GSE conference

I was lucky enough to attend the Guide Share Europe National Conference on 4th and 5th November at Whittlebury Hall. This pulled together lots of mainframers, who were very interesting to talk to – including three young lads who are mainframe apprentices! – plus numerous excellent speakers. There were also a number of vendors there in the exhibition area who were keen to chat and pass on information about their new products – which was also very informative.

I managed to have a long chat with NEON’s Tony Lubrano who gave a presentation in the New technologies stream on zPrime. He explained how zPrime 1.2 now includes an Enablement Console, making it easier for users to select the applications they want to move from the central processor to the zIIPs or zAAPs. There’s also an LE (Language Environment) Initialization Exit feature that automates the task of enabling LE-compliant applications to migrate to the specialty engines. Tony explained how these requirements had come from users and had been delivered in the new release.

The people from Innovation Data Processing were keen to talk about their core FDR products, plus the newer FDRERASE, and FDRERASE/OPEN, and FDRVIEWS, FDRMOVE, FDRMOVE, and FDRPAS.

I had an enjoyable catch-up with the team from Compute (Bridgend) who demonstrated their new SELCOPY/i, which is part of SELCOPY or CBLVCAT and provides multiple windows for user action and produces what they call a “mainframe desktop”. It’s worth checking the huge number of facilities on the Web site (www.cbl.com).

I was surprised to find mainframe companies I didn’t know. There was Thesaurus (www.i-tcs.com), which offers products, consultancy, and managed services, and have expertise with mainframe Linux. There was EZLegacy (www.ezlegacy.com), who had EZSource, their application-oriented configuration management database. There were two EPV (www.epvtech.com) products: EPV for z/OS and EPV for DB2. Olga Henning represented Blue Sea Technology (www.blueseasoft.com). Stephen Golliker represented Higobi (www.higobi.com).

There were many other exhibitors who were friendly and helpful discussing their products

But I didn’t really go for the exhibitors, I wanted to see some of the presentations. There were streams for CICS, IMS, DB2, Enterprise security, zLinux, Large systems working group, Network management working group, Software asset management, and New technologies.

I was particularly interested in the IMS stream – because of my work with the Virtual IMS Connection user group (www.virtualims.com), and managed to see an excellent presentation by IBM’s Alan Cooper on “Rock solid security in the post-SMU era”. I also sat in on the “Birds-of-a-feather” session to see how real IMS users are finding the product and particularly what difficulties they have to overcome in their environments.

It was an excellent event. It was well-organized and run. It was in a lovely location. And everyone I spoke to was friendly and helpful, and keen to talk mainframe technical talk. Many thanks to the organizers for setting up such an excellent event, and to Mark Wilson who was conference manager for this year’s conference.

BTW: if you like this blog, go to http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/11/03/238190/vote-in-the-computer-weekly-it-blog-awards-2009.htm. Look for Individual IT professional male, then use the drop-down menu to find Mainframe update and select it. Then go down the page and press "Done" - and you will have voted for my blog. Tell all your friends!

The big daddy of virtualization just got better

While all those Windows-warriors are talking about Windows 7 and virtualization strategies, the king of virtualization – IBM’s VM software – has seen the release of z/VM Version 6.1.

Microsoft has its desktop virtualization technology, and is up to Version 2 of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack 2009 (MDOP) – the add-on you need for most of the Windows 7 virtualization capabilities – assuming you have the right chip in the first place. The big thing about Windows 7 is that it lets users run their software in XP emulation mode! The App-V (Application Virtualization) client, which is built into MDOP, provides the client side for virtual application launches. Users can click desktop icons to launch a server-based application, which they can use as if it had launched on their own machine. Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) allows Virtual PC to launch on top of Windows 7 and adds a management capability by linking to Microsoft’s management server and providing the client-side support for policy-based usage controls, provisioning, and delivery of a virtual-desktop image. But enough about that!

Anyway, the new release of z/VM is available only on the IBM System z10 Enterprise Class server and System z10 Business Class server, and future System z servers (z11 and whatever comes next).

According to IBM, z/VM V6.1 offers:

• Guest LAN and Virtual Switch (VSWITCH) exploitation of the Prefetch Data instruction to use new IBM System z10 server cache prefetch capabilities to help improve the performance of guest-to-guest streaming network workloads


• Closer integration with IBM Systems Director by shipping the Manageability Access Point Agent for z/VM to help simplify installation of the agent


• Inclusion of post-z/VM V5.4 enhancements delivered in the IBM service stream.

IBM adds that this release provides the basis for some major future enhancements as indicated by the announced Statements of Direction that include:

• z/VM Single System Image:

IBM intends to provide capabilities that permit multiple z/VM systems to collaborate in order to provide a single system image. This is planned to allow all z/VM member systems to be managed, serviced, and administered as one system across which workloads can be deployed. The single system image is intended to share resources among all member systems.


