A Love Letter to NetView, and a Look at Other Networking Management and Monitoring Tools on z/OS
For "z/OS and Friends," Joe Gulla looks at several powerful products, highlighted by NetView as the base for system automation features and additional product support
For networking management and monitoring on IBM z/OS systems, several powerful products are available, each tailored to different aspects of mainframe operations. Let me start with IBM Z NetView, which is unique in that it is a network monitoring and management program, as well as a system automation platform. Both network and z/OS are supported by way of NetView’s extraordinary interfaces, features and functions, including REXX language support.
I went to school in Philadelphia and was taught by nuns right through the 8th grade. The nuns taught us that it was not possible to love an imamate object because “it could not love you back.” I bought that for quite a few years; then NetView came along …
NetView and the Networking SolutionPac
After a few years doing application development for IBM, I was ready to get back to systems programming work. I transferred to a local branch office at the same time IBM announced the NetView product and a Raleigh-based solutions group announced a NetView Networking SolutionPac. This offering was installation services plus added productivity software from an IBM Solutions team in Research Triangle Park (RTP) North Carolina.
I went to class in Raleigh, learned the scope of the work, and the next week, I was delivering the services at an insurance company in Philadelphia. It was a little bit scary; there was much that I didn’t fully understand about SNA and VTAM but I had the IBM support center to help, and customers were generally understanding. The early customers were happy to get help implementing a product that had many components with seemingly endless configuration options.
I really enjoyed delivering the learning materials, including a familiarization lab that I used to teach the network operators. By this time, I had experience teaching IT at a university and was motivated to an effective teacher. The lab training was part of the service offering but eventually, I came to author a new, customizable version of the lab exercise based on what worked most effectively in the classroom for a given customer.
Later, I transferred to the lab in RTP. I was officially a “lab rat,” and I loved it. After settling into my new job, I was offered the opportunity to lead a team that transformed several IBM program offerings into IBM program products. This involved new development line-items and testing and improved packaging, as well as updates to the publications. I learned a lot during that process and still remember those days as some of the most challenging and rewarding of my IT career.
NetView as a Playground for the Mind
After working with NetView for a year or so, doing the same project with different customers, I realized that NetView was both a solution and a toolset. As a programming environment, it had useful and interesting programming aids; here are a few examples:
Table 1. Four of NetView’s Programmer Tools
| What Tool? | How it Could be Used? |
| Programming Languages | When you want to write code, NetView has a CLIST language. Later came REXX, which was a miracle of a language. REXX was so powerful, we used it to write products even before there was a compiler. |
| Privileged Interfaces | When you want to interface with the OS, there is a command prefix. You just put it in front of the OS command and it will magically be executed. You can unconditionally issue it and hope that it worked, or you can wait and make sure. It worked just like a “real” language. |
| Message Handling | When you want to trigger an action, for example execute a program, you can easily do that. This is useful when a certain message is detected—just trap the message in the NetView message table and execute the program. |
| Command Execution | When you want to do something, like execute a command, at a certain time of day; or you want to execute a program every so many minutes; or you want to trigger an event after some time elapses, NetView has AT, EVERY and AFTER commands. These commands are useful when you take an action and then want to check later to see if the action continued to work. |
You get the idea, NetView is a programmer’s joyride. All you need to do is bring your imagination. Ironically, NetView today is so functionally rich that there is less of a need to write code to meet automation needs because there is so much built-in functionality. Automation programming has become more of a product administration exercise where you tailor definitions that take the actions that you require instead of writing code. However, when there is the need, the support is richer than ever, with a built-in control file and common routines that help cut down on your coding requirements.
NetView Is a Network Management Solution and an Automation Platform
Figure 1 below is a useful place to start to understand the functions of NetView. In addition, it is helpful to understand its supplemental features and what additional products are important to providing monitoring, control and automation for the overall z/OS system.
Figure 1. NetView’s place and role in network management and automation.
In this next section of the article, I am going to explore the four major elements of Figure 1, which include the Network Management and Automation Platform functions, as well as the Automated Operations Network feature and the IBM Z System Automation product.
