This mainframe blog intends to write on IBM System z and high-end and midrange storage associated with it. My intention is to do at least two updates a week with all kinds of comments, hints and tips and thoughts about news in general, announcements, publications, interesting sites and user groups.
Here I am again with another review of interesting TechDocs documents I came across while browsing through the latest publications. If you're completely unfamiliar to Techdocs, here's an introduction to it.
Presentation : z/OS Version 1 Release 13 Technical Update A couple of documents on z/OS starting with a presentation on z/OS 1.13 and z/OSMF. The audio of the presentation is also included.
Technical Document : z/OS Version 1 Release 13 Installation Plan Checklist "z/OS 1.13 Installation Plan checklist is for installing and migrating to z/OS 1.13 from z/OS release 11 or release 12. To be used as a supplement to existing product publications."
White paper : IBM System Storage DS8800 and DS8700 Performance with Easy Tier 3rd Generation Easy Tier 3rd generation "further expands Easy Tier to manage hybrid storage pools with up to three tiers including Solid State Drives (SSDs), Enterprise Disks, and Nearline Disks". But the paper is not only for people using hybrid pools : "Auto Rebalance has also been extended to include management of homogenous pools containing only a single tier of storage". Easy Tier 3 is available from DS8000 LIC Release 6.2.
Workshop material : WAS z/OS V8 Wildfire Workshop Material WebSphere Application Server for z/OS Version 8 was made available in 2011. It has many new features and functions associated with it, including updated open standard application interface specification support. This is the handout material of a 5-unit wildfire workshop on it. Units are 'Introduction and Overview', 'Administrative Model', 'The Split JVM Model', 'Accessing z/OS Data', 'WebSphere Optimized Local Adapters' and Hands-on lab instructions.
Technical Document : Using z/VM FBA Emulation in a Second-Level ID Starting point : "z/VM can access SCSI disks through the services of an I/O layer known as FBA Emulation, introduced with z/VM 5.1. FBA Emulation was added to z/VM to remove one of the \barriers to entry" for Linux on System z: ECKD DASD. With FBA Emulation, a site with no traditional mainframe installation can install and run z/VM and Linux guests without having to invest in mainframe DASD". "The z/VM FBA Emulation feature allows z/VM systems to access and use SCSI-over-FCPdisks via a SAN fabric. FBA Emulation is straightforward to use at a first-level system but complexity arises at second-level. This article presents a review of using FBA Emulation and the alternatives for using these disks in a second-level ID".
Well that's it for now. And, as I always say : just check them out !
As a matter of fact, it's nothing more or less than a try-before-you-buy license for CICS TS V4.2. Why would you want to do that ?
"It has a zero-cost license charge and does not initiate any Single Version Charging (SVC) period.
CICS TS Developer Trial is designed for customers who want to assess the value that could be gained from a CICS TS upgrade, before making an upgrade decision. This enables the evaluation of the latest CICS TS capabilities, in a non-production environment, without the prerequisite time and resources commitments required for a full production migration project".
This looks like a nice offer to me. And, to me, it seems to take away the pressure about getting into production before the end of your SVC period.
Of course "there are a number of imposed restrictions, in performance and capacity, licensing terms, and a fixed expiry date, that make CICS TS Developer Trial suitable only for use in non-production environments". About the fixed expiry date, it provides "at least 90 days operation from the date of fulfillment. New releases can be installed to extend this period. There is no limit to the number of times CICS TS Developer trial can be reordered, installed and used". So this should be pretty flexible, no ?
This looks like quite an interesting webcast series on Omegamon. I quote from the announcement page which you can find over here :
"Whether you’re an existing OMEGAMON® user, or you’re considering it, these webcasts will give you valuable information about greater visibility into the way services and applications are being executed across the enterprise. You’ll also learn how this helps you use fewer System z® resources and tackle enterprise-wide problems before they become outages. This webcast series is taught by subject matter experts from IBM Software Group who will share the most significant updates to the OMEGAMON product suite"
I'm just giving you the dates and titles of the sessions. Take a look over here for registration and more details on the content.
