Restore availability of TM1 Top

Suggest and discuss enhancements for TM1
Post Reply
User avatar
Alan Kirk
Site Admin
Posts: 6606
Joined: Sun May 11, 2008 2:30 am
OLAP Product: TM1
Version: PA2.0.9.18 Classic NO PAW!
Excel Version: 2013 and Office 365
Location: Sydney, Australia
Contact:

Restore availability of TM1 Top

Post by Alan Kirk »

Yes, I'm in a grumpy mood again. It's amazing how often dealing with IBM will trigger that.

Request 65381:

Description
I wrote:I refer to the IBM Page "Deprecated and discontinued functionality in IBM Cognos TM1" ( http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.w ... wg21661245 ) Specifically, "TM1 Top is no longer supported and is not available in theTM1 10.2 product (replaced by Operations Console). (note: TM1 Top may be available on Developer Works in the future)"

How about we not make that "may", but make it WILL. And that we make it not "in the future", but rather "now". First of all there are a lot of third party products which reply on TM1 Top. Second, oddly enough not everybody is wildly enthused by the current crop of bloated, slow moving Java interfaces (just look at the hoops you have to jump through to even get the thing to work on page 118 of the install guide) and want quick, clean, simple tools that help us do what we need to do FAST, unencumbered by layer upon layer of obstructionist GUI.
Use Case
I wrote:You're a TM1 Administrator. You want to know what's happening on your TM1 server. You can either spend hours reading through manuals just to try to get the new improved tool to even work (when it does), then spend an obscene amount of time just firing it up to get it to run, OR you can launch a quick, simple utility that we've had for years. Which is more efficient? Which benefits the administrator in the field more?

Conversely, which makes the administrator pine for a different tool that has yet to try to do everything in its power to keep the engineers' hands away from the engine?

It costs you nothing to release a tool that we've relied on for years. It reduces the annoyance that is felt by you pulling such a tool. There is no bad in implementing this suggestion. And not some time in a theoretical future, maybe.
I can see this being like the .Net API help file that they "accidentally" left out of later versions and announced that they "would" put it up for download and never bothered doing so.

Anyone at IBM who thinks that the Operations Console is a realistic, useful replacement for TM1 Top has never run an operational instance of TM1 and probably thinks that Planning Sample is a reasonable and accurate representation of what we actually need to do with the thing.
"To them, equipment failure is terrifying. To me, it’s 'Tuesday.' "
-----------
Before posting, please check the documentation, the FAQ, the Search function and FOR THE LOVE OF GLUB the Request Guidelines.
BrianL
MVP
Posts: 264
Joined: Mon Nov 03, 2014 8:23 pm
OLAP Product: TM1
Version: 9.5.2 10.1 10.2 PA2
Excel Version: 2016

Re: Restore availability of TM1 Top

Post by BrianL »

TM1Top IS already available on developer works. http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/libra ... index.html.

I'd also suggest you check out the jmeter plugin for TM1. It does everything tm1top can do, except cancel threads. However, it adds easy scrolling through history, graphing of usage through time, and summary information. It can even collect or analyze ops console style logs which can have different information than tm1top. It's my go-to tool anytime I need to search through top logs. https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/libr ... c-page675/
User avatar
Alan Kirk
Site Admin
Posts: 6606
Joined: Sun May 11, 2008 2:30 am
OLAP Product: TM1
Version: PA2.0.9.18 Classic NO PAW!
Excel Version: 2013 and Office 365
Location: Sydney, Australia
Contact:

Re: Restore availability of TM1 Top

Post by Alan Kirk »

BrianL wrote:TM1Top IS already available on developer works. http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/libra ... index.html.
Well, at least that's something; I'm feeling slightly less grumpy now but am still annoyed that the thing was ever pulled in the first place since I still don't like having layers of gunk (such as Operations Console) stuck between me and the raw machinery. Whatever their failings in Windows 8 and Office post-Ribbon, at least Microsoft understands this well in the SQL Server suite and offers multiple paths to allow an administrator to just pop the bonnet and fix things without having to wade through slow moving swamplands of GUi first.

It's too late for me to pull the RFE now. But as I noted in a comment that I added to it, gee, wouldn't it be good if the Technote page was updated to reflect this fact.
BrianL wrote:I'd also suggest you check out the jmeter plugin for TM1. It does everything tm1top can do, except cancel threads. However, it adds easy scrolling through history, graphing of usage through time, and summary information. It can even collect or analyze ops console style logs which can have different information than tm1top. It's my go-to tool anytime I need to search through top logs. https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/libr ... c-page675/
{Grits teeth, hisses} Java. Hmm. I did some work with the Java API a couple of weeks ago but kept it rudimentary as the garlic, crucifixes and holy water that I had to keep next to the keyboard kept getting in the way. Nonetheless I know that's the path that I need to go down, albeit with extreme reluctance so that tip will be useful. Thank you.

Operationally though I currently have a copy of Cubewise's Pulse which of course sits over, amongst other things, TM1Top. It's not without its bugs (ho boy is it not without its bugs; I'm reliably informed that some alerts that it generated yesterday afternoon arose on "Thursday, January 01, 1970 11:00 AM"; in fact it seems to be fixated on 11 am, maintaining that that is the time that anything in any log on the system happens), but the tm1top interface is quick and clean. In fact the whole thing is quick, clean and way, way faster to get things done in than any of the official IBM Java web 10.x interfaces, which makes me forgive most of its quirks.

But if, gods help me, I ever have to build a fully formed Java application then the jmeter plugin may be most useful.
"To them, equipment failure is terrifying. To me, it’s 'Tuesday.' "
-----------
Before posting, please check the documentation, the FAQ, the Search function and FOR THE LOVE OF GLUB the Request Guidelines.
Post Reply