August
2009
SPARTA
PresidentÕs Corner
by Brad Carson
(Ed. Note: There is no PresidentÕs Corner this month. See you at the
ballpark).
Future Speakers
(subject to change)
August 18 Durham Bulls Baseball at the DBAP
Sept. 29 SHARE Conference Reports by Duane Reaugh of DTS and Brad Carson
of LabCorp
We need ideas and volunteers for future speakers. Presentations donÕt 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.
2009-2010
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 LabCorpÕs Center for Molecular
Biology and Pathology (CMBP) near the
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
ÒCBT TapeÓ Shareware 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 DirectorÕs list for contact info).
Minutes of the July 28, 2009 Meeting
¥Meeting was called to order at 7:03 p.m. by Brad Carson, the Chapter
President.
¥The meeting was held at LabCorp in RTP, N.C.
¥Twenty five (25) people were present; Eighteen (18) were members..
¥Everyone in the room introduced themselves, told where they worked, and
briefly described their job function.
¥The minutes of June 2009 meeting were accepted as published in the July 2009
newsletter.
¥Tommy Thomas, the Chapter Treasurer gave the Treasurer's Report. As of July
19, 2009, the balance is $1305.87; motion was made and approved to accept the
Treasurer's Report as published in the July 2009 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)
August Durham Bulls baseball game
September SHARE Conference update
October IOF Update by Triangle Systems
November Performance and Tuning by Cheryl Watson and Tom Walker
December No meeting!
If you have suggestions about speakers and topics, contact Ron Pimblett.
¥The next
¥Food for the August meeting will be ballpark food. The food for September will
be BarBQ.
¥Brad reminded everyone to keep the conference room clean.
NEW BUSINESS
¥Thanks to Tommy Thomas of LabCorp for hosting the meeting.
¥The business portion of the meeting ended at 7:45 p.m.
¥Carl Wohlers of IBM discussed Server Platform Selection and System z.
Topics:
Current System z capabilities including z/OS and its Unix functions, z/VM and
virtualization, and zLinux.
Future System z may bring significant integration with WebSphere and other
platforms such as Sun and Intel.
¥Meeting ended at 8:45 p.m.
TreasurerÕs Report for July 2009
contributed by Tommy Thomas
(Ed. Note: There is no update to the TreasurerÕs Report this month.
See you at the ballpark).
The balance in the account is $1305.87 as of July 19, 2009.
Financial Report
3/01/2009 through 7/19/2009
|
INCOME |
|
|
Opening Balance |
1117.86 |
|
Dues |
540.00 |
|
Misc. |
0.00 |
|
TOTAL INCOME |
$1657.86 |
|
|
|
|
EXPENSES |
|
|
Food |
392.74 |
|
Petty Cash |
|
|
Bank Service Fees |
|
|
P.O. Box |
0.00 |
|
Hurricane Tickets |
|
|
Web Site |
62.85 |
|
TOTAL EXPENSE |
$455.59 |
|
|
|
|
BANK BALANCE |
1202.27 |
|
PETTY CASH($175) |
103.60 |
|
TOTAL CASH |
$1305.87 |
Items of Interest
contributed by Tommy Thomas and Chris Blackshire
Aug. 18 - DBAP food - you buy!
Sept. 29 - BarBQ
Oct. 27 - Pizza
Nov. 17 - Chicken (Nov. 24 = Thanksgiving week)
Dec. 29 - No meeting. Happy Holidays!
More About z/VM 6.1 Coming in Q4 and z/VM
Futures
contributed by Chris Blackshire
z/VM V6.1 is coming in the 4th quarter of 2009, but...
"This release implements a new Architecture Level Set (ALS) available only
on the IBM System z10 Enterprise Class server and System z10 Business Class
server and future generations of System z¨ servers."
And z/VM Futures:
¥z/VM Single System Image*
IBM intends to provide capabilities that permit multiple z/VM systems to
collaborate in order to provide a single system image. This is planned to allow
all z/VM member systems to be managed, serviced, and administered as one system
across which workloads can be deployed. The single system image is intended to
share resources among all member systems.
"Is a z/VM Single System Image similar to a z/OS SYSPLEX?"
"Sort of." It will be a tightly-coupled cluster of z/VM systems that
share resources, communicate information about those resources, and share a
single security context. (And, no, it won't use the Coupling Facility.)
