Spotlight on DB2 6.10

Section	Description
Spotlight Connections	Create / Modify / Delete connections to systems, and monitor those systems.
Monitor Spotlight Connections	Monitor connections, detect alarms, investigate the cause of alarms.
Alarms	Alarms are the warnings that Spotlight raises when a metric falls outside its "normal" range of values.
Charts, Grids and Home Page Components	Spotlight displays provide detailed statistics of the monitored system, relevant to diagnosing the cause of alarms. Make the best use of them.
View \| Options	Customize Spotlight.
Troubleshooting	Solve problems using Spotlight.

About Alarms, Metrics, Thresholds And Severities

Terms	Definitions	Customizations and Actions
alarm	Alarms are the warnings that Spotlight raises when a metric falls outside its "normal" range of values.	A new alarm is raised whenever the severity for a metric changes. When the severity returns to normal, the alarm is canceled. You can see this behavior clearly in the Alarm log. Alarm log
metric	A metric is a piece of information that Spotlight collects about the performance of a system. The information may be a numeric value (a number or percentage), a string of text, or some other piece of data. Every time the Spotlight window is refreshed, Spotlight retrieves the latest value of the metric, which can then be displayed on the home page.	Use the Metrics Dialog to: Select the metrics to collect for the connection / component. Configure Alarm smoothing, to smooth out the anomalies and spikes that may appear momentarily in metric values. The purpose is to prevent Spotlight from reporting alarms for spikes that do not persist.
threshold	For each numeric metric, you can set thresholds — ranges of values — that indicate levels of severity for that metric.	Use the Thresholds Dialog to: Select the metrics to collect for the connection / component. Define the severities to apply to the metric. Define the start and end values for each severity.
severity	A severity can be used to specify whether the information returned in the metric represents normal or abnormal behavior for the system. Within Spotlight, there can be at most the following types of severity: Disabled Normal Information Low Medium High "Normal" indicates that the system is performing within acceptable limits. If a metric returns a value with any other severity, Spotlight raises an alarm that indicates the system is behaving outside acceptable limits. A "Disabled" status means the system is not responding, and no information is being returned.	When an alarm is raised Spotlight performs one or more of the following actions: Changes the color or intensity of relevant components. Gives audible warnings. Runs a program. Sends email or network notifications. You can control how that notification is issued. Alarm actions

Metrics Dialog

View the alarms defined for a Spotlight connection or component of the Spotlight home page.

Note: These are not the alarms raised for a connection / component. To see the alarms raised for a connection open the Alarm log.

To open the Metrics dialog

View all metrics for the connection	View all metrics for the Spotlight home page component
Open the Spotlight home page for the connection. Select View \|Show All Alarms…	Right click the component on the Spotlight home page and select Metrics…

View all metrics for the connection

View all metrics for the Spotlight home page component

Open the Spotlight home page for the connection.

Select View |Show All Alarms…

Right click the component on the Spotlight home page and select Metrics…

About the Metrics dialog

Option	Description
List of metrics	All metrics associated with the component / connection are listed. Data is collected for selected metrics. Clear the selection to stop collecting data for the metric. Highlight the metric to display its details in the Metric page. You can sort the list. Click the header to sort the metrics in ascending or descending name order. Click the severity icon in the header to sort the metrics according to severity .
Metric Name	This is the metric highlighted in the list of metrics.
Averaging	Set Averaging for the highlighted metric. Use default - Every value used to calculate a metric's alarm status is obtained by averaging the metric over a period of time specified in Spotlights Options. Don't average this metric - Use the raw metric data retrieved from the current system — anomalies and spikes included. Use custom averaging - Use a moving average, as in the Use default... case, but not the default setting. Set the time period by using the Average over... slider. Average over... - Use the mouse or arrow keys to move the slider and so choose the time period used to generate the moving average. The longer the time period, the fewer the peaks and troughs. Spikes and other anomalies are smoothed. Tip: Do not to use too long a time to calculate the moving average. This may prevent the reporting of valid alarms. The maximum time period that Spotlight uses for averaging is five minutes. Averaging - is a technique that Spotlight uses to smooth out the anomalies and spikes that may appear momentarily in the metric values for a component. The purpose of averaging is to prevent Spotlight from reporting alarms for such spikes if they do not persist. Notes: Averaging is used ONLY to prevent the generation of spurious alarms. It does NOT affect the charts or tables that display metric values; these continue to display metrics as they are reported. This is not the place to set averaging for all metrics for the connection. Alarm smoothing

