• Databases and data warehouses are the capital of the data center. How has their role changed with the demands of web-based applications?
  
  
• Web applications have become the hot area for mainframe development -- and the greatest challenge.

Sticking It Out on MVS The MVS mainframes of the 1970’s and 1980’s weren’t quite as accommodating as today’s zSeries systems. I hate to imagine that they’re on TCP/IP, because the state-of-the-art for TCP/IP in MVS was horrendous. That means they’re all SNA. This is important, because the most common way to expose older MVS applications is by means of 3270-to-XML translation. (Jul. 2005 Enterprise Systems Journal)

Exploring z/OS V1R7 and its On Demand Roll Looking for a solid virtualization technology? z/OS V1R7 is a great way to embark on that trail. Do you need extended scalability, availability, and networking capabilities? z/OS is your answer. Need to tighten security? z/OS V1R7 gives you new tools and capabilities. Want a self-managing, self-tuning environment? z/OS Release V1R7 extends these capabilities. Because z/OS V1R7 is not yet available, here are some places where you can learn more. (Jun. 2005 eServer Computing)

z/OS on a Laptop: A Perfect Fit The underlying emulation software that makes z/OS on a laptop possible should be considered a true breakthrough. Will this breakthrough hurt IBM’s mainframe sales? It’s doubtful. z/OS running on Pentium-type servers is really the best of both worlds — the most modern mainframe software coupled with the less expensive, rapidly evolving hardware platforms from our friends at Intel. (Mar. 2005 z/Journal)

Mainframe Catalogs: the untold story It is very rare for companies to create new catalogs and, even when they do, the majority of datasets, still go through the first of those catalogs. This creates problems of its own: a greater and greater strain is placed on the catalog, particularly for shared access requirements, control blocks and so on, which are being accessed by more and more applications. Further, performance is suffering and IBM has been forced to introduce new code to enhance catalog performance, which is a threat in its own right. (Dec. 2003 IT Analysis)

Gauging the Impact of Withdrawn Features in z/OS V1.6 With z/OS and z/OS.e V1.6 available on Sept 24, it’s time to evaluate how this new release may impact your IT systems. While we normally think of new releases in terms of new function or changes to features, withdrawn features or support often entails the greatest effort and expenditure of time. You should start planning for functions that IBM plans to withdraw in z/OS V1.7. (Sep. 2004 eServer)

IBM Goes Midsize with Mainframe In September IBM will make available V1.6 of its z/OS operating system. The new version will feature enhanced handling of Java, enhanced workload management for Web serving applications (thanks to IBM's recent acquisition of Candle Corp.) and enhanced availability for IP networks. Also on the tools front, z/OS 1.6 will have a software development kit for building 64-bit C, C++ and Java applications. (Apr. 2004 eWeek)

History of TSO After decades of refinement, something like TSO becomes so stable, so solid, that it makes no sense to replace it. And that is where TSO is today. No longer cutting edge but quietly humming along like some sort of electric wires behind the walls. Used when needed, ignored when not. TSO will be around as long as there is some version of MVS around. Count on it. (Apr. 2004 TSO Times)

IBM Mainframe Apps Go Modern In an effort to extend its on demand and grid computing efforts, IBM is modernizing its tools to give mainframe applications interfaces to 21st-century technologies such as componentized software. Outbound Web services capabilities will be available this year for CICS, and the ability to support high levels of security and transactionability will be available next year. (Feb. 2004 eWeek)

ServerPac Installs -- What NOT to Do Taking the time to get it right the first time is key to a smooth and prompt ServerPac installation. Everyone should discuss and decide on variables, zone names, dataset names, structure, layout, Aliases and SSAs before starting ServerPac, and then stick with what was decided. (Feb. 2004 eServer)

Managing Workloads in z/OS The latest z/OS release, z/OS V1.4, includes enhanced monitoring programming interfaces to allow middleware like WebSphere to collect and report on subsystem states. This, together with enhancing the capability of WebSphere to classify work on z/OS, is to improve and ease the deployment of major middleware applications on z/OS. (Jan. 2004 eServer)

Mainframe users face upgrade dilemma Shops which have not yet installed zSeries mainframes will have to purchase z/OS 1.4 by March to ensure that they eventually receive support from IBM for the migration to the 64-bit zSeries mainframe. When z/OS 1.5 ships, the 31-bit compatibility mode will no longer be available. Z/OS 1.6, which ships in September 2004, will only run on 64-bit zSeries hardware. (Dec. 2003 ComputerWeekly)

Mainframe update: Pros and cons in play Although the mainframe will remain a more complex environment compared with other platforms, the gap will narrow through 2008 as more automation is added. IBM will continue to encourage major ISVs with important applications to make them available on the mainframe, but ISV enthusiasm will continue to be a major problem during the next five years. (Oct. 2003 TechRepublic)

IBM extends Tivoli management to zSeries Tivoli Management Portal is a Web-based portal designed to interface with zSeries monitoring tools for a single view into the zSeries operating system, middleware, and network and storage systems. Tivoli Storage Optimizer will aid zSeries storage monitoring by automating routine tasks such as moving storage volumes. And Tivoli Performance Modeler will help build models for IT resource capacity planning by enabling users to see the potential effects of changes in hardware or software configurations. (Oct. 2003 ComputerWorld)

IBM boosts mainframe support, services IBM plans to increase by a third or more the $250 million it spends annually on technical support by creating a new class of IBM technical support consultants, called IBM system architects, who will be available free of charge to mainframe customers. IBM's moves are partly designed to assuage fears IT managers might have about a thinning of the mainframe workforce. (Oct. 2003 Computerworld)

