Back in 2013, IBM first published the IBM i Performance FAQ; this document is a fantastic resource on all types of performance topics. It reviews the various components of system performance, discusses benchmarking, sizing and capacity planning, monitoring, and covers the performance tools that are available on i. The document has answers to many commonly asked questions, and ends with an extensive list of references. I first blogged about it here.
This document was put together by the Systems Performance team in Rochester, drawing upon the knowledge of leading experts on IBM i performance from the development team, the support center, and lab services.
Since that initial publication of the FAQ, it has been updated several times. It is generally updated each spring and fall, usually in conjunction with IBM announcements. The latest update was made this past April. With the April update, the FAQ now includes information about the performance tools enhancements in the 7.3 release, a new section that covers the DB2 for i tools, and many other additions. This document is now change-flagged so you can easily identify the updates.
This document should be read by all IBM i administrators and it should be used as an initial reference for any performance-related questions. It is the single best place to start for anything related to performance topics on i. Application developers will also benefit from this publication as it covers many topics geared toward application performance.
In years past, the Performance Management Capabilities Reference (PCRM) used to be the “go to” document for IBM i performance topics. However, the PCRM is no longer updated like it used to be (see the blog What happened to the IBM i PCRM?); the IBM i Performance FAQ should be considered its replacement.
This blog post was edited to fix broken links on April 15, 2020.
This blog post was originally published on IBMSystemsMag.com and is reproduced here by permission of IBM Systems Media.