Function: Network Management
You might already know that NetView was created in the mid 1980s from a collection products including:
Table 2. Products That Were Included in the Initial NetView Release
| Product | Main Function |
| Network Control Center Facility (NCCF) | Provides command and control for SNA network operations. You use it to display, activate or recycle network resources. |
| Network Logical Data Manager (NLDM) | Focused on session monitoring and managing logical connections. When sessions fail, there is data left behind that is useful is explaining what went wrong. |
| Network Problem Determination Aid (NPDA) | Assists in identifying and resolving network problems. Its focus is hardware-related data, as many of the network devices report their failures from a hardware perspective. |
| VTAM Node Control Application (VNCA) | Manages VTAM nodes within the SNA network. A very early VTAM tool. |
| Network Management Productivity Facility (NMPF) | Offered tools and facilities to boost the efficiency of network management tasks. I remember it having a focus on automation in the early days with a message table and CLISTs to make desired actions happen automatically. It was replaced by function that were more powerful and flexible. |
The product was integrated and the original tools were extended. IBM provided an environment for network automation with time-related tools (AT, EVERY and AFTER) plus CLISTs and later the REXX programming language. REXX was interpretive-only; the compiler came later. I remember when a customer complained that our code didn’t compile because it had errors. We reminded them that the code was written before there was a compiler.
NetView has matured since the early days. Today, NetView integrates with Other IBM Z tools like GDPS and Tivoli Business Service Manager. NetView also supports CICS, DB2, and IMS subsystem monitoring through the IBM System Z Automation product. Also, NetView supports enhanced logging and visualization through the Consolidated Audit, NetView, and z/OS Log (Canzlog) feature for consolidated message logging. Canzlog collects and stores z/OS system messages, NetView messages, messages from specific jobs or operators and messages within defined time ranges.
Feature: Automation Operations Network
Automated Operations Network (AON) is built into NetView and has components including Helpdesk, AutoView, Dynamic Display Facility (DDF), Control File and Common Routines. Originally, it was a set of productivity aids (part of the SolutionPac); then it became a product add-on, and now it is simply a feature of NetView. Its focus is the domain of network management, centered on operator productivity, as well as network automation.
Let’s Take a Time Out and Focus on NetView With TCP/IP
IBM Z NetView fully supports TCP/IP networking, alongside traditional Systems Network Architecture (SNA). It provides a comprehensive set of tools for managing, automating and diagnosing TCP/IP networks on IBM Z systems. TCP/IP support in z/OS NetView includes centralized TCP/IP management, which consolidates TCP/IP data across LPARs and systems. NetView can manage both IPv4 and IPv6 packet tracking and analysis.
NetView includes both automation and event correlation and automates responses to TCP/IP network events. NetView integrates with Policy Agent (PAGENT) and IPSec/AT-TLS configurations.
Function: Platform for z/OS Automation
IBM Z NetView serves as a powerful platform for automation by providing the foundational services and integration points needed to manage and automate complex z/OS environments. The NetView platform provides many functions to enable automation. Here are some examples:
Table 3. What Does it Mean to Be a Platform for Automation?
| Function Provided | How This Is Useful for Automation |
| Command lists and command processors | Programs that provide a useful utility function that can be used again by different customers. |
| Timer commands | Used to schedule time-related operations. |
| Autotasks to run programs without human intervention | Active tasks that accept work but don’t require a human operator. |
| An automation table and a message revision table for handling messages | A mechanism to trap messages so actions can be taken automatically. Automation on z/OS is largely message-driven. Messages that pass all the filters, like MPFLSTxx and the NetView Message Revision Table, end up in the NetView automation table containing action rules. This is called message capturing. |
| A Resource Object Data Manager (RODM) | An in-memory, object-oriented data cache used by NetView to store and manage real-time status and configuration information for network and system resources. |
| Installation exits | For special, customer-specific processing. Often used to administer security processing. |
| Ability to issue z/OS commands | Used to issue a wide variety of commands to the OS from within a program. |
| Automated Operations Network (AON) | A feature of NetView that includes operator productivity—for example, Helpdesk and automation routines focused on network resources. |
| Status Monitor | Provides real-time visibility into the status of network and system resources. It plays a key role in both manual operations and automated system management. |
| NetView Pipeline | Makes Pipes processing, with many powerful features, available to NetView automation routines. |
| Full-Screen Automation | Tools used to automate processes that are typically done by humans at display devices. |
| NPDA Automation | Automation that focuses hardware-related events and alerts. |
| Ability to use Z NetView SQL Stages for Access to DB2 | Useful if automation routines want to store data in DB2 tables. |
| Access to VSAM Files | Useful if automation routines want to store data in VSAM files. |
Table 3 has many examples of what it means for NetView to provide an automation platform that enables automation from customers or through IBM products like NetView Z Automation.
