Mainframe Watch Belgium

Workshop : Tuned for the Task - Linux on System z

2012-02-07T14:50:00.002+01:00

You know I'm still quite happy with the name of my blog. It's not always that simple to pick a good name. I opted for the term 'mainframe' at a moment when the word seemed to have quite a negative connotation and wasn't even used by IBM at that moment. Time has proven me right I guess. But I also added Belgium for a reason. It was my intention to mention only events when our Belgian customers could attend them. Much has changed of course, since we saw, or see, more and more webcasts taking over real life events. But they still happen of course.

So here's one at the IBM Research and Development Center in Boeblingen. Yes, it's a good 5 hour drive from Brussels, but I think it's worth your while. It's a free two day workshop taking place on Tuesday March 13 and Wednesday March 14, 2012. You can find all information over here where you can also register for the event.

"In this two-day technical-oriented workshop on March 13th and 14th in the IBM Boeblingen Development Laboratory you have the chance to speak directly with IBM developers and experts about the technical capabilities of Linux on the IBM System z server systems. You will get first-hand information, and you can exchange your experiences with other customers".

Here's a sort summary of the agenda :

What's New for Linux on System z
Linux on System z Performance Update SLES11 SP2
Storage Options for Linux on System z and Comparison DS8K, XIV and Storwize V7000
Linux on System z Networking
Live Demo: Integrating x86 workload into Linux on System z environments
Live Demo: Debugging with Linux on System z with Valgrind
Linux Health Checker

You only have to make your own travel and accomodation arrangements. If you're planning to go and want more information or some help in planning, do contact me, I'll be glad to help you with it.

And, as I always say, do check it out !

Fellow Bloggers : Mainframe Analytics

2012-01-31T14:21:00.003+01:00

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled across a mainframe blog I hadn't seen before : Mainframe Analytics. Hey, a new mainframe blog, I mean, really new, because the first post was only written at the beginning of this year and it had this intriguing title 'What is a mainframe ?'. Now, finally, I was going to find out what a mainframe really was. Just kidding. Next in line 'Why do mainframes matter ?'. Hey, could we have a new advocate for the mainframe.

Well, as it turns out, yes and no. The writer of this blog is Reg Harbeck, which you may perhaps know from another blog I mentioned before : the CA Technologies' Exec I/O Mainframe blog. Come to think of it, most of the posts lately were by Marcel den Hartog and no longer by Reg Harbeck. Turns out Reg has left CA Technologies to start his own company. But, and we have an expression for this in Dutch, which I can only literally translate into (no doubt, bad) English : 'Blood crawls where it cannot go'. Meaning, if you have it in you, you won't be able to deny your own nature. So Reg, changed companies but not his fondness for the mainframe.

Do have a look at his blog. He's really setting up a nice introductory series on the mainframe. Could be interesting for anyone who wants to know more about the mainframe or for people who want to explain the strong points of the mainframe to others.

Sampling Techdocs - November 2011-Janary 2012

2012-01-27T09:12:00.000+01:00

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."

Flash : Withdrawal of z/OS Function Beginning with z/OS Release 5 Through Current z/OS Release
This is a classic of time but it doesn't hurt to take a look at it once in a while. It also includes some functions planned to be withdrawn in future releases.

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 !

Try-before-you-buy edition of CICS Transaction Server for z/OS V4.2

2012-01-24T09:59:00.000+01:00

I don't think I've seen something similar for CICS TS as offered in this new IBM announcement : 'IBM CICS Transaction Server for z/OS Developer Trial V4.2 delivers a 'try-before-you-buy' edition of CICS Transaction Server for z/OS (ZP12-0014)'.

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 ?

Planned availability : January 27, 2012.

Webcast Series on the lastest Omegamon Technology from IBM

2012-01-23T09:19:00.000+01:00

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 !

A GSE z/OS Working Group Meeting through the eyes of students

2012-01-17T08:59:00.001+01:00

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 . . .

The Arcati Mainframe Yearbook 2012

2012-01-13T13:25:00.000+01:00

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 I always say, just check them out !

Upcoming events and webcasts

2012-01-12T13:18:00.002+01:00

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.

As I always say, just check them out !

DASD or Disk Storage connected to the mainframe and StorWize

2012-01-10T14:19:00.002+01:00

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.

11 Reasons IBM Mainframe integration with Windows is a big deal

2012-01-05T08:58:00.003+01:00

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.

IBM announces price changes on z/OS V1 and some other products

2012-01-03T12:07:00.006+01:00

"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.

