zEC12 and zBC12 : new 2:1 ratio for zIIPs

I already have to correct my previous post on one point. And thanks to Willie Favero (@wfavero) for pointing this out. I was always told that when something is not in the announcement, it doesn't exist. But since it is mentioned in the IBM press release and it's not April 1, it must be true.

There is a new 2:1 ratio for zIIPs and zAAPs on the zEC12 and zBC12.

This means that on the H06 model you can now have 2 CPs and e.g. 4 zIIPs or on the H13 you can have 4CPs and 8 zIIPs. Nice, isn't it ? But apparently it's only for the zEC12 and zBC12 and it's not for previous generations. So here's an updated illustration as well.

I'm planning to do a couple of more posts today on the other announcements that were issued yesterday. So, stay tuned !

Reblogging on DB2, zIIP and XIV GUI

I thought I had come up with a new word, when I thought of reblogging. People who are familiar with Twitter, know you can retweet a tweet (message) some one else put on Twitter. I'm just trying not to be too obscure for non-twitter-ers. In fact, you just repeat a message by some one else because you think it might be interesting for your own followers. And if there's some space left, you can even add some comments.

So today I came across a couple of tweets referring to blog posts. As I really liked the blog posts, I retweeted those tweets, but then I thought, wouldn't it be great if I could also reblog the blog posts, referring to the original poster and adding some comments. I'm hoping this doesn't look to much like speech therapy or a poetic alliteration effort for people not familiar with these terms, but do read on, there's following some more familiar content.

So, it turns out that reblogging already exists and you can e.g. use it in between wordpress blogs. It's not supported between several types of blogs. So, here I go, the oldfashioned way.

The first blog post I want to mention is by Willie Favero : 'Improved zIIP redirect'. Willie tells about an APAR on DB2. It should allow you to improve the redirection of DRDA workload over TCP/IP to the zIIP from some 45%-50% to about 60%. If that ain't worth a reblog ?! Just go over there to read all the details. By the way, Willie will also be presenting at the Total Solutions Event in September at the IBM Forum in Brussels.

The second blog post is from Anthony Vandewerdt who works for IBM Australia as a Storage Solutions Specialist and who has a blog on System Storage. His post is about XIV : 'Even more praise for the XIV GUI'. It just gives you another illustration of how easy and how intuitive the User Interface for XIV is. And of how easily you can obtain status information from about any component in the machine, up to the fans. You'll also see that you can download the GUI, even if you don't have an XIV ... yet. So, just give it a try, you'll like it !

By the way, I won't be posting again before the end of next week. The children are doing their last exam today and tomorrow we're off to the city of angels and demons visiting my brother for an extended weekend.

Sampling Techdocs : February 2010 - April 2010

Here we are with some new documents from TechDocs I recently came across or found while browsing through the latest publications.

• White paper : Planning Considerations for Running zAAP Work on zIIPs
  This 6-page white paper gives you a brief but quite complete introduction to the zAAP on zIIP functionality : "This document will review the functions, features and restrictions involved with successfully using this support, (...) called ZAAPZIIP support". It also explains the implementation differences for various z/OS releases.
  
  
• White paper : How to Generate WTO Messages from RMF Performance Exceptions
  RMF allows the definition of performance-based exception thresholds, and displaying these thresholds on the Monitor III Workflow/Exceptions Report in an ISPF session. This paper describes how to surface those exceptions as Write-to-Operator (WTO) messages. This is done by customizing JCL to run the RMF Monitor III session as a started task or batch job.
  
  
• Technical document : Overview of Supported Disk and Tape Storage for Linux on IBM System z10
  Nice summary, reference with not only IBM equipment mentioned.
  

• White Paper: IBM HyperSwap Technology April 2010
  Presentation: IBM HyperSwap Options April 2010
  I've been writing about this in the RealDolmen System z newsletter before. But here's another and very good overview of the various HyperSwap possibilities. The white paper follows the same content as the presentation but with more details.
  

• Presentation : Effective Capacity for IBM TotalStorage DS8700 R5.1
  Technical document : DS8x00 Host Port Locations Quick Reference
  This is for the storage techies : two technical documents, a presentation on capacity sizing for the DS8700 (SSD included) and a spreadsheet with the DS8000 host port locations.
  

