Understanding the CA MICS Database › 3.1 Structure

3.1 Structure

A separate CA MICS database is associated with each unit in a
CA MICS complex.  A CA MICS complex is comprised of a variety
of Data Integration Analyzers (DIAs), also referred to as CA
MICS components. Examples include the Batch and Operations
Analyzer (SMF) and Hardware and SCP Analyzer (RMF), and DB2
Analyzer (DB2).

In many cases a component is installed in a single unit. In
that case, all reporting on the component information is
accomplished by accessing the database associated with the
unit where the component is installed.

In some cases, components that process high volumes of data
(such as the DB2 component) may be installed in multiple
units. This might be done to shrink the time required for
daily raw data processing (CA MICS daily update processing
occurs in parallel across units) or to reduce the size of
individual unit databases.

In most of this guide, reporting on component information is
described as though all the information is found in a single
database. If a particular CA MICS component is installed in
multiple units, however, you must remember that, for
comprehensive reporting, the information must be extracted
from all unit databases containing the targeted information.
CA MICS reporting facilities are designed to easily
concatenate database files across units, in effect treating
the physically separate databases as a single logical entity.

Each unit's CA MICS database is organized in a four-level
hierarchy: timespan, information area, file, and cycle. Each
level is described in detail below.
Level 1 - Timespan
------------------
CA MICS has five timespans.  Each timespan has a different
way of summarizing data.

Timespan         Data is summarized by:
---------        -------------------
DETAIL           not summarized

DAYS             HOUR within DAY

WEEKS            HOUR and ZONE within WEEK

MONTHS           ZONE within MONTH

YEARS            ZONE within YEAR

Note: ZONE is a user-defined time period used to delineate
different service periods of a day or week (for example,
prime time).

This figure shows the five timespans, organized in order of
granularity.


Level 2 - Information Area
--------------------------
The basic CA MICS database contains various information
areas, such as Administrative, TSO, IMS, Hardware Use, CICS,
and so on.  This figure shows the hierarchy through the
information area level for the DAYS timespan.



Level 3 - File
--------------
Each information area contains one or more files that contain
data associated with the information area. These
database files contain records comprised of a number of data
elements (variables).


Other Types of Files
--------------------
A few files do not fit into the pattern described above:

o Some files are stored in an area called the TABLES area.
  They contain data that provides information across all of
  the CA MICS databases at a site.

o Spin files exist as a single cycle in the DETAIL timespan.
  They contain data that extends back in time based on a
  user-controlled data or volume parameter.  For example, the
  Operations Configuration (OPSCON) file in the SMF component
  contains system-related configuration change data going
  back from the present date to a default threshold value of
  100 days. As new information comes into spin files, the
  oldest data drops off.

o Another file type is the suspend file. Like spin files,
  suspend files live as a single cycle in the DETAIL
  timespan.  But unlike spin files, which are intended for
  end-user use, suspend files are used internally by CA MICS
  to provide continuity between daily update runs. Some of
  the database files that CA MICS creates rely on raw data
  that may be generated over a number of days. For these
  types of raw data sources, CA MICS uses suspend files to
  "remember" information that the next CA MICS daily update
  run will need. In general, suspend files are not used in
  reporting, but some, such as the SMF component Batch Job
  Suspend (BAT_JS) file, can be useful if you need to report
  on jobs that are in progress as well as on completed jobs.
Level 4 - Cycle
---------------
The cycle level represents instances of the file level.  For
example, the CPU Activity File might exist for 30 time
periods. Since the timespan shown in the following figure is
DAYS, this means 30 days.


The number of cycles that are kept in the online database is
defined by your data center.

The 01 cycle represents the most current file in the
timespan.  For the DETAILS and DAYS file, 01 generally
represents yesterday's data, whereas in the WEEKS, MONTHS,
and YEARS timespan, it represents last week, last month, and
last year.

In the WEEKS, MONTHS, and YEARS timespans, a 00 cycle is used
to contain information still being collected. This would be
week-to-date, month-to-date, and year-to-date data.

TIMESPAN                CYCLE IS ONE
---------               ------------
DETAIL                  DAY*

DAYS                    DAY*

WEEKS                   WEEK

MONTHS                  MONTH

YEARS                   YEAR

* One day may be only approximate, depending on the actual
  data being used.  For example, if the computer is used only
  during prime shift, there will be no data for the other
  parts of the day.  Alternatively, if the raw SMF data file
  contains slightly more than one day's data, the cycle will
  contain more than one day's data. Therefore, a cycle for
  the DETAIL and DAYS timespans contains whatever amount of
  data was input in the last daily database update. This may
  not be exactly one day.

There might be differences between timespans in terms of
levels of aggregation of data by time (hour, zone).  In
addition, all files (Level 3) do not appear in all timespans.

Note: For more information on which files are available in
each timespan, see the DIA guides.