Happy New Year

2011-12-30T08:00:00.000+01:00

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.

A customer mainframe story

2011-12-29T08:00:00.003+01:00

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.

Mainframe Movers

2011-12-28T08:00:00.002+01:00

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.

A Chorus, Christmas and a New Mainframe

2011-12-27T08:00:00.001+01:00

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.

2011 : Linux celebrates its 20th anniversary

2011-12-26T08:00:00.001+01:00

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's Five in Five and Social Media

2011-12-23T08:00:00.005+01:00

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 !

Looking Back on 2011 - Year Review

2011-12-22T08:00:00.000+01:00

Well, another year's gone by and it's time to take a last look back on 2011. If you want the management summary now, I'd say : z114, heybrid computing, Linux and Windows on zBX. But let's not rush and just start off with January. First of all we saw the new IWP pricing : if you have running some IPLA software in an LPAR (actually it's restricted to some Websphere products) then you might see a reduction of the MSUs of some MLC softwares (CICS, IMS) that are also running in that same LPAR. On the other hand, there were quite some software price raises this year. It started off with CICS TS V3 and some Websphere, Tivoli and DB2 IPLA software. And Windows on zBX was mentioned for the first time.

In February I found out how important social networking can be ànd how willing people still are to help each other. I got news from IBM Techline that you always have to have SSD in your DS8000 to use Easy Tier, even the manual mode. In just a couple of days Nick Clayton (IBM) and Antony Vandewerdt (IBM, Aussie Storage Blog) contradicted this. Thanks, guys. You could actually hear my sigh of relief that I hadn't been telling any lies to my customers. IBM also changed its statement of direction on ESCON telling us that after the z196 (and implicitely the, yet to be announced, z114) ESCON would be a thing of the past. No carry forward either. Period.

I still remember that in March I was really excited about the preview of z/OS 1.13. This had to do with changes to the Batch Runtime environment and lots of improvements/additions to z/OSMF with software deployment, Storage DASD management and Capacity Provisioning. And if I saw a positive thing about social media and such in February, the zPrime Saga gave us a downside of all this. Alan Radding aka DancingDinosaur wrote a very enthousiastic piece on zPrime mentioning really amazing savings for one company. But the same day the post had already dsiappeared. So beware, you can almost never delete all traces of anything you wrote. I had the post in my feed reader and you can't come and delete a feed on every computer that's out there.

In April I wrote an extensive piece on the DataPower appliance on zBX (XI50z). I still think these 'accelerators' are an added value to the hybrid zEnterprise and you can be sure there's more to come of these. The mantra of this year (whether you like it or not) : some more price 'changes', this time on the zSecure products and all FWLC products. Further, there's the announcement of CICS TS V4.2 and a clear statement of direction by IBM to deliver Linux on zBX in Q3 and Windows on zBX in Q4, which they did. There was also a preview of z/VSE V5.1 and we saw the first DB2night shows for z/OS.

May gave us the first wave of storage announcements of 2011 with innovations on nearly every mainframe related storage component. The DS8000, which by now definitely only means DS8700 and DS8800 gets Easy Tier V2, the priority manager ... We also had the new TS1140 tape drive.

In June we finally see 'The End' for zPrime and we can now put the link to our February story. zPrime has also become a thing of the past. And of course there was some great news for our own company. From now on, with the support of IBM, we're teaming together with Sogeti for mainframe opportunities where we both can mean an added value for each other.

Why IBM chooses July to announce a new zEnterprise system is totally unclear to me. Every one (at least in Europe) is on vacation in that period. Still, great announcement of the z114 which gives the Business Class customers also the opportunity to have a real zEnterprise System. I'm not going into too much detail (you can read everything over here) but, when we take a look at the really new stuff, it introduces the new PCIe I/O drawer and the Intel Blades for the zBX. There is no technology dividend for the z114 but there's a new and better pricing : AEWLC. But, better is a relative word because, here we go again, it sets off against a price raise of 5% for all EWLC customers starting January 2012. Next to that there's also the announcement of the new 3592 Model C07 tape controller which now includes library management functions. This makes the 3953-L05 Library Manager unnecessary for any mainframe customer.

After all these announcements August and September were really calm months. We saw the obvious thing happen : the 3953-L05 Library Manager was actually withdrawn from marketing. Just like last year, the Total Solution event for System z organized at the IBM forum was a success and there are already plans in place for a new edition in 2012.

