Red Alert : Fix for APAR PM51655 is needed on DB2 10 for z/OS data sharing environments

Here's a new Red Alert:

Fix for APAR PM51655 is needed on DB2 10 for z/OS data sharing environments as a prevention of potential data loss


Description:
BM has become aware of potential data loss when running data sharing under any mode of DB2 10 for z/OS.

DB2 10 for z/OS takes advantage of a CFCC/XES performance enhancement by allowing repeated READ CASTOUT CLASS requests to the CF to utilize a restart token and retrieve from the queue where the previous read left off . A defect has been identified in this implementation of the enhanced READ CASTOUT CLASS in DB2 10 for z/OS.

APAR PM51655 will revert the DB2 10 behavior of the READ CASTOUT CLASS to the DB2 V9, and prior releases, behavior.

Recommended Actions:

It is strongly encouraged that all DB2 10 for z/OS data sharing customers apply the fix for the APAR PM51655 as soon as possible. The corrective maintenance can be applied incrementally across the members of a data sharing group. A group wide restart is not required.

The ++APAR correction for PM51655 has been placed on the FTP server and will remain there until that time that the DB2 10 for z/OS PTF (UK73864) can be ordered via the normal service delivery channels. Access to the FTP server is as follows:

FTP Server: testcase.software.ibm.com
Directory:  /fromibm/im/
Filename:   PM51655.HDBAA10 Note:      
The file is binary, not tersed.

Adding a comment : it's not a straightforward link because you first have to login to the ftp server. If you don't remember your userid : anonymous without password works as well.

If you want to have an overview of all past Red Alerts, then take a look over here. You can also subscribe on that same page so you'll be notified of any future Red Alert.

Tivoli Storage Manager for z/OS Media 6.3

I mentioned this one already in a previous post as part of the October 12 annouInfocncements. So, I thought I'll take a look at the IBM site for some more information on this, but I must say it was a bit disappointing. When you go to the Tivoli Storage Manager page, there's not even a reference to TSM for z/OS Media.

But when you want some more content, there's the InfoCenter with a couple of entries ('What's New' and 'TSM for z/OS Media Overview'). And for those of you who prefer a .pdf there's the 'Installation and Configuration guide' which you can find over here. But if you want a good introduction, you can take a look at this presentation Bart Claeys (IBM Belgium) gave at the Total Solutions Event in September in Brussels. Mind you, it was still a preview at the time, but I haven't found any more recent, public presentations about this.

For the lazy ones, I mean, for those with limited time, let me summarize some of it. The deal was that TSM V6 was never announced for z/OS leaving many people with sometimes quite large investments in FICON attached material like Tape Libraries and Virtualisation Engines in the cold. So you had to convert to another platform that was not able to connect to your FICON attached equipment.

Well now, TSM for z/OS Media is the missing link between both. You can now migrate to V6 but you can still write your data via z/OS to your FICON attached equipment. The concept is also "designed to allow the tape volume and stored data that was previously inventoried by the Tivoli Storage Manager for z/OS V5.5 server remain accessible on the z/OS system by the Tivoli Storage Manager V6.3 server on AIX or Linux for System z without having to move the tape volume from the z/OS managed tape library" (quote from the announcement letter).

This is a representation of how TSM for z/OS 5.5 operates

Click on image for larger version in new window

TSM for z/OS V5 takes care of

• Database functions: nodes, administrators, policy, tracking of data
• Communication with clients, Admin Center, other TSM servers
• Performs the I/O to FICON (and other) tape and disk

Click on image for larger version in new window

And above is the new situation, with TSM V6 server on AIX or Linux on z taking over most or all of the functionalities of TSM for z/OS V5. But instead of attaching to storage devices, it can also communicate with the TSM for z/OS Media. So you can preserve your previous FICON investments. There are more details in the presentation, for those who are interested.

I'll just give you a quick overview of the migration path

• Install TSM 6.3 server on AIX or zSeries Linux
• Install z/OS media server
• TSM for z/OS 5.5 server move all storage to TAPE
• Extract and Load : TSM utility extracts records from TSM 5.5 z/OS database and loads into TSM v6 database on AIX or zLinux. There is no need to migrate data already written to tape by TSM on z/OS. So you can preserve stored archive (and backup) data avoiding time-consuming migration of data from existing storage pools.
• Begin backups with new distributed server
• Take TSM for z/OS 5.x server off line

Last but not least : pricing. Well, the goal seems to be to make this a cost neutral operation from a licensing perspective. I know, pretty vague, but I have no experience with it for the moment. So, do contact IBM or your local BP to sort this out with you, because it also seems to depend on the type of licensing you have now.

