Basic z/OS Tuning Using the Workload Manager

Course Description

Do you need to know how to establish a practical performance management program for your z/OS system? This Z/OS Workload Manager course is designed for new performance analysts to learn to work with the Workload Manager (WLM) in goal mode. Learn concepts of WLM and performance management in the z/OS system using the WLM.

Learn how to analyze Resource Monitoring Facility (RMF) reports and implement service definitions using the WLM Interactive System Productivity Facility (ISPF) application. The IBM Training course uses z/OS hands-on lab exercises to reinforce the concepts and techniques discussed in lecture.

Hands-on labs

This course includes hands-on lab exercises. Each student team, working on their own z/OS system, will configure RMF, analyze RMF reports to find bottlenecks, and utilize the WLM dialogs to create goals and classification rules in a service definition that manages a supplied z/OS workload.

Objectives

• Describe a performance and tuning methodology
• Develop a systematic z/OS performance and tuning plan
• Describe the factors which could affect the performance of an z/OS system
• Use the WLM ISPF application
• Describe the components of a service definition
• Define workloads and service levels and classification rules
• State which z/OS commands affect WLM operation
• Identify the major WLM services for z/OS, including enclaves and application environments, and how they are used by DB2, WebSphere, and CICS
• Analyze CPU performance when running in a shared LPAR environment
• Utilize and monitor zIIP and zAAP specialty engines
• Measure and tune z/OS DASD, processor storage, and coupling facility configurations
• Explain the functions and facilities of RMF and SMF
• Analyze performance bottlenecks using RMF
• Use Workload License Charges (WLC), defined capacity and soft capping to manage software costs
• Describe advanced z/OS environments that utilize Intelligent Resource Director (IRD), HiperDispatch, z/OSMF Workload Management, and I/O Priority Manager
• Use the z/OSMF Workload Management (WLM) task
  • Use Performance Monitoring with z/OSMF
  • Modify a WLM service definition to meet the requirements for monitoring a specific system workload
  • Create and customize Monitoring Desktops
  • Review any issues by using the Monitoring Desktops options displays
  • Assess the performance of the workloads running on the z/OS

Audience

This is an intermediate course for z/OS system programmers, z/OS performance analysts, and z/OS performance administrators new to performance management for their z/OS system.

Note: ES54 is intended for individuals new to WLM and the z/OS performance area

Prerequisites

You should:

• Understand basic MVS and z/OS operation, such as job flow through JES, job scheduling paging, swapping, dispatching controls, and I/O scheduling
• Have a basic knowledge of the purpose of the Workload Manager's function in managing system workloads
• Be familiar with using TSO and ISPF to manage data sets and run batch jobs