SPARTA News August 2003
August 2003
SPARTA Chapter President’s Corner
- by Brad Carson
August is here and finally, after 3+ years of asking, I was able to attend SHARE in Washington DC. I haven't been to SHARE since the spring of 1999 (San Francisco) and had a lot of catching up to do. As always there was plenty to learn and lots to do (like trying to find a warm session room). The addition of wireless networking made using the laptop very easy to do. Right now I'm still trying to assimilate all the information and write my travel report for management. Once I have that done you will see it as an article in a future newsletter.
Here we are still working on building the two parallel sysplex systems (and the implied DASD cleanup) as we have time available. We have to drop what we are doing to fight tuning fires on both the HDS Skyline and IBM 9672 systems. Hopefully we will be able to replace these systems soon with something a little more current. Then we might be able to think about installing z/OS 1.4.
We are still fighting the battles to get Debug Tool running properly in CICS, and now we have a nasty little problem with getting S613-04 abends on certain FDR jobs using virtual tape (STK VSM). We've been scratching our heads on this one quite a bit. For some reason this error only occurs when trying to read an FDR/ABR volume after it has been created (Tommy Thomas can give you all the gory details). Like the CICS Debug Tool issue, watch this space for future developments.
This month we will have a presentation on "SHARE in Washington DC" by Duane Reaugh (and others). Unfortunately I cannot attend this month’s meeting because of a SA/390 class in Atlanta, Georgia. I look forward to seeing you all next month.
Your host this month will be Tommy Thomas. He looks forward to seeing you all on the 26th at LabCorp RTP. Subs, drinks, and dessert will be provided.
Future Speakers
(subject to change)
August 26 - SHARE Conference Report by Duane Reaugh of DTS Software
Sept. 30 - 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 as noted below.
2003-2004 SPARTA
Board of Directors
Brad Carson - President
LabCorp 919-361-7270
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 336-641-6235
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. 919-361-7267
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 2003 CBT Tape Online
The directory and files from the latest CBT tape V461 (dated July 17, 2003) 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 29th, 2003 Meeting
•Meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by Brad Carson, the Chapter President.
•Eleven (11) or more people were present; most were members.
•Everyone in the room introduced themselves, told where they worked, and briefly described their job function.
•Minutes of the June 2003 meeting were accepted as published in the July 2003 newsletter.
•Tommy Thomas, the Chapter Treasurer, gave the Treasurer’s report. As of July 19, 2003, the balance is $1309.73.
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.
•You can access the SPARTA Web site, just point your Web browser to this URL: http://www.spartanc.org. Please send any comments or suggestions about the SPARTA website to Mike Lockey. Be sure to check our website every once in a while to see any new or changed information.
•Brad Carson reminded everyone to continue to make sure the conference room is clean before we leave the meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
•Future Speakers and Topics:
August 2003 - Duane Reaugh on SHARE Conference in D.C.
Other ideas:
- New release of IOF - Triangle Systems
- CMG Conference - Jim Horne of Lowe's
If you have suggestions about speakers and topics, contact Duane Reaugh.
•Food for the August 2003 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 June meeting.
•The business portion of the meeting ended at 7:30 p.m.
•Jim Horne of Lowe’s talked about the MVS I/O Limitations. Some of the topics discussed:
CHPIDs
256 Total (not enough)
96 FICON (hardware limit on z900)
512 Total on z990 (still 256 per LPAR)
Limits being revised in the future
CECs
15 LPARs (soon to be 30 on z990)
16 CPUs per LPAR (z/OS limit) though z990 has 32 CPUs
DASD Control Units
EMC
IBM (Shark)
Devices
64,535 (63K)
IBM 2105 (Shark) burns 256 devices per control unit if you use PAVs
EMC PAV limits you to 7 UCBs per base address
IBM Shark has no limits
Miscellany
Number of additional tape volumes defaults to max of 5
65,535 tracks is max for non-extended format data set (can anyone say JES or page?)
Number of GDGs is limited to 255
59 DASD volumes is it!
•The meeting ended at 8:30 p.m.
Treasurer’s Report for August 2003
contributed by Tommy Thomas
The balance in the account is $ 1267.07 as of August 17, 2003.
Financial Report
2/01/2003 through 08/17/2003
INCOME
Opening Balance 672.90
Dues 840.00
Misc. 0.00
TOTAL INCOME $1512.90
EXPENSES
Food 296.57
Petty Cash 0.00
Bank Service Fees 0.00
P.O. Box 0.00
TOTAL EXPENSE $296.57
BANK BALANCE 1216.33
PETTY CASH($160) 50.74
TOTAL CASH $1267.07
Items of Interest
SPARTA Food Menu for 2003
contributed by Chris Blackshire
August - subs
September - BarBQ
October - Pizza
November - Chicken
Humor
Sysplex Timers on the Side
contributed by Chris Blackshire
Sent: Monday, June 23, 2003 8:23 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@BAMA.UA.EDU
Subject: 9037-001 Sysplex Timer
Hello Listers,
Due to an exercise to rationalise floor-space in the Data Centre, the two 9037-001 Sysplex Timers we have were relocated from being laid flat on a desk to being placed on their sides to save on space. Ever since they were placed on their sides, we have been receiving a message indicating that the 'time drift' is greater than the tolerated 4.99 seconds. I have been searching everywhere to find the "Sysplex Timer Planning" manual without much success. Does anyone have a definitive answer as to whether or not the timers can be placed on their sides?
Thanks,
Roger
Sent: Monday, June 23, 2003 8:37 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@BAMA.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: 9037-001 Sysplex Timer
Roger,
Why not place them back upright and see what happens?
Kevin
Reply-To: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@BAMA.UA.EDU>
Subject: Re: 9037-001 Sysplex Timer
WAIT! Before you do that, flip them over on the other side and you'll regain the lost time :-)
Reminds me of the old Far Side cartoon about the TV repairman who appears at a home of people whose heads are tilted 90 degrees. Seems the TV fell over.
Yet Another New Virus
contributed by Chris Blackshire
There is a new virus. The code name is "WORK".
If you receive "WORK", from your colleagues, your boss, via e-mail or anyone else, do not touch "WORK" under any circumstances. This virus wipes out your private life completely.
If you should happen to come in contact with this virus, take two good friends and go straight to the nearest bar. Order three drinks and after repeating 14 times, you will find that "WORK" has been completely deleted from your brain.
Forward this virus warning immediately to at least 5 friends.
Should you realize that you do not have 5 friends, this means that you are already infected by this virus and "WORK" already controls your whole life.
If this is the case, stay in the bar until you make at least 5 friends and then retry.
Eternal Truths Humour
contributed by Tom Schwartz
Junk is something you've kept for years and throw away three weeks before you need it.
Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
Middle age is when broadness of the mind and narrowness of the waist change places.
Once over the hill, you pick up speed.
Don’t Forget the Next SPARTA Meeting
Tuesday, August 26, 2003
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:
SHARE Conference Report
Speakers:
Duane Reaugh of DTS Software
SPARTA News
P.O. Box 13194
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-3194
First Class Postage
Phillips Software
