SPARTA News August 2004

August 2004

SPARTA Chapter President’s Corner

- by Brad Carson

It's August which means that SHARE is here again. I wasn't able to make it to New York City this time, but I'm going to try for Anaheim next February though! I hope that the members of SPARTA that were able to go had a good time and enjoyed the "Big Apple". I look forward to their presentation in September.

I've been busy working on some issues that have come up because of a no console situation. Network problems in our Operations area caused us to lose all consoles sessions to our 2074s (we have two). z/OS never saw the master console go offline and backed up until we have WTO buffer exhaustion. Once we got through that a couple of things were changed. First, a local console session was defined on the 2074 (K S,DEL=R) so that z/OS can switch MSTCONS to that session when all others fail. Second, an automation rule was added to AutoOperator to locate and clear any console that is backing up WTO buffers (this rule is fired off of the WTO Buffers 80% full message). We shouldn't see this situation again (I hope).

Another task that has been keeping me busy is working with RACF. Because of audit findings, I created some daily jobs to report on RACF events that occur. Some of the reporting being done is: audit list of all access to production data sets, list of all violations, and access granted by having the Operations attribute. Then to make my life a little easier, I got these reports defined to our report archive system (Control/D) so I don't have to track paper reports. Still have a little cleaning up to do in the RACF database but that will occur over some time.

This month our speaker will be Randy Chalfant, the Chief Technologist from StorageTek (www.storagetek.com). He will be talking to us about the what's new and changing at STK. I look forward to seeing you all on the 31st at LabCorp RTP. Be sure to ask for Tommy Thomas. Chicken, drinks, and dessert will be provided.

2004-2005 SPARTA
Board of Directors

Brad Carson - President
Duke Health Technology Services 919-286-6392
2200 West Main Street, Suite 450
Durham, NC 27705

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.

July 2004 CBT Tape Online

The directory and files from the latest CBT tape V466 (dated July 25, 2004) are available from www.cbttape.org.

If you need help obtaining one or more files, contact Brad Carson at Duke Health or Ed Webb at SAS (see Board of Director’s list for contact info).

Minutes of the July 27th, 2004 Meeting

•Meeting was called to order at 7:05 PM by Brad Carson, the Chapter President.

•Eight (8) people were present; seven (7) were members.

•Everyone in the room introduced themselves, told where they worked, and briefly described their job function.

•The minutes of June 2004 meeting were accepted as published in the July 2004 newsletter.

•Tommy Thomas, the Chapter Treasurer, gave the Treasurer's report. As of July 27, 2004, the balance is $1595.43. Motion was made and approved to accept the Treasurer's Report.

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 available. To access the SPARTA Web page, point your Web browser to this site: http://www.spartanc.org. Please send any comments or suggestions about the Web page to Mike Lockey. Be sure to check the Web page every once in a while to see any new or changed information.

•Brad reminded everyone to continue keeping the conference room clean.


NEW BUSINESS

•Future Speakers and Topics:
(subject to change)

August 2004 STK New Products
Sept. 2004 SHARE Conference Reports

If you have suggestions about speakers and topics, contact Duane Reaugh.

•Thanks to Tommy Thomas of LabCorp for hosting the June meeting.

•The August SPARTA meeting will be held at LabCorp in RTP.

•Food for the August meeting will be chicken, soda and dessert.

•The business portion of the meeting ended at 7:40PM.

•Jim Walker of Triangle Systems talked about IOF Latest Status.

Some of the topics Jim discussed were:

IOF - Latest Status

Release 7J

Available in August 2004
Supports all versions of OS/390 and z/OS 1.1 to 1.5
Downloadable from web as a single file
SORT Enhancements
New FIELD Command
New Profile Options for Snap and Find Commands
Progress Messages for Long Snap and Find Commands
Improved MVS/JES2 Command Interface Panel
Improved TSO Command Interface panel
New Snap Panel Commands

Release 7H

z/OS 1.4 Support
Spun JESLOG Support
Sysout Data Set Compare Command
Internal REXX Execs
Enclave CPU Time Display
Job Summary Display of Forked UNIX Address Spaces

Our commitment

Provide timely support for all JES2 releases
Add new features in response to customer input
Address SDSF compatibility issues
Enhance the IOF development infrastructure
Maintain our high standards for technical support

The meeting ended at 8:35 p.m.

Treasurer’s Report for August 2004

contributed by Tommy Thomas

The balance in the account is $ 1531.74 as of August 14, 2004.

Financial Report
2/01/2004 through 08/14/2004

Items of Interest

SPARTA Food Menu for 2004

contributed by Chris Blackshire

Aug. - Chicken
Sept. - Subs
Oct. - BarBQ
Nov. - Pizza

SHARE Teaser

contributed by Ed Webb

AIM High (and soon) If you are running Unix System Services, be sure to migrate to RACF AIM Phase 3 whether or not your shop does any Unix System Services beyond TCPIP and FTP. Why? Performance!