Planned availability date : November 11, 2011.

ITSO System z World Tour coming to Belgium

I received this mail a couple of weeks ago from Jan Tits from IBM Belgium. So, here's the contents :
"The ITSO system z Tour consists of 5 workshops completely devoted to the latest IBM System z Platform technology, taught by several ‘guru’ members of the IBM ITSO Department of Poughkeepsie. These workshops are for anyone involved in the setting up of infrastructure hardware and software, necessary for the optimal use of the most recent mainframe models of the IBM System z
As always, the ITSO tour also stops in Belgium. Don't miss this opportunity!"

Title	Date	Code
IBM z/OS Latest Version Technical Update (1.13)	28/11	WRZ002BE
IBM latest enhancements to sysplex, performance, and availability in z/OS	29/11	WRZ003BE
IBM zEnterprise System Technical Update	30/11	WRZ001BE
IBM zEnterprise Unified Resource Manager Overview	1/12	WRZ015BE
Building a service-oriented cloud architecture using Linux on IBM System z	2/12	WRZ004BE

Don't panic when you live in another part of the world. If you're lucky, it might still be coming your way, too. Check it out over here.

Sampling Techdocs - September-October 2011

Here I am again with my bi-monthly review of interesting TechDocs documents I came across while browsing through the latest publications.

• FAQ : Running Oracle Database 11gR2 on Linux® on IBM System z™ Servers
  This is a nice addition to the FAQ I referred to last time focusing on theOracle support for Oracle Database 11g Release 2 running on IBM System z. It also talks about upgrade paths, new features and planning for future patch set updates.
  
  
• Flash : DS8000 HyperPAV - Why is there IOSQ time with HyperPAVs
  Interesting flash on HyperPAV, why you can still have IOSQ time and how you can detect it from your RMF reports.
  
  
• Presentation : IBM z/OS + DS8800 Synergy
  This is a very recent prezsentation on System z and DS8800 synergy focusing on three key areas : Performance (zHPF, zWLM and DS8000 I/O priority Manager ...), Business Continuity (HyperPAV, HyperSwap improvements ...) and Management&Growth (1 TB EAVs, Quick Init for CKD Volumes, Dynamic Volume Expansion ...). And ... it comes with the replay of the presentation.
  

• Workshop materials : zEnterprise zManager Workshop
  This is the material from one of the Wildfire Workshops on System z Unified Resource Manager. It's mainly the presentations of course (with or without the speaker notes). Topics covered are : Introduction&Overview, Platform Performance Management and usage scenarios.
  

• FAQ : zHPF
  I think anything you want to know about the High Performance FICON feature is in there : functions, features, prereqs, monitoring . . .
  

• Presentation : TS1140 Tape Drive and Control Unit DFSMSdss Performance results
  This test shows performance results from a "DFSMSdss Full Volume Dump and Restore from disk, with the same amount of data per tape drive, to 3592 E06/C06 vs 3592 E07/C07". It also has a nice 1-page slide comparing the two controllers. The results ? Somewhat predictable ? Yes. The details ? Go and have have a look !
  

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

Red Alert : Fix for XES APAR OA37264 needed for z196 GA2 or z114

Here's a new Red Alert:

Fix for APAR OA37264 needed on z/OS 1.10 and higher for exploitation of greater than 64 subchannels to a Coupling Facility when running on z196 GA2 or z114 at Driver 93G

Abstract:
A dynamic activate to add a coupling facility control unit configured with greater than 64 subchannels using HCD z196 GA2 and z114 support (OA32576) may lead to system or sysplex outage when the z/OS images reside on z196 GA2 or z114.

Description:
z/OS images on a z196 or z114 at Driver 93G connected to a coupling facility on a z196 or z114 at Driver 93G using 3 or more infiniband links that are defined with 32 subchannels per CHPID will exceed 64 subchannels to the CF and may experience the problem described by XES APAR OA37264. The default for IFB links changed from 7 to 32 subchannels per CHPID with HCD APAR OA32576 installed for greater than 7 subchannel support.