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

z/OS V1.11 - Smart, adaptive, trusted, efficient

Last week IBM announced z/OS V1.11 : 'z/OS V1.11 - Smart, adaptive, trusted, efficient (ZP09-0277)'. I'm not going through all the details here as it's far too extensive. So I will focus on a couple of details I find interesting and give you some links to more information.

First of all there's quite some attention to simplified management which seems to be a new step in the Five Year March to Simplification which was announced in 2006. However, I'll come back to that in a next post about the new z/OS Management Facility.

There's a couple of things to tell about the specialty engines too. First "DB2 utilities sorting fixed-length records using IBM's memory object sorting technique, especially LOAD, REORG, and RUNSTATS utilities, will have a portion of the workload offloaded to a zIIP". But there's more : "z/OS V1.11 is enhanced with a new function that can enable System z Application Assist Processor (zAAP) eligible workloads to run on System z Integrated Information Processors (zIIPs). This function can enable you to run zIIP- and zAAP-eligible workloads on the zIIP". Yes, that's right, if you have no specialty engines for the moment or you only have a zIIP, you can run zIIP-eligible ànd zAAP eligible workload by acquiring or using just one zIIP. That might be good news for smaller customers. It makes you wonder about the difference between zAAP and zIIP and whether the zAAP will eventually be phased out ?

Also take a look at the statements of direction. There are quite some of them. I just want to point out one, which will not affect that many customers, but still, I see some customers that will be affected : its the one stating to "discontinue delivery of software on 3480, 3480 Compressed (3480C), and 3490E tape media". There are alternatives of course with IBM strongly recommending to switch to Internet delivery when ordering z/OS products. If this is not an option IBM also intends to deliver on DVD media.

z/OS 1.11 will become available on September 25, 2009 and can be ordered from September 11, 2009 onwards. Last possible order date for z/OS 1.10 CBPDO or ServerPac is October 13, 2009.

And here are some additonal links to more information on z/OS 1.11

• General information on the IBM z/OS page
• What's new in z/OS 1.11
• Migration : there's the z/OS 1.11 Migration Guide. There's also an article of Marna Walle in the new Hot Topics Newsletter (p. 25). I see that Marna Walle is also giving two migration sessions at the Share Conference in Denver. So for those (like me) not attending, you might want to check out the Proceedings section at the Share website after the event for the presentations. I'm sure there will be other interesting presentations on z/OS 1.11 as well.
• The z/OS library with all manuals in PDF and BOOK versions
• The z/OS V1R11 Information Center
• You know there's also a webpage gathering all the current and past Statements of Direction ?

Short Takes

Here are some more short takes

• CA, Datacom and zIIP
  Last week, CA announced that the newest release of CA Datacom now also makes use of the zIIP engine. I must admit I have the feeling I lost a bit track of how many products now use specialty engines. But I guess that's a good thing : more and more ISVs use them because every one realizes it's a great way to help reduce cost for the clients ànd at the same time keep the mainframe alive and kicking. The counter for CA seems to be at 14 products now. Still recently, they gave an overview over here.

• zPrime
  Talking about saving money : a couple of weeks ago I received this mail from Neon Enterprise Software about zPrime. What is zPrime ? I don't know and they're not going to tell you straight away, so if you want to take a guess yourself, take a look at the zPrime Site. Here's the initial explanation in the mail : "zPrime is a radical new technology in mainframe computing. It cuts the cost of mainframe computing significantly and immediately. No new budgets, no complicated projects, no expensive consultants, no new equipment purchases. Want to know more? Go to www.zPrime.com and learn about zPrime -- and have some fun and maybe win some prizes at the same time". We'll just have to wait and see. Oh, you can also follow zPrime on Twitter !

• When will I use Solid State Drives ?
  I know I'm a bit late with this. One very interesting presentation on the System z Conference some weeks ago was the one of Pat Artis of Performance Associates on SSD. According to Pat Artis the question is not whether we will switch to SSD but when. He expects that very soon every one will only use SSD drives for production data. Interested ? You can now find the slides and the video if this presentation on their site.
  

CA IDMS r17 zIIP Feature Webcast

CA was one of the first ISVs to announce support for the zIIP. Now they also announced that IDMS R17 will support it. You can e.g. take a look over here. you'll see that also Datacom is mentioned.
If you want to be brought up to date, there's a webcast next week on Tuesday, December 9, 2008 at 11.00 EST or 17.00 in Brussels (CET).