Be at the September SPARTA meeting and hear the details along with other Hints and Tips gleaned from the August 2004 SHARE Conference in New York City (see www.share.org). Ed Webb of SAS and Duane Reaugh of DTS Software will report; possibly others. The September meeting is planned for SAS instead of our usual RTP location.

Humor

IBM in a Time all Their Own

Contributed by Ed Webb

If you use the 8.5"x11 “one month to the page” IBM Calendar, there is a bug in the day numbers. Starting on August 1, the day number is printed as 215-151. July 31 was 213-153. Appears that day 214 was skipped.

Good news, it makes it up at the end of the month. The Calendar goes:

August 30 day 244
August 31 day
Sept 1 day 245


Tech Birds and Bees

Contributed by Chris Blackshire

SON SAYS: Daddy, how was I born?

DAD SAYS: Ah, well, my son, one day you will need to find out anyway! Mom and Dad got together in a chat room on MSN. Dad set up a date via e-mail with your mom and we met at a cybercafe. We sneaked into a secluded room, and then your mother downloaded from dad's memory stick. As soon as dad was ready for an upload, it was discovered that neither one of us had used a firewall. Since it was too late to hit the delete button, nine months later the blessed little virus appeared. And that's the story.


30 Years Difference

Contributed by Chris Blackshire

The people who are starting college this fall across the nation were born in 1985. They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up.

Their lifetime has always included AIDS.

Bottle caps have always been screw off and plastic.

The CD was introduced the year they were born.

They have always had an answering machine.

They have always had cable.

They cannot fathom not having a remote control.

Jay Leno has always been on the Tonight Show.

Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave.

They never took a swim and thought about Jaws.

They can't imagine what hard contact lenses are.

They don't know who Mork was or where he was from.

They never heard: "Where's the Beef?", "I'd walk a mile for a Camel" or "de plane Boss, de plane."

They do not care who shot J. R. and have no idea who J. R. even is.

McDonald's never came in Styrofoam containers.

They don't have a clue how to use a typewriter.

Do you feel old yet? Pass this on to the other old fogies on your list. Notice the larger type? That's for those of you who have trouble reading the smaller print!


Outrageous Short Ones

Contributed by Chris Blackshire

Two antennas meet on a roof, fall in love and get married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was excellent.

Two hydrogen atoms walk into a bar. One says, "I've lost my electron."
The other says, "Are you sure?"
The first replies, "Yes, I'm positive..."

A jumper cable walks into a bar. The bartender says, "I'll serve you, but don't start anything."

Two peanuts walk into a bar, and one was a salted.

A sandwich walks into a bar. The bartender says, "Sorry we don't serve food in here."

A man walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm and says: "A beer please, and one for the road."

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One says to the other: "Does this taste funny to you?"

"Doc, I can't stop singing 'The Green, Green Grass of Home.'"
"That sounds like Tom Jones Syndrome."
"Is it common?"
"It's Not Unusual."

Two cows standing next to each other in a field, Daisy says to Dolly, "I was artificially inseminated this morning."
"I don't believe you," said Dolly.
"It's true, no bull!" exclaimed Daisy.

An invisible man marries an invisible woman. The kids were nothing to look at either.

Deja Moo: The feeling that you've heard this bull before.

A man takes his Rottweiler to the vet and says, "My dog's cross-eyed, is there anything you can do for him?"
"Well," says the vet, "let's have a look at him." So he picks the dog up and examines his eyes, then checks his teeth. Finally, he says, "I'm going to have to put him down."
"What? Because he's cross-eyed?"
No, because he's really heavy."

Apparently, one in five people in the world are Chinese. And there are five people in my family, so it must be one of them. It's either my mom or my dad, or maybe my older brother Colin or my younger brother Ho-Cha-Chu. But I'm pretty sure it's Colin.

I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day but I couldn't find any.

I went to the butcher's the other day and I bet him 50 bucks that he couldn't reach the meat off the top shelf. He said, "No, the steaks are too high."

A man woke up in a hospital after a serious accident. He shouted, "Doctor, doctor, I can't feel my legs!"
The doctor replied, "I know you can't - I've cut off your arms!"

I went to a seafood disco last week...and pulled a mussel.

Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly; but when they lit a fire in the craft, it sank, proving that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.

What do you call a fish with no eyes? A fish.

Membership Information

Don’t Forget the Next SPARTA Meeting

Tuesday, August 31, 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: Chicken, Drinks, Dessert

Program :

Data Storage Trends and Futures

Speaker:

Randy Chalfant, Chief Technologist at StorageTek

SPARTA News
P.O. Box 13194
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-3194












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