SPARTA News September 2007

September 2007

SPARTA President’s Corner

by Brad Carson

This month our presentation will be from Mary Rees, an IBM CICS Knowledge Engineer. I look forward to seeing you all on the 25th at SAS in Cary.


Future Speakers
(subject to change)


Sept. 25 - e-Access to Mainframe Information by Mary Rees, an IBM CICS Knowledge Engineer (Special Location: SAS Building E in Cary)
Oct. 30 - DB2

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.

2007-2008 SPARTA
Board of Directors

Brad Carson - President
LabCorp 336-436-8294
3060 S. Church St.
Burlington, NC 27215

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 LabCorp or Ed Webb at SAS (see Board of Director’s list for contact info).

Minutes of the August 28, 2007 Meeting

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

•Twelve (12) people were present; eleven (11) 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 July 2007 meeting were accepted as published in the August 2007 newsletter.

•Tommy Thomas, the Chapter Treasurer, gave the Treasurer's report. As of August 19, 2007, the balance is $1381.23. Motion was made and approved to accept the Treasurer's Report as published in the August 2007 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)

September 2007 CICS Knowledge Engineers
October 2007 DB2

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

•The September 25th SPARTA meeting will be held at SAS in Cary (directions will be sent out).

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

•Brad reminded everyone to invite others to the SPARTA meeting.

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

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

•Duane Reaugh, Brad Carson, and Ed Webb presented their information from SHARE in San Diego in mid-August 2007.

Some of the topics from Brad’s handout were:

MVS Opening By Jerry Ng
MVS/SCP Project
What’s new in z/OS 1.9
z/OS 1.9 System REXX
z/OS Unicode Services
z/OS Systems Programmer Goodie Bag
z/OS Health Checker
z/OS Hints and Tips
z/OS Message Flood Automation
z/OS Service Pack
z/OS Deployment Best Practices
z/OS Migration to 1.9
Cheryl’s Hot Flashes
Bit Bucket
Handouts available at SHARE website www.share.org

Some of the topics that Duane discussed were:

z/OS 1.9 - What’s New
What’s new in DFSMS
FDRMOVE
Hercules
Share Summary - Attendance up - Orlando next (Feb. 2008)
Rumors

Topics that Ed discussed were:

SHARE Sessions Attended
ISPF Lives
JES2
MVS Opening Program
What’s New in z/OS 1.9
Data Centers getting Green
Real Storage Manager
ServerPac Enhancements
Migrating to z/OS 1.9
Tech Support Tools
Cheryl’s Hot Flashes #18
Bit Bucket X’22’
Space Shuttle software development on z/OS

For more details, contact Brad, Duane, or Ed for a copy of their great handouts.

•The meeting was adjourned at 9:25 p.m.

Treasurer’s Report for September 2007

contributed by Tommy Thomas

The balance in the account is $ 1304.75 as of September 15, 2007.

Financial Report
3/01/2007 through 9/15/2007

Items of Interest

SPARTA Schedule and Menu for 2007

contributed by Tommy Thomas and Chris Blackshire

Sept. 25 - Pizza
Oct. 30 - Chicken
Nov. 27- Subs


SCMG Fall Conference in Raleigh on September 28

contributed by Ed Webb

Friday, September 28
Capitol City Club
411 Fayetteville St Mall #2100
Raleigh, NC

Early registration is $20 but ends on September 21. At the door, you’ll pay $30. Registration information is available now for Southern CMG in Raleigh at http://regions.cmg.org/regions/scmg/index.html..

SPARTA’s own Jim Horne will present The Myth Of MSU or How Big is the Bucket?. See the complete agenda at http://regions.cmg.org/regions/scmg/fall_07/raleigh/meeting_09_28_07.htm.


Hot Topics - The z/OS Newsletter for August 2007

contributed by Ed Webb

Check out the latest from IBM z/OS in the August 2007 Hot Topics newsletter at http://publibz.boulder.ibm.com/epubs/pdf/e0z2n180.pdf.


Supply of IT Pros Down, Though Demand Is Up

contributed by Chris Blackshire

May 10, 2007

By Deborah Perelman

Tech just ain't cool" was among the reasons given in a new report for the fact that IT employment lacks for supply, but not demand.

IT employment posted a small increase in April, but has remained essentially flat for the last 11 months, finds the April 2007 IT employment report released on May 9 by the National Association of Computer Consultant Businesses, a trade association that represents IT staffing firms.

"IT employment has remained essentially flat for the last 11 months because of limited supply of IT professionals, not lack of demand. To the contrary, demand for IT professionals remains very robust with unemployment below 1 percent in many IT skill sets," said Mark Roberts, CEO of NACCB.

