infor, as well as high availability solutions
  • Use preconfigured rules and templates to support rapid deployment and monitoring
  • Receive real-time notification that a time-critical job has not yet finished
  • Ensure maximum availability and continuous operation of critical IT systems
  • Generate long-term trend analysis on IBM i server performance
  • Improve system performance by increasing available disk space
  • Avoid unnecessary disk upgrades with regular system housekeeping to keep disk usage in check
  • Release disk space by not having to retain spooled files directly on the system
  • Archive and restore individual spooled file entries or entire output queues
  • Interface with integral calendars so scheduled events and restricted tasks can
    run in an unattended environment
  • Receive real-time auditing and security alerts
  • Schedule event monitors and alert notification so incomplete or failed processes replicate current working patterns and escalation policies
  • View the status of managed servers from the convenience of a mobile device
  • Improve business process visibility and reduce costs
  • Monitor multiple systems on multiple platforms without the need for additional staff

Level 3: Key Software Features

Level 3 offers powerful monitoring and automation features that proactively control business applications and critical processes to optimize the performance of your IBM i systems. Level 3 provides 24/7 monitoring of IBM i messages, threshold breaches, business applications, FTP activity, the security audit journal, and the automatic management of important events and mission-critical tasks. Additional features include:

  • Business Application Monitoring: Use specialist, built-in templates to automatically monitor critical business applications like Lawson M3 (Movex), SAP, JD Edwards, Misys Equation, Midas Plus, Infor, and well-known high availability solutions.
  • Performance Monitoring: Monitor the performance of multiple systems and partitions and view both detailed and graphical results in real time using the intuitive interface. The system provides statistical and trend analysis as well as automated alerting of performance threshold breaches.
  • Disk Space Management: Quickly see what’s taking up disk space and remove long-forgotten files, out-of-date test libraries, old spooled files, save files, and IFS folders. View a comprehensive analysis of all disk resources, including the IFS, using flexible build processes for improved efficiency and reduced build time.
  • Spooled File Management: This comprehensive spooled file distribution
    and archiving tool offers real-time spooled file monitoring, filtering, and fast retrieval of archived spooled files. It performs actions on spooled files without the need for program changes such as automatically emailing the summary page of a report or converting it into a PDF or HTML web page.
  • Enterprise Management & Mobility: Halcyon Enterprise Console, included with the software, gives full visibility of messages and alerts generated by IBM i, AIX, Windows, and Linux servers to provide a centralized dashboard view of your entire enterprise. Halcyon customers also have access to a free app to view the status of managed servers, applications, and SNMP devices on Apple and Android devices.
Image
Level 3: Essential Modules
Enterprise Console provides a centralized dashboard view.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Level 3: Essential Modules

Performance Analyzer
Level 3 includes the Performance Analyzer module. This provides statistical and trend analysis as well as comprehensive performance monitoring, alerting, and management capabilities. You can monitor multiple systems and partitions and view both detailed and graphical results in real time using the intuitive interface. With Performance Analyzer, you can:

  • Reduce the impact on system resources using advanced design techniques
  • Monitor any number of IBM i servers simultaneously
  • Monitor each server during different time periods
  • Record performance for each server at different intervals
  • Generate instant alerts if utilization exceeds pre-defined performance thresholds
  • Enable administrators to drill down to the job level with performance graphs
  • Identify resource-grabbing jobs and/or users and take prompt corrective action or let the system automatically resolve the issue
Image
Disk Space Manager
Optimize system performance with Performance Analyzer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disk Space Manager
Level 3 includes the Disk Space Manager module. This provides a full analysis of all disk resources, including the IFS, using flexible build processes for improved efficiency and reduced build time, so you can quickly see what is taking up your disk space and remove long-forgotten files, out-of-date test libraries, old spooled files, save files, and IFS folders. User-defined applications allow you to create a named collection of libraries, folders, and/or directories, which can then be analyzed as a single unit. You can also configure build settings by application. With Disk Space Manager, you can:

  • Save money and avoid unnecessary disk upgrades by performing regular system housekeeping
  • Improve system performance by increasing available disk space
  • Quickly discover which objects are taking the largest amount of disk space
  • Drastically reduce the time needed to manage your disk space as it can now be done automatically on a regular basis
  • Prevent critical storage conditions being encountered by having early warning of increased disk space
  • Reduce the risk of disaster by knowing what libraries and other objects have not been saved for some time
  • Analyze trends for historical analysis and predict when capacity will become a problem
Image
Spooled File Manager
Optimize disk space with Disk Space Manager. Perform real-time interrogation and drill down to details using a familiar Windows graphical interface.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spooled File Manager
Level 3 includes the Spooled File Manager module. This is the perfect solution for the distribution and archiving of information that is important to your business. Spooled File Manager also provides real-time monitoring, filtering, and fast retrieval of archived spooled files. It automatically performs actions on spooled files without the need for program changes such as automatically emailing the summary page of a report. With Spooled File Manager, you can:

