Date:         Fri, 15 Apr 2005 14:46:26 -0400
Reply-To:     Michael Raithel <michaelraithel@WESTAT.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Michael Raithel <michaelraithel@WESTAT.COM>
Subject:      Re: fullstimer: user CPU time vs. system time?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Dear SAS-L-ers,

In a continuation of this thread, SAS-L BOF Master of Ceremonies Jack
Hamilton posted the following:

> SAS also has the new ARM macros, which purport to measure and
> report many metrics.
>
> See
> <http://support.sas.com/rnd/scalability/tools/arm/arm.html>.
> When I last tried the macros, they were not completely
> implemented, but that might have changed by now.  The process
> looks more confusing than it needs to be, and it doesn't
> capture some measures that LOGPARSE does (such as number of
> observations), but it's built into the system at a lower level.
>

Jack, at the risk of adding too many "me too"'s to this thread:  I
concur with your assessment of using the SAS Interface to the ARM API.
"Instrumenting" your application with calls to the ARM API is very
intrusive to the SAS programs in terms of adding additional code (the
ARM Macro calls) to the programs.  Additionally, you need to determine
what is an "application" and what is a "transaction".  Then, there is
the whole deal with processing the ARM log with the %ARMPROC and
%ARMJOIN SAS macros to turn them into observations.  When one has to go
through so much trouble, it is doubtful that one will want to do this on
a frequent basis.

I think that the LOGPARSE SAS macro is a much better way to go.  But,
then again, considering my SUGI paper, I _WOULD_ think that, wouldn't
I?!?!?!


I hope that this suggestion proves helpful now, and in the future!

Of course, all of these opinions and insights are my own, and do not
reflect those of my organization or my associates. All SAS code and/or
methodologies specified in this posting are for illustrative purposes
only and no warranty is stated or implied as to their accuracy or
applicability. People deciding to use information in this posting do so
at their own risk.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Michael A. Raithel
"The man who wrote the book on performance"
E-mail: MichaelRaithel@westat.com
Author: Tuning SAS Applications in the MVS Environment
Author: Tuning SAS Applications in the OS/390 and z/OS Environments,
Second Edition
http://www.sas.com/apps/pubscat/bookdetails.jsp?catid=1&pc=58172

Currently Writing:  The Complete Guide to Creating and Using SAS Indexes
(due Winter 2005)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
All programmers are playwrights and all computers are lousy
actors. - Anonymous
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++