FICON™ Health Check
Existing FICON Configuration Check-up
Quick links on this page:
- What is the FICON Health Check Service?
- Why do I need the service?
- How does the Health Check Service work?
- What will FICON Health Check do for me?
- Request a Detailed Service Overview
What is the FICON Health Check Service?
The FICON Health Check Service is a solution that can help you evaluate your current FICON configuration and suggest improvements toward goals of increased efficiency/economy and improved performance. The service extracts data and does the analysis off-site, returning with a detail analysis and recommendations for any steps needed to obtain your goals.
Why do I need the FICON Health Check?
The storage and availability of data is a key attribute to servicing today's growing reliance on I/T services. While storage media and subsystems have improved and propogated to address this data appetite, the connectivity between storage and server rarely receives the attention to performance deserved. This is because the complexity of addressing the diversity of servers and subsystems connected, the enormous quantity of performance data needed to evaluate bottlenecks and the difficulty of getting maintenance windows to implement changes makes infrastructure improvements difficult to plan and execute.
Your I/O subsystem infrastructure is the core component to a reliable and well performing I/T service delivery system. Without sufficient bandwidth in your channels, directors, and subsystem interfaces, your data center's growing need for data storage will drive your service delivery infrastructure into missed deadlines and unhappy customers.
The FICON architecture was developed to address the connection of a growing storage subsystem. FICON provides significant improvements in subsystem connection including moving to full duplex data flow and interleaving data exchanges for different communicating pairs over the same fiber. These changes significantly alter the key criteria for judging the capacity and configuration needs of a FICON networks over those used for ESCON and Bus/Tag.
Our service evaluates your specific FICON subsystem usage to determine where performance needs dictate increased capacity and/or where the FICON network is already over-built and can be re-deployed saving you investment costs while preserving your existing performance and capacity levels.
Our FICON Health Check service brings our advanced techniques and knowledge to your aid on an as-needed basis saving you training and staff time otherwise needed to ensure an optimal FICON configuration.
How does the FICON Health Check Service work?
FICON Health Check is an MVS, OS/390 and z/OS based service that collects and correlates the vast quantity of SMF and RMF performance data regarding:
- Channel performance
- Subsystem performance
- Device performance
- Current workload requirements
The FICON Health Check Service is not an RMF statistical model like most of our competitors. Instead the service combines device level detail and job processing requirements to derive an unparalleled degree of accuracy in its predictions. You'll see directly how a FICON-based infrastructure will effect your actual processing workloads.
When you engage our service we collect any specific goals and address any unique questions you would like addressed beyond simply assuring the general health of your FICON subsystem. Some common issues include:
- Where have I over-built my FICON subsystem? Redeploying under-utilized hardware will allow you to address new requirements without adding hardware.
- How can I improve my mission-critical storage access? By doing a detailed review our service identifies where subsystems are already under-connected and makes specific recommendations to raise the performance to meet your goal.
- What is the best approach to deploying new storage needs at minimum cost? A detailed analysis offers a view of your existing subsystem to reveal opportunities to accomodate new work over existing fiber. We also can provide alternate concepts to efficiently meet your new needs.
What can the FICON Health Check Service do for me?
The FICON Health Check service answers your most pressing questions:
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Such knowledge can be a powerful ally when your job is to assure an efficient and effective FICON subsystem that provides the best possible ROI through a thoughtful balance between capacity and performance.