2 February 2012, 11:00 am EST, 5:00 pm Brussels Time Get More From Your Mainframe with Proactive End-to-End Monitoring Speaker: Susan Rice, Tivoli Product Manager
9 February 2012, 11:00 am EST, 5:00 pm Brussels Time Reduce Costs Based on Faster Problem Solving with Redesigned OMEGAMON Speaker: Richard Burford, Tivoli OMEGAMON Development
16 February 2012, 11:00 am EST, 5:00 pm Brussels Time Tuning Tips Lower System z Costs with OMEGAMON Monitoring Speaker: Don Zeunert, OMEGAMON XE Performance and Tuning
23 February 2012, 11:00 am EST, 5:00 pm Brussels Time Good News for Maintenance Windows: Install and Configure OMEGAMON Faster Speaker: Cecile Day, Tivoli Monitoring z/OS Installation and Configuration Developer
8 March 2012, 11:00 am EST, 5:00 pm Brussels Time See Into the Heart of CICS and Resolve Problems Faster Across LPAR Boundaries Speaker: Mike Goodman, Software Product Manager, Tivoli Systems Management
15 March 2012, 11:00 am EST, 5:00 pm Brussels Time The Critical Role of Service Management in Moving to Cloud on System z Speaker: Mike Baskey, Integration Architect and Chief Architect Management Standards
22 March 2012, 11:00 am EST, 5:00 pm Brussels Time Shave Time Off Application and Service Delivery with Enhanced Event Management Speaker: James Moore, Product Manager, Tivoli Application Dependency Discovery Manager
This is an initiative from the IBM Systems Magazine. As I always say, just check them out !
Hogeschool Gent (HoGent) is one of the Belgian schools participating in the Academic Initiative program for System z. Teachers and students of the IT Department attended the latest GSE z/OS Working Group Meeting in December 2011 at our RealDolmen Headquarters (Presentations are here). Of course I was very curious to find out what their impressions were about such an event. A couple of them wrote down their experiences and their teacher, Angeline van Achter, was so kind to share them with me, and . . . allowed me to share them with you too.
Overall, the impressions are very positive. In general, the students had no real problems to follow the sessions. I thought, that e.g. 'Batch Modernization' would be a tough one but it was pretty understandable to them. I can only conclude from this that the course is quite thorough and really prepares them well for their future life in mainframe. And if you see through a presentation as not much more than a sales talk (which it actually was), you must be on the right track of becoming a real system engineer ;-)
Students also found a confirmation that mainframe is not dead at all and that it's adapting to modern life computing and even evolving more than they thought. But still more important to them were the contacts with this small but, as they stated, very open community, willing to share information and knowledge. People all know each other and where this was a bit intimidating at first, this really changed after a few coffee breaks, since many people engaged in conversations with them. Of course, they also were curious to find out why young people are choosing a mainframe career.
For most of them, the second half of the course is a practical training in a company. So they had a chance to meet their supervisors up front. They also found it interesting to meet other young people who did the same trajectory before them and who could already share their first year(s) of experience with them.
So, content and perhaps even more important, contacts with the people in the field, gave these students a good feeling about this event which bears repetition. So, I would say to them, feel free to come back and I'd also like to invite the other schools to join us at a future session . . .
Le nouveau Arcati Yearbook est arrivé and you can download it over here. It has every ingredient the previous issues had too : some articles, the usual vendor directory listing vendors, consultants and service providers in the mainframe world. The media guide points out some newsletters, magazines, blogs, user groups, twitter accounts and information resources. And the mips tables for the z114 are also already included along with some other technical information. And of course we have the annual User Survey too.
The articles I particulary liked (it's a personal choice, I know) were the ones by Simon Cooper (William Data Systems) on Network Management (ZEN), by Jeff Westerhaver (Serena) on application release management and by Tim Full (Software Diversified Services) on Secure FTP. I know (and Simon Cooper even points it out) that they are of course partial advertisements for their products. But still, I find they nevertheless contain quite some useful, informative content.
And if you don't bother about the annual survey, let me just give you two small fragments to tease you into reading it anyway. The first is a comment on the growth of cost of mainframe vs. the cost of distributed systems.
"Again this year, a substantial number of respondents felt that their Unix, Linux, and Windows user-support costs were increasing faster than the mainframe for an equivalent amount of capacity or support. Similarly, and particularly marked for Windows environments, their anticipated acquisition and maintenance costs were increasing faster than for the mainframe".
Read it in its context of course, because there's more about this in the text. And here's the second fragment about the customer comments.
"No-one is ever happy about costs, but, usually, as long as they stay within the expected range, nobody gets too exercised about it. That doesn’t seem to have been the case this year, though".
You can read all the comments in the Yearbook itself, of course.
As it's the beginning of a new year, I thought this might be a good time to put some dates in your agendas. Which, by the way, reminds me of that hilarious video that circulated some time ago : "My Blackberry is not working". Don't tell me you missed that one ? Then I might just as well include it here. The date passes around 1'30''.
