SPARTA News August 2008

August 2008

SPARTA President’s Corner

by Brad Carson

Welcome to August, a month that has been a very busy one for me. I’ll talk about that later in this column. Last month we had our first SPARTA baseball night at the DBAP. Even with the heat, a good time was had by all. I hope to see this become an annual event like our Carolina Hurricanes outing has.

Well, we’ve finally managed to get to DB2 V8 New Function Mode in our production subsystems. All I can say is “Whew . . .”, this has been a long project and I’m glad to see that we made it with only a few scrapes and bruises. Most of our issues were due to the DB2 utilities requiring DFSort. It seems that our DBA’s were relying on SYNCSort to forgive and handle their sins in bad sort parameters and missing runstats on tables. Now they are correcting the errors and getting a little more in tune with the database structures. We’ll see how that goes as we plan for a DB2 V9 installation just after the beginning of the year.

During August, I found myself doing a little bit of traveling. First was a whirlwind trip up to Poughkeepsie for an IBM z/Series hardware briefing. Seems that management is now beginning to look at z/10’s as a possible upgrade option and for hosting Linux. So it looks like we might have the possibility of z/VM in our future. Gee, I might be able to finally load my VM goodies down somewhere at last.

My second trip of the month was to San Jose to attend SHARE. I always look forward to attending SHARE and learning what IBM has coming to us in the latest software and hardware. The weather in San Jose was great: low humidity, clear sky, just good weather. I also had a chance to visit my brother and sister-in-law during the week, a nice bonus for me. Duane and I will be giving our road trip report at later SPARTA meeting and you’ll hear more about SHARE then.

While I was out in San Jose, the gang back home conducted our annual DR test. This year we had an extended test. Since we had our DR system up and fully operational, the DR team also scheduled a DR test of our PeopleSoft environment since they use TWS (OPC) and FDR/Upstream for their systems. From our end, everything went very well. I wish I could say the same for the PeopleSoft environment. Oh well, now it looks like there will be another small (so they tell me) DR test before the end of the year.

This month our presentation will be by Duane Reller from IBM on “System z/10 Overview”. We will be meeting at the IBM Executive Briefing Center (building 002) in RTP instead of at LabCorp. I look forward to seeing you all there on the 26th.

Note: The meeting will be at the IBM Software Executive Briefing Center located in B002 on the IBM main campus at 3039 Cornwallis Road, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709.


Future Speakers
(subject to change)


Aug. 26 z10 Mainframe by Duane Reller of IBM
Sept. 30 SHARE Conference Reports by SPARTA members

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.

2008-2009 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 July 29, 2008 Meeting

SPARTA met at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park (DBAP) in Durham, NC for an evening out at the ballpark. Many thanks to Tommy Thomas for free admittance to good seats.

Treasurer’s Report for August 2008

contributed by Tommy Thomas

The balance in the account is $1285.77 as of August 17, 2008.

Financial Report
3/01/2008 through 08/17/2008

Items of Interest

SPARTA Schedule and Menu for 2008

contributed by Tommy Thomas and Chris Blackshire

Aug. 26 - BarBQ
Sept. 30 - Pizza
Oct. 28 - Chicken
Nov. 18 - Subs (Nov. 25 = Thanksgiving week)


New Look for SHARE website

August 2008 Proceedings Online

contributed by Ed Webb

SHARE, the major IBM user group, has updated its website with a new look. Check it out at www.share.org

The Proceedings for SHARE in San Jose during the week of August 10-15, 2008, are now online. Check out this webpage at share.org: http://ew.share.org/proceedingmod/index.cfm?conference_id=19.


Get Your SHARE Fix Now

contributed by Ed Webb

Can’t wait until the September 30, 2008 SPARTA meeting to find out what happened at SHARE in San Jose, CA in August?

Check out the reporting and short videos at this website: http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/generic/0,295582,sid80_gci1326255,00.html?track=NL-576&ad=656337USCA&asrc=EM_NLN_4271124&uid=567195


California Budget Cuts Affect COBOL Programmers, or Not

contributed by Ed Webb

“In an effort to pare down the state budget, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to start paying 200,000 state workers the minimum wage, which is $6.55 per hour. The only problem: To make that change, he’s going to need COBOL programmers, many of which he fired last week.”