October was also quite eventful this year. There were the software announcements of Enterprise PL/I for z/OS V4.2 and of (who said this was old and obsolete ?) IMS 12 Transaction and Database server. On with the storage announcements with XIV Gen3 with support of 3TB SAS drives and a mobile monitoring dashboard for iPad. We also see StorWize expanded to the StorWize Unified System supporting NFS/CIFS/FTP/HTTPS/SCP file protocols in addition to existing block protocols (iSCSI and FCP). DS8000 gets some new features supporting an additional frame on the DS8800, supporting three drive tiers for Easy Tier and I/O Priority support for System z volumes. And don't forget the new mainframe announcements with Windows on zBX, IDAA (IBM's DB2 Analytics Accelerator) and, last but not least, the Tivoli Storage Manager for z/OS Media making it possible to keep using z/OS FICON attached storage when migrating TSM to another environment.

As last year, November and December were rather quiet months. So I took the opportunity to write a bit more detailed on the Tivoli Storage Manager for z/OS Media and IBM's DB2 Analytics Accelerator (IDAA).

Conclusion ?
Software pricing is always a delicate story but it surely represents the larger amount of the mainframe cost. And I can tell you that most customers weren't really happy with all the price 'changes' that came their way in 2011. Especially the 5% price raise on the EWLC pricing was not very kindly received. Even if it's justifiable, you know how it goes : it's the perception that counts.

Here's a great role for hybrid computing. Now that zBX is also available on the Business Class Systems, I think that 2012 will be a crucial year for the breakthrough of it. We have more than a year of experience with it on the z196 and with that experience it's time to convince each and every manager that this could really be a valid alternative for lots of management problems. And I also think accelerators will play an important role in this. The more mainframe related workload we can run on the zBX, the easier it gets to justify this is a really cost effective platform.

That's why I still find it a wrong signal to the customers to put the IDAA on a separate Netezza box. I'd rather have seen IBM waited a bit longer and came up with a really integrated solution. How can you justify to your management you will run DataPower on a zBX and the successor of Smart Analytics Optimizer on a separate box ?

Well, that's it for 2011. Looking forward to 2012 and I hope you will join me in the coming year too.

Last short takes of 2011

2011-12-21T10:38:00.004+01:00

You know I usually try to conclude the year on a lighter note, if possible with a couple of videos. Well this year won't be any different. First of all I'm still presenting you some reading material with these short notes, then I still owe you my year review and after that I'll come up with some videos, commercials etc. that will hopefully brighten up your last working days of 2011 a bit.

Sor for those who first still want to have some serious reading material . . .

I just received the Winter issue of zJournal. You can download it over here. I think it's a great issue this time. It has a comprehensive article on the IDAA (IBM's DB2 Analytics Accelerator). Some personal columns like e.g. from Marcel den Hartog (IT Management) and Mark Lillycrop (Recession Pushes Mainframe prices up). Too much to mention of course but, VSE people, do take a look at the column of Pete Clark who's already listing all 2012 events. And there are quite some articles on CICS like e.g. on the scalability enhancements of CICS TS 4.2.

Which brings me to the next reading material : the CICS Portfolio eNewsletter that starts off with a 2011 overview. It also gives an overview of 2011 product deliverables, gives you a lot of links to documentation, redbooks, demos, webcasts ... And there's also a preview of 2012 events. You can subscribe to this eNewsletter over here.

Looking for more webcasts, here's a link to the upcoming January System z Software Webcasts and Teleconferences. And if you want to keep up with the next months, then just follow IBM System z events on Twitter.

Well, as I always say : just check them out !

Potential DS8700/DS8800 Loss of Access due to repeating device recovery with the PTFs for OA34661 installed on z/Os

2011-12-09T07:30:00.003+01:00

Call this a Red Alert for the DS8700 and DS8800 (DS8100 and DS8300 are not affected by this). This is the entire title 'Potential DS8700/DS8800 Loss of Access and Job Abends on Release 6.2 due to repeating device recovery with the PTFs for OA34661 installed on z/Os releases 1.11 through 1.13. Also base z/OS 1.13 clients are exposed' and you can find all details over here.

In short, people running z/OS 1.11 or higher who are using zHPF and have Release Code 6.2 installed on their DS8700 or DS8800 should read on.

