Selecting a performance management strategy

Different business needs require different performance management strategies. Here are three basic business models and their suggested performance management strategies.

Developing a good performance management strategy will help you manage your system's performance. Your performance management strategy depends in a large part on the amount of time you can afford to spend managing performance. If you are working with a small company, you may be managing many different aspects of your business and cannot devote many hours to managing performance. Many large companies employ performance specialists to keep their systems tuned and running effectively.

For determining a basic performance management strategy and for identifying which performance applications to use, classify your company in one of three categories: small business, mid-sized business, and large business. The business resources vary for each size, and your management strategy will vary accordingly.

Small business

A small business most likely has fewer resources to devote to managing performance than a larger business. For that reason, use as much automation as possible. You use PM iSeries™ to have your performance data sent directly to IBM^® where it will be compiled and generated into reports for you. This not only saves you time, but IBM also makes suggestions to you when your server needs an upgrade.

The following is a list of recommended performance applications for a small business:

• Collection Services: Collect sample data at user-defined intervals for later analysis.

• Graph History: Display performance data collected with Collection Services.

• Performance Management for iSeries: Automate the collection, archival, and analysis of system performance data.

• Performance Tools: Gather, analyze, and maintain system performance information.

• Monitors: Observe graphical representations of system performance, and automate responses to predefined events or conditions.

Mid-sized business

The mid-sized business probably has more resources devoted to managing performance than the small business. You may still want to automate as much as possible and can also benefit from using PM iSeries.

The following is a list of recommended performance applications for a mid-sized business:

• Collection Services: Collect sample data at user-defined intervals for later analysis.

• Graph History: Display performance data collected with Collection Services.

• Performance Management for iSeries: Automate the collection, archival, and analysis of system performance data.

• Performance Tools: Gather, analyze, and maintain system performance information.

• Monitors: Observe graphical representations of system performance, and automate responses to predefined events or conditions.

• Performance explorer: Collect detailed information about a specific application or system resource.

Large business

The large business has resources devoted to managing performance.

The following is a list of recommended performance applications for a large business:

• Collection Services: Collect sample data at user-defined intervals for later analysis.

• Graph History: Display performance data collected with Collection Services.

• Performance Management for iSeries: Automate the collection, archival, and analysis of system performance data.

• Performance Tools: Gather, analyze, and maintain system performance information.

• Monitors: Observe graphical representations of system performance, and automate responses to predefined events or conditions.

• Performance explorer: Collect detailed information about a specific application or system resource.

• iDoctor for iSeries: Analyze trace data to improve system and application performance.

• Performance Trace Data Visualizer (PTDV): View trace data from a Java™ application.

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Related concepts
Collection Services Graph history IBM Performance Management for eServer iSeries Performance explorer iDoctor for iSeries Performance Trace Data Visualizer