The report stated that, while companies have always used IT staffing and solutions firms to address the flexible nature of their services, clients are increasingly turning to IT services firms because they are unable to fill their IT vacancies through internal channels.

Throughout the report, a shortage in supply of IT talent, and not a lack of demand for workers, was the reason given for the flat growth in IT employment.

"If you look at the unemployment data, so many computer professions have less than 1 percent unemployment. The H-1B allotment was gone in one day. The demand is there, but the supply is not," said Roberts.

Roberts argued that the supply issue is rooted in the loss of technology recruits after the 2001 economic downturn, and also in the lack of effort in luring students back now that the economy has improved.

"The problem starts way before the university level. Among a host of other problems, tech just ain't cool. Parents aren't encouraging their kids to go into technology. At one point, with all the IPOs and the options, tech had great appeal, but it's lost its allure since the bust," said Roberts.

H-1B temporary worker visas and offshore outsourcing were considered inevitable effects of a short supply of IT workers, and not something that further diminished IT's appeal.

"If we don't have the people, the work will get pushed offshore. One way or another, companies will get their projects done," said Roberts.

In January 2006, the NACCB's IT Index found that employment of IT professionals had essentially returned to the pre-downturn levels.

"You'll see variations in the demand. When the economy has a downturn, the companies will reign in their expenses. But the long term is that we're going to need more of these people to fill IT jobs," said Roberts.

Check out eWEEK.com's Careers Center for the latest news, analysis and commentary on careers for IT professionals.

Copyright (c) 2007 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved.


zLinux User Experience

contributed by Chris Blackshire

June 2006

$240K on mainframe vs. $840K on competitive product

A lesson in economics.... reposted with the permission of Jim Marshall, Captain, U.S. Air Force (ret)

I have seen some requests lately for a positive zLinux experience. I am running zLinux under z/VM today with 2 production applications, 45 Virtual Servers in three LPARs providing Production, User Acceptance Test, Development, and SYSPROG TEST. Each application is isolated within a number of V-Lans protected by "Defense in Depth". Users come through the Corporate Firewall and then must pass through the first Firewall running in a Virtual Machine in z/VM. From there they start the process to get access to the application. Throw in a Web Server, Websphere Application Server, DB2, and a product for user sign-on and it all runs pretty well. The z900 was in place and we had an IFL to contribute. All zLinux DASD is running within z/VM mini-disks.

I just returned from an IT Financial conference where I contrasted the costs between running the 45 servers on Intel versus the z/900. I took very conservative costs for the Intel machines ($2K per server), Switches ($10K), and Firewall's ($10K) and all with no support (this $0). On the Intel side I had Linux for $0 and on the zSeries, I bought SuSe Linux, Novell e-Maintenance, and IBM 24/7 "Support". The Middleware software was from IBM and it is licensed per processor. This is true of most all Distributed products including Oracle. Using Oracle in this would driven the numbers sky high for it is $40K per processor. Thus on the IFL it is $40K and on Intel it would be $200K and that premised 1-engine Intel machines. So I used the DB2 solution for the comparison. In the end the z-Solution was about $240K and the Intel solution was $840K.

As an aside, remember I kept the Intel side of the costs very, very low as possible and the zSeries side I bought Linux with full 24/7 Support. Thus my gut says the number in the Intel side is closer to about $1M+ if one factors in support, increasing the speed of the connections for Switches and Firewalls plus including support for their software and upgrades. The beauty of z/VM is getting all the V-Lans, V-Routers, and V-Firewalls you want for nothing and then all that "V-Cabling" running at memory speeds and also Hypersockets for LPAR connections.

It is my conclusions there are a number of reasons why one does not hear many stories about it. One story is those who do it quite well do not want to reveal the competitive advantage they have. Another, is the company is ashamed to admit they get benefit out of the mainframe when there is such a bias against the mainframe. I know of other places who admit the facts, but IT management wants no part of it; this is not what the trade press and their background says is so. Then in most places, Windows and Linux would be done by the Distributed or Network side of IT and not the mainframers; so why give up turf. Besides more and more servers to manage increases the size of management and their paychecks. Lastly why would those who have Windows machines (MSCE) and Cisco hardware (CISCO certified) turn things over to mainframe systems type to replace them. They will fight to the death to hang onto all their turf.

Another argument is z/VM is so tough. Back in the late 1980s I was forced over into VM (Dark Side for an MVS Bigot) of IBM systems and mastered the work much, much less than a year where MVS takes years to be able to do most all of it. IBM has a free 4 day z/VM and SuSe Linux school which I sent my z/OS Bigots and they came back able to install, implement and get things running. Bringing up a z/VM system only to run zLinux is by far easier than have many, many VM users using CMS, etc. There are enough zLinux Cookbooks to get things up and running quite quickly.

