A Case Study of Applying Traditional Data Centre Capacity Planning Techniques to Your Companies Phone System
Carl E. Sommer, Tim Rowles SAS Institute Inc
IT organisations have evolved from simply providing computing resources, to now having the responsibility of providing all technological services for an enterprise, including phone service. This paper explores this expansion into "Total Service Delivery", with a case study of applying traditional CPE methodologies to analyse the phone traffic statistics provided from a PBX.
Distributed objects for client server applications
Craig N. Linn University of Western Sydney, Nepean
The Object Management Group's CORBA and Microsoft's ActiveX/DCOM are distributed object technologies that facilitate the construction of robust and manageable client server systems. This paper/tutorial provides an introduction to these technologies at the conceptual level and then goes on to examine some of the management and performance issues that any group is likely to encounter when they set out to build applications that utilise these technologies. Issues covered include the architecture of such systems, the tools necessary to build them, the infrastructure needed to deploy them, version control, and very importantly the level of performance one can expect.
Service Level as a Function of Transfer
Bill Stewart
Without service-level agreement and management, it is impossible to say whether a computer or communications service is fit for purpose. The establish what such fitness is. An agreement can cover: a level of support; availability; response and utilisation; and grade and defects of service, and failure to complete. Computer Telephony Integration and the Integrated Services Digital Network introduced problems, the solution of which depends on coordinating the quality of a data with that of a voice service. Asynchrononous Transfer Mode introduces a means of controlling the quality of the underlying Message Transfer Parts, which we are beginning to test and measure.
Using DB2 to Measure and Mine Business Activity
Trevor Simpson Australian Water Technologies
This paper presents the approach that Australian Water Technologies has taken in using DB2 relational database technology and data mining technology to understand business activity. The paper will present the business demographics, the strategy adopted to collect data in CIC/DB2 transaction activity across those different regional business areas and the technology used to mine that data. The results of the data mining process will then be used to identify excess resource usage or poor performance by geographic area. The results of the mining process may also have an impact on network design, user education, data distribution planning and on business process redesign.
The Distributed Warehouse - A Data Mart Approach
Robert Williams Information Builders
1997 sees the delivery of low cost and integrated data warehouse packages intended for the rapid development of departmental data warehouses, or so-called 'data marts'. The availability of this technology requires organisations to consider the role of a data mart in a data warehousing system, and whether a data mart should be built before, after, or in parallel with a corporate enterprise data warehouse. In some situations a set of distributed data marts may even eliminate the need for an enterprise-level data warehouse solution.
Oracle Security in A Unix Environment: Part 2
Tony Jambu Wizard Consulting Pty Ltd
"Oracle Security in a UNIX environment", Tony Jambu - IOUG Select Magazine Vol 1 Issue 1 1993, discussed a couple of security issues relating to Oracle software and the UNIX operating system. This paper continues that discussion.
Oracle's RDBMS, and in particular Oracle 7, has many security features such as 'one-way' password encrytpion, database roles and proxy' logins within the database. While these are well documented, the issue of security at the operating system level, in particular UNIX, is not well documented nor understood. This paper will identify some well-known security issues. By example this paper will, where possible, provide solutions and workarounds to resolve these security anomalies.
How to write a Disaster Recovery Plan
Bruce Edwards Data Security Services Pty Ltd
The need to have a comprehensive DRP is now accepted as an essential task of management. The problem is the mystique and confusion in the industry on defining and writing such a plan. The paper analyses the current methodologies available and details the preliminary tasks such as minimising risk, and reviewing operational procedures, that should be undertaken before attempting to define a plan. The concept of "Disaster Files" is introduced with examples of how such files can assist the development of the recovery strategy.
The paper describes the stages of writing a Recovery Plan such as the formation of Recovery Teams, how to create Procedure and Action lists etc. and forms and templates. Advice on testing plans is also included.
TAO - Multi-Platform Management
David Hartwich ANZ Bank
This is a story of the Tao, the way: the way things were, the way they are, the way they will be.
Australian Shift Operations (ASO) is a department within the ANZ bank's Computer Network Services. It manages a diverse environment of MVS, Tandem, DEC, Unix and PC/LAN, and also voice and network communications.
In the past, management of the Bank's platforms was largely decentralised. There were different layers of management in the separate areas, and little consistency.
Today, system monitoring and management is centralised, automated, and focussed on customer needs. We now see that we need to understand customer service even better, so we will be concentrating on that in the short term.
