BMC Strobe Measurement Task

BMC Strobe Measurement Task

Strobe, the leading mainframe application performance management solution, is traditionally used by Operations teams to pinpoint and resolve application performance problems found in production. The shift left approach for testing allows development teams to perform tests earlier in the cycle. The extension allows Azure DevOps Users to setup automated Strobe measurements and get custom callback notifications when complete.

Prerequisites

The following are required to use this extension:

• Azure Pipelines - in Azure DevOps Services or Azure DevOps Server

• BMC Common Configuration extension

• Strobe license

• An installation of Compuware Enterprise Services with Strobe installed.

  Note: CES must be version 20.02.x or greater to use the notification callback. This version will also utilize the INITBY of CI (Continuous Integration) identifier, which will allow zAdviser to track this activity. This extension can still submit measurements using previous CES versions. Strobe 18.02 PTF SBG422A must be applied for the INITBY of CI.

Installing in an Azure Pipelines - in Azure DevOps Services or Azure DevOps Server

Install the BMC Strobe Measurement Task according to the Azure DevOps Services instructions for installing extensions. Dependent extensions will automatically be installed.

Configuration

1. In Compuware Enterprise Services, perform the following steps:

   a. Navigate to the Host Connections page and define your host connection that's connected to your Strobe installation.

   b. Navigate to the Security page and define a Personal Access Token for the above host connection.

   Note: Sometimes Strobe on the mainframe can have difficulty determining the correct host of CES, so you may need to set the "ces.host.address" property in ces.properties located at data/ces/config in the CES installation directory. For example, ces.host.address=127.0.0.1 or ces.host.address=localhost

2. In the Azure Pipeline application page, go to the BMC Common Configurations section. In the Host Connections section, add the same host connection as defined in Compuware Enterprise Services, while ensuring the following:

   -	Make sure the description field matches the description in CES.
   -	Add the CES URL in the format scheme://host:port    e.g. https://myHost:48226
   

3. In the Azure Pipeline, you should configure pipeline variable to store the personal access token from step 1 as secret text in the pipeline. For more information, see Configuring for Topaz Workbench CLI & Host Connections.

Executing a Measurement

Perform the following steps:

1. When creating the new Azure pipeline, add a new task "BMC Strobe Measurement" by clicking + sign on the Agent Job. This task has the following parameters:
   • Host connection : Select the host connection to be used to connect to the z/OS host. Alternatively, to add a connection, click the BMC Common Configuration task in the application hub.
   • CES secret token : In this feild, pass pipeline variable name which is storing CES secret token as secret in Azure pipeline. Example $(variablename).
2. Fill out the rest of the form as desired. See the help to the right of each field if you have any questions.
3. Click Save.

Your pipeline is now configured to start a measurement on the configured job.

Product Assistance

BMC provides assistance to customers with its documentation, the BMC Support website, and via telephonic conversations with the Customer Support team.

BMC Support Center

You can access information for BMC products via our Support site, https://support.bmc.com. Support Central provides access to critical information about your BMC products. You can review frequently asked questions, read or download documentation, access product fixes, or e-mail your questions or comments. The first time you access Support Central, you must register and obtain a password. The registration is free.

Contacting Customer Support

At BMC, we strive to make our products and documentation the best in the industry. Feedback from our customers helps us maintain our quality standards. If you need support services, please obtain the following information before calling BMC's 24-hour telephone support:

• The Azure pipeline job output that contains any error messages or pertinent information.

• The name, release number, and build number of your product. This information is displayed in the installed extensions page. Apply the filter, BMC, to display all of the installed BMC extension.

• Environment information, such as the operating system and release on which the Topaz CLI is installed.

You can contact BMC in one of the following ways:

Web

You can report issues via the BMC Support site: https://support.bmc.com.

Note: Please report all high-priority issues by phone.

Corporate Website

To access the BMC website, go to https://www.bmc.com/. The BMC site provides a variety of product and support information.