Option

Description

List of metrics

All metrics associated with the component / connection are listed.

Data is collected for selected metrics. Clear the selection to stop collecting data for the metric.

Highlight the metric to display its details in the Metric page.

You can sort the list.

Click the header to sort the metrics in ascending or descending name order.
Click the severity icon in the header to sort the metrics according to severity .

Metric Name

This is the metric highlighted in the list of metrics.

Averaging

Set Averaging for the highlighted metric.

Use default - Every value used to calculate a metric's alarm status is obtained by averaging the metric over a period of time specified in Spotlights Options.
Don't average this metric - Use the raw metric data retrieved from the current system — anomalies and spikes included.
Use custom averaging - Use a moving average, as in the Use default... case, but not the default setting. Set the time period by using the Average over... slider.
Average over... - Use the mouse or arrow keys to move the slider and so choose the time period used to generate the moving average. The longer the time period, the fewer the peaks and troughs. Spikes and other anomalies are smoothed.

Tip: Do not to use too long a time to calculate the moving average. This may prevent the reporting of valid alarms. The maximum time period that Spotlight uses for averaging is five minutes.

Averaging - is a technique that Spotlight uses to smooth out the anomalies and spikes that may appear momentarily in the metric values for a component. The purpose of averaging is to prevent Spotlight from reporting alarms for such spikes if they do not persist.

Notes:

Averaging is used ONLY to prevent the generation of spurious alarms. It does NOT affect the charts or tables that display metric values; these continue to display metrics as they are reported.
This is not the place to set averaging for all metrics for the connection. Alarm smoothing

Thresholds Dialog

Define the acceptable range of values for a Spotlight metric. Metrics that exceed the Normal threshold raise an alarm.

To open the Thresholds Dialog

View all metrics for the connection	View all metrics for the Spotlight home page component
Open the Spotlight home page for the connection. Select View \|Show All Alarms… \| Thresholds	Right click the component on the Spotlight home page and select Metrics… \| Thresholds

View all metrics for the connection

View all metrics for the Spotlight home page component

Open the Spotlight home page for the connection.

Select View |Show All Alarms… | Thresholds

Right click the component on the Spotlight home page and select Metrics… | Thresholds

About the Thresholds Dialog

Option	Description
List of metrics	All metrics associated with the component / connection are listed. Data is collected for selected metrics. Clear the selection to stop collecting data for the metric. Highlight the metric to display its details in the Thresholds page. You can sort the list. Click the header to sort the metrics in ascending or descending name order. Click the severity icon in the header to sort the metrics according to severity .
Name	This is the name of the metric highlighted in the list of metrics.
Severity table	Define severities for the highlighted metric. Select the severities you wish to define. Define Start values for each selected severity either in the Severity Table or on the Threshold Bar. In the Severity Table: Click in the Start cell. Enter the lower value for the threshold. Note: Ensure the start values for each range are consistent. A failure to do so may cause problems when alarms are raised. Deselect the severities you do not wish to define.
Threshold bar	Severity Start and End values can be defined in the Severity table or the Threshold bar. On the Threshold bar: Move the mouse pointer over the threshold between two severities until it appears as a split-bar pointer. Drag the mouse to move the threshold to a new position. Release. Changes are updated automatically in the Severity table.

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Spotlight on DB2 6.10 - User Guide

Alarm Metrics And Thresholds

About Alarms, Metrics, Thresholds And Severities

Metrics Dialog

Thresholds Dialog