In the future, we will move further towards providing performance-based multi-platform service. We will use artificial intelligence to improve systems management and we will of course continue to ensure that systems management is focussed on customer and business needs. ASO will continue to provide best practice multi-platform management for the Bank.
Strategic IS/IT Planning: An Overview
Kim C. Ko Fortec Consulting Services
Little information is available on the subject of strategic planning within an IT/IS environment. The author shall give an overview of the IT/IS strategic planning process drawing on his experiences in research and as a management consultant. Management and organisational issues encountered through the IT/IS strategic planning process will be discussed and a generic strategic planning framework presented.
On Near-Real-Time Performance Management
Christopher D. Langshaw, Mike Tsykin Fujitsu Australia Limited
Performance Management requires real-time performance data. Without that, it's difficult to react quickly. But how quick is quick enough, and what is real-time? Perhaps, 'near-real-time' data will do?
This paper defines the concepts of 'near-real-time' data and performance management. Implications of contemporary architectures, End-To-End Response Time and Network Computers are discussed. It also describes the functionality requirements of a tool suitable for 'near-real-time' operation.
Implementing Quality in the Data Centre
Pierre Louys State Rail Authority of NSW
This paper is about implementing an alternative non-vendor IT management solution. It provides a business focus and ensure that the Data Centre continues to meet the needs and expectations of its customers.
The Case for an MVS Software Asset Manager: Extending Asset Management to Effectively Control Software Products
John Mycroft Mycroft Systems
Its common for IT managers to be responsible for budgets worth millions of dollars. While they generally understand managing their physical assets such as computer hardware and office equipment, aren't Software licenses also a significant part of the assets under their control. Why then have so few implemented effective practices for managing Mainframe Software Licenses.
This paper describes the primary components of MVS Software Asset Management - why it is a manageble task and how, when properly planned & organised, it can offer a return measurable in improved efficiency, general asset control and countless dollar savings on initial software investments, including vendor maintenance and upgrade fees, which may in fact exceed initial license charges.
System Testing - The Power to See the Future
David Oppenheim Optimation Software Engineering, Melbourne
As a manager of computer systems you need to foresee the effect of changes. Your users are depending on the computer to do their jobs effectively. Are they getting good response times? Is the workload backing up? Applications must work first time, every time. But the demands are always changing.
Testing our systems is something that is often neglected. This paper addresses the importance of testing and why it is more important now than ever before. It describes what system testing is all about, what types of system testing there are, the benefits of conducting system tests, and how Systems Testing differs from other forms of testing. The paper also covers testing Client/Server and distributed systems, networks of Java applications, Web server testing and traditional character based interfaces.
Intelligent Agents in an Enterprise Management Architecture
Tony Parsons Digital Equipment Corporation (Australia) Pty Ltd
This paper describes a viable Enterprise Management Architecture for network, system and application management using Management by Delegation (MbD) and managed objects. The overall Manager distributes policies and even programs using the Electronic Software Distribution ESD) component of the network management facility.
The design is scalable, reliable and extensible. The architecture has proven workable in an environment containing over 1000 machines.
Service Level Agreements for the Desktop:
The Ten Components
Roger Warr Planning Support Incorporated
This paper is intended as a tutorial in the art of setting service level agreements for networked desktop computer users. While it is generic, it draws on real life experience. Attendees should gain some useful information which they should be able to apply in their own environment. The paper is not hardware or software specific because users are not interested in what the platform is, they are interested in whether or not the platform will do the job. The service level agreement should reflect that interest.
Internet Security
Rik Harris, Jason Lingohr The Fulcrum Consulting Group
As we all know, the Internet can be a wonderful thing. Along with its wonders come risks, forcing us to protect our valuable networks. The Internet is so large and varied though, that protection can be quite a complex and sometimes costly venture. This document describes some aspects of a successful corporate-strength firewall, including monitoring, management, architecture, tools and design approaches.
Implementing a Highly Controllable Intranet System.
Rik Harris, Tim MacKenzie The Fulcrum Consulting Group
A case study of the implementation of a controlled internal WWW system which allows for the contribution of materials by end-users, whilst ensuring control through systems for the
delegation of authority to contribute, to access, to delegate and to automate the processes for version and release control of information.
