1. Cheryl Watson’s TUNING Letter 2006 No. 3
2. Maintenance to Enable zIIP Processors
3. IDCAMS Performance Problem
4. IMS Version 9 Migration Assistance
5. SHARE in Baltimore
1. Cheryl Watson’s TUNING Letter 2006 No. 3
The forty-two page 2006 No. 3 TUNING Letter was emailed to subscribers on June 27, 2006. Single issues may be obtained for $135 each from our Web site at http://www.watsonwalker.com. The following is a summary of just some of the contents of this latest TUNING Letter:
The New IBM System z9 Processors
Make sure to read our Focus article on page 16 to learn more about the significant IBM System z9 announcements that were made on April 27, 2006. Almost 100 new processor options were added for those looking for an entry point into the System z9 series. A new System z9 Business Class processor was introduced that consists of two models. There were also changes to the existing System z9-109 machine, which was renamed the System z9 Enterprise Class processor. A sub-capacity option was added to this larger processor, allowing 24 different capacity settings to be configured – many of which deliver less capacity than what was formerly the smallest model in the series. Even though many of the new processor options deliver less power than what was previously available on the z9, they can all take advantage of System z9 technology advancements, such as the ability to run specialty engines and exploit software features such as MIDAW. There were also pricing changes announced that should make this platform more attractive to many organizations. Just shortly after the new processor announcements, we published a new version of our CPU Chart that had been updated to include the new processors. Please see page 26 for more information about this new resource.
zIIP Special Purpose Processor
Earlier this year (see TUNING Letter 2006 No. 1, pages 38-40) we introduced you to the new zIIP (System z9 Integrated Information Processor). Much like its older brother the zAAP, the new zIIP is designed to offload certain types of work from the general purpose processors. The first application to exploit the zIIP will be DB2, for certain types of work that run in SRB mode in an enclave. Part of the System z9 announcements on April 27th included the formal announcement of the zIIP. You can read more of the details about this new specialty processor on page 23.
Service Oriented Architecture
When you think of z/OS applications, do you think of dusty old COBOL programs that have been around for years, are difficult to modify, and have limited usefulness as a platform for developing newer applications? If you think this way, then you need to read page 31 and learn about Service Oriented Architecture or SOA. This concept is designed to help you develop z/OS-based applications that can be written quickly, modified easily, and easily adapted to create new applications. There were some new announcements in May that further extend this effort, and we describe those in the article.
Elsewhere in this Issue
There is a new free tool designed to allow for easy porting of files across different platforms (see page 8). • IBM supports a Web page that provides excellent tools and references for RACF users (see page 12). • If you live in an area that observes Daylight Saving Time, there may be some changes ahead in 2007 (see page 10). • We provide our usual collection of suggested software fixes that can save you grief and add new functionality to your software (see page 4).
2. Maintenance to Enable zIIP Processors
As noted above, our latest TUNING Letter contains more details about the newest zIIP specialty processor that is designed to offload certain types of DB2 work. If your installation is planning to install one of these processors, you must also install some maintenance to enable various z/OS components to work correctly with the zIIP.
Roger Miller of IBM was kind enough to provide a list of APAR numbers that should be applied to enable DB2 and other IBM products to work correctly with a zIIP. In addition to the fixes Roger provided, we found several other APAR numbers in the PSP (Preventive Service Planning) bucket “Upgrade 2094DEVICE, Subset 2094/ZOS.” Here are the APAR numbers that you should investigate:
FMID APAR PTF COMMENT
JBB772S n/a n/a zIIP Web deliverable
JBB772S OA15968 UA27115 BCP zIIP Support
JBB772S OA16172 UA26410 BCP zIIP Support
JBB772S OA16005 UA26753 WLM zIIP Support
HRM7720 OA13499 UA90253 RMF zIIP Support
JRM772J OA13499 UA90254 RMF zIIP Support
HQX7720 PK18215 UK14983 SDSF zIIP Support
JQX772J PK18215 UK14986 SDSF zIIP Support
HDB8810 PK18454 UK15499 DB2 V8 zIIP Exploitation (DRDA)
HDB8810 PK19920 TBD DB2 V8 zIIP Exploitation (Utilities)
HDB8810 PK19921 TBD DB2 V8 zIIP Exploitation (Parallel Query)
HKM5310 OA15900 TBD Omegamon XE on z/OS v310
HKM2550 OA15899 TBD Omegamon II for MVS v550
HKOB550 OA15898 TBD Omegamon Base v550
HKDB310 PK25395 UK15518 Omegamon XE for DB2 Performance Expert v310
HKDB310 PK25395 UK15518 Omegamon XE for DB2 Performance Monitor v310
Some of these do not appear to be available yet, but IBM has announced their planned availability date as being the end of June.