Product: IBM Z System Automation
IBM Z System Automation monitors, controls and automates system elements like CICS, IMS, Db2 and z/OS base system components. In addition to these, IBM Z System Automation also supports automation for many other system products and infrastructure components, such as NetView, Job Entry Subsystem, Time Sharing Option, Resource Measurement Facility, ACF/VTAM, OMEGAMON, IBM Z Workload Scheduler and Tivoli Business Services Manager.
IBM Z System Automation comes with add-on policies for many more systems than the ones mentioned above. Here is a complete list that helps to reduce the manual effort of defining automation policies. IBM Z System Automation also comes with an extensive set of commands to interact with the automation software.
What Else for Network Management?
Next is a brief discussion of an additional network monitoring and management product and its features.
IBM Z OMEGAMON AI for Networks
IBM offers a product called IBM Z OMEGAMON AI for Networks, which is part of the broader OMEGAMON family of monitoring tools. This product is specifically designed for network performance monitoring within IBM Z environments. Key Features of IBM Z OMEGAMON AI for Networks includes real-time and historical analysis of network resources, including AI-powered insights to detect anomalies and performance trends. It also provides monitoring of TCP/IP and VTAM resources, including FTP job status, throughput and buffer space constraints.
Also included is security monitoring for IP stack configurations, TLS and SSH sessions. Diagnostic tools like PING, NSLOOKUP, and TRACERTE are utilized for faster issue resolution. Integration with Tivoli Management Services and other IBM Z tools is provided for operations and smooth interaction.
In short, this product helps IT teams proactively manage network health, isolate problems quickly and ensure high availability of mission-critical applications on IBM Z systems.
What Else for System Automation?
Next is a brief discussion of additional ways to improve automation on z/OS systems. First, workload automation, storage automation and backup resiliency are discussed. All three are areas of focus supported by products. Second is a technology approach called AIOps for IBM Z.
Workload, Storage and Resiliency Automation
We have already explored IBM Z NetView and IBM Z System Automation. What else is there to support a more complete automation discipline? Below is a brief discussion of three additional disciplines.
Table 4. Additional Automation Solutions
| Discipline | Product |
| Workload automation | End-to-end workload automation with embedded predictive scheduling for SLA management across the enterprise is provided by IBM Z Workload Scheduler. It is used to automate, plan and control the processing of complex systems’ workloads. Using a single point of control, it manages workflows across multiple platforms and business applications. |
| Storage automation | Machine aided storage resource management and automated storage tasks across the enterprise is handled by IBM Z Storage Management Suite. The suite is a product bundle that storage administrators use to holistically manage and evaluate their z/OS storage environment. Its scope is broad, covering monitoring, allocation, catalog and HSM. |
| Resiliency | IBM Z Backup Resiliency is used to improve business resiliency and reduce risk by offering immediate insight into data interdependencies and vulnerabilities. |
An Approach Called AIOps for IBM Z
AIOps for IBM Z is a powerful technology approach that combines automation with AI and machine learning algorithms. The approach is tailored specifically to streamline mainframe systems management and operations; it uses automation to detect and analyze events and anomalies within complex IT environments.
There are multiple areas of focus for this approach. These include:
1. Incident identification solutions – Steps in the process, for example, monitor hybrid infrastructure and applications to detect issues and anomalies, and utilize tools and products that improve the ability to detect and resolve incidents.
2. Root-cause analysis solutions – Steps in this process, for example, analyze issues and anomalies to isolate problems and identify root causes, and utilize products that result in more effective identification of the root cause of problems.
3. Automate IT solutions – This is focused on automation of z/OS systems including the network. I have covered this in detail in this article, including system, network, workload, storage and resiliency solutions.
There are AIOps case studies and resources like these AIOps videos to explore.
Network Management and Automation Have a Long History
In this article, I covered the dual functions of NetView for System Z as a network management tool and a platform for z/OS system automation. I have discussed the NetView AON feature, which is a network automation engine, as well as an operator productivity tool with components like Helpdesk. I also covered IBM Z System Automation, which provides extensive system automation function building on the NetView platform.
I also explored IBM Z OMEGAMON AI for Networks, which is part of the broader OMEGAMON family of monitoring tools. Additionally, I reviewed workload automation, storage automation and backup resiliency, as all three areas of focus are supported by products. Lasty, I explained a technology approach called AIOps for IBM Z.
What’s Next?
The next article will be on IBM’s messaging and integration products for z/OS that are designed to enable secure, reliable and scalable communication between applications, both within the mainframe and across hybrid cloud environments. My product focus will include IBM MQ, IBM App Connect, z/OS Connect EE and others.