• z/VM Live Guest Relocation:

IBM intends to further strengthen single system image support by providing live guest relocation. This is planned to provide the capability to move a running Linux virtual machine from one single system image member system to another. This is intended to further enhance workload management across a set of z/VM systems and to help clients avoid planned outages for virtual servers.

CA was quick on the scene offering Day One support for its many z/VM solutions.

I’m always interested in VM developments, I wrote two books about VM many years ago, and still have a soft spot for it. It seems that the big daddy of virtualization is still well ahead of any competitors out there and just keeps getting better.

A couple of HTML tips

This time, just a couple of Web coding tips for valid HTML

Have you ever wanted to embed a Youtube video on a page AND have it validated? Youtube allow you to specify the size you want etc and then give you the code using the embed tag – so it looks like this:

<object width="480" height="295">
<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/n69yPQGcSJY&hl=en&fs=1&">
</param>
<param name="allowFullScreen" value="true">
</param>
<param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always">
</param>
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/n69yPQGcSJY&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object>


If you’re curious, it’s Gavin Bate talking about climbing Everest.

Anyway, the code won’t validate because you can’t use the embed tag. What works is the following:

<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" style="width:480px; height:295px;" data="http://www.youtube.com/v/n69yPQGcSJY&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0">
<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/n69yPQGcSJY&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0" />
</object>

Notice, that I also added “amp;” to the &s.

My second tip is to do with blob lists inside blob lists, also referred to as nesting bullet points.

You might think that the correct way to code the following:

• Adam


• Eve
  
  
  
  • Cain
  
  
  • Abel
  
  

Was like this:


<ul>
<li>Adam></li>
<li>Eve</li>
<ul>
<li>Cain</li>
<li>Abel</li>
</ul>
</ul>



But that is invalid. It is correctly written as:


<ul>
<li>Adam></li>
<li>Eve
<ul>
<li>Cain</li>
<li>Abel</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>


And just talking about blob lists... You do know that you can control what type of blob you get. For example, code:
<ul type="square">

and you’ll get a square blob. You can also use “circle”. For ordered lists try lower or upper case Roman (“i” or “I”), and lower or upper case letters “a” or “A”).

And if you need a new Web site designed and coded, or if you need your tired old one revamped, please contact me at trevor@itech-ed.com.

And don't forget to complete the Arcati Yearbook user survey at www.arcati.com/usersurvey10.

Back by popular demand - the Arcati Mainframe Yearbook 2010

Many of you will have received an e-mail informing you that Mark Lillycrop and I have started work on the 2010 edition of the Arcati Mainframe Yearbook. And if you haven't had an e-mail from me about it, then e-mail trevor@itech-ed.com and I will add you to our mailing list.

The Arcati Mainframe Yearbook has been the de facto reference work for IT professionals working with z/OS (and its forerunner) systems since 2005. It includes an annual user survey, an up-to-date directory of vendors and consultants, a media guide, a strategy section with papers on mainframe trends and directions, a glossary of terminology, and a technical specification section. Each year, the Yearbook is downloaded by around 15,000 mainframe professionals. The current issue is still available at www.arcati.com/newyearbook09.

At the moment, we are hoping that mainframers will be willing to complete the annual user survey, which is at www.arcati.com/usersurvey10. The more users who fill it in, the more accurate and therefore useful the survey report will be. All respondents before the 4th December will receive a PDF copy of the survey results on publication. The identity and company information of all respondents is treated in confidence and will not be divulged to third parties. If you go to user group meetings, or just hang out with mainframers from other sites, pass on the word about the survey to others, please. We're hoping that this year's user survey will be the most comprehensive survey ever. Current estimates suggest that there are somewhere between 6,000 and 8,000 companies using mainframes spread over 10,000 sites.

Anyone reading this who works for a vendor, consultant, or service provider, can ensure their company gets a free entry in the vendor directory section by completing the form at www.arcati.com/vendorentry. This form can also be used to amend last year's entry.

As in previous years, there is the opportunity for organizations to sponsor the Yearbook or take out a half page advertisement. Half-page adverts (5.5in x 8in max landscape) cost $600 (UK£350). Sponsors get a full-page advert (11in x 8in) in the Yearbook; inclusion of a corporate paper in the Mainframe Strategy section of the Yearbook; a logo/link on the Yearbook download page on the Arcati Web site; and a brief text ad in the Yearbook publicity e-mails sent to users. Price $1800 (UK£950).

The Arcati Mainframe Yearbook 2010 will be freely available for download early in January next year.

