Conference iosg::all-in-1_v30

530.0. "Use of VMS-accounting in connection with ALL-IN-1" by COPCLU::SIIG (Great Dane at Large) Tue Apr 21 1992 11:57

Hi,

A customer of mine wishes to utilize VMS Accounting in a special way for 
users running ALL-IN-1. The following is the customers own description of 
their goals:

      Our need for writing in VMS Accounting-file in connection with 
      implementing ALL-IN-1 as a menu system is based on the following 
      situation.
      
      o	    From a menu point in ALL-IN-1 the user activates an 
            application or one of our standard tools - for instance our 
            economy system or SAS software
      o	    We settle the users process-consumption (CPU- and elapsed 
            time) on base of collected data in the accounting files
      o	    As long as the user use ALL-IN-1 facilities we want to 
            include the consumption of this process in the settling
      o	    As soon as the user activates an application or standard tool 
            and until the user leaves this by returning to the ALL-IN-1 
            menu we want to:
            -	include the process consumption from the application or 
                standard tool in the settling
            -	exclude the process consumption from the ALL-IN-1 process 
                from the settling
      o	    We use accounting data to follow the total performance and 
            load on the nodes
      
      This means that we have to write directly into the accounting files 
      by a time stamp and setting a 'flag' for instance in the user_data 
      field to be able to make a correct settling of accounts.
      
      Furthermore it should be mentioned, that we have more than one node 
      in our network. ALL-IN-1 is installed on one node. The different 
      nodes have different software licenses, for instance only SAS 
      software on one node and only ORACLE on another node. Nevertheless 
      all applications should be activated from ALL-IN-1.
      
      We want to use VMS accounting as the fundamental base for the 
      settling, because we have the standard version of SAS/CPE to make 
      the calculations and billing to our users. We have a general demand 
      of keeping our maintenance of the system as low as possible 
      especially in connection with upgrading to new versions of VMS, 
      ALL-IN-1 ... and all other software products and applications.
      
Anyone care to comment on their suggestion on using the user data type of 
ACCOUNTING record for this purpose, and the feasibility of working with 
the data afterwards using SAS/CPE. I have some doubts about this, any 
other suggestions?


Regards,
Jesper

PS: This note is posted in VAXWRK::VMSnotes and in IOSG::ALL-IN-1

Jesper,

The major obstacle in using VMS Accounting is that you cannot account
seperately for time spent in shared images. The resources end up 
being charged against the ALL-IN-1 image.

MS

    ALL-IN-1 Metering would provide a decent way to achieve much of the
    results that are being requested by the customer.  It sounds like VMS
    accounting has been mandated but may be a lot of trouble.
    
    I would suggest that you examine the possibilities of using Metering. 
    Take a look at the Manahement Guide for ALL-IN-1 for some details.
    
    Good luck,
    don