HP 3000 Manuals HP 3000 Manuals
HP LaserRX/MPE Enhancements
by Joe Thomas/Colleen Dillon
Application Support Division
SUPPORT CONSIDERATION
HP LaserRX/MPE (HP50700B) encompasses many product changes and
enhancements with this release, and requires special attention to ensure
smooth migration.
If you currently include HP LaserRX/MPE on your HP 3000 (XL) support
contract, and you have also purchased the Software Materials Update for
PC (i.e., support product number H2016A+S00) you will receive the HP
LaserRX/MPE enhancement release (Version B) CD. Note that you must be on
software support for HP LaserRX/MPE in order to receive the enhancement
update kit.
If you already own HP LaserRX/MPE and do not currently include it in your
support contract, we encourage you to add its support in order to
minimize the inconvenience of not receiving this update.
MIGRATION ISSUES
As noted, if you are on support for HP LaserRX/MPE you will receive the
HP LaserRX/MPE enhancement release CD update.
You should not proceed with the XL Release 3.0 installation until you
receive the HP LaserRX/MPE enhancement release compact disk (CD). This CD
has a Version B graphic on it. You will use this CD to update PC
analysis software at the same time as the host performance collection
software so that both are compatible. HP LaserRX data collection will
not be possible on XL Release 3.0 without the enhanced HP LaserRX host
performance collection software.
Log File Conversion
Before you can collect data with the new host performance collection
software, you must convert existing raw logfiles from the old A format to
the new B format. The SCOPEXL collector should not be restarted until
this step is complete.
You must also convert any extracted logfiles that you wish to analyze
with the new PC software. Use the MPE host UTILITY program CONVERT
command to convert both raw and extracted logfiles. No backward
conversion is available. To ensure that this does not create a problem
if operating system backdating is necessary, the enhancement CD (Version
B) will provide host data collection software compatible with the B
version logfiles for operating system releases A.21.00 (1.2') and
greater.
Batch File Conversion
New, command-driven user interfaces for host UTILITY and EXTRACT programs
increase user friendliness over the original question-and-answer design.
Any existing job streams that run these programs must be modified to
accommodate the new command structure. This modification reduces the
need to change these batch job streams when new features are added in the
future.
Data Definition Modifications
If you are currently exporting application or process textual data, you
may need to modify the data definitions of the output data file or
spreadsheet to reflect the changes in the textual data display. See
Metric Changes section below for more information.
Microsoft Windows 3.0 Required
HP LaserRX/MPE analysis software for the PC requires Microsoft
Windows(R)1 3.0 to run. HP LaserRX/MPE is not compatible with earlier
releases of Microsoft Windows(R).
NEW FEATURES IN THE PC ANALYSIS SOFTWARE
The following describes the new features available with the PC Analysis
Software:
* New graphs.
* Total and active numbers of jobs and sessions.
* Average number of processes using or waiting on a system
resource (CPU, disk, memory, or impede).
* System resource usage per transaction.
* Application states (using CPU or waiting on a system
resource).
* Record-and-playback feature.
* MS-DOS(R)1 command line input of playback file with logfile
make automation of periodic repetitive tasks, such as graph
printing, possible.
* Native language support for dates and times.
* Four new graphs reflecting disk space utilization.
* Export of more than 64 K bytes of textual application or process
data.
* Expanded memory utilization allows more concurrent graphs and
textual displays.
* Black background and solid line options are available for graphs.
* Encrypted passwords increase security.
* A status bar on the main window informs you of the status of the
last operation performed.
* TIFF file format supported in the EXPORT function to facilitate HP
LaserRX/MPE graphic input into many word processing packages.
* The File Open function now has an option to report the type of
data and date ranges contained in a local or remote logfile.
* PaintJet print speed can be increased by options to reduce the
printed output size by various percentages.
* Both Application and Global graph choices are now contained in one
dialog box.
* Either application or process textual data can now be zoomed from
either a global or an application graph.
* Textual displays standardized for MPE V and MPE XL systems for
simplified analysis and handling of exported data.
* Users who access logfiles over a local area network (LAN) may now
connect to up to five remote systems concurrently.
NEW FEATURES IN HOST PERFORMANCE COLLECTION SOFTWARE
The following describes the new features available with the Host
Performance Collection Software:
* On MPE XL systems, the number of user defined applications has
been increased from 15 to 31.
* You may now set thresholds that log processes because they wait an
excessive percentage of time for a system resource (CPU, disk,
memory, or impede).
* Applications may be defined by execution queue, as well as by
program file name, user logon, and job type.
* OR operator provided for application definitions.
* UTILITY and EXTRACT command-driven interface.
* Utilizes function keys by default.
* Creates more easily maintained batch job streams.
* Makes interactive use easier.
* Allows MPE commands.
* Provides a task-oriented help subsystem.
* Native language support for dates and times.
* New UTILITY features.
* Displays versions of all HP LaserRX/MPE host performance
collection software.
* Allows user notes to be added to raw logfiles.
* Terminates the SCOPEXL collector.
* Requests the SCOPEXL collector to read the PARM file and
set the parameters without terminating the collector.
* Checks a PARM file for errors and reports resulting
collection values.
* New EXTRACT features.
* Automated archiving of logfiles via WEEKLY, MONTHLY, and
YEARLY functions.
METRIC CHANGES
* Application textual data now contains one line for each
application rather than up to four lines for each possible
execution queue within an application.
* This information can still be obtained by explicitly
defining an application for each execution queue in the
PARM file.
* Application textual data no longer contains standard deviations
for response time and transaction data.
* This information was available and valid for MPE V, but is
no longer displayed. It was not available for MPE XL and
was previously represented as zeroes.
* Process stop reasons now represent current interval rather than
life of the process to facilitate short-term diagnostics.
* Process MEMORY field has been eliminated for MPE XL data because
the field was found to be inaccurate and will not be corrected.
This field has never been present for MPE V data.
* The Global Disc Summary term disk utilization now refers to
utilization of the busiest disk rather than the average
utilization of all disks.
* This should enhance the diagnostic capability of
identifying a single-disk bottleneck.
1 Microsoft Windows(R) and MS-DOS(R) are U.S. registered trademarks of
Microsoft Corporation.