Getting started with the CICS PA plug-in
The CICS® PA plug-in is an Eclipse plug-in that extends the IBM® CICS Explorer® to help you analyze CICS monitoring and statistics data processed by the CICS PA product.
Overview
You use the CICS PA plug-in with the CICS PA host to analyze CICS Monitoring Facility (CMF) performance and statistical class data. You can access the data directly from a CICS PA database, or you can use CICS Performance Analyzer for z/OS® to format the data as a comma-separated variable (CSV) file and load it into the CICS PA plug-in for analysis.
This getting started information describes accessing the data directly from a CICS PA database. For information about using CSV data, see Working with CSV data.
- For performance data:
- Viewing and sorting CSV or database data in a spreadsheet viewer.
- Selecting one or more transactions for analysis.
- Viewing CICS performance alert reports and navigating to specific records.
- Viewing graphical details of transaction performance metrics, including response time, suspend time, CPU time, file usage, and storage usage.
- For statistics data:
- Viewing interval-based graphical charts that show multiple system metrics, including storage and transaction response.
- Viewing CICS statistics alert reports and navigating to specific records.
To use the statistics visualizations in the CICS PA plug-in, certain statistics tables are required in the CICS PA database. For information about which statistics tables are required in the CICS PA database, see The CICS PA plug-in for CICS Explorer in CICS Performance Analyzer product documentation.
Next steps
- If you are familiar with the CICS Explorer interface, continue with the topics in this section to learn how to use the CICS PA plug-in.
- If you are new to the CICS Explorer interface, you can go to the Getting started topic in the CICS Explorer User Guide to learn about the CICS Explorer. Alternatively, you can use the Search bar to find specific information in the help.
- If you are new to the Eclipse interface, you can go to the Basic tutorial topic in the CICS Explorer User Guide to learn how to use perspectives and views. Alternatively, you can use the search field to find specific information in this help.
- For further help on Eclipse, see Eclipse documentation.