Monitoring And Maintenance

[johnm]

Hello,

We currently are running a CRM application that uses DB/2 7.2 for the data
repository. We will be upgrading to 8.2 later this year....maybe....time and
resources permitting.

The database is currently being hosted with a managed service provider (MSP)
at a remote datacenter. This service provider is supposed to be monitoring
the health and performance of the database as well as performing proactive
maintenance on a regularly scheduled basis.

We have been having some very strange problems recently, like the file
system filling up for example, which caused an outage of the CRM
application. Therefore, I am not certain that the MSP is monitoring what
they should be, and possibly may not be completing the required maintenance.

I would like to verify that what the MSP is providing in the way of
monitoring and maintenance is prudent and correct.

I have a couple of questions for the group, and hope that someone will be
kind enough to lend some help with answering the questions:

1. What should the MSP be monitoring to ensure that the DB is healthy and
performing adequately? I am looking for only the major monitoring targets
here and would appreciate suggestions for monitoring the Hardware, OS and
DB. (The hardware is IBM, the OS is AIX)

2. What scripts, routines, applications, etc. should be run to clean and
optimize the DB, and how often should they be run?
Are there scripts to reclaim free space? Reorganize the DB information?
Clean up the indexes? Others? What needs to be run, and when, to keep the DB
healthy and optimized?

When I ask the MSP these questions, I get a rather evasive answer. So, I
figured I'd as you folks. I've always gotten the straight scoop here, and
that has been a tremendous help.

I'm a DB dummy, (that is why we are outsourcing the DB monitoring and
maintenance) so any help you could provide me would be most appreciated.

Thanks,
John

[dotyet]

johnm wrote:

1. What should the MSP be monitoring to ensure that the DB is healthy and
performing adequately? I am looking for only the major monitoring targets
here and would appreciate suggestions for monitoring the Hardware, OS and
DB. (The hardware is IBM, the OS is AIX)
keeping a tab on:

CPU usage
Memory usage
IO
Response time for the applications (depends on the objective of the
whole system)
Abrupt unavailibity of the server (like DB crashing, hardware failure,
deadlocks on database objects, some crazy SQL hogging resources)
Updating db software code as required. (keep in mind that one does not
require to be at the latest fixpak all the time. we apply fixpaks on an
if need be basis.)
Maintain healthy filesystem on the database servers
and above all, perform and test regular backups of the database.
2. What scripts, routines, applications, etc. should be run to clean and
optimize the DB, and how often should they be run?
Are there scripts to reclaim free space? Reorganize the DB information?
Clean up the indexes? Others? What needs to be run, and when, to keep the DB
healthy and optimized?

you may want to do the following on a regular (or may as needed) basis:

update database statistics using runstats utility.
execute reorg utility on the database to reclaim free space where ever
possible.

regards,
dotyet

[Bernd Giegerich]

Hi,

some additions...

keeping a tab on:

CPU usage
Memory usage
IO
Response time for the applications
Abrupt unavailibity of the server

Network availability
Network bandwith and latency as it is hosted of site
Hardware health
Environmental parameters like temperature, humitidy etc.
Unexpected entries in the system logs

Regards,
Bernd

[johnm]

Thanks so much for the help.

It is just what I was looking for.

I can now speak knowledgably with my provider.

Thanks,

John
"dotyet" <do****@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:11**********************@g44g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...

johnm wrote:

1. What should the MSP be monitoring to ensure that the DB is healthy and performing adequately? I am looking for only the major monitoring targets here and would appreciate suggestions for monitoring the Hardware, OS and DB. (The hardware is IBM, the OS is AIX)

keeping a tab on:

CPU usage
Memory usage
IO
Response time for the applications (depends on the objective of the
whole system)
Abrupt unavailibity of the server (like DB crashing, hardware failure,
deadlocks on database objects, some crazy SQL hogging resources)
Updating db software code as required. (keep in mind that one does not
require to be at the latest fixpak all the time. we apply fixpaks on an
if need be basis.)
Maintain healthy filesystem on the database servers
and above all, perform and test regular backups of the database.

2. What scripts, routines, applications, etc. should be run to clean and
optimize the DB, and how often should they be run?
Are there scripts to reclaim free space? Reorganize the DB information?
Clean up the indexes? Others? What needs to be run, and when, to keep the DB healthy and optimized?

you may want to do the following on a regular (or may as needed) basis:

update database statistics using runstats utility.
execute reorg utility on the database to reclaim free space where ever
possible.

regards,
dotyet

[johnm]

Thanks!

Very good information.

I truly appreciate the help.

John
"Bernd Giegerich"
<bgi0815-for-news-use-only@this-is-a-valid-mailaddress-but-please-do-not-spa
m-me.de> wrote in message news:c8************@news37.b-giegerich.de...

Hi,

some additions...

keeping a tab on:

CPU usage
Memory usage
IO
Response time for the applications
> Abrupt unavailibity of the server

Network availability
Network bandwith and latency as it is hosted of site
Hardware health
Environmental parameters like temperature, humitidy etc.
Unexpected entries in the system logs

Regards,
Bernd