RMF Appendix 2: Tips for Doing Ad Hoc Analysis

Table Of ContentsIT Service Vision Help


Although the examples shown here are still valid, you may prefer to use a new feature, "Graph Data," which is available in the IT Service Vision client PC interface and has equivalent functionality

Example Using Drill Chart

In this example you will use the IT Service Vision server's drill chart feature to investigate CPU utilization.

  1. This example runs on the demonstration PDB. (Because of the small amount of data in that PDB, the results are somewhat limited.) If the demonstration PDB is not the active PDB, make it the active PDB by following this path from the IT Service Vision server's main menu:
       PDB Admin -> Manage PDBs/Switch PDB ->
       select the demonstration PDB ->
       ItemActions -> Activate ->
       Read Access -> OK -> File ->
       End
    
  2. Follow this path from the main menu:
       Reports -> Adhoc Analysis ->
       Drill Chart -> DETAIL -> XTY70
    
  3. IT Service Vision lists the numeric variables in DETAIL.XTY70 and prompts for a variable. Select PCCPUBY. (You will need to scroll down to find it.)

  4. IT Service Vision displays a bar chart of percent CPU utilization per machine. In the demonstration PDB, there is only one value for the variable MACHINE so there is only one bar. As the title suggests, the bar represents the average percent CPU utilization.
  5. To drill down (by the next BY or CLASS variable), select the button with the crossed pickaxes, if it is not already selected (highlighted), and click on the bar.

  6. IT Service Vision now displays a bar chart that is subset on the selected machine (in this case there was only one machine), with each bar representing the average percent CPU utilization per hour.

  7. To examine the individual data observations for a bar, select the "?" button and click on a bar. The information window will tell you the statistics relating to that bar, including all the underlying observations that contribute to its makeup.

    Select Goback.

  8. In the sample data, there is only one value for the SHIFT variable, so the data cannot be analyzed by SHIFT. However, if you make your production PDB the active PDB and you have data for different shifts, you would be able to drill down further to display them. You could also make SHIFT a class or ID variable, by selecting
       View -> Variable -> ID value
    

    and scrolling until you see the SHIFT variable. Select the SHIFT variable. The bars will now split into different colors, where each color represents a different shift, as described in the legend.

  9. You can also switch variables to analyze different metrics.

    Select

       View -> Variable -> Y axis
    

    Now you could select, say, IORATE or TSOAVG. Use this facility to explore your data.

Example Using Graph Data

In this example you will use the IT Service Vision server's graph data feature to analyze the CPU consumption of different jobs and users.

  1. This example can be run on the demonstration PDB, but due to the size of the sample data, the results are rather limited. If the demonstration PDB is not the active PDB, make it the active PDB by following this path from the IT Service Vision server's main menu:
       PDB Admin -> Manage PDBs/Switch PDB ->
       select the demonstration PDB ->
       ItemActions -> Activate ->
       Read Access -> OK -> File -> End
    
  2. Then, follow this path from the main menu:
       Reports -> Adhoc Analysis ->
       Graph Data -> DETAIL -> XSTEPS
    
  3. IT Service Vision lists all the variables in DETAIL.XSTEPS and prompts for an X variable. Select RAFUSER. (You will need to scroll down to find it.)

  4. IT Service Vision lists the numeric variables in DETAIL.XSTEPS and prompts for a Y variable. Select CPUTM. (Again, you will need to scroll down to find it.)

  5. IT Service Vision displays a scatter plot of CPU time by RAFUSER.

  6. To subset the graph so that you can analyze a specific range of users, select the "triangle" button (delta). Then select:
       Variable -> RAFGRUP -> Operator ->
       IN -> Value(s)
    

    IT Service Vision lists all the different values that RAFGRUP has within the XSTEPS table. Select the following values, scrolling when necessary:

       GER, ITA, SCH, SNL, SSF, SUK
    

    Then select OK and OK.

    The scatter plot will then re-display and show observations for only these RACF groups.

  7. To change the graph to be a bar chart by selecting the "cross-hair within a circle" button, select Horizontal Bar.

  8. Now add an ID variable to help distinguish the groups of users. Select the "ID" button and scroll down until you find the RAFGRUP variable, and select it. You will now see different colors for each RACF group and, below the graph, a legend describing the meaning of each color.

    Clicking on a bar gives information about the statistical make-up of that bar.

    Select the "Sigma" button and change the statistic to Sum. Clicking on a bar will now show the new statistic.

    In the sample data there is a one-to-one mapping of RAFUSER to RAFGRUP, so the ID variable shows no great advantage in this example. This feature would best be shown on some of your own data, where each bar could represent an account code and an ID variable could be the userid. Then each bar would be broken into subgroups (userids). Or you could specify SHIFT as an ID variable.

    Now that you understand this facility, you can experiment with your own data.