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Check out the latest features in IBM Service Management Unite (SMU) 1.1.9.2

  
Earlier this month we have delivered a new fixpack for IBM Service Management Unite.  Version 1.1.9.2 not only brings fixes but also some interesting new features and enhancements. The new release enables tighter integration of various products in the IBM Z AIOps portfolio and provides a new function to set a system’s RunMode that has been asked for by many IBM Z System Automation customers:

Drill-down to deep-dive OMEGAMON monitoring views

From monitoring subsystem views in Service Management Unite, you can now launch in context of the selected subsystem to a corresponding workspace in the IBM Z Service Management Explorer (IZSME). The IZSME is a web-based alternative for the Tivoli Enterprise Portal (TEP) that gives access to all workspaces for each OMEGAMON product.

Imagine you are analyzing a performance issue with a certain CICS region in SMU. Now the subject matter expert can drill-down directly from the SMU view of this CICS region to the IZSME workspace for the same CICS region to get even more monitoring details as reported by the corresponding OMEGAMON agent.

This drill-down functionality is available for all subsystem views in SMU, for example for CICS, IMS, Db2, MQ, z/OS LPARs, and more.

Furthermore, SMU nicely integrates with IBM Z ChatOps, which provides a collaborative problem isolation environment based on chat platforms, such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, or Mattermost. Launch-in-context links to SMU dashboards, as well as deep-dive views into IZSME, and other links are embedded in chatbot output. With this integration, the workflow between various tools and the coordination between multiple people can be orchestrated via a chat channel using ChatOps principles.

Watch the following short video to see how Z ChatOps and SMU are used in a collaborative problem isolation workflow:
AIOps on IBM zSystems: Automated Resolution

Enable setting Run Modes for systems in SMU

A Runmode is a concept in IBM Z System Automation that provides a flexible way to control the availability of resources without the need to explicitly start or stop individual resources.

You can use Runmodes for the following purposes:

  • Start up your system in two or more stages. You can bring up a subset of your resources, do some checks, bring up another set of resources, do some more checks, and finally bring up the complete system.
  • Shut down your system in two or more stages. You can shut down a subset of your resources, apply maintenance, shut down another set of resources, apply some more maintenance, and finally shut down the complete system.
  • Switch between two or more scenarios with the same configuration. For instance, you can switch between "Weekday" and "Weekend", or "Normal" and "disaster recovery".

Runmodes and corresponding resources are defined in the Z System Automation policy. With SMU 1.1.9.2, you can now set a Runmode directly from the context menu of a system. The Set Run Mode dialog lets you choose from one of the Runmodes that you have defined and it will also give a preview of the resources that will be stopped if that Runmode is activated. Being able to set the Runmode from SMU, has been a requirement that has been requested by many System Automation customers.

Miscellaneous enhancements and fixes

On top of the main two new features highlighted above, the new SMU fixpack includes many fixes and miscellaneous enhancements. For example, a test connection button has been added to the TEPS configuration page to test if the communication with the provided TEPS works, the SMU container images have been updated to the latest DASH and WebSphere Application Server fixpacks, and security fixes have been delivered.

View the documentation to see what’s new in this release.

 

Find it useful? You can download the latest installation packages from our download portal:

  • IBM Service Management Unite Enterprise Edition (included with IBM Z Service Management Suite, IBM Z Service Automation Suite, and IBM Z Monitoring Suite)
    http://ibm.biz/smu-ee-download


More information:

 

Comments

Tue December 20, 2022 01:17 PM

Fantastic updates in SMU 1.1.9.2, especially the launch to IZSME enabling SMEs to hone in on detailed domain metrics in context.

#OMEGAMON #AIOpsonZ #ServiceManagementSuite​​​