Experiences from a large commercial OO software project using Eiffel and Java
David Oppenheim Optimation Software Engineering, Melbourne
In Novemeber of 1994, Optimation embarked on a major research and development project to enhance its existing systems testing product. One of the key goals was the need for a GUI for the product, and portability was paramount. Optimation was also looking for a higher quality, more productive development environment than traditional 3GLs. The Eiffel language environment was selected. After a year of development, the project switched to Java, when Java was in its infancy as a commercial offering. This paper discusses the background, goals, development and outcomes of this project. It will discuss the reasons for selecting Eiffel, the reasons for switching to Java and the advantages and disadvantages of both technologies. While the discussion focuses primarily on the software engineering of the project, it also includes commercial and technical content.
Internets, Java and Oracle: A New Performance Management Paradigm?
Richard Seery SAS Institute GmbH, Heidelberg, Germany
The Internet/Intranet has provided a new information landscape. Perceptions of client server computing are rapidly changing with corporate applications evolving to encompass Web browsers and RDBMS servers. The key challenges for corporate Information Delivery are performance and flexibility.
The ability to access corporate information via the internet will introduce new challenges. These challenges include understanding Internet environments, Java performance and evaluating network capacity. This paper discusses strategies and techniques for evaluating performance and capacity requirements in Internet environments in order to deliver improved IT service.
Emerging Internet Technologies
Robert Williams Information Builders Pty Ltd
The Internet consistently draws coverage in every publication and industry event as a utopian solution for (or a dire threat to) global information management. It is neither. The Internet is no more and no less than a new model for computing that will take its place within your organisation alongside other models such as desktop and client/server.
In most cases, the applications and data that need to be linked in these Web applications are located on many different hardware platforms: ranging from the IBM mainframe through to PC. Businesses are therefore seeking ways to integrate these disparate technologies into their Web applications.
Windows NT - Can it be Tuned?
Mark B. Friedman Demand Technology Inc
The design objective of Microsoft Windows NT is to provide a powerful and scalable operating system which is easy to use so that it can be deployed on a wide scale. In order to achieve these objectives, the developers of NT have adopted an even more ambitious goal, namely, to make NT self-tuning. There are a number of interesting issues that arise out of the claim that NT is self-tuning. Systems programmers that work with NT may notice that the operating system provides a wealth of performance data, but very few tuning knobs.
This presentation discusses the performance data that is available, the effect of the few adjustments that a user can make, and the degree to which NT can be regarded as self-tuning. Instead of operating system controls, responsibility for tuning Windows NT shifts to the application, which is where all the tuning knobs went. The performance parameters that affect the way NT is "tuned" depending on whether the operating environment is NT Server or NT Workstation are also described.
The Evolution of Workload Performance Management in MVS
Stephen L. Samson Candle Corporation
Since MVS began, a major portion of system programmers' and performance analysts' effort has been devoted to the measurement and management of workload performance. The initial absence of tools within the environment led to the development of third-party monitors. Crude controls and perplexing parameters made the job unnecessarily difficult. SRM appeared and evolved, but never got to the essential question-how can the resources of MVS be applied to ensure that the workload performance requirements of the enterprise are met? MVS Version 5 brought a significant advance, the Workload Manager in goal mode, making possible for the first time the ability to manage workload performance under control of the operating system.
This paper traces the evolution of this aspect of MVS, and concludes with speculation of what is yet to come.
Open Enterprise Network Performance: The Response Time Challenge
Catherine H Liu Applied Expert Systems, Inc
The three-tiered open enterprise has emerged as the viable choice for many IT organisations business re-engineering needs. This presentation will discuss response time and performance management issues for this new open enterprise environment. It will compare LU2 vs APPC/APPN response time measurement; present key APPC/APPN performance indicators; and introduce key performance indicators and reports for the MVS TCP/IP environment.
Year 2000, Not Just a Development Problem
Sue Blight IBM GSA
The focus of much of the information available on the Year 2000 surrounds providing advice on how to address potential Year 2000 issues in the application environments. The majority of activities contained in project plans focus on what the steps are to ensure that applications will function correctly during both the transition period and into the year 2000.
However, Operations Groups face a twofold responsibility in the ensuing activities towards the Year 2000.
Firstly, Operations Groups must provide compliant platforms on which the application development software will be tested and deployed. To achieve this, Operations Groups will need to develop their own testing and implementation plans. Secondly, Operations Groups must provide and manage testing environments for application teams.
The delivery of a compliant platform is dependant on a number of things including complaint software and hardware, analysis of internally developed utilities, ability to sufficiently test and deploy any changes required to the existing platforms.
This paper will detail key issues and the approach to planning for the operational component of addressing the Year 2000.