I am not sure what the future will be but with an upgrade to a z9BC my one IFL goes from 238 MIPS to 480 MIPS and my software charges stay exactly the same as they are today. A very interesting situation. The strategy is to run what makes sense over on the zSeries and there is no way I would want to take over 400+ Windows Servers. Once I get a processor license for a piece of software I can bring up many of them virtually with no
additional charges. Oh yes, the z/900 IFL is not even breathing hard yet.

Jim Marshall


Humor


20 Ways to Maintain a Healthy Level of Insanity

contributed by Chris Blackshire

1. At Lunch Time, Sit In Your Parked Car With Sunglasses on and point a Hair Dryer At Passing Cars. See If They Slow Down.

2. Page Yourself Over The Intercom. Don't Disguise Your Voice.

3. Every Time Someone Asks You To Do Something, Ask If They Want Fries with that.

4. Put Your Garbage Can On Your Desk And Label It "In."

5. Put Decaf In The Coffee Maker For 3 Weeks. Once Everyone has Gotten Over Their Caffeine Addictions, Switch to Espresso.

6. In The Memo Field Of All Your Checks, Write "For Smuggling Diamonds"

7. Finish All Your sentences with "In Accordance With The Prophecy."

8. Don t use any punctuation

9. As Often As Possible, Skip Rather Than Walk.

10. Order a Diet Water whenever you go out to eat with a serious face.

11. Specify That Your Drive-through Order Is "To Go."

12. Sing Along At The Opera

13. Go To A Poetry Recital And Ask Why The Poems Don't Rhyme

14. Put Mosquito Netting Around Your Work Area And Play tropical Sounds All Day.

15. Five Days In Advance, Tell Your Friends You Can't Attend Their Party Because You're Not In The Mood.

16. Have Your Coworkers Address You By Your Wrestling Name, Rock Bottom.

17. When The Money Comes Out The ATM, Scream "I Won!, I Won!"

18. When Leaving The Zoo, Start Running Towards The Parking lot, Yelling "Run For Your Lives, They're Loose!!"

19. Tell Your Children Over Dinner. "Due To The Economy, We Are Going To Have To Let One Of You Go."

20. And The Final Way To Keep A Healthy Level Of Insanity.......Send This E-mail To Someone To Make Them Smile.


Humor for Lexophiles (Lovers of Words)

contributed by Chris Blackshire

I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.

Police were called to a day care where a three-year-old was resisting a rest.

Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now.

The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference.

The butcher backed up into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.

To write with a broken pencil is pointless.

When fish are in schools they sometimes take debate.

The short fortune teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

A thief who stole a calendar got twelve months.

A thief fell and broke his leg in wet cement. He became a hardened criminal.

Thieves who steal corn from a garden could be charged with stalking.

We'll never run out of math teachers because they always multiply.

When the smog lifts in Los Angeles, U.C.L.A.

The math professor went crazy with the blackboard. He did a number on it.

The professor discovered that her theory of earthquakes was on shaky ground.

The dead batteries were given out free of charge.

If you take a laptop computer for a run, you could jog your memory.

A dentist and a manicurist fought tooth and nail.

A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.

A will, is a dead giveaway.

Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.

A backward poet writes inverse.

In a democracy it's your vote that counts; In feudalism, it's your Count that votes.

A chicken crossing the road: poultry in motion.

If you don't pay your exorcist, you can get repossessed.

With her marriage, she got a new name and a dress.

Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft and I'll show you A-flat miner.

When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds

The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine was fully recovered.

A grenade fell onto a kitchen floor in France, resulted in Linoleum Blownapart.

You are stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.

Local Area Network in Australia: The LAN down under.

He broke into song because he couldn't find the key.

A calendar's days are numbered.

A lot of money is tainted: 'Taint yours, and 'taint mine.

A boiled egg, is hard to beat.

He had a photographic memory which was never developed.

A plateau, is a high form of flattery.

Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.

When you've seen one shopping center you've seen a mall.

If you jump off a Paris bridge, you are in Seine.

When she saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she'd dye.

Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.

Santa's helpers, are subordinate clauses.

Acupuncture: a jab well done.

Membership Information

Don’t Forget the Next SPARTA Meeting

Tuesday, September 25, 2007
7 p.m.

Special Location: SAS in Cary

Free Food: Pizza, Drink, Dessert

Program:

eAccess to IBM Mainframe Information

Speaker:

Mary Rees of IBM

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



First Class Postage