SPARTA News August 2006

August 2006

SPARTA President’s Corner

by Brad Carson

August is here and that can only mean one thing. It's time for the semi annual SHARE trip report. I haven't been in Baltimore in about 30 years. The inner harbor was a very good place to hold a conference, everything was within walking distance. We were also lucky that the humidity was not bad during the week. We were told that it was rather high the week before.

Well, our work with the OIT department at university has turned into a full DR restore of their system in our TEST lpar. I made up a new OS configuration in our IODF data set that removed all of our PROD lpar DASD (for HIPAA concerns). Added our test lpar console definitions to the OIT parmlib and updated the TCPIP configuration to use the OSA interface that is cabled to the university's network. After contacting the software vendors for temporary keys, we have everything there except for HSM level 2 tapes. Of course the first job someone wants to run during the test needs to recall a data set from HSM level 2.

At DDA I've been involved with working on an I-Series (AS/400) system. They received a new one to replace the old one when it had a major hardware (DASD) failure. This new one has an IP enabled console interface (instead of a dedicated 5250) that needed to be setup. The vendor had gotten incorrect information and was trying to use the same IP address for the console that was designated for use on the IP stack. All they could say was oops!

This month our speakers will be Duane Reaugh from DTS Software and I to talk about our trip to SHARE 107 in Baltimore. I look forward to seeing you all at LabCorp on the 29th.

P.S. Pizza, drinks, and dessert will be provided.


Future Speakers
(subject to change)

August 29 - Review of Baltimore SHARE by Duane Reaugh and Brad Carson
Sept. 26 - RACF Update by Mark Nelson of IBM (Special Location: SAS Education Center in Cary)

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 Ron Pimblett by phone as noted below.

2006-2007 SPARTA
Board of Directors

Brad Carson - President
Duke Health Technology Solutions 919-668-0545
2424 Ervin Road, Suite 9000
Durham, NC 27710

Ron Pimblett - Vice President
Dignus, LLC 919-676-0847
8354 Six Forks Road
Raleigh, NC 27615

Mike Lockey - Secretary
Guilford Co. Information Services 336-641-6235
201 N. Eugene St.
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
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 e-Mailings

The SPARTA policy is to e-mail a monthly notice to our SPARTA-L Group. The newsletter is posted to the website about five (5) days before each meeting so you can prepare. The SPARTA-L Group is maintained by Mike Lockey at (336) 641-6235; if you have corrections or problems receiving your meeting notice, contact Mike.

February 2006 CBT Tape Online

The directory and files from the latest CBT tape V471 (dated February 28, 2006) 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 25th, 2006 Meeting

•Meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by Brad Carson, the Chapter President.

•Twelve (12) people were present; nine (9) were members.

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

•The minutes of June 2006 meeting were accepted as published in the July 2006 newsletter.

•Tommy Thomas, the Chapter Treasurer, gave the Treasurer's report. As of July 23, 2006, the balance is $1619.53. Motion was made and approved to accept the Treasurer's Report as published in the July 2006 newsletter.

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

•Brad Carson reminded everyone to keep the conference room clean.


NEW BUSINESS

•Future Speakers and Topics:
(subject to change)


August 2006 Review of Baltimore SHARE by Duane Reaugh and Brad Carson

September 2006 RACF by Mark Nelson of IBM

October 2006 Relativity products


•Future Topics and Possible Sources
SOA Software for z/OS by Relativity Technologies
Tivoli
Computer Associates
BMC

If you have suggestions about speakers and topics, contact Ron Pimblett.

•The September SPARTA meeting will be held at the SAS Education Center in Cary.

•The August 29, 2006 SPARTA meeting will be held at LabCorp in RTP.

•Food for the August meeting will be pizza, drinks and dessert

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

•The business portion of the meeting ended at 7:45 p.m.

•Gerald Mitchell of IBM spoke about "Transforming Green Screen (3270 & 5250) Application Interface to Web using Host Access Transformation Services (HATS)”.