"This webcast will explain how portions of all typical CA IDMS production workloads — including those generated by online transaction systems, batch processing jobs and distributed platform requests — can exploit zIIP capacity to offload processing to deliver greater capacity with lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)".

All details and registration over here.

Sampling Techdocs : June - September 2008

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

• Tool : Slot Calculator for TS3100, TS3200, TS3310, TS3400 and TS3500(3584)
  I've mentioned the Slot Calculator a couple of times before but now it also includes some other libraries. It already includes the Gen3 cartridges and the new HD tape frames (s24 and s54) too.
  
  
• White Paper : z/OS: Planning Considerations for HiperDispatch Mode
  One of the new functionalities introduced with the z10 EC : with HiperDispatch mode, the intention is to manage work across fewer logical processors. It's important to have some notice of this functionality because all LSPR benchmarks are performed with HiperDispatch mode on. This document describes the functionality, some processing benefits and WLM Policy considerations.
  
  
• Technical Document : Capacity Planning for zAAP and zIIP Specialty Engines
  zIIPs seem to be the talk of the town for the moment. I've just read some nice comments on the DB2-List and the IBM-Main List about zIIP eligibility, on which I hope to come back later. If you want to find out whether the zIIP is something for you, take a look at this and do check if all requirements for getting results are fulfilled at your site.
  
  
• FAQ : Migration from an old version of COBOL to Enterprise COBOL on Z/OS
  I've programmed in COBOL for about 8 years and I can honestly say I still fluently 'speak' COBOL. So when a document like this one shows up, it definitely catches my attention. The question here is : "What is involved in COBOL Migration from an old version of COBOL to Enterprise COBOL on Z/OS?".
  
  
• Flash : Withdrawal of z/OS Function
• Technical Document : z/OS Positioning Software for the z10 EC Server
• Presentation : Open Systems Adapter (OSA) Feature Code History
  Three reference documents that contain lots of useful information. Everyone should check out the first two once in a while and certainly when you upgrade your operating system or your hardware model.
  
  
• Technical Document : IBM HyperSwap Technology - z/OS Systems
  I've mentioned other documents about this subject and discussed it in the (then) Dolmen System z Newsletter. This paper gives you an overview of the three variations : GDPS with HyperSwap (the full function), GDPS HyperSwap Manager and z/OS Basic HyperSwap. It describes their distinct functionalities, the prerequisites and it helps you decide which flavour is fit for your environment.
  
  
• Presentation : Monitoring and Managing z/VM and Linux for System z
  How to monitor the architecture, monitor the virtual Linux Performance, performance scenarios and possible solutions, Automated operations requirements, Automated operations scenarios . . .
  

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

Saving money with the zIIP - a sequel

Some time ago I tried to give a summary of ISVs using zIIPs and/or zAAPs in my post 'Saving money with the zIIP'. The ones I found at that moment were : Phoenix Software, Neon Enterprise Software, Computer Associates and Syncsort for z/OS. Follow the links, some are different than the ones before and give interesting additional information.

Why the sequel ? Well I told you I thought there would be more out there. So I was contacted by Greg Stasko of Datadirect Technologies who pointed out to me they too “have begun providing zIIP and zAAP support in the Shadow RTE product”. here's an introduction to the DataDirect Shadow/z products : DataDirect : A single Unified Mainframe Integration Architecture. A little quote : "Shadow 7 opens the zIIP to additional workloads beyond DB2, including mainframe data queries to IMS, VSAM, Adabas and IDMS, as well as SOAP/XML parsing for the transformation of business logic and screen logic (CICS, IMS, Natural, IDMS) into Web services".

Cheryl Watson also intends to make up a list of ISVs using zIIPs and zAAPs. I'll keep you informed when it's published.

Saving money with the zIIP

The zIIP is the specialty engine that can also be used by ISVs to redirect workload to it. And allthough I claim to keep a close watch on the mainframe world, a couple of things slipped my attention. There are already more softwares using it than I thought. I guess I'm not alone so here's how I got to them.

Last week Trevor Eddolls started me thinking with his blog post on 'Saving money on mainframes'. Mr. Eddolls wonders whether specialty engines (especially zIIP and zAAP) can save you money :

Basically, any workloads run on these specialty engines do not form part of an organization’s contracted mainframe processing capacity. So their use results in a reduction in that organization’s Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). As a consequence, not only do they get reduced software costs, they also get additional processing capacity – and that can be used to eliminate or delay the next upgrade.

