Sampling Techdocs : October - November 2008

Hello, here we go again for another round of interesting material from TechDocs.

• White Paper : Migrating to WebSphere z/OS V7
  Here's an 87-page document on migrating to WebSphere Application Server for z/OS Version 7. The document starts with the big picture and some Frequently Asked Questions on timing, common problems and gotchas etc. It further describes "the process involves planning the migration, customizing the migration jobs using the MMT tool, and submitting the jobs to perform the migration".
  
  
• Technical Documents : WebSphere for z/OS - Version 7.0 Handouts for WBSR7 Wildfire Workshop
  Next to this, here's a collection of updated presentations and Hands-on labs on Websphere 7 for the wildfire workshops. Topics covered : Overview, Using the Spreadsheet and WCT to build a Deployment Manager, Adding a Managed Node, a Server and Clustering, Accessing Data (JDBC, JCA and Messaging) and New V7 Functionality -- the "zDiff" Items.
  
  
• Technical Document : WLM Workload Analysis Using RMF
  "Even if you have been running in goal mode for a long period of time and everything has been executing well, there are many changes that may trigger a need for reviewing and modifying goals set in the policy". This document explains the use of RMF (RMF Monitor III and the RMF postprocessor) and what to look for when e.g. service class goals are not met.
  
  
• Technical Document : z/OS 1.10 Installation Plan Checklist
  Betty Brody publishes this "z/OS 1.10 Installation Plan checklist for installing and migrating to z/OS 1.10 from a previous z/OS release. To be used as a supplement to existing product publications".
  
  
• Technical Document : System z and zSeries I/O Feature Reference Table
  This is a really nice document : which connectivity (OSA-Express, Ficon, ISC) is used on which server ? I've immediately printed it out as this will surely come in handy !

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

Red Alert : Potential outage on multiple z/OS LPARs when installing z10 Driver 73 MCL006

This Red Alert just arrived in my mail box.

Abstract
"Potential outage on multiple z/OS LPARs when installing z10 Driver 73 MCL006 if fix for APAR OA23230 not installed. Outage may occur due to storage overlay on all z/OS LPARs when WLM Group Capacity is active and LPARS are dynamically added to the z10 processor".

You can read the entire description over here.

Recommended action
"z/OS 1.8 and z/OS 1.9 users with WLM Group Capacity active on z10 should apply the PTFs for HIPER APAR OA23230. PTFs UA39601 (R730) and UA39602 (R740) are available on RSU0803. This fix needs to be applied before dynamically adding any LPARs or installing MCL006. An alternative circumvention is to turn off group capacity until the PTF is installed".

Here's an Overview of all Red Alerts. You can also subscribe to the Red Alerts on the same page.

Enhanced Virtualization with z/VM

It's been a while since I put up some videos, but on the z/VM Listserv Discussion List Lionel B. Dyck and Bill Munson pointed out these two videos on z/VM and Virtualization.
Especially the reference story on the Marist College gives you great arguments on why z/VM really is the best platform for Virtualization. Just have a look at them !


Enhanced Virtualization


Marist College Client Reference

For those not able to reach Youtube due to company policies, you can find the Marist Video on IBM TV too.

IBM Systems Director Active Energy Manager Trial

Last week IBM announced a new release of IBM Systems Director Active Energy Manager for Linux on System z V4.1, an IBM Systems Director plug-in (ZG08-0512). Here's the overview from the announcement :

"IBM Systems Director Active Energy Manager V4.1 software, an IBM Systems Director plug-in, is available on Linux on Power, Linux on System x, Linux on System z, AIX, and Microsoft Windows to help you monitor and manage the power and thermal usage of your IT environment. AEM is a unique energy management software tool that can provide a single view of the actual power usage across systems in your infrastructure as opposed to the benchmarked power consumption.

The main new features in this release are:

• Web-based user interface requiring only a browser
• Soft power capping
• Energy thresholding
• Group capping
• Integration with Emerson-Liebert's SiteScan management application
• Additional power savings modes
• Support for non-IBM hardware (PDU and UPS) as documented in the product library
• Command-line interface support"

There's also a IBM web page on IBM Systems Director and one specific page on the Active Energy Manager. And now here's the interesting part of that page : it mentions a 60-day trial of Active Energy Manager.

"Take the opportunity to see for yourself for 60 days how this solution will enable you to identify, monitor, measure, and manage energy consumption across your organization, right down to the system, chassis, or rack level. Once the trial ends, you can continue to use the monitoring functions — such as power trending, thermal trending, and PDU+ support — at no charge. For continued use of the management functions beyond the 60-day trial, the offering must be purchased".

Arcati Mainframe Yearbook 2009 Survey

I've already mentioned the Arcati Yearbook a couple of times, just because it's a great source of information for us, mainframers. The one item I'm always looking at first is the annual survey of the worldwide mainframe landscape.

To make this survey possible, Arcati needs to have as many input as possible from mainframe users. That's why they're asking you to fill out the user survey at the Arcati site. All company information is treated as confidential and is not shared with any third party. So why not fill it out ?
You'll then receive a copy of the Arcati Yearbook as soon as it gets out.

By the way, you can still download the Arcati 2008 yearbook over here.

If you want more information on the survey, you can go to the Arcati Survey page or look at the info on Trevor Eddoll's Mainframe Update blog.

Webcast : IBM CICS Explorer - The new face of CICS

Update : the replay of the webcast is available over here. Just go via the 'Register here' link.

Just wanted to draw your attention to this webcast I mentioned some time ago.
What's it about ?

"For nearly 40 years, CICS has been a leader in transaction processing, and, in conjunction with z/OS® and DB2®, has delivered levels of performance, availability and security that are hard to match. To prepare for the future and address these modern challenges, CICS will be making yet another significant contribution: reducing the skills barrier to the development of CICS applications and the management of CICS systems.

Join us for this complimentary webcast to learn about a new user interface, the IBM CICS Explorer. It will give architects, developers, system programmers and administrators a common tooling environment, with integrated access to a wide range of data and control capabilities delivered by CICS Transaction Server, CICS Tools and CICS Connectors, plus other IBM and third-party software products."

You can register over here.
When : 11 a.m., Eastern Standard Time, 4:00 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time, 5:00 p.m. Brussels

z10 BC Wallpapers

I'm not going to bother our American friends too much today as they have other serious decisions to make. So here are some wallpapers from IBM on the z10 BC. There's each time one for 'normal' screens and one for widescreens. Just click on the picture to open the full size wallpaper in a new window.





Well, which one will you choose ?