Mainframe futures

Whenever I start a piece on mainframe futures, I’m always reminded of poor old Stewart Alsop when he was editor-in-chief of InfoWorld. He was the man who famously announced in 1991 that the last mainframe in the world would be unplugged in 1996. Sorry Stewart, not even close!

I’m going to divide this look at mainframe futures into five areas – hardware, software, training, role, and attitude. And, of course, underlying this whole view is the assumptions that mainframes will be with us for a number of years yet.

Looking at hardware, we can see that there is a continual improvement in the speed or size of what’s available, while at the same time a reduction in the footprint and the greenhouse effect. We’ve had the introduction of the specialty engines – IFL for Linux, zAAP for Java (WebSphere), and zIIP for DB2 – and we’re looking at the growing take up of these specialty engines. We’ve also heard about the z11 processor, which is anticipated to be with us in September 2011. Interestingly, in a back-to-the-future sort of way, at least some of the machines will be water-cooled. Improvements are coming all the time.

In terms of software, there have been a huge number of enhancements. CA, as part of its Web 2.0 strategy, enhanced most of its mainframe software line this year. And other companies are continuing to upgrade theirs. NEON Enterprise Software launched its controversial zPrime software. DataDirect has version 7.2.1 of its Shadow suite. In terms of making the mainframe easier to use, particularly in the light of an ageing population of experts, many vendors, including IBM, are including autonomics into their software. This means that the software will try to identify potential problems and fix them. The other strategy used by vendors is to make using the mainframe more like using a Windows environment, which then makes it more easily accessible by young programmers. And attracting young programmers is important for the organizations using mainframes as well as the mainframe software vendors. Many people will now be familiar with using Eclipse. And remember that it’s estimated that over 60% of company data is held on a mainframe, and much of that is being accessed using COBOL programs. So software is continually evolving and getting better.

Both IBM and CA are taking steps to ensure that training is available at universities for youngsters. IBM has its Academic Initiative, which was introduced in 2004. This runs at universities in the USA, UK, and Europe. Similarly, CA is working with universities, starting in the Czech Republic, to provide mainframes they can use for specific training modules. These and other initiatives will ensure an on-going supply of qualified COBOL and Assembler programmers. Having young well-trained programmers ensures the future of mainframes.

So what is the role of the mainframe? Before you rush to answer that question, let me suggest that there is no simple answer. The mainframe has any number of roles in most organization. It is still satisfying roles it acquired 20 or 30 years ago, and it is also gaining new ones. For example SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture) is still growing in importance allowing the mainframe to be a Web service consumer as well as a Web service provider to Internet-based users. There is also much talk about mainframes and their role in cloud computing. We’ve also recently seen a growth in the use of mainframes in Business Intelligence solutions – particularly with IBM’s recent acquisition of SPSS. So the mainframes role is constantly evolving and changing, but it’s always vitally important to the success of businesses that make use of mainframes, and could also be a useful tool for organizations that don’t use mainframes.

The last area I want to touch on is the public’s attitude towards mainframes. It is important that IBM and everyone else who believes in the mainframe helps convince the “Windows generation” that there are other choices – some of which, like the mainframe, are better alternatives. There’s a whole generation of IT guys who’ve never worked on a mainframe and who think its old-fashioned and not fit for today’s environment – probably the same people who rush out to buy Citrix to emulate some of the best characteristics of a mainframe; or the people who virtualize their servers thinking it is something new. We all need to get out there and raise people’s awareness. I’m not saying that a mainframe is the right environment for everyone, but I’m sure many mid-sized organizations are missing out on an opportunity because of the blinkered thinking of some of their IT people. Let’s help change that.

All-in-all, the mainframe still has a great future ahead of it. So much is going on to make it so. Long may it continue.

IMS Version 11

I mentioned last week about IMS Version 11, which has been around in a pre-release version for nearly a year. Well, the good news is that it becomes generally available on 30 October 2009.

Here are some of the highlights.

Database Manager enhancements:

• IMS Open Database support offers direct distributed TCP/IP access to IMS data, providing cost efficiency, enabling application growth, and improving resilience.
• Broadened Java and XML support and tools can ease IMS development and access to IMS data.
• IMS Fast Path Buffer Manager, Application Control Block library, and Local System Queue Area storage reduction utilize 64-bit storage to improve availability and overall system performance.
• Enhanced commands and user exits simplify operations and improve availability.

Transaction Manager enhancements:

• IMS Connect (the TCP/IP gateway to IMS transactions, operations, and now data) enhancements offer improved IMS flexibility, availability, resilience, and security.
• Broadened Java and XML tooling eases IMS application development and connectivity, and enhances IMS Web services to assist developers with business transformation.
• Enhanced commands and user exits simplify operations and improve availability.
• IMS Application Control Block library and Local System Queue Area reduction utilize 64-bit storage to improve availability and system performance.

