SPARTA News August 2002
August 2002
SPARTA Chapter President’s Corner
- by Brad Carson
It has been a very busy month for us so this column will be a little short. Well it’s still hot and dry for all of us around here and I think my yard would like to have a long, long drink.
Our QAAD move is nearing completion. We are still on target for August 17th to finish the move. We have all the software issues worked out except for SAS (we hope to have that done soon). Our timeline has the relocation taking about 24 hours to complete. This is from the start of the backups in RTP to the full usability of the system in Burlington. Of course uncle Murphy will probably pay us a visit since we are working on such a tight time line, but we’ll keep our fingers crossed.
Some other upcoming fun management has us looking at is Linux server consolidation on a Z platform (hmm, maybe we can get a z/VM system here) and running Websphere on OS/390. Both will prove to be an interesting task for someone.
This month Ed Webb from SAS will be giving us a presentation on his visit to SHARE in San Francisco. I look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday, September 27th, at LabCorp RTP. Subs, drinks, and dessert will be provided.
Future Speakers
(subject to change)
August 27 SHARE Report by Ed Webb of SAS
Sept. 24 CA-TLMS to RMM Conversion by Tommy Thomas of LabCorp
October 29 TBA
We need ideas and volunteers for future speakers. Presentations don’t have to be fancy, just informative and interesting. Even a 5 or 10 minute talk can start an interesting interaction. Contact Duane Reaugh by phone or e-mail as noted below.
2002-2003 SPARTA
Board of Directors
Brad Carson - President
LabCorp 919-572-7504
1912 Alexander Drive
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
Duane Reaugh - Vice President
DTS Software 919-833-8426
2913 Wake Forest Road
Raleigh, NC 27609-7841
Mike Lockey - Secretary
Guilford Co. Information Services 336-412-6235
201 N. Eugene St. 336-227-2021 (Home)
Greensboro, NC 27401
Tommy Thomas - Treasurer
LabCorp 336-436-4178
231 Maple Ave, Koury Ctr 3rd Fl. 919-572-7507
Burlington, NC 27215
Ed Webb - Communications Director
SAS Institute 919-531-4162
SAS Campus Drive 919-362-0232 (Home)
Cary, NC 27513
Meetings
Meetings are scheduled for the last Tuesday evening of each month (except no meeting in December), with optional dinner at 6:15 p.m. and the meeting beginning at 7:00 p.m.
These monthly meetings are held at LabCorp’s Center for Molecular Biology and Pathology (CMBP) near the Research Triangle Park (see last page). Take I-40 to Miami Boulevard and go north. Turn right onto Alexander Drive. Go about a mile or so. Then turn right into LabCorp complex and turn Left to the CMBP Building. In the lobby, sign in as a visitor to see Brad Carson. Brad will escort you to the conference room.
Call for Articles
If you have any ideas for speakers, presentations, newsletter articles, or are interested in taking part in a presentation, PLEASE contact one of the Board of Directors with your suggestions.
Newsletter Mailings
The SPARTA chapter policy is to mail a copy of the monthly chapter newsletter to each SPARTA member, NaSPA national, each advertiser, persons who have requested a copy, and to other chapters who send us a copy of their newsletter. The newsletter is mailed about the 20th of each month so you can prepare for the meeting. The mailing list is maintained by Mike Lockey at (336) 412-6235; if you have corrections or problems receiving your newsletter, call Mike.
July 2002 CBT Tape Online
The directory and files from the latest CBT tape V449 (dated July 21, 2002) are available from www.cbttape.org.
If you need a complete tape, contact Brad Carson at LabCorp or Ed Webb at SAS (see Board of Director’s list for contact info).
Minutes of the July 30th, 2002 Meeting
•Meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by Brad Carson, the Chapter President.
•Sixteen (16) people were present; fourteen (14) were members.
•Everyone in the room introduced themselves, told where they worked, and briefly described their job function.
•Minutes of the June 2002 meeting were accepted as published in the July 2002 newsletter.
•Tommy Thomas, the Chapter Treasurer, gave the Treasurer’s report. As of July 30, 2002, the balance is $738.68.
OLD BUSINESS
•Articles are needed for this newsletter. If you would like to write an article for this newsletter, please contact Ed Webb. Keep in mind that you don’t really need to write the article, it can be an article that you read that you would like to share with the membership.
•The SPARTA Web page is now available. To access the SPARTA Web page, point your Web browser to this site: www.netpath.net/~mlockey/sparta.html. Please send any comments or suggestions about the Web page to Mike Lockey (mlockey@netpath.net). Be sure to check the Web page every once in a while to see any new or changed information.
•Brad reminded everyone to keep the conference room clean; wipe off the conference table and remove all trash when the meeting is over.
