About z/XPF - Overview

z/XPF is a totally new approach in profiling technology. Instead of gathering data from within an address space, z/XPF captures its data from OUTSIDE the address space at the processor level, giving you far more information - without affecting the target address space in ANY way!

We call this methodology "Event profiling". It allows us to present information you could not see before.

Now you can:

Measure SVC counts, and elapsed time;
Measure I/O response times;
Measure memory management events;
Measure Program Calls;
Track events across address spaces;
Exploit SLIP and PER trace facilities for extremely fine measurement of events;
Analyze Page faults;
Analyze Locks and Latches.

Event profiling shows you MORE information, but it also has a very small "foot-print".

z/XPF works without ANY system hooks.
It has no affect on the target address space.
z/XPF's server address space consumes only a tiny segment of system resources because z/OS does most of the work!

The three steps to using z/XPF are:

Create your Data Capture session

Tell z/XPF how and when to start your data capture session. You can start immediately, at a future date or time or whenever a job or job-step begins.

Run your Data Capture session

z/XPF monitors your program's execution. It "sees" everything without affecting your program's address space. It gathers and collates a HUGE amount of information. With legacy profilers you may capture up to 1000 samples per second. In the same run, z/XPF might capture 1,000,000 or MORE. Which method of data capture is more granular? Which might be more accurate?

Filter and review your reports

Allocate your report dataset, and z/XPF will show you:

"Hot-spots" in CPU consumption;
How your program uses its own code paths;
Contention analysis;
Wait-time analysis;
Where you're spending the most time;
Where you're wasting resources.

You can "slice and dice" your reports to get down to an incredible level of detail – right down to the instruction level.

z/XPF has DB2 "awareness" built in. It tracks and reports on SRB-mode code (absolutely unique)! Soon, z/XPF will have CICS-awareness as well!

"Why do we need z/XPF?", you say. "We already HAVE a profiler."

Maybe you do have a legacy profiler. Or, maybe you don't have a profiler because you can't afford one.

In the first case, you’re not seeing all that you could see. In the second case, you have a BIG problem. Either way, it's costing you $$$$!

Legacy profilers were good for their day, but z/XPF makes use of TODAY's interfaces. That's how z/XPF learns more about your program without ANY code in the target address space. z/XPF is an up-start, a maverick; newer and faster and less expensive than legacy profilers.

As to pricing: How about ONE simple, un-tiered price for any single CPU, connected Sysplex or site? There are no “weasel” words, and no hidden costs. You pay one fee per year and you're DONE.

If you’d like to know more about z/XPF, please contact Bob Shimizu at (800) XDC-5150, or via e-mail at bshimizu@colesoft.com