CPExpert Product Update 99-1

• All CPExpert components have been updated to provide support for OS/390 Version 2 Release 7.

• All CPExpert documentation has been updated with references to applicable OS/390 Version 2 Release 7 documents from IBM.

  Recall that all references in CPExpert documentation refer to IBM documents contained in IBM BookManager format. I will be happy to provide a cross-reference to hard-copy of IBM documents if any user does not have access to IBM documents in BookManager format.

• Add an option to extract only CICS interval statistics files and variables that are required for analysis of CICS performance constraints. This option is suitable for sites with extremely large CICS performance data base.

• Add an option to exclude listing of the SIT and rules that are "turned off" by the CICS Component. This option is suitable for sites that analyze a very large number of CICS regions and otherwise might have an undesirably large output from the CICS Component.

• Add an option to suppress the analysis and findings of particular rules, or suppress the analysis and findings only for particular CICS regions. The desire for this feature typically is caused by (1) an overall disagreement with the finding, (2) an inability to make a suggested change, or (3) a decision that a particular finding is not applicable to a particular CICS region.

• Revise the process for specifying guidance for CPExpert to analyze the TCLASS times at MAXACTIVE.

• Add options to analyze the tasks active in a CICS region, as controlled by the MXT keyword in the SIT.

• Add an option to specify unique analysis guidance for individual CICS regions. This option applies to any user who analyzes multiple CICS regions during a single execution of the CICS Component. The various CICS regions typically provide service to different users, the regions often have different applications, and the regions may even be a mixture of test regions and production regions. One set of analysis guidance variables do not always apply to all regions being analyzed. Consequently, CPExpert now provides the capability to override the basic guidance on a region-by-region basis.

• Add a new rule to analyze whether the Maximum Task (MXT) specification may be too small.

• Add a new rule to analyze whether the Peak EDSA usage is approaching the EDSALIM value.

• Add a new rule to analyze situation when Execution Phase samples for CICS transaction service class data did not exist in SMF Type 72 records (Work Manager/Resource Manager section).

• Add a new rule to advise that the response performance goal may be too large.

• Add a new rule to advise that a service class was capped for discretionary goal management.

• Add a new rule to advise that non-DASD I/O activity or delay was significant.

• Add a new rule to advise that non-paging DASD I/O activity caused significant delays.

• Correct the code to account for errors discovered in IBM's SMF documentation.

• Add a description of techniques that are used to generate an IOCP input data set, using the Hardware Configuration Definition (HCD) component of MVS.

• Add documentation of Rule DAS102 and Rule DAS202 to describe the rules that have been a standard part of the output (but had been left out of the User Manual).

• Revise the description of installing the modification for MXG if either the MXG BUILDPDB or SAS/ITSV is used to process SMF data.

The CPExpert documentation is accessible via Adobe Acrobat Reader, and the CD-ROM contains a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader. The Adobe Acrobat Reader should be installed on your PC under Windows 3.1, Windows 95/98, Windows for Workgroups, or Windows NT. Installation of the Reader will require about 6 megs of space on your hard drive.

There is no additional charge for the CD-ROM versions of CPExpert documentation. If any user does not have the capability to access documentation on CD-ROM (or simply prefers to have hard-copy documentation), please give me a call.

I really appreciate calls from users reporting problems or simply asking questions. As I said in the original delivery letter for CPExpert, if errors occur with your installation, please don't waste your time trying to solve the error. Just give me a call and I will quickly fix the problem!

Installation

I suggest that you use the following steps to install Release 9.1.0:

• Create a new PDS titled "prefix.CPEXPERT.V91.SOURCE".

• Create a new PDS titled "prefix.CPEXPERT.V91.USOURCE".

• Install CPExpert into the "prefix.CPEXPERT.V91.SOURCE" using the normal installation procedures described in the CPExpert Installation Guide.

• Copy your old USOURCE members into "prefix.CPEXPERT.V91.USOURCE". This step should be done so you do not have to recreate all of your unique parameters. There are no changes to the variables in USOURCE members, unless you are exercising new options provided with this code.

• If you elected to receive updates to CPExpert on a diskette, the software is distributed on the CD-ROM that contains the CPExpert user documentation. I have created a BAT file for you so that you can easily upload the new software. This file is titled "UPLOAD.BAT" and will be located in the SOFTWARE directory of the CD-ROM. The BAT file was created per your instructions (i.e., using SEND, etc.).

Thanks

I would like to say "Thank you" to the following individuals. These folks have discovered errors, proposed new features, or suggested documentation changes since the last Update Bulletin:

• Jill Billings (First Data Corp., CO)
• Glen Bowman (Wakefern Food Corporation, NJ)
• Dave Cogor (US Department of Transportation, DC)
• Brian Farley (ReliaStar Insurance, MN)
• Paul Gordon (NationsBank, VA)
• Barry Merrill (Merrill Consultants, TX)
• Alex Benny Nielsen (TELE-DANMARK, Denmark)
• Bryant Osborn (NationsBank, VA)
• Harald Seifert (HUK-Coburg, Germany)

WEB site

Please visit my web site (www.cpexpert.com) for information about CPExpert. I post answers to frequently answered questions, list errors reported by users for the current release of CPExpert, and provide information about CPExpert components that you might not license.

Additionally, I've posted several papers on the web site that I've presented at professional conferences.

Please call, fax, or send me a note on the Internet if you have suggestions, you want new features, or you would like to see more or different reporting done by CPExpert.

Best regards,

Don Deese