When configured as noted above, any dynamic HCD activate which generates a new control unit accessing the coupling facility may lead to the problem. Please see APAR OA37264 which is applicable to z/OS 1.10, 1.11, 1.12 and 1.13 releases for more details.

Recommended Actions:
For installations migrating to z196 GA2 (DR93) level machine or z114, please take one of the following actions:

1. At I/O definition time, do not take the default in HCD of 32 subchannels for IFB links introduced in OA32576. Explicitly specify 7 subchannels per CHPID before proceeding with dynamic activation.
2. Only define and configure online 2 CF links with 32 subchannels for each coupling facility control unit. Note: 32 subchannels per CHPID will be set by default.
3. Apply ++APAR for OA37264 to all z/OS images before exploiting the use of 32 subchannels per CHPID when 3 or more CHPIDs are defined for a CF control unit.

For installations currently configured with greater than 64 subchannels to the CF, please consider all of the following actions:

1. Do not perform a dynamic activate to add a CF control unit to z/OS images to use more than 64 coupling facility subchannels per CF control unit.
2. If a dynamic activate was performed which created a new CF control unit, do not attempt to bring online more than 64 subchannels (2 CHPIDs). Note: If the z/OS image has been IPLd since the dynamic activate was done the system can successfully exploit the greater than 64 subchannel support.
3. Roll ++APAR OA37264 ASAP if greater than 64 subchannel support is needed.

If 64 or fewer coupling facility subchannels are currently defined to each coupling facility control unit, no action is required.

If you want to have an overview of all past Red Alerts, then take a look over here. You can also subscribe on that same page so you'll be notified of any future Red Alert.

2011Q4 IBM mainframe announcements

A lot of interesting mainframe news was announced this week. I'm going to give you a brief overview of the announcements before I go into more details in some following posts. You shouldn't expect those to arrive before next week as I'm off to the IBM briefing center at Montpellier for the rest of the week - attending the Oracle on System z event.

The eye-catcher is of course Windows on zBX, but there's really much more. I'll start by giving you the titles of the announcements, the links and some brief information. Just to tease you for what's coming !


IBM DB2 Analytics Accelerator for z/OS , V2.1 enables a new class of business intelligence and data warehousing workloads for the IBM System z platform (ZP11-0546)
IDAA (yes, we needed another acronym) is the successor of ISAOpt (euh, IBM Smart Analytics Optimizer). It is based on Netezza technology and it should deliver an even far better performance. For the rest, it is implemented as transparantly as ISAOpt for DB2 for z/OS applications. What I find a bit annoying here is that it is not integrated into the zBX and therefore it is not managed by the Unified Resource Manager.


IBM z/VSE V5.1 - 64-bit virtual for future workloads (ZP11-0560)
z/VSE 5.1 is designed to

• "Provide 64-bit virtual addressing for workload growth or new applications.
• Introduce an architectural level set (ALS) that requires IBM System z9 or later.
• Exploit innovative IBM zEnterprise technology.
• Exploit enhanced IBM System Storage options.
• Offer new networking functions for more connectivity options.
• Provide Connector enhancements for high availability".

zEnterprise further extends hybrid computing with support for Microsoft Windows and other enhancements (ZG11-0275)
zHPF enhancements, APIs for the Unified Resource Manager, GDPS improvements and a lot more. But of course focus will mainly be on "Microsoft™ Windows™ on select IBM BladeCenter® HX5 (7873) blades installed in the zBX".


IBM z/VM V6.2 - Accelerate the journey to smarter computing with multi-system virtualization and virtual server mobility (ZP11-0499)
This had been a statement of direction for some time. Well, here it is now : "Multi-system virtualization clustering technology allowing up to four z/VM instances to be clustered in a Single System Image (SSI)". This also implies "Live Guest Relocation to move Linux™ virtual servers without disruption to the business, helping to avoid planned outages"


IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for z/OS Media V6.3 and IBM Tivoli Storage Manager Extended Edition for z/OS Media V6.3 enable FICON attached device access for IBM Tivoli Storage Manager V6.3 Server on AIX and Linux on System z (ZP11-0465)
I like this one as well. It took some time to deliver but it's finally there. Lots of customers were running TSM for z/OS and invested in FICON coupled tape or DASD solutions. But then it was announced that TSM V6 would no longer run on z/OS. So you had to convert to another platform that was not able to connect to your FICON attached equipment. So, this TSM for z/OS Media is the missing link between both. You can now migrate to V6 but you can still write your data via z/OS to your FICON attached equipment. The concept is also "designed to allow the tape volume and stored data that was previously inventoried by the Tivoli Storage Manager for z/OS V5.5 server remain accessible on the z/OS system by the Tivoli Storage Manager V6.3 server on AIX or Linux for System z without having to move the tape volume from the z/OS managed tape library".

