IBM Enterprise Workload Manager Release 1

Chapter 5. The ITSO EWLM scenario 141

This phase includes these steps:

1. Defining classification filters for each transaction and process class

2. Creating the domain policy at the EWLM Control Center

5.5.1 Defining classification filters for each transaction and process class

As mentioned before, transaction and process classes are a named set of classification filters

for mapping work requests to service classes based on transaction or process characteristics

as defined by the middleware or operating system. If a work request’s properties match the

filter, the work request is classified to the service class. We create classification filters for all

transaction classes and process classes. For more information on how filter works, refer to

4.2.1, “Classifying your workload” on page 88.

Defining filters for transaction classes

The definition of filters for transaction classes contains the following attributes:

򐂰 Position - Specifies an order for EWLM to use the transaction classes.

Work requests are compared to the positional filters specified in the transaction class,

starting at position one. We have two general transaction classes, TC_Trade3_general

and TC_Plants_general, which classify the work request for each Web application that

has no action parameter. These transaction classes have higher numbered positions than

any other transaction classes.

򐂰 Transaction class name - Defined in “Defining transaction classes” on page 135.

򐂰 Application - For all of our transaction classes, our application is the IBM Webserving

Plugin since all of our workloads come through the edge application, which is the IBM

HTTP Server.

򐂰 Filter type - is specific to the application or platform that processes the work request.

A plus (+) character placed in front of a filter type means this filter is nested inside the filter

above. You can nest a filter rule inside of another filter rule by clicking the right arrow icon

when you create rules at the EWLM Control Center. This is shown in Figure 5-10. If

the workload matches the first rule, it compares to the nested rule. We use as first rule

EWLM:URI to distinguish the Web application. As second rule we use a QueryString to

identify the action parameter in the query string of the work request.

Figure 5-10 Nested rules

Note: Use high numbered positions for filters that are more general and low numbered

position for filters that are more specific. The highest numbered position specifies the

default transaction class in position that uses the default service class. Transaction

classes are applied on a first match basis for transactions. The recommendation that

transaction classes for the most frequent transactions should be in the lower position is

not always possible because of the first match approach. Because of first match, the

most specific transaction classes need to be first.

142 IBM Enterprise Workload Manager

򐂰 Filter operation - Equal or Not Equal.

򐂰 Filter value - Specifies a value to use for the rule.

You can specify mask (\?) or wildcard (\*) in the filter value. The mask can be used to

represent any single character. The wildcard can be used to represent a series of any

characters. Filter value cannot contain a leading question mark in the query string. Note

that our general transaction classes, TC_Trade3_general and TC_Plants_general, have

only EWLM:URI filter type in order to classify work requests which do not have action

parameter in the query string.

Table 5-18 shows our definition of filters for our transaction classes. These are done similarly

for all transaction classes as described in the previous example.

Table 5-18 Definition of filters for transaction classes

Note: Wildcard (\*) must be used at the end of a filter value because it represents

multiple characters.

Position Transaction class name Application Filter type Filter

operation

Filter value

1 TC_Trade3_buy IBM Webserving

Plugin

EWLM:URI Equal /trade(\*)

+ QueryString Equal action=buy(\*)

2 TC_Trade3_sell IBM Webserving

Plugin

EWLM:URI Equal /trade(\*)

+ QueryString Equal action=sell(\*)

3 TC_Trade3_account IBM Webserving

Plugin

EWLM:URI Equal /trade(\*)

+ QueryString Equal action=account(\*)

4 TC_Trade3_register IBM Webserving

Plugin

EWLM:URI Equal /trade(\*)

+ QueryString Equal action=register(\*)

5 TC_Trade3_update_profile IBM Webserving

Plugin

EWLM:URI Equal /trade(\*)

+ QueryString Equal action=update_profile(\*)

6 TC_Trade3_home IBM Webserving

Plugin

EWLM:URI Equal /trade(\*)

+ QueryString Equal action=home(\*)

7 TC_Trade3_logout IBM Webserving

Plugin

EWLM:URI Equal /trade(\*)

+ QueryString Equal action=logout(\*)

8 TC_Trade3_portfolio IBM Webserving

Plugin

EWLM:URI Equal /trade(\*)

+ QueryString Equal action=portfolio(\*)

9 TC_Trade3_quotes IBM Webserving

Plugin

EWLM:URI Equal /trade(\*)

+ QueryString Equal action=quotes(\*)

10 TC_Plants_login IBM Webserving

Plugin

EWLM:URI Equal /PlantsByWebSphere(\*)

+ QueryString Equal action=login(\*)

11 TC_Plants_register IBM Webserving

Plugin

EWLM:URI Equal /PlantsByWebSphere(\*)

+ QueryString Equal action=register(\*)