Cheryl Watson’s Tuning Letter
A Planet Mainframe Brand
We’re Retiring!
Dear Watson & Walker customers and friends, We have some really big news - at the end of 2024 we’re retiring and shutting down our business and the Tuning Letter. Tom and I would like to thank you all for being such fantastic customers and friends for the past many years. We especially want to thank our many Tuning Letter subscribers who have been with us since the very first issue. When we started Cheryl Watson’s Tuning Letter in 1991, we never dreamed it would be such a success. We’ve...
Cheryl Watson’s Tuning Letter 2023 No. 3 Available Now
Subscribers to Cheryl Watson’s Tuning Letter can find the latest 114-page issue, 2023 No.3, on our publications website. In this issue, you will find the following articles: Our Recovery at Scale article in Tuning Letter 2023 No. 2 caused quite a stir, with numerous readers commenting that it made them aware of challenges they didn't even know they had. Well, the latest installment in this series of articles (one reviewer called them "Frank's Horror novel") is unlikely to leave you in a...
W&W Guide to SHARE New Orleans 2023 (Part 2)
We are now just over half way through the 2023 Summer SHARE conference. As I expected, my biggest problem is in trying to decide between which of the excellent sessions I will attend – I have a minimum of three competing sessions in most slots. It is a big help having Mario here with me – I can’t imagine how people handle it when they are the only attendee from their company. Our last blog post provided some suggested sessions for Monday through Wednesday. This one will cover Wednesday...
W&W Guide to SHARE New Orleans 2023 (Part 1)
The 2023 Summer SHARE conference will be held in the New Orleans Hyatt Regency hotel starting tomorrow. This is a traditional 5-day conference. If you are attending, check out the agenda and download the SHARE app for your mobile device. I (Frank) will be co-presenting two sessions: Wednesday, 16:00, Empire C, I will be moderating the ‘Observability Shootout’ session, with presenters from BMC, Broadcom, EPS, IBM, IntelliMagic, and Rocket Software. Friday, 09:15, Empire D, I will be...
Cheryl Watson’s Tuning Letter 2023 No. 2 Available Now
Subscribers to Cheryl Watson’s Tuning Letter can find the latest 112-page issue, 2023 No.2, on our publications website. In this issue, you will find the following articles: "We considered that by using disk replication and GDPS we were safe. But when I try to answer all the questions you make in the Loss of Volume(s) section I feel powerless." and “I thought we were in good shape, but I’m less than half way through your list of recovery considerations and I’m on my second Prozac already.” ...
2023 Watson & Walker CPU Chart Updated for Latest z16 Models
The latest edition of Cheryl’s CPU Chart is now available to subscribers on our publications website. This update adds the information for the 156 z16 A02/AGZ models to the existing database that reaches all the way back to the z900 models (a total of 2810 IBM mainframe models). In addition to the spreadsheet that contains over 40 attributes for each model, the accompanying PDF discusses key performance characteristics, as well as providing invaluable background information about the...
Cheryl Watson’s Tuning Letter 2023 No. 1 Now Available
Subscribers to Cheryl Watson’s Tuning Letter can find the latest 119-page issue, 2023 No.1, on our publications website. In this issue, you will find the following articles: Our review of IBM's z/OS 3.1 Preview Announcement. The first part of this article, What’s New in z/OS – 3.1 Preview, focuses on the announced changes to the MVS core of z/OS, particularly the new AI Framework that will support the use of Artificial Intelligence by components such as Workload Manager. These enhancements...
Winter 2023 SHARE Conference Is on Next Week
The 2023 Winter SHARE conference will be held in the Atlanta Hyatt Regency hotel next week. This is an abbreviated conference (3 full days - Monday to Wednesday), however there are more sessions on Sunday than normal, so if you are attending check out the agenda to see if any of those Sunday sessions would be of interest to you. Also, make sure to download the SHARE app for your phone – apart from the up-to-date technical agenda you can also use it to create your own agenda of the sessions...
Cheryl Watson’s Tuning Letter 2022 No. 4 Available Now
Subscribers to Cheryl Watson’s Tuning Letter can find the latest 139-page issue, 2022 No. 4, on our publications website. In this issue, you will find the following articles: One of the most consistently popular Tuning Letter articles is the User Experiences and Tips one. This issue’s article opens with a reminder to readers that the FREE GSE UK 3-day virtual conference starts tomorrow (February 7th). Refer to the article for a link to the agenda and the registration page. The article also...
Cheryl Watson’s Tuning Letter 2022 No. 3 Now Available
Subscribers to Cheryl Watson’s Tuning Letter can find the latest 132-page issue, 2022 No. 3, on our publications website. In this issue, you will find the following articles: In response to their very experienced mainframers heading for the retirement exit, companies are starting to replenish their pool of mainframe skills. But where to find the people with the potential to become the mainframe experts of the future? Building the Next Gen, One Apprentice At a Time discusses how a Registered...