5. DATABASE FILES › 5.2 SNT Information Area › 5.2.14 CA NetSpy Terminal (SLU) File (SNTNSS) › 5.2.14.3 Usage Considerations

5.2.14.3 Usage Considerations

This section identifies special considerations or techniques
related to using the SNTNSS File.  In addition, a retrieval
example is provided to facilitate the use of this file.


In the examples, a SAS macro variable is used to specify the
DDname part of the CA MICS file name. These macro variables
are a standard part of CA MICS and are available for all
files. The macro variable name has the form &diiit, where d
is the database identifier, iii is the information area
name, and t is the timespan.  For the examples, a database
identifier of P is used.  The identifier is installation
dependent, so you should find out what the identifiers are at
your installation.

Special Considerations/Techniques

1. Care must be exercised in using the special date and time
   data elements contained in each CA MICS file.  As file
   granularity increases in higher timespans, certain fields
   lose significance and should not be used in those cases.

   o HOUR should not be used in MONTHS.
   o DAY and DAYNAME should not be used in WEEKS or MONTHS.
   o WEEKS should not be used in MONTHS.

2. The following data elements are user-defined.  The value
   in each depends on user-selected options or user-supplied
   SAS code:

   o NETWRKID - Network Identifier.  A one to eight-character
     descriptive name for each network represented in the
     data.  NETWRKID is set in the Network Identifier Exit
     Routine, SNTNIDRT, discussed in Chapter 7.

   o TMOFFSET - TIME OFFSET applied to the data in the file.
     The user can associate a TIME OFFSET with each unique
     NETWRKID/SYSID combination.  This offset is used to
     adjust data times when data from multiple time zones is
     brought together in the CA MICS database.  To determine
     the original time at which the data was recorded,
     subtract TMOFFSET from the value.  TIME OFFSET is
     assigned in the SNTOPS member of prefix.MICS.PARMS,
     discussed in Chapter 7.

3. The following data elements lose significance once
   summarization has been performed.  These data elements
   should be referenced only when the last observed value in
   a summarization interval is significant.

   NSPYVER  - CA NetSpy Version and Release ID
   TMOFFSET - TIME OFFSET
   NSSLHRTM - Last Host Response Time
   NSSLNRTM - Last Network Response Time
   NSSRVAL1 - Response Distribution Limit 1
   NSSRVAL2 - Response Distribution Limit 2
   NSSRVAL3 - Response Distribution Limit 3
   NSSRVAL4 - Response Distribution Limit 4
   NSSTCID  - Terminal CID (network address)
   NSSTSA   - Terminal Subarea Address (VTAM V3)
   NSSVRRTE - Virtual Route Number

4. User selection of CA NetSpy options determine what
   terminal information is contained in the source data and
   what is omitted.  CA NetSpy collects information for
   terminals only when they are in session with applications
   that CA NetSpy has been directed to monitor.

   For example, CA NetSpy has been requested to monitor only
   TSO.  During the day, a terminal is in session with TSO
   and CICS.  In this case, only the terminal's sessions with
   TSO are contained in the source data.  Moreover, CA
   NetSpy can be directed to collect on all terminals when
   they are in session with an application or on only a
   subset of these terminals.  In the latter case,
   summarizing the observations for the terminals by PLU
   would present an incomplete picture of that PLU's workload
   and performance.

5. Two CA NetSpy Initialization parameters determine the
   values for the elements NSSMXHTM, NSSMXNTM, NSSHRSTM,
   NSSNRSTM, NSSAVHTM, NSSAVNTM, and NSSAVTTM.  These two
   parameters are:

   o HCUTOFF - Host response time cutoff boundary. CA
     NetSpy discards host response times greater than this
     boundary.  This prevents exceptionally long response
     times from skewing the average host response time for
     the application or terminal.

   o NCUTOFF - Network response time cutoff boundary. CA
     NetSpy discards network response times greater than this
     boundary.  This prevents exceptionally long response
     times from skewing the average network response time for
     the application or terminal.

6. The element USER will have a missing value unless you
   define a value for the CA NetSpy Initialization parameter
   USRIDUPD.  This parameter specifies the interval during
   which CA NetSpy searches for all TSO user IDs that have
   logged on to a particular terminal during a measurement
   interval.  If you do not specify a value for USRIDUPD,
   CA NetSpy will not search for TSO user IDs.

Retrieval Example

Assume that CA NetSpy is requested to collect data for all
terminals in session with TSO.  Assume also that the data
center response time objectives state that 90% of total
responses must be less than four (4) seconds for TSO, and
that initialization parameters are defined so that response
distribution limit 3 (service level target 3) is set at four
seconds for TSO.  Select those sessions not meeting the
service-level target.  List each secondary session partner
and relevant information.

In the example below, the session secondary partner,
generally the terminal name, is contained in the SLU data
element.  The NSSAVTTM data element contains the average
total response time for the terminal and NSSPCTR3 contains
the actual percentage of transactions with less than four (4)
seconds total response time.

DATA WKFILE;
  SET &PSNTX..SNTNSS01;
  IF PLU = 'TSO';
  IF NSSPCTR3 LT 90; /* SELECT LESS THAN 90 % */

PROC PRINT DATA=WKFILE;
  ID NETWRKID SYSID;
  VAR PLU SLU NSSAVTTM NSSPCTR3;