SPARTA News February 2004
February 2004
SPARTA Chapter President’s Corner
- by Brad Carson
So far this year we haven’t been able to hold a meeting on the usual scheduled day yet. The ice storm caused us to cancel the January meeting and now other conflicts have made us move the February meeting up one week. It looks like 2004 is going to be an interesting year if this keeps happening.
I have managed to crawl through the paperwork required to get the first few modifications to SA/390 implemented, but I’ve had to kill a number of trees producing the documentation. It took a 30 page document to update SA/390 to start and monitor the TWS extended agent on two of our systems in King of Prussia PA! Oh well, this is the life of FDA Validated systems. At least know I’m making some headway with my change spreadsheet that I mentioned last month.
Over at DDA, I’ve been able to reconfigure the FLEX system to remove the OS/390 2.9 instance and reassign the DASD space to the z/OS 1.4 systems. The FLEX configuration kind of reminds me of the old MVS sysgens (pre MVSCP and HCD). Now I’m helping them add socket support to their CICS applications using the standard CICS socket support supplied by IBM with the TCPIP stack.
As some of you could tell by the e-mails that have gone to SPARTA-L, we have a few members looking for work. If any of you hear or see anything that might help, please post a message to SPARTA-L@yahoogroups.com so we all can be informed.
This month we will be having a presentation from Goeff Sinn, CEO of The Salem Group. I look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday, the 17th, at LabCorp RTP. Be sure to ask for Tommy Thomas. BarBQ, drinks, and dessert will be provided.
2003-2004 SPARTA
Board of Directors
Brad Carson - President
GlaxoSmithKline 919-483-2348
5 Moore Drive; D.111
RTP, 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 usually 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 Tommy Thomas. Tommy 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.
September 2003 CBT Tape Online
The directory and files from the latest CBT tape V462 (dated September 15, 2003) are available from www.cbttape.org.
If you need a complete tape, contact Brad Carson at GlaxoSmithKline or Ed Webb at SAS (see Board of Director’s list for contact info).
Minutes of the January 27th, 2004 Meeting
•Meeting was cancelled because of snow and ice.
Treasurer’s Report for February 2004
contributed by Tommy Thomas
The balance in the account is $ 1015.91 as of February 11, 2004.
Financial Report
2/01/2003 through 02/11/2004
INCOME
Opening Balance 672.90
Dues 860.00
Misc. 0.00
TOTAL INCOME $1532.90
EXPENSES
Food 549.78
Petty Cash 0.00
Bank Service Fees 0.00
P.O. Box 38.00
Web Site 38.70
TOTAL EXPENSE $ 626.48
BANK BALANCE 906.42
PETTY CASH($160) 109.49
TOTAL CASH $1015.91
Items of Interest
SPARTA Food Menu for 2004
contributed by Chris Blackshire
Feb. - BarBQ
Mar - Pizza
Apr - Chicken
May - Subs
June - BarBQ
July - Pizza
Aug. - Chicken
Sept. - Subs
Oct. - BarBQ
Nov. - Pizza
z/OS 1.5 Announcement and z/OS 1.6 Preview
contributed by Ed Webb
(Ed. note : following is a summary provided by Ray Horton, a Senior Systems Engineer at Mainline Information Systems)
Today (Tuesday, Feb. 10), IBM is announcing the general availability of z/OS and z/OS.e 1.5, delivering innovative security technology. This fifth release of z/OS is the first and only IBM operating system to provide Multilevel Security. This technology can help improve the way government agencies and other organizations share critical classified information.