Saying that every workload which is redirected to zIIP or zAAP results in a reduction of your software cost is a bit too straight-forward. You still have to keep in mind that your monthly software cost (MLC) is based on a 4-hour rolling average. If you have your peaks at night running a heavy IMS batch workload, you won't see any direct savings on that side by adding a specialty engine. Still, I think the second part of his statement is correct. The real savings come from redirecting workload to the specialty engines and delaying a next upgrade. Delaying this upgrade may also mean delaying higher software costs. If not MLC software, then perhaps for softwares which are still based on the full GP engine capacity of your machine.

Mark Fonteccio comments on that with 'Mainframe specialty processors: Do they really save money?', making the same reflection as I did : "By taking workloads to those processors, you can free up room on the central processors. That’s what might matter the most".
But both have the impression that specialty engines might be the talk of the town, but people aren't convinced yet. I think we're reaching (or have reached) a turning point : companies are actually starting to buy them. Why, because there are more and more softwares using it. More than I was aware of and I'm sure I'm not alone.

So, I was glad to read the comments of Edward Jaffe (Phoenix Software) and Tom Harper (Neon Enterpirse Software) on this subject on the IBM-Main discussion list. Not only do they point out that according to IBM specialty engine sales are up 85% year-over-year, but they also indicate that both their companies have their softwares redirect workloads to the zIIP. So eventually I came up with more than just DB2 and IPSec redirecting workload to the zIIP. Here's a little list :

• Of course we have the DB2 and IPSec workload from IBM. And that's not the end : DB2 9 now includes support for native SQL stored procedures and most z/OS DFSMS SDM (System Data Mover) processing associated with zGM/XRC was also added.
• Phoenix software has (E)JES. A little quote : "(E)JES V4R5.0 makes a significant portion of execution resources eligible for redirection to zIIP processors, including all end-user interactive host client environments except CICS, all batch scripts running in the background or foreground under TSO/E, when calling the (E)JES API, and when running (E)JES as the Operating System Interface within the workstation component server."
• Neon Enterprise Software had an announcement on May 15, 2008 for their IMS Utilities suite : "The NEON Eclipse Reorganization Utilities include iUnload, iLoad, iBuild, iCheck, iSurvey, iExtract, iReorg and iCopy. Version 5.1 of these products includes the initial support for zIIP processors. With NEON Eclipse Reorganization Utilities, it is possible that a customer could experience capacity gains of more than 70 percent for some IMS database maintenance processing. NEON is planning a release in the second half of 2008 that will provide 97 percent zIIP processing support for all the NEON Eclipse Reorganization Utilities, including iCopy".
  
• CA was one of the first to announce support for the zIIP with a range of products including e.g. CA-Vtape Virtual Tape System and CA Tape Encryption. CA also put CA-IDMS and CA-DATACOM on the roadmap, but nothing really official has been announced so far.
• Syncsort for z/OS is another one that has been using the zIIP since January, 2008 : "SyncSort exploits the new MIDAW and System z9 Integrated Information Processor (zIIP) facilities available on z9 processors. SyncSort's use of the MIDAW facility reduces CPU time and elapsed time. The zIIP facility allows many sorts to have a portion of their processing directed to the zIIP, thereby lowering the traditional CPU time cost associated with sorting. The zIIP exploitation also liberates conventional CPU cycles for use by other applications that do not exploit the zIIP facility".
• Who's missing so far ? BMC ? I saw some announcements with statements on zIIP support, but I don't know whether it's really having any products yet. If so, please do let me know!

So, the list is definitely longer than you might've thought and I'm sure it's still going to grow significantly in the next couple of months.

