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Where to get T4 and Friends

2010/06/08 in Performance, T4 | 3 comments

You may have heard of T4 & Friends. The core of T4 & Friends is the T4 toolkit that you can install on your OpenVMS systems. This kit allows you to track performance of your OpenVMS system and various subsystems, such as storage.

You can read more about T4 & Friends in the VMS Technical Journal:

  • V3 – TimeLine-Driven Collaboration with T4 & Friends: A Time-saving Approach to OpenVMS Performance [ HTML, PDF ]
  • V4 – Adding a Friend to T4 & Friends: Incorporating BEA WebLogic Server 8.1 Performance Data [ HTML, PDF ]
  • V10 – Taking T4 to the Next Level [ HTML, PDF ]
  • V11 – RMS Collector for T4 and Friends [ HTML, PDF ]

If you want to download T4 & Friends, you can do so by entering “OpenVMS T4 download site:hp.com” into your search engine. It should return as the top item the following page:

http://h71000.www7.hp.com/openvms/products/t4/index.html

Edit: Link and Search updated (Thanks to Ian Miller for catching my use of the old link)

Included in the download page, you will find:

  • a PCSI kit for OpenVMS versions V7.3-2 and up [ Alpha and Integrity (V8.3 and up) ]
  • a PCSI kit for OpenVMS versions V7.3-1 [ Alpha ]
  • a Windows Install kit to install TLViz V1.6-09 on Windows systems
  • a Windows Image to update the TLViz image to V1.6-14 where TLViz is previously installed
  • a ZIP file to install CSVPNG V1.0-156 on Windows systems

To help with the installation the T4 PCSI kits include a “How to install T4″ document. The TLViz and CSVPNG kits also include basic documents on how to install and use these analysis tools. For more information on TLViz and CSVPNG, Steve Lieman provides some useful information at http://trendsthatmatter.com/. (Edit: Again, thanks to Ian Miller for adding this pointer in his comment).

Also included is a tool called VEVAMON (the VMS Eva MONitor). As customers moved their OpenVMS systems to use EVA storage arrays, OpenVMS engineering created this tool to better analyze EVA storage performance data. However, this tool only works with a very old version of the EVA controller firmware. The current, recommended and supported method to collect EVA storage array performance data is to use EVAperf on the Storage Management Appliance (SMA) and then convert the EVAperf CSV file to TLViz formatted files. This conversion is done with the EVAperf-to-TLViz converter program that is located in the same directory as the EVAperf software on the SMA.

Finally, for more information, you can read the Frequently Asked Questions. If you don’t find answers there, you can ask your questions by entering your question in the online form to send email to HP’s T4 team.

Below you will find a screencast of this information.

(to be inserted)

T4 & Friends ScreenCast Agenda

2010/06/07 in FisherFindings, OpenVMS Presentations, T4 | 5 comments

I had some input (thanks Bob Blunt!) on what to include. As he points out, all too often presentations tend to gloss over the installation of these products. So, I will specially add a few screen casts that show how to install T4 & Friends in your environment.

Here’s the topics the screencasts on this type will cover:

  1. Installation
    1. installing T4
    2. installing TLViz
    3. installing CSVPNG
  2. Using T4
    1. to collect on-going statistics
    2. to collect performance data
  3. Using TLViz
    1. understanding statistics
    2. to explore data
    3. to identify problem areas
    4. using T4 files
    5. using Chart Settings
    6. using Modify Item List
    7. using Options
    8. adding calculated items
    9. graphing the results
  4. Using CSVPNG
    1. to quickly wade through data
    2. to produce consistent reports / graphs
    3. to produce exception reports / graphs
    4. to concatenate data
    5. to extract data
    6. adding calculated items
    7. control of graphs

So, in my spare time, I will try to capture this information and put together these screencasts to show how to use T4 & Friends. This is the basis of how to collect and analyze OpenVMS storage performance data.

Upcoming series of posts

2010/05/31 in Best Practices, FisherFindings, T4 | No comments

Over the upcoming weeks, I share a series of blog entries on several different topics.

First, I will provide a work in progress: “Best Practices for OpenVMS Storage”. This will culminate in a VMS Technical Journal article. This will be a foundational article, on which other articles will be added “Best Practices for OpenVMS with EVA storage arrays”, “Best Practices for OpenVMS with XP disk arrays”, and “Best Practices for OpenVMS with Enterprise Backup Solutions”. These may eventually be moved to White Papers. But the process to create a white paper takes longer, and my hope is to share this process with the OpenVMS community.

During this process, I am open to input from the community. Though I will offer my own thoughts on the Best Practices, based on the experiences of customers, I intend to provide the rationale behind the Best Practices. If the situation does not apply, you the reader can decide if the Best Practice applies.

Second, I will provide a series of blog entries that show how to use TLViz and CSVPNG to analyze the performance data derived from T4 and EVAperf performance data. The TLViz and CSVPNG tools are the analysis tools of the T4 tool set. You can find the T4 tool set at:

http://www.openvms.compaq.com/openvms/products/t4/index.html

When possible, I will use screencasts to demonstrate how to use TLViz and/or CSVPNG to perform data analysis. Additionally to help readers better utilize the tool, I will provide blog entries on how to use statistical data to better understand the information from T4 and EVAperf.

Hopefully, you will find these posts a helpful addition to the OpenVMS community.

Previous Presentations

2008/07/22 in Best Practices, EVA, MSA Storage, Performance, SAN, System Managemnt, T4, Volume Shadowing, XP Disk Arrays | 1 comment

As I previously mentioned, through this blog I will offer presentations I have made over the years. I hope this information will help you.

The following batch of presentations Wes Roberts and I offer to you. It covers several topic areas:

  • Sizing Storage Arrays for OpenVMS
  • Setup and Management of SANs with OpenVMS
  • Storage Essentials and HSG and MSA storage.
  • EVA Storage Arrays and XP Disk Arrays

During future blog entries Wes and I will briefly discuss the information within these PowerPoint presentations.

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Links

03-ff-20080722-ppts

Theory & Practice of Sizing Storage Arrays:

Setup & Management of a SAN with OpenVMS:

Storage Essentials, HSG and MSA Overviews:

Overview of EVA Storage Arrays and XP Disk Arrays:

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