Home
Creating RMF data sources
To access RMF Monitor III metrics in Grafana, you need to connect to the Distributed Data Servers by adding an RMF data source.

Overview
Grafana is a platform for monitoring and visualizing data. It enables users to create, explore, and share dashboards that are interactive and customizable. The IBM® RMF for z/OS Grafana plugin provides effortless analysis and visualization of Resource Measurement Facility for z/OS (RMF for z/OS) Monitor III metrics and reports within the Grafana platform. Thereby, you can monitor and analyze the health and performance of applications.
Release notes
This article covers the new features, system requirements, and known issues of the IBM® RMF for z/OS Grafana plugin.
Installing the plugin
You must install the IBM® RMF for z/OS Grafana plugin to analyze and visualize RMF Monitor III metrics and reports.
Upgrading the plugin
You must ensure that the IBM RMF for z/OS Grafana plugin is up to date to leverage its enhanced functionalities. You can do so by either installing or upgrading to the latest version of the plugin.
Creating RMF data sources
To access RMF Monitor III metrics in Grafana, you need to connect to the Distributed Data Servers by adding an RMF data source.
RMF master dashboard
IBM® RMF for z/OS Grafana is a plugin provides custom panels for the RMF data source and master dashboard that consists of RMF Charts, RMF Reporting, and RMF Time Series dashboards.
Applying visualization to RMF data
By adding panels to dashboards, you can effectively present your RMF data in a visual format. Each panel must require at least one query to display a significant visualization.
IBM RMF query languages
In Grafana, queries are essential for fetching and transforming data from RMF data sources.
RMF Variable Query syntax
Variables are a powerful tool to create more interactive and dynamic dashboards. They offer a way to replace hard-coded values in metric queries and panel titles with placeholders for values.
Alerts
Grafana Alerting feature provides a reliable solution to detect and respond to system issues in real time.
Historical data
In Grafana, you can view historical data using absolute and relative time ranges.
Error types
Whenever you encounter issues while using the IBM RMF for z/OS Grafana plugin, you can view detailed error messages that contain sufficient information to help you identify and troubleshoot the problem.
Troubleshooting issues
This section guides how to analyze and address typical issues that may arise when using the IBM® RMF for z/OS Grafana plugin.
Grafana through z/OSMF
When you use IBM® z/OS Management Facility to monitor the performance of the z/OS sysplexes in your environment, you can also access Grafana dashboards from z/OSMF.
PDF Guide
You can find the link to view or download IBM RMF for z/OS Grafana plugin user guide as a PDF file.

Creating RMF data sources

To access RMF Monitor III metrics in Grafana, you need to connect to the Distributed Data Servers by adding an RMF data source.

Before you begin

You must have installed the RMF for z/OS Grafana plugin. See Installing the RMF for z/OS plugin on Grafana.
You must know the hostname and port number of Distributed Data Server.

Procedure

Go to Apps > IBM RMF > Add RMF Data Source.
Alternatively, you can click Administration > Data sources > + Add new data source, then search for the IBM RMF to choose a data source type.
Note: The navigation of the user interface can differ based on the Grafana version that is currently installed.
Enter a name for the data source in the Name field.
Optional: Set Default to ON to make the added data source the default one.

Note: When you create new panels, the default data source is preselected.

Enter the details for the following fields in the HTTP section:

Fields	Action
DDS URL	Enter the URL of the DDS in this field. The format of the URL is: http://`hostname`:`port_number`/`path` or https://`hostname`:`port_number`/`path`
Timeout	Specify the duration, in seconds in this field, for which Grafana is allowed to wait for a connection to the DDS before it closes the connection. The default value is `60`.

Optional: Set the Skip TLS Verify option to ON if you are accepting any certificate presented by the DDS and any hostname listed in that certificate. However, this practice is not considered secure and is typically used in development or testing environments.

Note: By default, the Skip TLS Verify option is set to OFF.
Set the Basic Auth option to ON to create the data source with basic authentication.
Enter the credentials of the DDS in the User and Password fields.

Note: The User and Password fields are visible only when you enable the basic authentication.
Specify the size of the cache (in MB) for the data source in the Size field.

Remember: The value must be greater than or equal to 128. The default value is 1024.
Click Save & test.
The Data source is working message is displayed if the connection to DDS succeeds.

Results

You have added the RMF data source.

What to do next

You can refer to the RMF master dashboard topic for information about RMF master dashboard and its features.