VIP 8.0.1 traces OSA traffic to reveal details of IP, Ethernet, and z/Linux; also monitors IPv6 resources.
Deb Hodson, 763-571-9000, info@sdsusa.com.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – December 7, 2012 – VitalSigns for IP™ (VIP) version 8.0.1, which became available to customers last November, much improves on previous tools for diagnosing the work of IBM OSA Express devices. VIP 8.0.1 also understands the multi-trillion address range of IPv6, and the power of z/OS to automatically define addresses for the IPv6 protocol.
OSA tracing is a stronger diagnostic tool than IP packet tracing. An IBM Open Systems Adapter (OSA) handles all kinds of traffic in addition to TCP/IP: ARP, SNA, and network layer packets. Ethernet frames and the MAC headers that provide their address information. Traffic to and from z/Linux and z/VM platforms.
That makes any tool that can record specific OSA traffic and sniff out problems immensely powerful.
VIP 8.0.1 provides an easy-to-use facility for coding batch jobs to select and record OSA traffic. A VIP OSA trace can easily select from vast amounts of OSA data to let you focus on, for example…
- Frames discarded because of their internal errors.
- Messages of a specific IP protocol or Ethernet type: TCP, UDP, ICMPv6, ARP, etc.
- Frames passing to or from a specific device, MAC address, IP address, or port.
VitalSigns for IP provides immediate, real-time monitoring of nearly every resource on a z/OS system or sysplex and its associated IP network—including those residing at IPv6 addresses.
The IP version 6 protocol generates addresses of as many as eight, four-digit, hexadecimal numbers—for about 340 trillion trillion trillion addresses (3.4 x 1038).
z/OS networking has been quick to adopt the convenience of self-defining IPv6 addresses. A z/OS Communications Server can combine ID numbers from LANs, interfaces, and routers to automatically create a unique address for resources on z/OS systems.
VIP 8 can show those unique, automatically generated addresses to z/OS system and network administrators, allowing them to get immediate, centralized understanding of network topology, along with providing historical reporting of network performance, and IPv6-aware tools for troubleshooting.
The new VIP 8.0.1 also provides: Online tracing for Enterprise Extender. New dashboards for HPR transmission groups and control points, and for OSA Express 3 and its data-link control (DLC) layer. Monitoring of GRE (generic routing encapsulation) and FRCA (fast response cache accelerator).
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