CU*Answers IBM i performance monitoring is key for 2020

CU*Answers continues to put a focus on utilizing tools geared toward monitoring and improving the performance of both its IBM POWER i system and the code written within the programming department. One of the main products, iDoctor for IBM i, is a suite of performance tools that can be used to collect, investigate and analyze performance data on POWER systems. These tools are used to monitor overall system health at a high-level overview or to drill down to the performance details within jobs, disk units and/or programs over data collected during performance situations.

In addition, CU*Answers programming teams have a current trial using the Git source management system with members of the RPG development team. As this is the same code management system in use by other language developers within the organization, this trial will determine if Git will provide similar benefits to the RPG developers that it does our other platforms. There are currently four projects being tracked and documented in the development process and associated benefits of using this system. Other source control systems will also be compared to determine what best suits CU*Answers return on investment.

SQL/OS configurations are based on IBM’s recommendations to also improve performance. The technology teams are hard at work implementing the SQL optimizations that will improve the database connections time and allocate individual subsystems and users.

Brian Mauer, EVP of Software Development states, “As we evolve our development model, we will closely monitor and adjust our production IBM i environment to ensure optimal performance.”