z/OS Monitoring

SMF Monitoring Foundations

Collect, trim, and interpret SMF records so monitoring changes stay proportional to operational risk.

Duration
3 weeks · hybrid
Format
Cohort + async labs
Skill level
Intermediate
Certification path
Observability path
Team access
Team bundle available
Cohort start
2026-09-22

Tuition reference

₩420,000

Informational only — no checkout here. Discuss invoicing, cohort packaging, or summit bundles via Contact.

Promotional still for SMF Monitoring Foundations

Course lead

Priya Nair

Curriculum designer who structures monitoring modules so SMF lessons connect cleanly to operator runbooks.

Description

Monitoring mainframes is easy to over-engineer. This course keeps the focus on records operators actually touch when validating batch health, CPU contention, and I/O spikes. You learn how collection intervals affect storage, which exits matter for compliance narratives, and how to pair SMF excerpts with SDSF views during an active issue. Labs use sanitized extracts so you are never copying sensitive payloads to a laptop.

What is included

  • SMF record family map with operator-relevant subsets highlighted
  • Lab exercises on interpreting type 30 and type 70 samples
  • Guidance on retention windows without promising vendor tooling
  • Worksheet for deciding new record types with risk owners
  • Integration notes for exporting summaries into ticketing systems

Outcomes

  1. Recommend a proportional SMF collection change with rationale.
  2. Correlate a performance symptom with the correct record family.
  3. Document monitoring gaps for a quality standards review packet.

Participant questions

Not in this track. We use extracts and spreadsheets so concepts transfer even if your shop uses a different analytics layer.

Experience notes

“Finally someone explained SMF volume trade-offs without selling a dashboard product.”

— Ravi S. · HarborGrid Utilities · 5/5

“Week two felt dense, yet the filtering worksheet is now our standard intake form for new record requests.”

— Helena P. , Monitoring engineer