SPARTA News September 2008

September 2008

SPARTA President’s Corner

by Brad Carson

It’s September and the heat is finally giving way to cooler temperatures and we’ve gotten some rain, but not any hurricanes (yet). Last month we had a wonderful presentation from Duane Reller of IBM about the new z10-EC hardware. We’re taking a very serious look at this new hardware here at LabCorp.  I just haven’t found someone to commit to one before next January. Our z9 is just about out of steam, so something better happen soon.

We’re well down the road of our z/OS 1.9 migration. We have it running in both of our sandbox LPARs and in the production LPAR on the Burlington box.  Once we get SCLM (and Breeze) validated, we’ll move it to the QAAD system in RTP. Along with that we have begun our migration to CICS/TS V3.2.  From the high level this looks like it will be a relatively easy migration, but since we’re LabCorp I’m not so sure. One of the big items were checking out is Cool:Gen from CA. Since we aren’t on a current release (don’t ask), there might be some issues with the C:G support code in CICS/TS V3. I see a number of SAS/C footprints in that code, so we will have a little footwork to do here. I’ll give you all an update on this next month.

Before the end of this month we are going to be converting e-mail systems at LabCorp. My group and I are part of the pilot for the conversion from Novell GroupWise to MS Outlook. So here I go having to redo all the inbox rules and validate all my local address book entries again. The current plan it to be converted corporate wide by the middle of December. It’s going to be a very interesting three months here. People may say that this application or that application is critical here, but take away their e-mail and they scream the loudest.

Our Disaster Recovery test last month made the corporate folks happy; we’ve satisfied our SOX compliance issues for the year on the system. Now we are planning for the cutover to full DASD replication between RTP and Burlington. Once that’s done, we get to rework the DR procedures to remove the hours (and hours) of tape restores.  Now we can look forward to more realistic RTO and RPO numbers.

This month Duane Reaugh and I will be giving you our “Trip Reports” from SHARE 111 in San Jose. I look forward to seeing you all there on the 30th at LabCorp.


Future Speakers
(subject to change)


Sept. 30 SHARE Conference Reports by SPARTA members
Oct. 28 Linux by IBM

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 August 26, 2008 Meeting

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

•The meeting was held at the IBM Executive Briefing Center in RTP, NC

•Twenty (20) people were present; Eleven (11) were members.

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

•The minutes of July 2008 meeting were accepted as published in the August 2008 newsletter.

•Tommy Thomas, the Chapter Treasurer gave the Treasurer's Report. As of August 17, 2008, the balance is $1285.77; motion was made and approved to accept the Treasurer's Report as published in the August 2008 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 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.

•Future Speakers and Topics:
(subject to change)

September SHARE reports
October LINUX tools
November TBA
December No Meeting

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

•The September SPARTA meeting will be September 30 at LabCorp in RTP.

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

NEW BUSINESS

•Thanks to Bill Peiffer of IBM for hosting the August meeting.

•Brad Carson has added additional e-mail addresses to the SPARTA ListServe

•The business portion of the meeting ended at 7:35 p.m.

•Duane Reller of IBM gave an overview of the IBM z10 mainframe. Duane is a System z IT Architect with IBM. The presentation is available on the SPARTA web site at http://www.spartanc.org/z10 Overview - SPARTA Aug 26.pdf

Agenda

z10 EC functional comparison to z9 EC
Continuing the modular design for flexibility
z10 EC Overview
z10 EC System Upgrades
Making high performance a reality
z10 EC Chip Relationship to POWER6
z10 EC Multi-Chip Module (MCM)
z10 EC Book Layout - Under the covers
z10 EC Physical Planning
IBM z10 EC Continues the CMOS Mainframe Heritage
Designed for improved server performance and scalability
z10 EC HiperDispatch
Focused performance boost
Large Page Support
z10 EC HSA considerations
100 capacity settings to help meet your needs
zAAP's and zIIP's
z/OS XML System Services
XML processing eligible for zAAP and zIIP
z10 EC CP Assist for Cryptographic Functions (CPACF)
Helping to get you connected to your world
System z10 EC Hipersockets
System z10 EC FICON Enhancements
OSA-Express3 - 10GbE (2Q2008)
SAP's I/O Buses, Links, and I/O Connectivity
System z - Supported Coupling Links
z10 EC Parallel Sysplex coexistence and coupling connectivity
The Basics - Temporary Upgrades
Just in time capacity gives you control
Keeping your system available is key to our design
z10 EC Enhancements designed to avoid outages
Tracking energy consumption within the infrastructure
z/OS V1.10 Preview - Integration with the z10 EC
z10 EC Exploitation: z/OS Support Summary
zVM Technology: More than Partitioning
A growing community
Designed to increase capacity, to help reduce outages and enhance capabilities
z10 EC functional comparison to z9 EC
zEnd

- Meeting ended at 8:50 p.m.

