Mainframe-cloud hybrid working – part 2

This is the second part of a two-part article.

Cloud provider choices

So, who are the big cloud infrastructure providers? In Q1 of 2022, the top three were AWS (33% market share), Microsoft Azure (21%) and Google Cloud (8%). IBM has an estimated 4%.

For mainframe developers, things like IBM’s newly launched Wazi as a Service provides a way to create development and test systems in IBM Cloud Virtual Private Cloud.

IBM has also developed an IBM Z and Cloud Modernization Center as part of its commitment to making it easier to upgrade mainframe programs. The objective is to provide a uniform platform that helps organizations identify best practices for achieving this.

Other mainframe options include Red Hat® OpenShift®, the market-leading hybrid cloud container platform. With Red Hat OpenShift, mainframe sites can develop and consume cloud services anywhere and from any cloud.

IBM also offers IBM Cloud Pak® solutions, an AI-infused software portfolio that runs on Red Hat OpenShift. These solutions can help organizations advance digital transformation with data insights, prediction, security, automation and modernization, across any cloud environment.

AWS, in June, launched its AWS Mainframe Modernization service, which is designed to makes it faster and easier for customers to modernize mainframe workloads by moving them to the cloud. Customers can refactor their mainframe workloads to run on AWS. Alternatively, customers can keep their applications as written and replatform their workloads to AWS by reusing existing code with minimal changes. A managed runtime environment built into AWS Mainframe Modernization provides the necessary compute, memory, and storage to run both refactored and replatformed applications and helps automate the details of capacity provisioning, security, load balancing, scaling, and application health monitoring.

The AWS Mainframe Modernization service also, they say, provides the development, testing, and deployment tools necessary to automate the modernization of mainframe applications to run on AWS. And customers only pay for the amount of compute provisioned.

Of course, migrating mainframe workloads to run in the cloud involves a number of steps to discover, assess, test, and operate the new workload environments. Customers also need to configure, run, and operate mainframe systems with application development and deployment best practices in the new cloud environments. AWS Mainframe Modernization says that it integrates the tools needed to modernize mainframe applications.

AWS partners that can help organizations migrate to AWS include: Accenture, DCX Technology, Tata, Atos, Micro Focus, and Infosys.

Similarly, Microsoft Azure also offers help in migrating mainframe applications across to it. Third-party companies that can help include: TmaxSoft with OpenFrame, and Asysco with its AMT products. LzLabs can also help people migrate to Azure.

And, Google cloud allows mainframe sites to migrate to services such as Compute Engine (virtual machines) and Google Kubernetes Engine. Partner companies to help with the migration include Advanced and LzLabs.

Known data challenges

Some known mainframe data challenges when it comes to migrating mainframe data to the cloud include:

• Code page translation (CCSIDs) Invalid data
  • Non-numeric data in numeric fields
  • binary zeros in packed fields (or any fields)
  • Invalid data in character fields
• Dates
  • Must be decoded/validated if target column is DATE or TIMESTAMP
  • May require knowledge of Y2K implementation
  • Allow extra time for data-intensive applications
• Repeating groups
  • Sparse arrays
  • Number of elements
  • Will probably be de-normalized
• Redefines of binary/'special' fields
  • Common in older applications
  • Developed in 1970s/80s
  • Generally requires application
  • Specific translation.

Mainframe subsystems like IMS were written to optimize data access techniques to make the applications run faster. This makes taking data out of IMS harder because it has been optimized.

Workloads perhaps best left on the mainframe

Before the migration/modernization process starts. it's worth considering which workloads would be best left on the mainframe. Firstly, there are those applications with high security needs. As discussed in part 1, modern mainframes are very secure. Secondly, application that use a large amount of data should stay on the mainframe. IMS DB, in particular, as mentioned above, was developed to allow data to be accessed very quickly in order to speed up the elapsed time for running an application. Keep any applications on the mainframe where data access is time critical. Thirdly, applications using the on-chip AI inferencing that's available on z16s can help prevent credit card fraud. Other applications should be evaluated to see whether there is anything about them that’s makes running them on the mainframe a better environment. If not, they can be candidates for the migration process.

A data-centric approach

Model9 has a data-centric approach to mainframe modernization. Their approach is to migrate mainframe formatted data into the cloud via zIIP engines and TCP/IP, and store it in the cloud in object storage. Mainframe professionals can also use new, modern cloud data management software for the mainframe to create a bi-directional sync between the mainframe and cloud that does not require tape or emulated tape technologies to function.

They suggest that this approach:

• Delivers immediate value while taking steps toward long-term modernization. Instead of one large, complex, project that is doomed to fail, using software to move mainframe data to the cloud is a more agile approach where users can define smaller, more manageable sprints.
• Breaks the silo surrounding mainframe data. Placing the data into the cloud – even when still in mainframe format – changes the mainframe from an isolated island into an integrated part of the technology architecture, giving mainframe professionals a seat at the broader IT table.
• Can be used to securely eliminate tape/VTL backups, which brings cost savings and can improve disaster recovery – both in speed and accessibility in recovery scenarios.

Which other companies can help?

Other companies that can help with migration include: Chetu, Ensono, Mainframecloud, and VirtualZ.

VirtualZ has Lozen, which allows custom and packaged applications running anywhere – in the cloud, on distributed platforms or on mobile devices – to have real-time, read-write access to always-in-sync data on the IBM Z platform.

And there are more companies getting into this business all the time.

Conclusion

Using the cloud as part of the IT infrastructure is something mainframe sites will become as familiar with as using laptops to access the Internet or create spreadsheets. The issue at the moment is for mainframe sites to decide how they are going to use the cloud environment in a way that suits them best. There are currently a number of different choices available and number of different strategies available. Whatever choices are made, no-one should be thinking that mainframes are going to disappear any time soon.