2011Q4 IBM Storage announcements

OK, now continuing with the rest of the storage announcements. I Hope I get it right this time because some of you might've received an incomplete feed.

I'll just give you an overview of some announcements and give some brief information on them.

IBM XIV Storage System Gen3 offers new 3 TB SAS drive feature (ZG11-0317) and
IBM XIV Storage System Software Version 11.0.1 (5639-YYB) supports 3 TB SAS drives (ZG11-0506)
IBM XIV now support 3TB SAS drives. This increases the maximum capacity from 161 TB to 243 TB. Some limitations : no intermix with 2 TB and no field upgrades from 2 TB to 3 TB. Drive encryption is not supported on these drives.
And, as I've already mentioned before, there's a new, free of charge, monitoring XIV Mobile Dashboard app for Apple iPad devices.
The datasheet on the XIV IBM page has also already been updated.

StorWize seems to have become IBMs showpiece for midsized clients in just one year. There are four announcements (ZG11-0291, ZG11-0516, ZG11-0525, ZG11,0276) covering all enhancements to the StorWize system.
We have additional drives : 3 TB 3.5-inch 7.2k rpm Nearline SAS HDD, 200 GB 2.5-inch E-MLC SSD and 400 GB 2.5-inch E-MLC SSD.
The most eye-catching however is of course the announcement of the StorWize Unified system. V7000 Unified supports NFS/CIFS/FTP/HTTPS/SCP file protocols in addition to existing block protocols (iSCSI and FCP) and is managed through a unified management GUI.
There are also some mirroring enhancements with Low Bandwidth and Storwize V7000-SVC Mirroring.

IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller V6.3.0 offers enhanced data mobility for high availability and introduces IBM Tivoli Storage Productivity Center Select V4.2.2 (ZP11-0464).
The highlights :

• Lower-bandwidth option for Global Mirror
• Mirroring from SVC to Storwize V7000
• Stretch cluster enhanced from 10km to 300km maximum

Next to that there are some more announcements on storage for open systems I'm less familiar with. I could mention SONAS and Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager V3.1 delivering data protection for VMware vSphere environments and Microsoft Windows NTFS support. But I think those who want to read more about this will surely find their way around the blogosphere for more info on these.

IBM Announcement : DS8000 enhancements for drives, Easy Tier, System z . . .

Second Tuesday of a new quarter seems to have become IBM Announcement Day. Yesterday was no different with a lot of storage announcements and today we still have some interesting mainframe announcements coming our way. For the storage I'm starting off with the DS8000 : IBM System Storage DS8000 series offers higher scalability with additional tiering capabilities and drive options (ZG11-0282).

Just to put the DS8700 customers at ease, the announcement says : "All features and functions in this announcement are supported on the IBM System Storage DS8700 and DS8800 series". Allthough there are of course some specific DS8800 features. Here's a short overview of what's new :

• DS8800 supports additional expansion frame and over 1,500 drives
• New DS8800 options for 3TB nearline drives, 300GB 15k rpm drives, 900GB 10k rpm drives, and 400GB SSD drives . Oh, by the way, SATA seems to be outdated, you should take about 'nearline' storage now !
  
• Easy Tier enhancements, including migration across 3 drive tiers and support for thin provisioned volumes . The announcement says : "Easy Tier monitors disk activity in real time and migrates data across tiers and within a tier to optimize performance automatically". I'm not really sure how to interpret this. Is this real time monitoring or is this also real time migrating data across tiers. I thought Easy Tier was constantly monitoring but that it changed its strategy only once every 24 hours. Has this changed now ? I think I'll have to take a closer look at this one.
  

But I would want to focus on some System z enhancements

• I/O Priority support for System z volumes : in fact this is a cooperation between the previously announced DS8000 I/O priority manager and z/OS Workload Manager. Up to now the priority manager was only available for open systems. It now also supports CKD volumes. This integration "is intended to improve disk I/O performance for important workloads and drive I/O prioritization to the disk system by allowing WLM to give priority to the system's resources automatically when higher priority workloads are not meeting their performance goals". Looks promising, no ?
  