  • Archive and restore individual spooled file entries or entire output queues
  • Compress archived output queues to free disk space
  • Automatically distribute spooled file based on spooled file name, user name, user data, form type, job name, and report titles
  • Copy spooled files and override any attributes
  • Send spooled files to any local or remote output queue
  • Export spooled files as PDF attachments or embed small printouts within the email itself
  • Email reports to ad-hoc email addresses or addresses stored in Microsoft Outlook

Service Level Agreement Reporting
This optional plug-in module for Level 3 enables companies to generate service-level agreement (SLA) reports for management. Halcyon uses a unique methodology for managing and reporting on service-level agreements, allowing companies to quickly identify through SLA flags the aspects of the SLA that are not being met. This means these issues can be investigated with minimal delays—an important factor particularly for managed service providers and IT outsourcing companies who need to demonstrate the value of their services to their clients. Companies can select the performance statistics that are most important to their operations and choose to have these displayed on screen, for example, CPU, ASP%, pool transitions, jobs, batch jobs, and response times. Individual users can also create their own tailored views of performance statistics.

Level 3: Key Software Benefits

Level 3 enables busy IT teams to do more with less by leveraging automation and proactive monitoring to keep critical jobs and tasks on track. Here’s what you get with Level 3:

  • Graphical User Interface (GUI): Provides a high-level management view and business process visibility. Can be used to define and assign an action or number of actions when a logged event produces a message.
  • Business Application Monitoring Templates: Automatic monitoring of critical business applications using specialist templates to improve process visibility, giving you greater operational efficiencies and responsiveness.
  • Business Continuity: Create and replicate your unique master environment and automatically highlight events that occur during the backup process.
  • Consolidate Existing Tools: Integrate Level 3 into your own internal systems and have a dashboard view of your entire infrastructure anytime, anywhere.
  • Cost Reduction: Significantly reduce costs by lowering late-night support calls caused by incomplete or failed processes, automating disk space management, and improving access to business information and distribution processes.
  • Powerful Monitoring & Automation Techniques: Automate the monitoring of virtually any component, job, subsystem, or device on your IBM i by automating key repetitive tasks and assigning message rules to execute an action or procedure.
  • Virtualization Management: Install more than one version of Level 3 on a single platform. You can even install the software and test the configuration and PTFs without affecting your live environment.
  • More Efficient Scheduling of Events: Avoid unplanned outages by removing points of failure and scheduling essential system backups and housekeeping
    tasks to reflect your business processes and escalation policies in a completely unattended environment.
  • Easy to Install: Level 3 comes with remote installation and intelligent templates, making installation possible within minutes.
  • Flexibility: Calendars allow increased flexibility in scheduling event monitoring to reflect your organization’s working patterns. Intelligent templates enable you to respond to a specific event or alert to reflect your organization’s processes, e.g., call a particular program or email a particular person.
  • Security Compliance: Enhanced audit trail, security journaling, and access control. Level 3 enables you to restrict options to particular user(s) or organization(s).
  • Smart Automation Using Command Scripts: Automate and replicate how your organization responds to a given situation.

Next Steps

Level 3: Advanced Automation Suite

Significantly reduce IT costs by achieving fail-safe control of IBM i core applications while optimizing system performance, disk space, and spooled file processing.

GET PRICING

SCHEDULE A DEMO

START A FREE TRIAL


 

Do you need better visibility into any of the following?
  • Performance Analyzer GUI
  • Disk Space Management
  • Disk Explorer GUI
  • Spooled File Management
  • Log File Monitoring
  • Intelligent Alerting
  • Advanced Job Scheduling
  • Infor (M3, XA, System21 Aurora, etc.) Monitoring
  • JD Edwards (EnterpriseOne, World) Monitoring
  • SAP Monitoring
  • Misys Equation and Midas Plus Monitoring
  • High Availability Monitoring
  • Help Desk Integration
  • PCI, SOX, JSOX, ISO Compliance

If you said, YES to any of these, Level 3: Advanced Automation Suite can help!

DOWNLOAD THE PDF

IBM i Server Suites: Levels 1–4
Fortra has developed four software suite levels designed to run natively on your IBM i. Select the suite level that is right for your operations with confidence, knowing that Fortra offers a simple upgrade path. As your business grows, you can instantly step up to the next level without hassle.

COMPARE IBM i SOLUTIONS

Network Server Suite
Windows, Linux, AIX, VIOS, SNMP devices—whatever combination your network serves up, you need fully configurable monitoring software to fit your unique needs. Whether you’re a busy system administrator or a managed service provider, monitor all your network servers, services,
and devices for maximum availability 24/7.

ADD ENTERPRISE-WIDE MONITORING

Contact Us

Halcyon knows that centralized monitoring makes it easier to drill down and fully understand why a process or event has failed, so that IT teams can rapidly respond to any situation. Our enterprise monitoring solutions allow you to monitor and manage the different types of computer architecture widely used in today’s organizations. Learn more at www.helpsystems.com/product-lines/halcyon.