Check out the full blog report and comments at: http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/mainframe-blog/the-governator-cobol-and-minimum-wage/?track=NL-576&ad=655568USCA&asrc=EM_NLN_4224157&uid=567195


IBM Extends Support for z/OS 1.7 for a Fee

contributed by Ed Webb

IBM announced that it will extend support for z/OS 1.7 for two more years, if you want to pay for it. With the general support for z/OS 1.7 set to expire at the end of September 2008, IBM will allow customers who have not made the jump to z/OS 1.8 or later to pay for up to 2 years of extended support.

Here’s the announcement letter 208-283: http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?subtype=ca&infotype=an&appname=iSource&supplier=897&letternum=ENUS208-283


SPARTA’s Jim Horne Corrects Cheryl Watson

contributed by Ed Webb

Cheryl Watson, the well-known z/OS performance consultant and SHARE presenter, has acknowledged a correction pointed out by SPARTA’s own Jim Horne of Lowe’s Companies. In Cheryl’s List #125 dated August 6, 2008, she writes:

“Correction to HiperDispatch Article
In the last issue (2008 No. 3), while discussing HiperDispatch on page 32, I said that IRD changes the SRM constant when configuring CPs offline and online. That is not true, as Jim Horne of Lowe's Companies pointed out to me. Jim has run many tests on various configurations which prove his point that the constants are not changed. Jim published his findings of IRD, zIIPs, zAAPs, and RMF/CMF measurements in an excellent CMG paper called The Myth of MSU or, How Big is the Bucket? If you're a CMG member, you can obtain the paper at http://www.cmg.org/membersonly/2007/papers/7171.pdf.
Jim's SHARE presentation on the same subject is available to SHARE members by going to session 2519 in the Orlando proceedings. The link is http://ew.share.org/proceedingmod/abstract.cfm?abstract_id=16864.”


SPARTA’s Paul Baquet, Jr. quoted in article about Rising Mainframe Use

contributed by Ed Webb

In a recent article about rising mainframe use in spite of high software costs, reporter Mark Fontecchio talks to Paul Baquet, Jr. of Duke Health Technology Solutions.

Check out Paul's views at: http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid80_gci1325607,00.html


Humor


Steven Wright Gems

contributed by Chris Blackshire

If you're not familiar with the work of Steven Wright, he's the famously erudite scientist and comic who once said: "I woke up one morning and all of my stuff had been stolen and replaced by exact duplicates."

His mind sees things differently than most of us do, to our amazement and amusement. Here are some of his gems:

1 - I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize.
2 - Borrow money from pessimists -- They don't expect it back.
3 - Half the people you know are below average.
4 - 99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
5 - 82.7% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
6 - A conscience is what hurts when all your other parts feel so good.
7 - A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
8 - If you want the rainbow, you got to put up with the rain.
9 - All those who believe in psycho-kinesis, raise my hand.
10 - The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
11 - I almost had a psychic girlfriend.....but she left me before we met.
12 - OK, so what's the speed of dark?
13 - How do you tell when you're out of invisible ink?
14 - If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.
15 - Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.
16 - When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
17 - Ambition is a poor excuse for not having enough sense to be lazy.
18 - Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.
19 - I intend to live forever......so far, so good.
20 - If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends?
21 - Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
22 - What happens if you get scared half to death twice?
23 - My mechanic told me, "I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder."
24 - Why do psychics have to ask you for your name?
25 - If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.
26 - A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking.
27 - Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
28 - The hardness of the butter is proportional to the softness of the bread.
29 - To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.
30 - The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.
31 - The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up.
32 - The colder the X-ray table, the more of your body is required to be on it.
33 - Everyone has a photographic memory; some just don't have film.
34 - If your car could travel at the speed of light, would your headlights work?

Membership Information

Don’t Forget the Next SPARTA Meeting

Date: Tuesday, August 26, 2008
7 p.m.

Special Location: IBM Briefing Center

Entering the IBM RTP Main Site
Go through the traffic light at the intersection of Davis Drive and Cornwallis Drive onto IBM property. At the entrance gate, identify yourselves as a visitor to the RTP Software Executive Briefing Center.

Follow IBM signs for "Executive Briefing Centers",  Building 002 Main Lobby, turning right at the first STOP sign. Go past the lobby entrance and park in the Visitor Parking Lot. An intercom is on your left at the entrance gate. Enter Building 002 Visitor’s Lobby, check in at the main desk, and you will be met by the Software Executive Briefing Center staff.

Free Food: BarBQ, Drink, Dessert

Program:

IBM z10 Mainframe

Speaker:

Duane Reller of IBM

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



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