Other enhancements in z/OS 1.5 include extended self-optimization of WebSphere applications, improved backup and recovery of DB2 data, improved performance for DFSORT, and expanded scope for Intrusion Detection Services.
z/OS 1.5 can also help simplify the management of z/OS with a new front end for managing print across the enterprise, improved navigation of the z/OS library, and easier setup of DB2, RMF and FTP on z/OS.
z/OS 1.5 is planned to be available on March 26, 2004.
z/OS.e is a specially priced offering of z/OS providing select z/OS function for the z800 server. This product offering is intended to help you exploit the fast growing world of next generation e-business?using z800 mainframe technology and the attractively priced z/OS.e to deploy new applications.
z/OS 1.5 enhancements. What's new in z/OS?
Multilevel Security -Combined with IBM's DB2 UDB for z/OS Version 8, z/OS provides multilevel security on the zSeries mainframe to help meet the stringent security requirements of government agencies and financial institutions, and can open up new options for e-hosting facilities. Multilevel security technology allows IT administrators to give users access to information based on their need to know, or clearance level. It is designed to prevent individuals from accessing unauthorized information and to prevent individuals from declassifying information.
With multilevel security support in IBM's z/OS 1.5 and DB2 V8, customers can enable a single repository of data to be managed at the row level and accessed by individuals based on their need to know. For example, a person with a top secret clearance will be able to access more information in a database than someone without that clearance level.
Self-optimizing - z/OS 1.5 simplifies WLM control for WebSphere. Customers now have the choice to manually define WebSphere application environments for WLM or have WebSphere define them as and when required.
Performance - DFSMS can significantly enhance application backup by enabling DFSMShsm to utilize volume level fast replication. The fast backup is designed to exploit the FlashCopy® and virtual concurrent copy capability of IBM TotalStorage® Enterprise Storage Server® and IBM RAMAC® Virtual Array (RVA) respectively. DFSMShsm Fast Replication in z/OS 1.5 also provides a fast, easy to use backup and recovery solution specifically designed for DB2 Universal Database? (UDB) for z/OS V8. Fast, nondisruptive backups can be taken at appropriate events when there is minimum activity at the application level or when a fast point-in-time backup is desired.
DFSORT® now uses the 64-bit virtual storage of z/OS and zSeries servers to deliver significant performance improvements.
Security ? Intrusion Detection Services were introduced in z/OS 1.2. The scope of these services are extended in z/OS 1.5.
Simplified management ? Infoprint Central is a graphical user interface for managing print jobs and printers across systems. The Library Center for z/OS is a new internet facility to access the z/OS library, with enhanced search facilities.
Managed System for Setup (msys for Setup) is an element of z/OS that makes it easier to define and configure technologies on z/OS. With z/OS 1.5 four new technologies are supported by msys for Setup: RMF, FTP, ISPF and DB2 UDB for z/OS V8.
Previewing z/OS 1.6:
IBM is also previewing z/OS 1.6 which is planned to be available in September, 2004. Key enhancements include enabling a larger single image with support for more than 16 engines in a single z/OS image, and 64-bit application development support for C/C++. z/OS 1.6 is also planned to provide improved availability of TCP/IP networks across a sysplex, and extended scope of DFSMSrmm to manage tapes across platforms.
z/OS 1.6 will be the first release of z/OS that requires a zSeries server (z800, z900, z990).
Additional z/OS Information
The z/OS Bimodal Accommodation Offering will not be delivered with z/OS 1.5. Customers running z/OS 1.2, 1.3, or 1.4 should be encouraged to move to zSeries servers before migrating to z/OS V1.5.
z/OS 1.4 ordering has been extended to September 9, 2004 and coincides with the end of ordering for z/OS 1.5. However, customers are encouraged to place their orders early, and before August 31, 2004 to ensure adequate time for order processing.
Don’t Forget the Next SPARTA Meeting
Special Date: Tuesday, February 17, 2004
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 Tommy Thomas. Tommy will escort you to the conference room.
Free Food: BarBQ, Drinks, Dessert
Program (postponed from January):
Service Replication for the Masses
Speaker:
Geoff Sinn, CEO of The Salem Group
SPARTA News
P.O. Box 13194
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-3194
First Class Postage
Phillips Software