The content of the notification gives you a clear view of what's happening :
"With z/OS OA34661 support and Release 6.2 DS8700/DS8800 microcode, System z High Performance FICON (zHPF) supports additional workloads using QSAM, BPAM, and BSAM access methods as well as provide improvements for DB2 list prefetch processing. These changes expand the type of applications that can now use zHPF, including applications performing format writes. The zHPF support must be in both the host system and DS8000 in order for the new functions to be allowed. In general, the access methods exploiting the new zHPF support do not use format write/update write intermixed in the same channel program. However, Media Manager does have the ability to generate zHPF channel programs with format write/update write intermixes, and the new support for format writes allows it to be done using zHPF. When such an intermix is processed in the control unit using a zHPF channel program, repeating panics will occur leading to fenced host adapter cards and potentially a loss of access issue."

Have a look at the notification page on how to avoid or resolve this particular problem.

IBM DB2 Analytics Accelerator for z/OS and the DB2Night show

2011-12-07T10:20:00.006+01:00

In my last post I mentioned IBM DB2 Analytics Accelerator for z/OS or IDAA (pronounce : Eye-Da) as the successor of the Smart Analytics Optimizer. I didn't want to enter a discussion of why IBM chose to abandon the zBX ship and keep the Netezza hardware boxes. But I just have to repeat my statement I also made in my previous post. Obviously it's a very specific hardware configuration that doesn't seem to fit onto the zBX and there's also very little configuration about it. But you can say the same of every appliance like e.g. the DataPower appliance. And I still think it somewhat undermines the whole zEnterprise message with the centralized role of the mainframe and the management of the distributed appliances on the zBX including Workload Management. I guess (hope) there will be some (financial) regulations for people whe bought a zBX solely for the ISAOPT and who are now moving on to IDAA. I won't even think about the possibility of next generations of IDAA running on zBX.

Let's move on to the real subject of this post : the IBM DB2 Analytics Accelerator (IDAA).

IDAA delivers even faster response times for your Data Warehouse queries with the Netezza technology. The DB2Night show of last Monday was a presentation by Namik Hrle on this very IDAA and the replay is available over here. If you're even only remotely interested in the technology, it's definitely worth an hour's time. Topics discussed are :

Business and Technology drivers
Key design and operational features
DB2 integration explaining every DB2 parameter, Explain functionalities etc.
Powered by Netezza
Supported Workloads

I won't go into any detail as Namik Hrle does a far better job explaining all the aspects. Just a few quotes to tease you into watching the replay

You can also use the Explain function when you don't have the IDAA yet as a kind of projection tool
Loading takes about 0.87TB up to 1.5TB per hour depending on the data
There's a nice slide summing up the conditions for routing queries to the IDAA
There's a compression ratio of about 4x
IBM is looking into refining the updating of the IDAA data based on inserts and/or updates rather than whole partitions or tables now.

So, do have a look at the replay. Furthermore you can also find information about IDAA on the IBM page and in the IDAA Bruochure. I particularly like this phrase from the brochure : 'The Forgotten Query'. You can guess what it is : it's that query you tried running optimizing it to the bit and finally deciding there was neither time nor resources to run it. Well, have another look at it now !

IBM Announcement : some System z software withdrawals

2011-12-06T09:28:00.003+01:00

Today IBM announces some System z software withdrawals : 'Software withdrawal: IBM System z selected products - Some replacements available (ZP11-0602)'. There's a couple of softwares I would like to mention here. It's about withdrawal from marketing dates, so it's about last dates you can order these softwares. So, of course, this is just a reminder for those very few who are not always up to date and still want to order these products.

The first one is IBM Smart Analytics Optimizer for DB2® for z/OS V1.1. This one will be WDFM on December 12, 2011. It will be replaced by the new Netezza solution : IBM DB2 Analytics Accelerator for z/OS V2.1, which was announced along with a lot of other products on October 12 of this year. This complements an earlier announcement with the hardware withdrawal of the IBM Smart Analytics Optimizer (ISAOPT) feature on the IBM zEnterprise BladeCenter Extension (zBX) (ZG11-0350). This also means that this Netezza Solution is running on Netezza hardware and no longer on the zBX. This strikes me as being completely against the entire argumentation IBM built up so carefully in favor of using the zBX as opposed to loosely coupled distributed solutions, no ?

A couple of other softwares being WDFM are :

IBM z/VM 5.4 on March 12, 2012
IBM z/VM 6.1 on November 28, 2012
IBM z/VSE 4.3 on June 25, 2012
IBM DB2 for z/OS 9.1 on December 10, 2012
IBM PSF for z/OS 4.3 on September 30, 2012

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

2011-11-17T08:02:00.002+01:00

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

2011-11-09T07:25:00.000+01:00

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

2011-11-08T08:26:00.000+01:00

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.