Treasurer’s Report for September 2008

contributed by Tommy Thomas

The balance in the account is $1285.77 as of September 20, 2008.

Financial Report
3/01/2008 through 09/20/2008

Items of Interest

SPARTA Schedule and Menu for 2008

contributed by Tommy Thomas and Chris Blackshire

Sept. 30 - Pizza
Oct. 28 - Chicken
Nov. 18 - Subs (Nov. 25 = Thanksgiving week)
Dec. 30 - No meeting. Happy Holidays!


October SCMG Meetings: Register Now!

contributed by Dan Squillace

The Fall Southern CMG Meetings are coming up soon! See the following links for complete agenda, registration, and location information. Great programs are lined up for both locations! Register early and save $10!

Raleigh Meeting - October 17th, 2008<http://regions.cmg.org/regions/scmg/fall_08/raleigh/meeting_10_17_08.htm> . Early registration deadline Oct.10th.

Richmond meeting - October 23rd, 2008<http://regions.cmg.org/regions/scmg/fall_08/richmond/meeting_10_23_08.htm> . Early registration deadline Oct 16th.

If the above links don’t work from your e-mail, you can get both meeting links through the SCMG home page.


August 2008 Proceedings Online

contributed by Ed Webb

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.


Hot Topics Brings the Goodies Home from SHARE

contributed by Ed Webb

Hot Topics, the twice yearly technical magazine from IBM, is packed with great information in its August 2008 issue. There are three articles on Extended Addressing Volumes (EAV), one about setting up your own RACF Healthchecks, and several others of interest. If you went to SHARE, a copy was in your bag. If not, just go to the z/OS Internet Library and look in the right column for Hot Topics. Better yet, read the August 2008 Hot Topics PDF at this link.


Humor


The Management Course

contributed by Chris Blackshire

Lesson 1:

A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings.

The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs.

When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbor.

Before she says a word, Bob says, 'I'll give you $800 to drop that towel.'

After thinking for a moment, the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob, after a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves.

The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs.

When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, 'Who was that?'

'It was Bob the next door neighbor,' she replies.

'Great,' the husband says, 'did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?'

Moral of the story:

If you share critical information pertaining to credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a position to prevent avoidable exposure.

Lesson 2:

A priest offered a Nun a lift.

She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg.

The priest nearly had an accident.

After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg.

The nun said, 'Father, remember Psalm 129?'

The priest removed his hand. But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again.

The nun once again said, 'Father, remember Psalm 129?'

The priest apologized 'Sorry sister but the flesh is weak.'

Arriving at the convent, the nun sighed heavily and went on her way.

On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It said, 'Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory.'

Moral of the story:

If you are not well informed in your job, you might miss a great opportunity.

Lesson 3:

A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp.

They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, 'I'll give each of you just one wish.'

'Me first! Me first!' says the admin clerk 'I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.'

Puff! She's gone.

'Me next! Me next!' says the sales rep. 'I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life.'

Puff! He's gone.

'OK, you're up,' the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, 'I want those two back in the office after lunch'

Moral of the story:

Always let your boss have the first say.

Lesson 4:

An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing.

A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, 'Can I also sit like you and do nothing?'

The eagle answered: 'Sure, why not.'

So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested.

All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Moral of the story:

To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.


Lesson 5:

A turkey was chatting with a bull.

'I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree' sighed the turkey, 'but I haven't got the energy.'
'Well, why don't you nibble on some of my droppings?' replied the bull. They're packed with nutrients.'

The turkey pecked at a lump of dung, and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree.

The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch.

Finally after a fourth night, the turkey was proudly perched at the top of the tree.

He was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot him out of the tree.

Moral of the story:

Bull Shit might get you to the top, but it won't keep you there.


Lesson 6:

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze
and fell to the ground into a large field.

While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him.

As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize
how warm he was.

The dung was actually thawing him out!

He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy.

A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate.

Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung,
and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Morals of the story:
(1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy.

(2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend.

(3) And when you're in deep shit, it's best to keep your mouth shut!

THUS ENDS THE MANAGEMENT COURSE

Membership Information

Don’t Forget the Next SPARTA Meeting

Date: Tuesday, September 30, 2008
7 p.m.

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, Drink, Dessert

Program:

SHARE August 2008 Conference Reports

Speaker:

Brad Carson of LabCorp and Duane Reaugh of DTS Software

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



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