Pulling it all together When times are hard, there is a reluctance to tolerate low server utilisation rates, which result in unused white space. Unix utilisation is usually under 20%. If you get more than 10% utilisation on Wintel you are doing well. Typical white space levels of 93%-95% on Wintel compare with less than 2% on mainframes. (Jul. 2003 ComputerWeekly)

Event-driven architecture poised for wide adoption Simple event-driven processing has been in common use for at least 10 years. Complex event processing (CEP) allows for multiple, less predictable, asynchronous events to happen in parallel and trigger a single action. Hints that CEP will become mainstream include IBM's work on event-broker technology. (May 2003 ComputerWorld)

Workload License Charges: What Are They & What Are They For? A pitfall in IBM's original WLC pricing scheme was that the sub-capacity pricing was based on the LPARs capacity, not the capacity actually consumed. This led IBM to make available a new optional LPAR variable, defined capacity. (Mar. 2003 zJournal)

WLM Goal Mode Using a Quickstart Service Policy You've been running in WLM compatibility mode for a while and you want to move to goal mode soon. But where should you start? Here's an easy method of getting there - "Quickstart" Service Policy. It's a simple, generalized service policy that will work in most installations as a starting point. (Apr. 2003 Cheryl Watson)

What if we delay migration to z/OS? What are the risks of delaying (for a few more years - let's say 3-4 years) migration to z/OS and z/Series from OS/390 on G5/G6? Other than missing out on the new benefits of zSeries, what concerns, restrictions, or limitations will there be? (Apr. 2003 search390)

Time is running out for OS/390 users Users running OS/390 Version 2.10 on S/390 hardware have two routes to the 64-bit z/OS. They can stay with their hardware but move to 31-bit z/OS Version 1.4. Then move to either z/800 or z/900 hardware and run z/OS in full 64-bit mode, with the option of switching back to 31-bit mode for the first six months. Or they can continue running OS/390 Version 2.10 in 31-bit mode, but move to z/800 or z/900 hardware. Then switch to 64-bit OS/390 Version 2.10 and then to 64-bit z/OS. (Mar. 2003 ComputerWorld)

In With The Old... What choices does a retrocomputing hobbyist or OS junky have for taking one of these old OS for a spin? Thanks to talented and nostalgic programmers, many ancient operating systems will run under emulation via free software packages on Windows, MacOS X, Solaris, and Linux. (Mar. 2003 OS News)

The z/Architecture A 64-bit address space allows for a maximum address of 18,446,744,073,709,551,615. That is, a 64-bit address space is 8,589,934,592 times the size of a 31-bit, 2 GiB address space. Note that data spaces are no longer needed, but code that uses data spaces continues to run just fine. (Feb. 2003 About Legacy Coding)

Why The Dinosaurs Won't Die Ever wonder why these things are still around and what makes them different from a PC or UNIX box? When most people don't even believe that mainframes exist anymore, what the hey, let's disabuse them of that notion first. (Dec. 2002 Slashdot)

IBM z/OS -- when to migrate to 64-bit The key incentives for users to make the jump to 64-bit mode center on relief for database memory constraints, improved intra/intercommunications (e.g. HiperSockets) and partition and I/O management (IRD). Most of the many annoying glitches characteristic of z/OS's first three releases have been fixed in R1.4, which will be the last z/OS release to which OS/390 R2.10 users can migrate directly. (Nov. 2002 ZDNet)

ShopzSeries - order your z/OS and OS/390 software over the Internet! ShopzSeries automatically analyzes your SMP/ECSI installed inventory and provides you with a preselected IBM software product catalog list of your upgrade options, performs technical requisite checking and submits your order online. (Nov. 2002 z/Bulletin)

If the Universe Is a Program If the universe is a program, does it terminate? Is it buggy? Efficient? Object-oriented or procedural? What is the clock rate of the processor? Who wrote it, or is writing it? And is she hiring? (Oct. 2002 Dr Dobbs Journal)

IBM Unveils Latest Operating System for zSeries eServers The main distinction of the z/OS 1.4 is that it has set a new speed record by simultaneously processing up to 7,000 SSL transactions, rendering it more than 60 percent faster than the previous release of z/OS. (Sep. 2002 Internetnews)

Safeguarding Bricks and Bytes When information technology was confined to standalone mainframes tended by geekdom’s archdruids, the most serious jeopardy to which data was exposed was an air-conditioning failure or a power outage. The information found on mainframe computers tended not to have the kind of intrinsic value that would have made it worth stealing. (Sep. 2002 CSO)

OS/390 Users Respond to IBM Announcements A large number of OS/390 customers stand to be affected by IBM’s announcement to end new sales of its OS/390 mainframe operating environment in Dec 2002. Adoption of z/OS over OS/390 has so far been quite slow — about a fifth have made the move. (Aug. 2002 Enterprise Systems Journal)

Consolidation Combination z/VM uses the resources at its disposal (processors, memory, I/O, network, etc.) to create VMs, each capable of running its own independent copy of Linux or any OS that runs on zSeries architecture. z/VM allows the sharing of disk space among virtual Linux images. Code may be shared, as read-only, among the Linux guests on a zSeries server. (Jul. 2002 eServer magazine)

The Secret Life of System Operations What does your operations department do? A heck of a lot of stuff, once you start looking into it; most important of which is keeping your organization's systems working, ideally 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It's no good putting software into production if you can't keep it there, and your operations staff are the people who do just that. (Oct. 2001 Software Development)