3. IDCAMS Performance Problem
Because the IBM IDCAMS utility is used quite frequently in most installations, we were interested in a potential performance problem reported to us by Jerry Urbaniak of Acxiom. Here is the APAR describing the problem:
OA16909 (DFSMS for z/OS 1.7, OPEN 27Jun2006) – EXCP Counts for REPRO OUTFILE Increase Dramatically After Applying UA22691. 06/06/16 PTF PECHANGE. After applying PTF UA22691, performing an IDCAMS REPRO function using the INFILE and OUTFILE options results in a dramatic increase in EXCP counts and in the elapsed time needed to run the job. This is because REPRO is using the default BUFND of two rather than calculating BUFND based upon the Control Interval (CI) and Control Area (CA) sizes of the data set. This causes the EXCP count to increase, along with the elapsed time. Also, a REPRO of a compressed data set to another compressed data set may be performed without using the compression interface, resulting in increased CPU consumption to uncompress the input records and then to compress them again before writing them to the output data set.
The text of the APAR gives an example of the performance problem this can cause. In this example, REPRO was used to load a VSAM KSDS containing 909,540 records. The number of EXCP operations needed to load the data set increased from 3,142 to 72,329 after the PTF was applied.
Until the APAR is closed and a fix is available, one local circumvention is to override the BUFND default by coding the option AMP=’BUFND=nnn’ on the DD statement for the VSAM data set. Replace the ‘nnn’ portion with the CI/CA value for the data set, which can be obtained from the output of a LISTCAT command.
4. IMS Version 9 Migration Assistance
Users of IMS in the US and Canada may be eligible to receive a Migration Assistance Package worth up to $10,000 (US) for free if they meet certain qualifications. You must currently be licensed for either IMS Version 7 or Version 8 with monthly charges based on 175 MSUs or less.
Installations who qualify may send one student to a three-day IMS Version 9 installation class (to be held October 10-12 in San Jose, California), plus receive two days of on-site or remote migration assistance from IBM. Optionally, you may omit the class and receive up to five days of on-site or remote migration assistance.
To qualify, you must place your order for IMS Version 9 no later than September 15th, and your request for the Migration Assistance Package must then be received within the next two weeks. All migration assistance must be completed by the end of 2006.
For more information, US customers should visit http://www.ibm.com/products/us, and enter the code SAOCA2511 in the “NavCode” box. Customers in Canada should visit the IBM Canada Web site (http://www.ibm.ca), or should contact their local IBM representative.
If you’re an IMS user who wants to install Version 9 this year, you might want to check into this option for saving some money and having an easier migration.
5. SHARE in Baltimore
We are only about six weeks away from the next SHARE conference, to be held in Baltimore Maryland on August 13-18, 2006. As usual, we will be presenting a number of sessions, and would love to have you drop by and say hello. There should also be a number of excellent IBM sessions related to their recent hardware and software announcements.
You can visit the SHARE Web site (http://www.share.org) for more information about the sessions being presented. You can also register for the conference, reserve a hotel room, and learn about the Baltimore area.
Next to our own TUNING Letter, we think that SHARE is one of the best investments you can make with your training budget.
Stay tuned!