• Larger System z volumes. Volumes can now scale up to approximately 1 TB (1,182,006 cylinders)
• Support for new High Performance FICON for System z (zHPF) enhancements. Amongst others "zHPF has been enhanced to support DB2 list prefetch. These enhancements include a new cache optimization algorithm that can greatly improve performance and hardware efficiency. When combined with the latest releases of z/OS and DB2, it can demonstrate up to 14x-60x increase in sequential or batch processing performance". Mind you, this is only in combination with the new FICON Express8S cards.
  
• GDPS enhancements for business continuity.

Planned availability is in two steps : November 18 and December 9. Check out the announcement for the details.

RealDolmen Event : Storage virtualization: the future of IBM storage for midsized customers

I already told you about this event on StorWize and Real-Time Compression. And with all the buzz about new announcements coming our way, this might be just the right event to bring you up to date on this Virtualization solution. Here's your invitation :

Doing more with less, that is what virtualization is all about. But is your storage following? Does it guarantee high availability, high performance and a quick disaster recovery? Increased user demand has led to unpredictable storage growth. Provisioning storage capacity for new users and applications and achieving optimal utilization has become a real challenge.

How did Kronos put an end to these problems with IBMs virtualization solution Storwize? How do they respond to their needs for disaster recovery? You will learn all about it during this practice session.

In order to optimize your storage, the technique of Real-time Compression will also be discussed.

The agenda :

9.00 am - 9.30 am	Welcome (coffee)
9.30 am - 9.45 am	Introduction
9.45 am - 10.45 am	Storage virtualization: - the concept - Storwize - Integration with System x and virtualized environments
10.45 am - 11.00 am	Break
11.00 am - 11.30 pm	Demonstration Storwize
11.30 pm - 12.00 pm	Real-Time Compression: concept and demonstration
12.00 pm - 12.30 pm	Customer testimonial - Kronos
12.30 pm - 12.45 pm	Next step
12.45 pm -	Q&A, followed by sandwich lunch

Where and when ?
Morning session at the IBM Forum Brussels on November 17, 2011

Go to the RealDolmen event site in order to register !

IBM XIV Mobile Dashboard for iPad

I was in doubt whether I would already post about this or not. I surely don't have the habit of writing about things before they're officially announced. I guess we all know about now a bunch of IBM announcements is coming our way next week, but it suprised me to see that some information is already mentioned on the internet. Have a look over here : I get the impression I just missed the z/VM 6.2 announcement as it says : "The major improvements offered by version 6.2 was support of clustering for up to four z/VM instances" and non-disruptive relocation of Linux guest environments.

And then I saw a tweet about this. You can already download this XIV Mobile Dashboard app for iPad from iTunes : IBM XIV Mobile Dashboard for iPad. Well it's such a nice pictures I just wanted to share them with you.




Reading the description, it looks like this is not the full management GUI but just an extra monitoring tool for iPad.

Oh well, more to come next week !

IBM Announcement : IMS 12 Transaction and Database Server

Today, IBM announces IMS 12 : 'IBM IMS 12 Transaction and Database Servers deliver savings you can count on (ZP11-0453'. It should have been thoroughly tested by now as we already wrote about the QPP just about a year ago.

The highlights :

"IMS™ 12 Database Manager (IMS DB) enhancements

• Broadened Java™ and XML support and tools can ease IMS development and access to IMS data.
• IMS Fast Path Buffer Manager enhancements utilize 64-bit storage to improve availability and overall system performance.
• Full Function Dynamic Buffer Pool support, centralized repository support, and enhanced commands simplify operations and improve availability.
• Extended Address Volume (EAV) support, Database Recovery Control (DBRC), Fast Path, and Full Function DB enhancements relieve some capacity constraints.

IMS 12 Transaction Manager (IMS TM) enhancements

• IMS Connect, the TCP/IP gateway to IMS transactions, operations, and data, offers improved IMS flexibility, availability, resilience, and security.
• The Multiple Systems Coupling (MSC) TCP/IP link enhances bandwidth, improving performance.
• Broadened Java and XML tooling eases IMS application development and connectivity, and enhances IMS web services to assist developers with business transformation.
• Enhanced commands, Shared Queues Cross-Coupling Facility (XCF), and centralized repository support simplify operations and improve availability."