NEW BUSINESS
•Future Speakers and Topics:
August 2002 - SHARE Report by Ed Webb of SAS
September 2002 - TBA
Other ideas:
- Conversion to RMM - Tommy Thomas
- TDMF - Ken Frump
- WLM Goal Mode - Jim Horne
- UNIX Services for OS/390
- IBM New Announcements
- CICS Web Bridge
If you have suggestions about speakers and topics, contact Duane Reaugh.
•Food for the August 2002 meeting will be subs, sodas, and dessert.
•The August SPARTA meeting will be held at LabCorp in RTP.
•Thanks to Brad Carson of LabCorp for hosting the July meeting.
•Duane Reaugh canvassed the members on some options for DASD monitoring software. Questions such as should the entire monitoring process be all MVS based or partially running on UNIX servers? Do we think it should be Linux based? For our assistance and opinions, DTS paid for the food for the meeting.
•The business portion of the meeting ended at 7:35 p.m.
•Ken Reed of StorageTeK spoke on STK Virtual Tape Manager for Disaster Recovery. Topics included:
-VTSS (Virtual Tape Storage System) basic review
-Different types of real tape drives and options
-9840 = fast access
-9940 = high capacity
-Consolidation / Remote vaulting
-Export / Import options at the recovery site
-Clustered VTSS
-Multiple ACS
-Lower to higher levels of data protection
-Tape management class invoking options
-Many mix and match options discussed
-By end of the year, can make 3 copies
-STK flexibility gives you many options
•The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 PM.
Treasurer’s Report for August 2002
contributed by Tommy Thomas
The balance in the account is $ 958.68 as of August 12, 2002.
Financial Report
3/01/2002 through 8/12/2002
INCOME
Opening Balance 693.15
Total Deposits 490.00
TOTAL INCOME $1183.15
EXPENSES
Food 203.47
Petty Cash 160.00
Bank Service Fees 21.00
TOTAL EXPENSE $384.47
BANK BALANCE 798.68
PETTY CASH($160) 160.00
TOTAL CASH $958.68
Items of Interest
New IBM z/OS 1.4 and 1.5 and Future Release Strategy
contributed by Ed Webb
(Ed. note: This excerpt from http://www.ibmlink.ibm.com/usalets&parms=H_202-190)
IBM announces the fourth release of z/OS, the flagship operating system of the IBM mainframe. z/OS V1.4 and z/OS.e V1.4 will be generally available on September 27, 2002. V1.4 continues IBM's investment in z/OS as its strategic high-end operating system. z/OS, together with the zSeries servers, provides leading autonomic technologies such as the self-optimizing flexibility of Intelligent Resource Director, the automation of msys for Operations, and the fast virtual server networking of HiperSockets.
New features of z/OS V1.4 include extended TCP/IP network addressing with IPv6 protocols, more self-optimization of batch workloads across a sysplex cluster, more self-configuring with improvements to msys for Setup, and enhancements to LDAP security and authentication.
New Release Strategy for z/OS
IBM continues to address customer requirements with the introduction of a new release strategy for z/OS and z/OS.e. Customers should migrate to z/OS V1.4 and exploit the rich functions of z/OS, zSeries servers, and middleware. z/OS V1.4 will also be the base for exploiting future zSeries server enhancements.
IBM will no longer be delivering z/OS releases on a six-month schedule responding to customer feedback that the current release cycle is too short and complicates customer migration plans. The vast majority of OS/390 and z/OS customers migrate to new releases every 12 to 18 months. The new z/OS release plan will enable customers to take advantage of z/OS V1.4 as a staging release. Less frequent releases in the future will allow IBM to provide even more integration testing for z/OS and related IBM middleware.
New z/OS and z/OS.e functions will continue to be delivered between releases through the normal maintenance stream or as Web deliverables. In addition, significant new function may be delivered between releases as features of the product. For example, in 4Q2003, a new feature of z/OS V1.4 is planned to be available that provides enhancements to console availability.
The next z/OS and z/OS.e release, z/OS V1.5, is planned to be delivered in first quarter 2004. This release will not require a zSeries server; however, many functions of z/OS will not be available when running on older technology servers (G5/G6/MP3000). The next release after z/OS V1.5 is planned to be available in September 2004. Starting with the September 2004 release, it is IBM's intention to deliver z/OS and z/OS.e releases on an annual basis.
z/OS continues to be IBM's strategic high-end operating system, and will maintain its leading edge in mainframe characteristics, including scalability, availability, flexibility, and autonomic computing.
For the zSeries customer, z/OS, and not OS/390, is an intended base for future IBM Grid and Project eLiza enhancements, extending the zSeries platform's industry leading quality-of-service, availability, and security capabilities to distributed, heterogeneous infrastructures. zSeries with z/OS will be uniquely positioned as a key component in eUtility, Transactional, and Business Process Grids, and autonomic computing environments.
