Overview

CA NetMaster NM for SNA is a network management product that simplifies the processes involved in managing complex computer networks.

The product can manage many thousands of network addressable units, resulting in better network performance and availability, and faster recovery from network errors.

You can do the following tasks:

Monitor and react to network errors
Command and control network resources
Track session information from a single console
Monitor Network Control Programs (NCPs) across the network

Tools that collect network information and monitor network devices enables network operators to act before problems occur. You also get information about network status changes and network sessions so you get a complete picture of network activity.

CA NetMaster NM for SNA handles commands, messages, responses, and alarm information from multiple systems simultaneously. The product can process information from a wide range of SNA and non-SNA devices and applications.

The product provides a single-image facility that lets you monitor any domain from any terminal in your network. You do not have to switch between domains, and terminate and reestablish sessions. You look in only one place for the information you need.

You have real-time session-level information and detailed session diagnostics. Access to session start times, stop times, number of bytes passed, session trace records, and response time statistics lets you track actual network usage and performance. For longer-term analysis, it maintains a database of session histories. This information helps you plan and configure your network, to ensure that you have adequate resources where they are needed.

The product comprises a menu-driven system of full-screen panels with context-sensitive online help.

Its components and functions are:

Network Error Warning System (NEWS)
Network Tracking System (NTS)
Network Control System (NCS)
NCPView
The SYSCMD facility
The Remote Operator Facility (ROF)
The Network Management facility
The NetView Operator Command Emulation facility
The Information Database

Network Error Warning System

NEWS is a network error warning system. It lets you monitor network errors by using the following functions:

Alert Monitor: Displays operator alerts generated by your region
Device Support: Solicits and displays information from your connected devices and configures them
Database Review Menu: Displays the five types of Communications Network Management (CNM) records stored in the NEWS database
LAN Management: Manages the local area network.

NEWS Features and Benefits

To help you monitor your network, NEWS provides these facilities:

Masks that you tailor to filter event records received, and respond to the events as you require.
In event of a failure, diagnostics that help pinpoint the cause of the failure and speed up its reversal.
Amalgamation of various types of unsolicited data from SNA and non-SNA resources in the network, and issue of requests for specific information from VTAM and certain hardware components.
The alias name translation facility to translate resource names, to avoid any confusion should a duplicate resource name be encountered in another network. This applies, for certain releases of VTAM and Network Control Program (NCP), when SNA Network Interconnection (SNI) is used.
Enhanced session hierarchy displays and session partner information.
Issue of operating system commands and return of the results.
The ability to forward real-time alerts to CA NSM, where they can be monitored from the Event Management Console.
Execution of LAN Manager network, adapter, and bridge functions (including bridge configuration) from the host, if you are running the IBM LAN Manager and it supports these functions.

Network Tracking System

Network Tracking System (NTS) provides improved session visibility to help you determine problems and analyze your network’s performance. NTS obtains information about logical network connections from VTAM’s Session Awareness interface (SAW).

NTS Features and Benefits

To help you manage your network and locate problems, NTS does the following:

Provides an integrated view of activity across multiple SNA domains and networks
Accumulates traffic statistics for sessions and resources to allow monitoring of network performance
Uses the data available to it to build a model of the networking environment in which it is executing
Provides session tracing for problem diagnosis

Other NTS benefits are:

It writes selected session details to a database, to provide a historical record of network activity that you can analyze to determine patterns, and to locate previous occurrences of a particular problem
It interfaces with the Multiple Application Interface (MAI) component of CA SOLVE:Access, to provide you with end-to-end visibility of MAI virtual sessions
It can be tailored to enable the most efficient use of computer resources and to meet the specific needs of your installation

Network Control System

Network Control System (NCS) is an effective and easy-to-use system for displaying and controlling network resources.

NCS Features and Benefits

NCS enables you to display:

Lists by resource name or type, in summary form
Detailed, graphical representations of individual resources and their subordinate nodes
APING APPN control points
Communications and Network Management (CNM) and CA NetSpy events and alerts for a selected resource
NTS active sessions for a selected resource
SNA resource session status codes

NCS also enables you to:

Activate and deactivate resources from selection lists
Enter NCS options to issue VTAM display, modify, and vary commands
Display and control resources in other VTAM domains, enabling central control of all network resources

NCPView

NCPView supports IBM 3745 and 3746-900 communications processors that run an NCP. This support provides an increased level of visibility of the configuration, and of problems occurring with these communication processors.

NCPView enables you to monitor the following:

Token-ring resources
Buffer and Central Control Unit (CCU) utilization
Virtual routes (VRs) and transmission groups (TGs)
Internet Protocol (IP) resource statistics
SNI connections
Frame relay resources

It also enables you to do the following:

Generate alerts for monitored attributes exceeding thresholds
View the performance history of monitored attributes

NCPView Features and Benefits

NCPView enables network operators to be proactive in monitoring, troubleshooting, and balancing loads among the communications controllers that are running an NCP.

It does this by enabling operators to display these types of information:

Particular aspects of an NCP, such as associated virtual routes, transmission groups, and control block pools
NCPs in other domains
Information derived from an unformatted NCP dump

You can analyze information contained in these NCPView displays and use it to aid problem diagnosis.

SYSCMD Facility

The SYSCMD facility lets you issue operating system commands and receive responses.

The SYSCMD facility provides you with the following support:

JES consoles or Extended Multiple Console Support (EXTMCS) consoles that facilitate the issuing of MVS and subsystem commands. The support includes enabling you to delete WTO and WTOR messages.
Access to a comprehensive set of user authorization facilities, through a command authority profile in which you specify:
- Whether a user has the authority to issue the SYSCMD command
- The specific authority levels for operating system commands
The AOM Message Delivery Service feature that queues messages to authorized Operator Console Services (OCS) receivers
The ability for any NCL procedure to issue associated WTO, WTOR, and DOM functions

Remote Operator Facility

CA NetMaster NM for SNA is designed for an integrated network of interconnected systems. The Remote Operator Facility (ROF) allows a central operator to display and control resources in any linked NetMaster region.

To realize the full capabilities of CA NetMaster NM for SNA on a remote system, the following criteria must be met:

CA NetMaster NM for SNA must be licensed on the remote system.
Operators must be defined to the security system on the remote system with adequate authority. Their command authority should allow them to issue VTAM commands.

Network Management Facility

The standard Network Management facility provides the use of the SPO and the PPO interfaces. The SPO interface is used to issue commands to VTAM. The PPO interface is used by the distributed NCL procedure PPOPROC to receive all important network messages, particularly to intercept unsolicited VTAM PPO messages.

This facility provides an additional source of information. It supports VTAM operator commands and implements others as OCS commands (such as TRACE and ACT).

NetView Operator Command Emulation Facility

The NetView operator command emulation facility assists users familiar with Tivoli NetView. It lets you operate CA NetMaster NM for SNA by using the same commands and procedures you are accustomed to using with Tivoli NetView.

Information Database

The Information Database contains network and product information, organized by categories such as:

3174 error codes
Messages
SNA sense codes
SNA resource status codes

Some categories of information are distributed with your product. However, you can add your own installation-specific categories.