HP 3000 Manuals HP 3000 Manuals
Chapter 6 The Expert Facility
To use a performance management tool effectively, you must be able to
obtain proper measures of your system's performance, then separate the
important from the unimportant information. HP GlancePlus for MPE/iX
helps you do this in several ways.
* Indicators. HP GlancePlus uses indicators that are carefully
chosen and arranged to make the product easier to use. Where
several indicators might be used to represent a system resource,
only those that are clear, reliable, and easy to interpret are
used. Indicators that require an in-depth knowledge of the
operating system or are unique to a particular operating system's
technique are not used, if better alternatives are available.
Reducing the number of redundant indicators makes it easier to
notice when one exceeds its normal ranges.
* Filtering. Intelligent filtering of data helps you focus on what
is important. For example, by showing only interesting processes,
it is easier to identify problems than it would be if you had to
scan through every process on the system. GlancePlus's ability to
identify interesting processes--those that are starved for a
resource or those that are using resources excessively--make it
possible to see the forest without examining every tree.
* Highlighting. Highlighting draws your attention to important
indicators. Highlights might indicate why a process is
interesting. For example, If a process was starved for a
resource, the WAIT field is highlighted and the name of the
resource needed is displayed.
Highlighting can also identify an indicator that exceeds a level
that experts consider normal. For example, if you are displaying
the CPU display and the number of compatibility-mode switches is
abnormally high for this size of system, this field is highlighted
in the display. GlancePlus's highlighting provides an "expert in
your pocket" that can tell you when your system is out of line.
NOTE Highlighting works on all supported terminals and terminal
emulators, but it works best on color terminals. Color highlights
can provide additional information--red indicates more severe
situations than blue or green. Terminals without color capability
use underlining or inverse video to highlight an item.
Highlighting is not available on the printer output.
* Guidelines. GlancePlus provides guidelines to help you understand
and use the data presented. Usually, all you have to do is type H
or press f7 to access online Help. Help can give you a list of
commands and explain your current display, in general terms. Help
can also give you more detailed information.
After entering the general Help section, you can ask for details
about each metric on your screen. The advice of many HP 3000
performance specialists has been gathered and used to provide
guidelines for understanding performance data. By asking for
GUIDELINES you can access this knowledge base for information on
what is considered "normal" for your system and how to tell when
your system might be experiencing problems. This information is
always at your fingertips when you need it.
* Expert Facility. GlancePlus's Expert Facility helps you examine
all the pertinent system performance indicators quickly and obtain
a diagnosis. It can even recommend specific actions that might
improve your system's performance. This facility is a true expert
system utilizing advanced techniques that enable this program to
make the same decisions as might be made by a human expert in HP
3000 computer system performance.