IBM Stabilizes SUF; DB2 will support 64-bit Virtual
contributed by Ed Webb
(Ed. note: This excerpt from http://www.ibmlink.ibm.com/usalets&parms=H_202-190)
Statement of Direction
These statements represent current intentions of IBM. IBM development plans are subject to change or withdrawal without further notice.
Any reliance on this Statement of Direction is at the relying party's sole risk and will not create any liability or obligation for IBM.
IBM plans to take the following actions in the future.
•The next z/OS release, z/OS V1.5, is planned to be delivered in first quarter 2004. The next release after z/OS V1.5 is planned to be available in September 2004. Starting with the September 2004 release, it is IBM's intention to deliver z/OS releases on an annual basis.
•IBM plans to remove Object Access Method (OAM) support for Filenet 9246 optical libraries, 9247 optical drives, and 12-inch optical media in z/OS 1.5. If optical is a requirement, these filenet devices and media can be replaced with IBM 3995 optical devices and media. If optical is not required, the data can be transitioned to any z/OS-supported tape media or to DB2 tables on standard disk devices.
•IBM's strategy is to provide entitled service ordering and service delivery capabilities for the z/OS and OS/390 platform products electronically using the Internet. IBM intends to position ShopzSeries as the primary ordering and delivery method for software service on these platforms. The S/390® Service Update Facility (SUF) is being stabilized and additional requirements will be addressed via ShopzSeries. Existing worldwide fee services offerings that deliver z/OS and OS/390 software service will continue to provide delivery via physical and electronic media.
•IBM plans to deliver 64-bit virtual storage addressing for the DB2 for z/OS product in a future release. The future release of DB2 for z/OS, with 64-bit virtual address support, will be able to execute only on IBM zSeries 900 (z900) and IBM zSeries 800 (z800), or equivalent, running z/OS V1.3 or later, not z/OS V1.2, as previously stated in Software Announcement 201-248 <http://www.ibmlink.ibm.com/usalets&parms=H_201-248> , dated September 11, 2001. DB2 V6 (5645-DB2) and V7 (5675-DB2) already support 64-bit real storage addressing for data space buffers.
More Questions...
contributed by Chris Blackshire
How come wrong numbers are never busy?
Do people in Australia call the rest of the world “up over”?
Does killing time damage eternity?
Why is it that night falls but day breaks?
Why is the third hand on the watch called a second hand?
Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?
Are part-time band leaders semi-conductors?
Can you buy an entire chess set in a pawnshop?
Daylight savings time. Why are they saving it and where do they keep it?
Did Noah keep his bees in ArcHives?
Do pilots take crash-courses?
Do stars clean themselves with meteor showers?
Do you think that when they asked George Washington for ID that he just whipped out a quarter?
Have you ever seen a toad on a toadstool?
How can there be self-help “groups”?
How do you get off a non-stop flight?
How do you write zero in Roman numerals?
How many weeks are there in a light year?
If Barbie’s so popular, why do you have to buy all her friends?
If blind people wear dark glasses, why don’t deaf people wear earmuffs?
If space is a vacuum, who changes the bags?
If tin whistles are made out of tin, what do they make fog horns out of?
If you shouldn’t drink and drive, why do bars have parking lots?
If you jog backwards, will you gain weight?
Why do the signs that say “Slow Children” have a picture of a running child?
Why do they call it “chili” if it’s hot?
Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?
One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor.
Could it be that all those trick-or-treaters wearing sheets aren’t going as ghosts but as mattresses?
If a mute swears, does his mother wash his hands with soap?
If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is it considered a hostage situation?
Isn’t it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do “practice?”
Where do forest rangers go to “get away from it all?”
Why do they lock gas station bathrooms? Are they afraid someone will clean them?
If the police arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to remain silent?
How do they get the deer to cross at that yellow road sign?
Is it true that cannibals don’t eat clowns because they taste funny?
Why is it called tourist season if we can’t shoot at them?
If the “black box” flight recorder is never damaged during a plane crash, why isn’t the whole airplane made out of that stuff?
If you spin an oriental man in a circle three times, does he become disoriented?
Don’t Forget the Next SPARTA Meeting
Tuesday, August 27, 2002
Location: LabCorp in the RTP
Take I-40 to Miami Boulevard and go north. Turn right onto Alexander Drive. Go about a mile or so. Then turn right into LabCorp complex and turn left to the CMBP Building. In the lobby, sign in as a visitor to see Brad Carson. Brad will escort you to the conference room.
Free Food: Subs, Drinks, Dessert
Program:
August 2002 SHARE Conference Report
Speakers:
Ed Webb of SAS
SPARTA News
P.O. Box 13194
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-3194
First Class Postage
Phillips Software