z/OS Hot Topics Newsletter #17

Hello, I'm back in Blogland after a three weeks rest. I see I have a lot to catch up with and I'll inform you as I progress through a stack of mails and other info that has come my way during those three weeks.
I'm starting off with a publication I always look forward to. The new issue of the Hot Topics Newsletter came out last Wednesday. If this is the first time you hear about this newsletter, be sure to check out the back issues as well.
This issue counts about 30 pages more (80) than any other previous issue. One of the reasons for this is the addition of 'How-To' articles "that offer practical information for accomplishing common tasks on System z. This issue, our experts provide step-by-step instructions for simplifying your WLM administration, migrating to zFS file systems, viewing your z/OS file systems on Windows, and invoking SDSF through REXX commands".
The main focus this time is on the specialty engines. One article focuses on "the development of specialty processors from the early days of the S/370 Model 3033 through the rise of the RISC and CMOS processors in the 1990s, to the present day with zIIP and zAAP". Another one "describes the exploiters of the zIIP and zAAP and points to future application enhancements that promise to help lower the overall total cost of ownership (TCO)".
But there's so much more in this issue like "many articles on the new functions in z/OS V1R9" and others focusing on "simplifying your work, with articles on using System Logger with SMF recording, z/OS Health Checker, controlling group capacity limits, invoking REXX routines with System REXX, and configuring z/OS Communications Server".

So, as I always say : just check it out !

Sampling Techdocs : June

I presented some Techdocs publications about a month ago, so here we go again with another load of interesting documents from last month.

• Flash : 'System z: CFLEVEL 15 Causes Coupling Facility CF Structure Size Growth'.
  A new level of CFCC (CFLEVEL 15) was made available in May, 2007. "This new CFCC level introduces new functionality which will require existing CF users to increase the size of their structures. This Flash provides the needed planning information". Take a look at this 2-page document warning for significant growth in the size of certain CF structures. You are strongly advised to use the CFSizer before installation.
  
  
• I already mentioned the TS3500 Slot Calculator last year. With the announcement of LTO4 support, there's a new version available.
  
  
• White Paper : 'Tivoli Workload Scheduler on z/OS: Using Negative Run Cycles'.
  This white Paper documents the use of Negative Run Cycles or in common English : you can prevent a scheduled job from running under specific conditions. E.g. you have a weekly 'end-of-the-week' job, but at the end of the month, you can schedule it not to run. There's a very good explanation of the feature and an example with lots of illustrations ;-)
  
  
• White Paper : 'SuSE® Linux® on System z® Getting Started Tutorial'
  You've installed Suse Linux on your System z, you're new to Linux and you want to give it a try. Then you can follow this tutorial with some exercises making you familiar with some common commands, accessing a graphical interface using the VNC server. . .
  
  
• Presentation : 'WSC Experiences with IPSec on the zIIP Processor'.
  If you're interested in this topic, then this is a very nice presentation explaining what IPSEC is, what workload is eligible for the zIIP, how it's done, how you can measure it, how to size, the RMF reports . . .
  
  
• Presentation : 'IBM System Storage & System z Synergy'.
  Nice presentation on the interaction between z/OS and several storage components treating topics like methods to reduce the number of UCBs, eliminating backup windows, business continuity (TS7700 multi-site solutions) and lots more.
  
  

This is just a selection of some documents that drew my attention. If you have other interests, there's a lot more at Techdocs.

CA announces broad support for zIIP engines

Yesterday at the Share conference in Tampa, CA announced "new releases of eight IT management solutions that evaluate, monitor and exploit IBM's System z9 Integrated Information Processor (zIIP) by taking full advantage of the zIIP's ability to offload selected computing tasks from a mainframe's general-purpose processors". The products are :

• Unicenter NetMaster Network Management for TCP/IP
• BrightStor CA-Vtape Virtual Tape System
• BrightStor Tape Encryption
• Unicenter NeuMICS Resource Management
• Unicenter CA-SYSVIEW Realtime Performance Management
• Unicenter CA-Insight Performance Monitor for DB2 UDB for z/OS
• Unicenter Detector for DB2 UDB for z/OS
• Unicenter Subsystem Analyzer for DB2 UDB for z/OS

Four of those are available, the four other become available in June. But there's more : "Additional CA solutions, including the CA IDMS and CA DATACOM database management systems, will exploit zIIP over the next 12-18 months".
Now that it's not only DB2 that's making use of the zIIP, this might be a reason to reconsider evaluating the use of a zIIP.
You can find the press announcement on the CA site.

Is the zIIP cost effective ?

At Techdocs you can find the first White Paper with measurements for the zIIP. The paper describes some measurements done in IBM’s Laboratories utilizing z9 zIIP hardware and software. Four types of DB2 V8 workloads were measured:
- SAP OLTP exploiting Distributed Relational Database Architecture (DRDA – using DB2 Connect)
- Business Intelligence (BI) batch direct attached
- SAP BW query exploiting DRDA
- DB2 Utility
The results seem to be quite promising !