Q Replication Dashboard Updated for 2012

A couple of months ago, IBM announced enhancements to its data replication in support of DB2 v10 for UNIX and Windows.  This month, IBM released an update to its Q Replication Dashboard that supports those enhancements and much more.  In fact, most the Dashboard's enhancements can be used with Q Replication for DB2 z/OS, too.  This post takes a quick look at them.  If you need any, you can get an updated copy of the Dashboard from its download page on ibm.com.

Generate Reports for any Q Replication Performance Metric

This is one of my personal favorites.  Q Capture and Q Apply can generate some great historical data in their monitor tables (IBMQREP_CAPMON, IBMQREP_APPLYMON, and IBMQREP_CAPQMON).  However, I've always wanted an easy way to graph data without having to use a separate tool.  The Dashboard solved this problem by giving you the ability to create graphs for the monitor tables.   You have options, too.  If you choose to graph multiple columns, you can show all graphs in one report or have a separate graph for each column.  You can then email, print, or save any report you create.  Look for the Performance Graphs option in the Reports tab.

Monitor and Manage Schema-Level Subscriptions

The updated Dashboard supports Q Replication's new schema-level subscriptions for DB2 LUW v10.  You can list, expand, and take actions on them just as you can with individual table-level subscriptions. More specifically, you can do the following:

• List all schema-level subscriptions
• View the schema profile that adds table-level subscriptions automatically when source tables are created.
• View which tables are currently part of the schema-level subscription
• View the properties of a schema-level subscription such as its pattern, state, or time of state changes
• Perform operations such as start, stop, and reinitialize.
  • You can perform operations on the schema-level subscription itself or on individual table-level subscriptions that are part of the schema-level subscription.

Configure Alerts at the Queue Level

The most common request I hear for Q Replication is to give users greater control at the queue level.  That goes for the Dashboard, too.  So, with this update, you can now configure the following alert thresholds, including contact information, at the queue level:

• For performance monitoring:
  • Queue Depth, Apply Memory, Apply Latency, End-to-end Latency
• For health monitoring:
  • Receive Queue Status, Exceptions

Get Email Notifications for Additional Monitored Conditions

The Dashboard's Alert Manager can now monitor and provide an email notification for any of the following additional alert conditions:

• For performance monitoring:
  • Q Capture's log latency, Q Apply's Latency
• For health monitoring:
  • The Q Capture side of subscription status, Q Apply's Receive Queue status.
  • Q Capture error messages or Q Apply error messages (instead of alerts for both)

One other thing you'll notice as you define these is that the Dashboard's Configure Alerts tab has been redesigned to provide easier navigation.

Extensions to mobile version of the dashboard

Late last year, IBM released a limited-feature Q Replication Dashboard that works on devices that run iOS or Android (i.e., smartphones and tablets).  Two enhancements have been added to it as well.

Email integration

You can now email alert information along with comments.  Simply click the Email button.  You can send emails from the Program Status, Queues, Subscription Details, Queue Depth Details, Latency Details, Exception Details, or Messages Details pages.

Graphs adjust when changing page orientation

The latency and queue depth graphs on the mobile version are no longer static and resize themselves to fill the entire screen when you change to landscape orientation.