IMS 12 requires z/OS 1.11 or later.
IMS 12 supports migration/coexistence from/with IMS 10 and IMS 11. By the way, IMS 9 Service was discontinued on November 7, 2010 !

Planned availability : October 28, 2011.

Googling around brought me to some interesting additional information :

• The IBM IMS web page
• The IMS 12 data sheet
• This very entertaining presentation by Alison Coughtrie apparently presented at a Nordic GSE meeting : 'IMS 12 - It's Much Smarter'

Enterprise PL/I for z/OS V4.2

Last week IBM announced Enterprise PL/I for z/OS V4.2 : 'IBM Enterprise PL/I for z/OS V4.2 delivers performance improvements and usability enhancements (ZP11-0427)'.

At a glance

"IBM® Enterprise PL/I for z/OS® V4.2 delivers:

• Additional utilization of the latest IBM zEnterprise™ 196 architecture for improved compiler performance
• Compiler enhancements to improve debugging with IBM Debug Tool
• XML generation for improved web interoperability
• SQL preprocessor and SQL support enhancements
• Productivity improvements, many of them customer-requested"

What I find a bit strange is that there's no mention whatsoever of the z114 ?

Prerequisites : it needs at least z/OS 1.11 or later.
Availability date : September 30, 2011.

Event in Luxemburg : 'Consolider avec zEntreprise'

I already mentioned this in a previous post, but I would like to give this event some extra attention as we're also involved in the organisation of it. I told you before about our partnership with Sogeti. Well, here's a first joint event for our customers in Luxemburg.

When : Wednesday October 19, 2011 from 9.30 am until 2.30 pm
Where : L'olivier, Route d’arlon 140A, L-8008 Strassen

The agenda :

9.30 am - 10.00 am	Reception and coffee
10.00 am - 11.00 am	z114, the future of hybrid computing
11.00 am - 11.10 am	Break
11.10 am - 11.50 am	Introduction to Fit For Purpose (F4P)
11.50 am - 00.10 pm	Partnership Sogeti - RealDolmen
00.10 pm - 14.30 pm	Lunch

Information and registration over here.

5 years of blogging

People need this kind of anniversaries to look back once in a while. So I just reread my first post from five years ago. I started out real quiet, not knowing where this would lead me. The first months I had about some 200 readers per month. And it motivated me to keep going. Of course I googled for my blog in the beginning (everyone does, I guess) and I was glad when it finally kept showing up on the first pages. Now, I'm having 200+ readers on a peak day and when people started googling for the last red alert I was mentioned before the IBM site.

Don't get me wrong. I don't want to brag about this. I'm realistic enough to realize only one group of people made this possible and that's you, my readers. So I'll try to keep giving you useful information and keeping you up te date on what goes around in the mainframe world.

So I'm just going to end this post with the same words I posted the last couple of years : thanks for stopping by from time to time and don't hesitate to leave some comments if you have any kind of remarks.

As Apu Nahasapeemapetilon (from The Simpsons) would say : "Thank you, Come again".

Upcoming events and webcasts

Well, summer's over and a lot of events and webcasts are coming our way. I'll try and give a summary of what'll be happening during the next month(s).

IBM Events in Belgium

September 28-30, 2011 - Total Solutions Event for System z 2011
IBM Forum Brussels
I've been blogging about this, so take a look over here.
Information and registration - Detailed agenda

October 3 and 27, PoT - Experience Cognos 10 in Realtime
IBM Forum Brussels
The IBM Cognos 10 Proof of Technology (PoT) acquaints participants with the IBM Cognos 10 Business Intelligence solution, through hands on interaction with key IBM Cognos 10 solution elements.
Information and registration : October 3, October 27

October 5 - Innovate comes to you 2011 - The Rational Software Conference
IBM Forum Brussels
"Innovate 2011 is the event that recognizes the essential role that software and systems play in our companies, our lives, and wider society. Throughout an inspiring full-day program it covers the latest systems engineering and software trends and developments via demonstrations, presentations and testimonials."
Information, Agenda and Registration

October 25, 2011 - PoT - Discover the IBM WebSphere DataPower SOA Appliances
IBM Forum Brussels
"This one-day Proof of Technology (PoT) provides a hands-on experience for those needing to understand how DataPower® appliances can help ease and accelerate the deployment of enterprise SOA implementations".
Information and registration

Other events in Belgium and Luxemburg

Here's two events I already want to mention : they're not officially announced yet, but as far as I can see, that's only a matter of days. I'll provide the links for registration as soon as they're available.