But now, let's get serious and pass on to the real dates. Oh well, you now what I mean.
Events in Belgium
April 26-27, 2012 - GSE Belgium Luxemburg Regional Conference 2012 Thermae Palace Oostende Information GSE Belgium z/OS Working Group Meeting dates RealDolmen Huizingen
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Information September 18-20, 2012 - Total Solutions Event for System z 2012 IBM Forum Brussels More information follows later.
IBM Webcasts
January 24 at 4 pm GMT, 5 pm Brussels DB2 10 for z/OS – Justify your upgrade using the IBM Business Value Assessment Estimator Tool "Join us for this (...) webcast and learn more about IBM DB2 10 for z/OS and a tool that can help you make a case for upgrading to it. DB2 10 is the latest release of the IBM flagship database. Its enhancements are designed to reduce operational costs, improve scalability and enhance productivity. This webcast will include an overview of the most significant potential financial savings offered by DB2 10. Then we’ll explore how these can be estimated using the IBM-internal DB2 10 Business Value Assessment Estimator Tool". Information and registration
January 26 at 4 pm GMT, 5 pm Brussels Getting started with highly scalable clouds across your enterprise "Topics include : Lowering cost of service delivery through automation and reduced skill requirements,Deploying IT services faste, Deploying IT services faster, Standardizing delivery for deployment and management of IT services, Enabling users to request, deploy, monitor and manage cloud computing services". Information and registration January 31 at 4 pm GMT, 5 pm Brussels Migrating to DB2 10? Get maximum CPU benefit with minimum impact "Topics include : Identifying SQL statements that need attention before they impact performance in your DB2 10 environment, Estimating the cost of your SQL between different versions of DB2, Running “what if?” scenarios to determine optimum performance settings, including updating catalog statistics and creating new indexes, Migrating and comparing access path statistics in DB2 V8 or DB2 9 to DB2 10 environment". Focus on the use of DB2 Tools. Information and registration February 14 at 4 pm GMT, 5 pm Brussels Coordinated Disaster Recovery for IMS and DB2 "In this teleconference we’ll descrbe storage-aware data management tools for IMS and DB2 that integrate storage-based fast-replication facilities with IMS and DB2 systems to provide fast and non-disruptive IMS and DB2 disaster recovery solutions". Information and registration February 15 at 4 pm GMT, 5 pm Brussels Boost performance, productivity and cost savings with IBM’s latest compilers for zEnterprise "(...) learn how IBM’s latest compilers, middleware and tools can help you stay on the technology curve. In this webcast, Ray (Jones) and Kevin (Stoodley) will discuss best practices and approaches to plan and execute a successful compiler migration, alongside CICS, IMSand DB2 upgrades. They will also go over IBM’s strategy for compilers and tools on System z to help you better plan your overall development and upgrade efforts". Information and registration
February 21 and February 22 at 4 pm GMT, 5 pm Brussels IBM DB2 10 Migration Planning and Very Early Experiences – PART 1 & PART 2 "To help facilitate your migration, John Campbell will provide planning information about migrating to DB2 10 for z/OS from either DB2 9 or DB2 Version 8. This webcast will be a two part series on February 21st and 22 nd.. Join us for this webcast series which will share surprises, pitfalls and lessons learned; provide hints and tips; discuss enabling fast start; introduce and discuss some further enhancements; and share the latest news about migrations". Information and registration
Other events
March 13-15, 2012 - Total Solutions Event for System z 2012 IBM Forum Amsterdam Information and registration
May 14-18, 2012 - IDUG North America DB2 Tech Conference Denver, Colorado, USA Information and registration
November 4-9, 2012 - IDUG EMEA DB2 Tech Conference Berlin Germany Information and registration
DB2Night Shows
The third DB2Night Season is already on its way. You can already find the replay of the first z/OS session from Klaas Brant on 'Ten reasons to move to DB2 10 in 2012' over here.
For the moment there's just on other DB2 for z/OS session planned on January 23, 2012 by Cristian Molero on 'Data skew and big volumes in the real world data'. Details and registration over here. Normally all events are scheduled at 11 am EST, 5 pm Brussels.As I always say, just check them out !
If you want to check upcoming DB2Night shows, then have a look from time to time over here. There's an RSS feed available as well and they also have a blog now.
When I started this blog, disk storage was a very simple matter. I only considered the storage that was able to connect to the mainframe. I don’t think we even talked much about disk at the time. As you might remember one long time ago post on this blog (Mainframe Talk), real mainframers talk about DASD (dazz-dee) and not about disk. So the list of disk storage was very limited : DS8000 and that's about it.
