If you're getting too many annoying phone calls inquiring about system performance, consider installing MPG's Performance Navigator with its new EXPO feature.

How many system administrators have faced the dreaded phenomenon where the disk is growing out of control and nearing capacity? Besides panicking, what do you do? First, you might ask, why is the disk growing—and why right now? And you can't help but wonder—how long has this been building up? If you have the right performance management tools, a surge in disk growth doesn't have to be a scary event.

This week, Midrange Performance Group (MPG), known for capacity-planning and performance-measurement tools, announced the release of V15.1 of Performance Navigator. Performance Navigator is a graphical PC tool for IBM i and i Series systems, supporting performance management, capacity planning, and problem solving. The latest release has a feature called EXPO, which stands for Executive Performance Overview, which can make it easier for management to see key performance metrics across the entire IBM i enterprise. EXPO can help democratize system information, showing such things as CPU, disk, and memory for the entire enterprise on a single page accessible by browser.

When a user clicks on the metric, EXPO reveals easily understood graphs behind the data. The innovative new functionality creates an environment where the health of the enterprise is instantly available to executives, who can compare performance metrics against industry best-practice guidelines and see whether their systems are performing under best practices, close to the norm, or above best practices.

Are you used to getting calls from management, asking questions like these? "What happened to the system yesterday? Why is disk space growing at such a rapid pace? When do you think our system will need to be upgraded?" If so, you may find comfort in EXPO, available with the ALL-LPAR edition of Performance Navigator.

Also new in V15.1 are enhancements to MPG's Power Analytics, now sporting a redesigned client menu and a new Power Analytics output interface that provides for retrieval of any Power Analytics output HTML object.

MPG supports not only the IBM i, but UNIX and Linux systems—basically everything that runs on Power Systems, Oracle, and HP servers. Power Navigator is MPG's suite for keeping tabs on UNIX and Linux metrics. The EXPO feature for that is expected to be released by the end of the first quarter of 2012. Power Navigator shares the client software with performance navigator and runs on Windows.

With the Navigator family's capacity planning feature, data collected from any listed operating system can be modeled to any server. Administrators have found it useful in planning server consolidations and upgrades, according to the company. They then switch gears and use it to manage the combined new system. Management can share information on the results of the upgrade through the use of Performance Navigator's easily generated graphs and reports.

MPG's unique "what-if" functions support capacity planning for users and IBM Business Partners, who have been known to use it during the hardware sales cycle. Performance Navigator allows users instant access to days, months, or years worth of performance and capacity data that is already stored on their systems.

Licensees get access to the free System i component and a free subset of graphs, a free license for the system data collection, CPU utilization by priority, and disk space utilization graphs, all included in the product.

You can download a free trial of Performance Navigator by visiting www.mpginc.com or calling 800-457-6744.

as/400, os/400, iseries, system i, i5/os, ibm i, power systems, 6.1, 7.1, V7, V6R1

Chris Smith was the Senior News Editor at MC Press Online from 2007 to 2012 and was responsible for the news content on the company's Web site. Chris has been writing about the IBM midrange industry since 1992 when he signed on with Duke Communications as West Coast Editor of News 3X/400. With a bachelor's from the University of California at Berkeley, where he majored in English and minored in Journalism, and a master's in Journalism from the University of Colorado, Boulder, Chris later studied computer programming and AS/400 operations at Long Beach City College. An award-winning writer with two Maggie Awards, four business books, and a collection of poetry to his credit, Chris began his newspaper career as a reporter in northern California, later worked as night city editor for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, and went on to edit a national cable television trade magazine. He was Communications Manager for McDonnell Douglas Corp. in Long Beach, Calif., before it merged with Boeing, and oversaw implementation of the company's first IBM desktop publishing system there. An editor for MC Press Online since 2007, Chris has authored some 300 articles on a broad range of topics surrounding the IBM midrange platform that have appeared in the company's eight industry-leading newsletters. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..