October 19, 2011 - Introduction to hybrid computing and the new z114
l’Olivier - Route d’Arlon Strassen, Luxemburg
Organised by Sogeti in cooperation with RealDolmen
An introduction to hybrid computing, all the details about the z114 and an introduction to Fit For purpose (F4P)

November 17, 2011 - Introduction to StorWize and Real Time Compression
IBM Forum Brussels
Organised by RealDolmen
This event will introduce our customers to StorWize and Real Time Compression solutions of IBM. Normally, there will be a couple of demos and a customer testimony as well.

IBM Webcasts

September 13 (today) at 3 pm GMT, 5 pm Brussels
The intersection of DB2 for z/OS and Workload Manager : Understanding the basics
"This session will show you how Workload Manager helps improve the performance management process and enables you to Prioritize workload, based upon goals and business objectives, Let the system optimize and prioritize resource management, Make sure that the most important workload gets the appropriate resource".
Information and registration

September 20 at 3 pm GMT, 5 pm Brussels
Enterprise Modernization: The cornerstone of Smarter Computing
"In this webcast, you’ll learn how IBM solutions, including the zEnterprise platform, can help : Manage and automate operations to lower the cost of both new and existing workloads, Rapidly develop new workloads for the mainframe using an integrated and collaborative software delivery platform, Optimize the value of existing software assets, skills and infrastructure when you consolidate or redeploy existing workloads, or deploy new workloads".
Information and registration

September 27 at 3 pm GMT, 5 pm Brussels
Realizing Your DB2 for z/OS Utilities and Tools Investment
"This complimentary webcast looks at the most recent enhancements made in the DB2 Utilities Suite, DB2 Sort 1.2 and DB2 Utilities Enhancement Tool 2.2. We’ll discuss new features that increase performance and availability and through the use of automation in DB2 tools, make your life easier" ...
Information and registration

September 28 at 5pm Brussels
z/VSE Live Virtual Class
z/VSE Fast Path to Linux on System z
The Fast Path to Linux on System z is a brand new function included in z/VSE V4.3. This session will give an overview about the Linux Fast Path function.
Information and registration

October 11 at 3 pm GMT, 5 pm Brussels
DB2 10 Performance and costs savings: Why, How & Where performance matters!
"Join us in this webcast to understand Why, How and Where performance matters and to learn how to build the business case for DB2 10. We will discuss about DB2 10 performance, its potential impact on yours’ company bottom line and the process to build and effective costing scenario".
Information and registration

Other online events

Webcast - September 15, 2011 at 5 pm Brussels
Support update and Early Customer experiences with Oracle 11gR2 on Linux on IBM System Z
Organised by the International zSeries Oracle SIG
"This session will include early customer experiences with 11gR2, such as some of the new 11gR2 Oracle features to exploit, performance improvements with 11gR2, and disk storage configurations for running Oracle 11gR2 with IBM System z Linux. Oracle support will also provide new information for Oracle 11GR2 on Linux on IBM System z, including installation notes, recommended patches, and most importantly, recent customer experiences"
Information and registration

Webinar - September 14, 2011 at 2 pm EDT, 8 pm Brussels
Craig Mullins' DB2 10 for z/OS: For Developers Only
Contents : The most important DB2 10 enhancements for programmers and analysts. Unique DB2 10 features that can greatly improve your application performance and reliability.
Information and registration

DB2Night Shows

The new season of DB2Night shows has started again. You can find all information over here.
Here's a short list of the next few episodes. They're all scheduled at 11 am EDT, 5 pm Brussels.

• September 20 by Cristian Molero
  Distributed access to DB2 for z/OS - Successful administration
  Information and Registration

• September 27 by Namik Hrle
  Smart Analytics Optimizer - Technology Update
  Information and Registration

• October 6 by Willie Favero
  First Look at Changes to DSNZPARMs by DB2 10
  Information and Registration

• October 17 by Dave Beulke
  Data Warehousing Performance and DB2 10 Temporal Tables
  Information and Registration

As I always say, just check them out !