But things have changed over the years. And our perspective of things has also changed. Mainframe has become more and more open. Look e.g. at the successes of Linux on System z. That’s one passage to, let’s call it, open storage. And in 2010 we had of course the introduction of the zBX, first allowing Power Blades and now Intel Blades with Linux and Windows too. These also need their proper storage. So that's an even clearer passage to open storage. But even our traditional operating systems have found their way to these new storage products.
So, the last couple of years, the scope of storage devices on my radar has broadened. There's e.g. ProtecTier, which was first an open systems solution only, until it introduced the TS7680 ProtecTier Gateway that connected ProtecTier to the mainframe. Next to that we had SVC. XIV followed in line. First it had to be connected via SVC but the "IBM XIV Storage System can now be attached through supported FC switches to z/VM for system use (e.g., paging, spooling, IPL, etc.)". (< IBM VM pages). Yes, you can IPL z/VM from an XIV. And "XIV Storage can also be accessed by z/VM guests through guest-attached FCP subchannels". But it hasn't stopped there. Look e.g. at the announcement of z/VSE 5.1 :
"IBM Storwize V7000 Midrange Disk System : Storwize V7000 is a midrange disk offering built on IBM System SAN Volume Controller (SVC) technology. It can now be attached through Fibre Channel (FC) switches to z/VSE using Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) subchannels. z/VSE supports Storwize V7000 (SCSI) devices for system use (IPLable z/VSE system devices) and as data devices. z/VSE is designed to support Storwize V7000 devices in both an LPAR and a z/VM guest environment. z/VSE Storwize V7000 support is available with z/VSE V4.2 and later.
Or take a look at the Supported Hardware list for IBM StorWize V7000 :
"z/VM 5.3.0 and later supports Emulated Device (EDEVICE) attachment for all EDEVICE use including paging, spooling, minidisks, and system IPL. z/VM 5.3.0 and later also supports guest attachment via dedicated FCP subchannels"
What's my point ? Well, I can no longer pretend to write about high-end storage attached to mainframe. There's a whole range of midrange storage devices that can also connect to this very mainframe and zBX. And with that I'm strangely enough back at my starting point that I only consider storage connected to the mainframe. Only, due to the changing evolution, it's no longer a simple matter because there's much more now. And as I already pointed out before, you have to be aware of what's around, because you will be confronted with situations where people ask you why you choose a DS8800 for your Linux on z environment, rather than e.g. an XIV or a StorWize. And perhaps they're right.
So I intend to also write more about these products in the future. A CIO told me some time ago that because of limited resources people are focused on doing their jobs and don't have any time left to take a step back and have a look at what's new in order to see the greater picture. So, information pointing them in the right direction was always welcome. Well, let me try and help you a bit with this.
And here's my first bit of information. IBM announced today that 'IBM Storwize V7000 introduces new 900 GB SAS drives (ZG12-0038)'. If you're still a completely isolated mainframer or you have been living on another planet the last year and you wonder what StorWize is, I'll come back to that in a later post with a brief introduction to it.
And you want to know why ? Or you want to explain to others why ?
Then here's a nice short eWeek presentation that does it for you. Apparantly it comes from Greg Lotko, vice president and business line executive for System z.
"Back to life, back to reality", you know the song (No ? Have a look over here), well it was the first thing that came to my mind, when reading the new IBM announcements.
First there's this one 'Price Changes on IBM z/OS V1 Operating System Software Program Products (ZA11-1053)'. It's a price raise for z/OS V1 and its features. But it's mainly for the larger companies as it only applies to VWLC and AWLC pricing. It does not apply to Entry Workload License Charges (EWLC), Advanced Entry Workload License Charges (AEWLC) or Flat Workload License Charges (FWLC). Depending on the pricing metric MLC charges will increase with 5% to 6%.
Another Price Change is on Subscription and Support (S&S) for some IPLA software (ZA11-1061). The selected products are :
IBM DB2 Automation Tool for z/OS Subscription and Support
IBM DB2 Cloning Tool for z/OS Subscription and Support
IBM IMS Batch Terminal Simulator for z/OS Subscription and Support
IBM CICS VSAM Transparency for z/OS Subscription and Support
IBM Tivoli Business Service Manager for z/OS Subscription and Support
IBM WebSphere Message Broker for z/OS Subscription and Support
IBM Tivoli Storage Manager Extended Edition for z/OS Media Subscription and Support
IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for z/OS Media Subscription and Support
IBM Tivoli Omegamon for z/OS Management Suite Subscription and Support
Do check out the announcement because price changes can vary quite a bit from country to country and from product to product.
