With APAR PH65180, IMS Performance Analyzer for z/OS (IMS PA) enhances its Form-based reports by providing the ability to stream IMS log data extracts as JSON Lines over TCP/IP.

Traditionally, Form-based reports in IMS PA have been a trusted mechanism for extracting performance data from IMS log records for analysis, capacity planning, and tuning. However, organizations seeking to feed IMS performance data into modern monitoring platforms often had to rely on manual extraction, transformation, and loading processes. This could introduce complexity and lead to delays when integrating z/OS sourced performance data with enterprise monitoring solutions.

The new JSON Lines streaming capability in Form-based reports addresses this challenge and provides the following benefits:

• Instead of generating static reports for post-processing, the Form-based report now streams data, with each record represented as a JSON object, simplifying ingestion into various analytics tools.
• JSON Lines is a lightweight, widely adopted format compatible with many programming languages and streaming frameworks. Organizations can easily ingest streamed data into platforms such as Elasticsearch, Splunk, Grafana, or custom dashboards to visualize and analyze IMS workload performance.
• Data can be streamed over TCP/IP connections, enabling remote collection, reducing operational overhead, and improving flexibility for multi-level monitoring architectures.
• IMS PA can participate in enterprise-wide monitoring frameworks, supporting initiatives to integrate mainframe operational data with distributed application monitoring dashboards for end-to-end performance management.

This improvement aligns with IBM’s strategy to support modernization and operational practices within the z/OS system, empowering IMS PA users to gain insights into transaction performance, resource utilization, and workload behaviors without additional transformation overhead.

By enabling the streaming of IMS log data extracts as JSON Lines over TCP/IP in Form-based reports, IMS PA now provides a powerful and flexible way to integrate mainframe performance data with your enterprise monitoring and analytics platform, supporting your organization’s efforts to modernize operations.

To configure and use the JSON Lines streaming feature, refer to the IMS Performance Analyzer for z/OS documentation, which guides you through enabling TCP/IP streaming, securing the connection, and consuming streamed JSON Lines data.

Thank you for reading.