Sampling TechDocs - Up to August 2013

It's been some months, but here I am again with an overview 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.

• FAQ : SMC-R RoCE FAQ Frequently Asked Question
  Hey, I wish I had that one when I first had to write about this for my introduction on the zBC12. As you've read earlier IBM has announced SMC-R in z/OS v2.1 and RoCE feature support in zEnterprise EC12 and zBC12. SMC-R and RoCE provide high throughput with low overhead communications.For all the rest of the information : see this FAQ.

• Flash : Changes Planned for z/OS Preventive Service Ordering
  "IBM plans a number of changes to z/OS preventive service ordering. z/OS preventive service orders will be based on installed products, which is intended to make order content a better reflection of the systems to be serviced".

• White paper : Couple Data Sets Best Practices and Avoiding Disasters
  Flash : Couple Datasets: Best Practices and Avoiding Disasters
   Two documents on the "cornerstones of your sysplex". The flash is a one-pager summarizing the pitfalls. The white paper has the following topics : Overview, best practice reminders, avoiding disasters, i/o delays, data migration activities and copying or mirroring

• Presentation : An Overview of Mainframe Security for Non-Mainframe Personnel
  "This Power Point provides an introduction and overview to the comprehensive security suite available on System z. The target audience is intended to be IT Management or IT Security personnel who may not be familiar with some of the concepts and facilities of System z".I would add : target audience is definitely also mainframe personnel.

• Technical Document : HyperPAV setup with z/VM and Red Hat Linux on zSeries
  This is a "How to Document on steps required to define DS8000 ECKD DASD Subsystem Disks with HyperPAV feature enabled in a Linux on zSeries environment". Examples are  based on Red Hat 6.3 Linux O/S for zSeries. This is the real technical stuff !

• Technical Document : TS7700 Virtualization Engine Series - VEHSTATS Decoder
  This is a very nice one too, when you have to interpret the VEHSTATS presentation output. It gives you a sample of each possible output and describes how to interpret each field. Essential document !

Well that's it for now. And, as I always say : just check them out !

Redbook - System z Parallel Sysplex Best Practices

Here's an interesting new Redbook : 'System z Parallel Sysplex Best Practices'. It "pulls together diverse information regarding the best way to design, implement, and manage a Parallel Sysplex to deliver the levels of performance and availability required by your organization".

Here's the argumentation of the authors to write this Redbook :

"One of the greatest strengths of Parallel Sysplex is its flexibility. Parallel Sysplex can be exploited by the largest corporations with huge sysplexes, and by small customers with just a single processor. However, this flexibility can also be a challenge. With so many options, how do you know what is the best way to configure a sysplex to achieve your objectives? And with so many demands for your time, how can you possibly keep up with all the latest recommendations for how to set up your sysplex?

This book makes it easier for you to obtain the latest guidance for your Parallel Sysplex in one succinct and easy-to-use place. Configuring your sysplex to adhere to these guidelines does not guarantee that you will never encounter an outage again, but it should result in a more resilient configuration that delivers improved levels of service".

The Redbook is divided into several chapters treating Parallel Sysplex with regards to z/OS, CICS, DB2, IMS, MQ and WAS.

As I always say : just check it out !