Also, last week saw latest webinar from Virtual IMS Connection (www.virtualims.com), which was entitled, “Mainframe integration is not a strategy – get your MIPS back while delivering value today”, and was presented by Rob Morris, Chief Strategy Officer with GT Software.

Rob suggested that the goals for integration were: fast, agile; flexible; adaptable; consistent; and justifiable. And Rob went on to pose the question whether the goals for mainframe integration should be any different. He then suggested that the mainframe was different, saying:
• Platform:
– Cost of mainframe operations
– Proprietary sub-systems and APIs
– Limited resources.
• It goes beyond combining the words…Mainframe Web Services
• “Free Tools” are not free:
– MIPS costs
– Simplistic design requires additional tools.

Dusty Rivers, who is described on the GT Software blog as an IMS SOA Evangelist, was also on hand to give the user group a rapid demonstration of GT Software’s Ivory product.

Some of the advantages they listed with Ivory are that:

• Services are deployed instantly
• Can be deployed to mainframe (CICS, started task, z/Linux) or off-mainframe (Windows or Linux)
• Leverages zLinux and specialty engines to slash costs.

Rob also explained how users could save money because the work is moved from the GPP (General Purpose Processor) to the IFL specialty processor. Which, as we’ve seen in these blogs, is the route being taken by a number of software vendors.

So, as I said last week, IMS is an interesting technology.

IMS – what’s new?

IMS – that’s Information Management System, IBM’s combined database-management system and transaction-processing system, not IP Multimedia Subsystem or anything else with the same three-latter acronym – is quite an exciting technology at the moment.

Apart from IBM releasing Version 11 into the wild and the useful upgrades incorporated into that, there have been lots of enhancements to IMS-related software recently.

For example, Mainstar announced a new product called Database Backup and Recovery for IMS (DBR for IMS) on z/OS, which maximizes investment in large system databases and storage systems. DBR for IMS is a storage-aware backup and recovery solution that integrates storage processor fast-replication facilities with IMS backup and recovery operations to allow instantaneous backups with no downtime, reducing recovery time, and simplify disaster recovery procedures while using less CPU, I/O, and storage resources. DBR for IMS provides backup and recovery techniques to address the high-availability and integrity needed by organizations.

CA announced CA Database Management r12 for IMS, its integrated solution that eases the management of IMS databases. This solution provides database administration, performance management, and backup and recovery capabilities for IMS Full Function, Fast Path, and High Availability Large Database (HALDB) structures. Key enhancements to CA Database Management r12 for IMS include support for IMS 11, performance improvements to both the CA products and IMS itself, and increased data availability during backups.

Most recently, Progress DataDirect has announced Release 7.2.1 of its Progress DataDirect Shadow mainframe integration platform with an enhanced ANSI SQL-92 engine for relational to non-relational data processing utilizing the IBM System z Integrated Information Processor (zIIP). The latest Release allows ANSI SQL-92 workloads for IMS DB databases and CICS VSAM files to be diverted from the mainframe's General Purpose Processor (GPP) to the zIIP specialty engine, which does the work without using any of the mainframe licensed MIPs capacity.

And if you think no-one is really interested in IMS, then you’re in for a bit of a shock! There are more IMS user groups around today than there were two years ago. One of those is the Virtual IMS Connection user group at www.virtualims.com. This group holds virtual meetings, allowing members to share their ideas and listen to presentations without leaving the office – and so save on travel time and the expense of travelling to a meeting.

The next meeting is on Tuesday 6 October at 10:30 Central Time, when Rob Morris, Chief Strategy Officer with GT Software will give a presentation entitled, “Mainframe integration is not a strategy – get your MIPS back while delivering value today”. The talk will discuss how you can integrate with the mainframe, project by project, without major licensing requirements or MIPS concerns.

And if IMS were outside mainstream computing, how come this talk has been covered in so many publications? You can find the story at: http://www.gtsoftware.com/events/virtual-ims-connection-featured-presentation-gt-software
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/statenewslines/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090922005338&newsLang=en
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/GT+Software%27s+Rob+Morris+to+Address+IMS+User+Group,+Discussing...-a0208207837
http://apache.sys-con.com/node/1116458
http://news.websitegear.com/view/138241
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/businesswire/2009/09/22/businesswire129325237.html
http://newsblaze.com/story/2009092207584400002.bw/topstory.html
http://www.pr-inside.com/gt-software-s-rob-morris-to-address-r1493341.htm
http://websphere.sys-con.com/node/1116458
http://linux.sys-con.com/node/1116458

So, IMS is an exciting technology. If you’d like to join the meeting, go the Virtual IMS Connection (www.virtualims.com) Web site and sign up. Details of how to join the meeting will be e-mailed to you.