IBM SmartCloud Analytics vs ISC Software eSMF comparison

There are two main flows in IBM SmartCloud Analytics - Log Analysis - data ingestion and querying.

The data ingestion flow starts when data is sent to the Receiver interface. The IBM Tivoli Monitoring Log File Agent and an EIF Adapter are provided as components of IBM SmartCloud Analytics - Log Analysis so that log data is analyzed by IBM SmartCloud Analytics - Log Analysis using the Data collector or Receiver interface. IBM SmartCloud Analytics - Log Analysis analyzes data and extracts information about the domain, for example, error codes, IP addresses, timestamps, application / middleware / infrastructure domain specific attributes and so on. The extracted information and any additional raw data that you choose to add is stored in the BigData data store.

The data query flow is triggered by the IBM SmartCloud Analytics - Log Analysis application and is used to run queries. The results are displayed or further processed by the IBM SmartCloud Analytics - Log Analysis application extension. A IBM SmartCloud Analytics - Log Analysis application extension can also query an external data source to link a search result to, for example, say performance data. You can also use IBM SmartCloud Analytics - Log Analysis to query to an external data source or to perform analytics on the returned results using logic supplied by IBM SmartCloud Analytics - Log Analysis or by a IBM SmartCloud Analytics - Log Analysis application extension.

By extracting, sorting and merging relevant SMF records into logical job groupings, eSMF provides a simple yet complete way of tracking all z/OS-executed processes. The software identifies every step performed during every production run, then collects this data and consolidates it into a clear, detailed and publishable format. The solution's archiving capabilities make it practical to store years of SMF records.

eSMF's dashboards provide analytics, and show performance trends. The solution provides all the mission-critical information that matters, organised in the format that is most useful to your users.