Well here's my last post for this year. If you missed my year review, just scroll down a bit.
We don't know what the next year will bring us but I surely wish every one the best for 2012 : A Happy New Year and good health to you and your family.
Thanks to all my readers for stopping by so regularly, to all the people who linked to this blog and to every one who gave me great feedback during 2010.
This testimonial was referred to quite a lot a couple of months ago. I wondered why and a little demon whispered in my ear that it was because in this male bastion, there finally was a woman explaining why you should use the mainframe. No idea, anyway, I like this last 2011 feelgood story on my blog. So, just have a look at it too.
Das Pop (a Belgian Rock group) has a song called Feelgood Factors and that was exactly what popped into my mind when I saw this video some time ago. Just makes you feel good to be a mainframer. Hey, it's the end of the year and I'm in a good mood. So, just enjoy this one too.
Simplifying mainframe management and gathering mainframe knowledge has become essential over the last years. IBM started off some years ago with its Five Year March to Simplification with, as the result of it, z/OSMF. CA Technologies came up with its own solutions like Mainframe Chorus. And so, they also made a little christmas song with their Chorus and an explanation of their message.
IBM celebrated its 100th anniversary this year, but there was another one who grew big in just 20 years : Linux. Remarkably enough last year we celebrated its 10th anniversary on the mainframe. So more, than half of its existence, Linux was available on the mainframe. I promised myself not to mention Windows in this context, so I won't. I'll wait another ten years for that.
So here's a nice, short history of Linux.
Want to see some more : check out the Mac vs PC vs Linux ads on youtube.
IBM has been launching its 5 in 5 predictions for quite a couple of years now. I first mentioned them at the end of 2007. Why did I add social media in the title ? Well, at the time there was a press release with a video, yes, but you had to download it to watch it. So, I uploaded it to youtube (watch it here). This is just an example of how we have come to take social media and also services like youtube for granted. Four years ago, it was still completely new for (parts) of IBM and now IBMLabs uploads it immediately to youtube, I guess, without even thinking about it. Obviously, they didn't see that one coming . . .
So, here we have again 5 predictions that might become reality within 5 years. Are they realistic ? Frankly, I don't think so. Can I prove it ? No, but . . . first take a look at this year's issue.
And now we move on to the first one I've found which dates from about 5 years ago. We can check which one of those have become true. And you'll see : mind reading should no longer be a prediction in 2011, it should already be reality.
If, just for fun, I should have to choose one prediction to become true I would pick the next one. And though it's presented with a woman, I think men would even love this more. I know I would. So for all the men who hate shopping or who think shopping with their wives takes too long. Here's the solution. Well, almost !
I'm an employee at NV RealDolmen (Belgian IBM Premier Business Partner). I'm mainly involved in all pre-sales activities and systems architecture for IBM System z and IBM System Storage.
Webcast January 31 at 4 pm GMT, 5 pm Brussels Migrating to DB2 10? Get maximum CPU benefit with minimum impact Information and registration Webcast February 14 at 4 pm GMT, 5 pm Brussels Coordinated Disaster Recovery for IMS and DB2 Information and registration Webcast February 15 at 4 pm GMT, 5 pm Brussels Boost performance, productivity and cost savings with IBM’s latest compilers for zEnterprise Information and registration
Webcast February 21 and February 22 at 4 pm GMT, 5 pm Brussels IBM DB2 10 Migration Planning and Very Early Experiences – PART 1 & PART 2 Information and registration March 13-15, 2012 - Total Solutions Event for System z 2012 IBM Forum Amsterdam Information and registration
March 14, 2012 - GSE z/OS Working group meeting RealDolmen Huizingen Information
April 26-27, 2012 - GSE Belgium Luxemburg Regional Conference 2012 Thermae Palace Oostende Information May 14-18, 2012 - IDUG North America DB2 Tech Conference Denver, Colorado, USA Information and registration
June 13, 2012 - GSE z/OS Working group meeting RealDolmen Huizingen Information September 18-20, 2012 - Total Solutions Event for System z 2012 IBM Forum Brussels More information follows November 4-9, 2012 - IDUG EMEA DB2 Tech Conference Berlin Germany Information and registration
December 12, 2012 - GSE z/OS Working group meeting RealDolmen Huizingen Information