•Gerald spoke about the following topics:

Background and Introduction
The Reality of Existing Applications
Value of Existing Applications
Challenges and Customer Requirements

HATS overview: Features and Functions
What is Host Access Transformation Services?
Host Access Transformation Services
WebSphere Based Architecture
HATS Tasks
Improve Navigation and Productivity
Increase Productivity - Reduce Training Costs
Recent Customer Example
Traditional Green Screen
Transformation Using Default Rules
HATS Minor Modifications
HATS Default Rendering (Subfile)
Achieving a Green Screen Look with HATS
Achieving a Modern Web Look with HATS
Combining Screens
Combine and Integrate
HATS Customized Transformation
Global Rules and Valid Value Lists
Application to Application Integration
Programmatic Integration: HATS Integration Objects
Integration with WebSphere Portal
HATS Single Sign-On Support
Recommended Skills
HATS Application
Typical Questions
Supported Platforms

Summary
Summary of HATS Features and Value Propositions
Resources - Comprehensive HATS Demo CD
Other Online Resources

•The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m.

Treasurer’s Report for August 2006

contributed by Tommy Thomas

The balance in the account is $ 1580.50 as of August 15, 2006.

Financial Report
3/01/2006 through 08/15/2006

Items of Interest

SPARTA Schedule and Menu for 2006

contributed by Tommy Thomas and Chris Blackshire

Aug. 29 - Pizza
Sept. 26 - Chicken
Oct. 31 - Subs
Nov. 28 - BarBQ

Get Ready for z/OS 1.8

contributed by Ed Webb

Ready or not - z/OS 1.8 is coming in late September. Here’s a few tips:

1. Get your z/OS system up to RSU0606.
This action plus a few more PTFs will implement the service for Toleration and Compatibility with z/OS 1.8 on your existing system. Contact Ed Webb for a sample SMP/E jobstream to identify your toleration situation.

2. Check out the z/OS Migration book for your specific migration path at http://www-03.ibm.com/servers/eserver/zseries/zos/bkserv/zos_migration_manuals.html

3. Review Marna Walle’s presentation handouts from the recent SHARE in Baltimore at http://shareew.prod.web.sba.com/proceedingmod/project.cfm?Project_ID=3013

See the sessions titled

2870 - Migrating to z/OS R8 Part 1: Get Ready
2871 - Migrating to z/OS R8 Part 2: Get Set
2872 - Migrating to z/OS R8 Part 3: Go!

4. Order your ServerPac in mid-September for delivery within a few days of GA.

5. Have fun!

Here’s the z/OS R8 Announcement for your managers: 206190 IBM z/OS V1.8 -- Extending the enterprise-wide role http://www.ibm.com/isource/cgi-bin/goto?it=usa_annred&on=206-190


Redbooks: All Worth A Look

contributed by Ed Webb

Redbooks

Introduction to the New Mainframe: z/OS Basics
Revised: August 2, 2006 ISBN: 0738495972 706 pages Explore the book online at http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg246366.html

Introduction to the New Mainframe: Networking
Revised: August 17, 2006 ISBN: 0738494798 406 pages Explore the book online at http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg246772.html


Humor

Been to Every SHARE – Johnny Cache

contributed by Duane Reaugh

(with apologies to The Man in Black)

(Spoken)

I got the call at 3 AM
The Man said “Come” and I said “When?”
The job blew up—an OC4
Address Exception—I’d seen it before
I took a long swig--to hell with my breath
It tops Jerry’s List—“The APARS of Death”

REFRAIN
I’ve been to every SHARE, man
Been to every SHARE, man
Shipped the booth by air, man
Paid the union fare, man
Travel – I’ve had my SHARE, man
Been to every SHARE, man

VERSE 1
I’ve been to:
Atlanta
Baltimore
Boston
Chi Town

DC
Dallas
Houston
Nashville

Anaheim
Long Beach
Anaheim
Long Beach

Orlando
New York
New Orleans
Frisco

Montreal
Seattle
St. Paul
Tampa

San Diego
San’tone
LA
Fort Worth

VERSE 2
I’ve patched:

SOS
TOS
DOS
VSE

MFT
MVS
VS1
VS2

SVS
MVS
ESA
ZOS

VM
HASP
ASP
CICS

JES2
JES3
S2K
IMS

DB2
SQL
ORACLE
WEBSPHERE

REFRAIN

What a pity:

I’ve been to every SHARE, man
Been to every SHARE, man
Shipped the booth by air, man
Paid the union fare, man
Travel – I’ve had my SHARE, man
Been to every SHARE, man


Tech Support

contributed by Chris Blackshire

Tech support: What kind of computer do you have?

Female customer: A white one...

===============

Customer: Hi, this is Celine. I can't get my diskette out.
Tech support: Have you tried pushing the Button?
Customer: Yes, sure, it's really stuck.
Tech support: That doesn't sound good; I'll make a note.
Customer: No, wait a minute... I hadn't inserted it yet... it's still on my desk... sorry.
===============

Tech support: Click on the 'my computer' icon on to the left of the screen.
Customer: Your left or my left?

===============

Tech support: Good day. How may I help you?
Male customer: Hello... I can't print.
Tech support: Would you click on "start" for me and...
Customer: Listen pal; don't start getting technical on me! I'm not Bill Gates.

===============

Customer: Hi, good afternoon, this is Martha, I can't print. Every time I try, it says 'Can't find printer'. I've even lifted the printer and placed it in front of the monitor, but the computer still says he can't find it...

===============

Customer: I have problems printing in red...
Tech support: Do you have a color printer?
Customer: Aaaah....................thank you.

===============

Tech support: What's on your monitor now, ma'am?
Customer: A teddy bear my boyfriend bought for me at the 7-11.

===============

Customer: My keyboard is not working anymore.
Tech support: Are you sure it's plugged into the computer?
Customer: No. I can't get behind the computer.
Tech support: Pick up your keyboard and walk 10 paces back.
Customer: OK
Tech support: Did the keyboard come with you?
Customer: Yes
Tech support: That means the keyboard is not plugged in. Is there another keyboard?
Customer: Yes, there's another one here. Ah...that one does work...

===============

Tech support: Your password is the small letter "a" as in apple, a capital letter V as in Victor, the number 7.
Customer: Is that 7 in capital letters ?

===============

Customer: can't get on the Internet.
Tech support: Are you sure you used the right password?
Customer: Yes, I'm sure. I saw my colleague do it.
Tech support: Can you tell me what the password was?
Customer: Five stars.

===============

Tech support: What anti-virus program do you use?
Customer: Netscape.
Tech support: That's not an anti-virus program.
Customer: Oh, sorry...Internet Explorer.

===============

Customer: I have a huge problem. A friend has placed a screen saver on my computer, but every time I move the mouse, it disappears.

===============

Tech support: How may I help you?
Customer: I'm writing my first e-mail.
Tech support: OK, and what seems to be the problem?
Customer: Well, I have the letter 'a' in the address, but how do I get the circle around it?

===============

A woman customer called the Canon help desk with a problem with her printer.

Tech support: Are you running it under windows?
Customer: "No, my desk is next to the door, but that is a good point. The man sitting in the cubicle next to me is under a window, and his printer is working fine."

===============

And last but not least...

Tech support: "Okay Bob, let's press the control and escape keys at the same time. That brings up a task list in the middle of the screen. Now type the letter "P" to bring up the Program Manager."
Customer: I don't have a P.
Tech support: On your keyboard, Bob.
Customer: What do you mean?
Tech support: "P".....on your keyboard, Bob.
Customer: I'M NOT GOING TO DO THAT!

Membership Information

Don’t Forget the Next SPARTA Meeting

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

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: Pizza, Drinks, Dessert

Program:

SHARE Conference Reports

Speaker:

Duane Reaugh of DTS
and Brad Carson of DHTS

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



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