OneAgent for Linux on IBM Z (General Availability)

Having released this functionality in an Early Adopter Release with OneAgent version 1.173 and Dynatrace version 1.174 back in August 2019, we’re now happy to announce the General Availability of OneAgent full-stack monitoring for Linux on the IBM Z platform, sometimes informally referred to as Z/Linux. The GA release is available with OneAgent version 1.179 and Dynatrace version 1.180.

The IBM Z platform is a range of mainframe hardware solutions that are quite frequently used in large computing shops. Typically, these shops run the z/OS operating system, but more recently, it’s not uncommon to see the Z hardware running special versions of Linux distributions. Originally, Linux on Z was a bit of a novelty, but lately, Linux players like RedHat and SUSE have entered this market with fully supported versions of their traditional distributions of Linux.

At Dynatrace, where we provide a software intelligence platform for hybrid environments (from infrastructure to cloud) we see a growing need to measure how mainframe architecture and the services running on it contribute to the overall performance and availability of applications. This is especially the case with microservices and applications created around multiple tiers, where mainframe hardware plays a significant role in the infrastructure footprint. Dynatrace understands the dependencies between the mainframe, data center, and cloud, including all application components and even end-user experience. Our goal is to provide automatic answers including root-cause analysis of performance degradation across all these systems and environments. Mainframe monitoring is an area of significant investment for Dynatrace.

Continuous auto-everything enables automation and optimizes time-to-value

OneAgent for Z/Linux is built along the same principles as the rest of Dynatrace: shortest possible time-to-value and automation of all steps. From initial single-command-line deployment, through non-assisted baselining, detection of all key services, their respective resource utilization and interdependencies, fully automatic injection of deep monitoring modules, and transparent auto-update. OneAgent for Z/Linux provides all of this out of the box.

Let’s take a look at some of the details.

What’s included

Full-stack OneAgent for Z/Linux is derived from the implementation of OneAgent for Linux on x86 and x64 platforms, and so is a fully qualified citizen of the OneAgent family with only a few differences mentioned later in this article. The initial release of the solution with OneAgent version 1.173 is certified and tested to work on RedHat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) distribution 6.9+ running on the 64-bit OS/390x platform. We are already working on the support for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) which we will be announcing shortly.

In particular, the following capabilities are included in this release of OneAgent for Linux on Z platform:

Deep-code monitoring

OneAgent for IBM Z platform comes with several deep-code monitoring modules: Java, Apache/IHS, and IIB/MQ (read more about this announcement in our blog post about IBM Integration Bus monitoring). As in the case of OneAgent for other Linux platforms, each of these modules is instrumented in the respective technology stack automatically, so there’s no need for any additional configuration.

Host-performance measures

Host performance is tracked via high-level health metrics on the home dashboard to details for each of the hosts. For details on available metrics, see our help page on host performance monitoring.

Network measurements with per-interface and per-process resolution

OneAgent for Z/Linux collects a number of network metrics: input and output traffic measured in bytes and packets, retransmissions, and connectivity. In addition to collecting network metrics for the host, OneAgent also identifies all contributing interfaces and provides a detailed breakdown of the measurements. Network metrics are also collected for detected processes. For details on available reports and metrics, see our network monitoring guidelines.

Disk measurements with per-disk resolution

OneAgent collects the following disk metrics for hosts: Throughput, Disk space usage, and Inodes available. Disk metrics are collected for each discovered disk. Disk metrics are reported as filesystem mount points for easier identification.

Full-stack and cloud-infrastructure monitoring modes

OneAgent for Z/Linux works in both full-stack and cloud-infrastructure monitoring modes, which provide AI-powered monitoring with or without code-level insights. Monitoring modes are defined during OneAgent installation. You can, however, change the monitoring mode later via Host settings > Monitoring mode. For more details, see cloud-infrastructure monitoring mode.

Automatic updates of all monitoring modules

Full-stack OneAgent for Z/Linux comes equipped with an automatic update feature. Following initial deployment of OneAgent, all subsequent updates are performed automatically, with no human assistance. Similarly, as with OneAgent for Windows, AIX, and Linux x86/x64/PPCLE, you can specify that a specific version of OneAgent be deployed to your hosts, either via a global setting or per-host configuration. For details, see OneAgent automatic updates.

Differences, as compared to OneAgent for Linux x86 and x64

The following section lists the main differences between OneAgent for Z/Linux and OneAgent for Linux x86 and x64.

• OneAgent for Z/Linux comes equipped with deep-monitoring modules for Java, Apache/IHS, and IIB/MQ. We’re actively working on additional modules and will release them as they become ready via Early Adopter Releases. Stay tuned for more announcements on this topic.

• The log module is not yet available for Z/Linux. Stay tuned for more announcements.
• As of OneAgent version 1.179, the only plugins available are the JMX and PMI plugins; other plugins are not included in this release.

Release details

OneAgent for the Z platform is GA starting with OneAgent version 1.179 and is supported for RHEL 6.9+, with other Linux distributions planned for support shortly.

To see the current details of everything Dynatrace supports, look at our supported technologies matrix.

Feedback or comments? Please don’t hesitate to reach us via your Account Managers, Dynatrace Community, or Dynatrace ONE.