¥z/VM Live Guest Relocation*
IBM intends to further strengthen single system image support by providing live
guest relocation. This is planned to provide the capability to move a running
Linux virtual machine from one single system image member system to another.
This is intended to further enhance workload management across a set of z/VM
systems and to help clients avoid planned outages for virtual servers.
Good Advice About Credit Card Theft
contributed by Chris Blackshire
People sure stay busy trying to cheat us, don't they??
SCENE 1: A friend went to the local gym and placed his belongings in the
locker. After the workout and a shower, he came out, saw the locker open, and
thought to himself, "Funny, I thought I locked the locker. Hmmmmm."
He dressed and just flipped the wallet to make sure all was in order.
Everything looked okay - all cards were in place. A few weeks later his credit
card bill came - a whooping bill of $14,000! He called the credit card company
and started yelling at them, saying that he did not make the transactions.
Customer care personnel verified that there was no mistake in the system and
asked if his card had been stolen. "No," he said, but then took out
his wallet, pulled out the credit card, and yep - you guessed it - a switch had
been made. An expired similar credit card from the same bank was in the wallet
The thief broke into his locker at the gym and switched cards.
Verdict: The credit card issuer said since he did not report the card missing
earlier, he would have to pay the amount owed to them. How much did he have to
pay for items he did not buy? $9,000! Why were there no calls made to verify
the amount swiped? Small amounts rarely trigger a "warning bell" with
some credit card companies. It just so happens that all the small amounts added
up to big one!
SCENE 2: A man at a local restaurant paid for his meal with his credit card.
The bill for the meal came, he signed it, and the waitress folded the receipt
and passed the credit card along. Usually, he would just take it and place it
in his wallet or pocket. Funny enough, though, he actually took a look at the
card and, lo and behold, it was the expired card of another person. He called
the waitress and she looked perplexed. She took it back, apologized, and
hurried back to the counter under the watchful eye of the man. All the waitress
did while walking to the counter was wave the wrong expired card to the counter
cashier, and the counter cashier immediately looked down and took out the real
card. No exchange of words --- nothing! She took it and came back to the man
with an apology.
Verdict: Make sure the credit cards in your wallet are yours. Check the name on
the card every time you sign for something and/or the card is taken away for
even a short period of time. Many people just take back the credit card without
even looking at it, "assuming" that it has to be theirs. FOR YOUR OWN
SAKE, DEVELOP THE HABIT OF CHECKING YOUR CREDIT CARD EACH TIME IT IS RETURNED
TO YOU AFTER A
TRANSACTION!
SCENE 3: Yesterday I went into a pizza restaurant to pick up an order that I
had called in. I paid by using my Visa Check Card which, of course, is linked
directly to my checking account. The young man behind the counter took my card,
swiped it, then laid it on the counter as he waited for the approval, which is
pretty standard procedure. While he waited, he picked up his cell phone and
started dialing. I noticed the phone because it is the same model I have, but
nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Then I heard a click that sounded like my
phone sounds when I take a picture. He then gave me back my card but kept the
phone in his hand as if he was still pressing buttons. Meanwhile, I'm thinking:
I wonder what he is taking a picture of, oblivious to what was really going on.
It then dawned on me: the only thing there was my credit card, so now I'm
paying close attention to what he is doing. He set his phone on the counter,
leaving it open. About five seconds later, I heard the chime that tells you
that the picture has been saved. Now I'm standing there struggling with the
fact that this boy just took a picture of my credit card. Yes, he played it off
well, because had we not had the same kind of phone, I probably would never
have known what happened. Needless to say, I immediately canceled that card as
I was walking out of the pizza parlor.
Everyone needs to be aware of your surroundings at all times. Whenever you are
using your credit cards, take caution and don't be careless. Notice who is
standing near you and what they are doing when you use your card. Be aware of
phones because many have a camera phone these days. When you are in a
restaurant and the waiter/waitress brings your card and receipt for you to
sign, make sure you scratch the number off. Some restaurants are using only the
last four digits, but a lot of them are still putting the whole thing on there.
As people who have already been a victim of credit card fraud, believe them, it
is not fun. The truth is that they can get you even when you are careful, but
don't make it easy for them.
Need to Replace Your IBM 3745?
contributed by Tom Frost
(Editor Note: Tom Frost of Visara attended a recent
Visara Alternative to FEP and CIP
There are still a few 3745s installed, and while most of the functions can be
moved to routers or OSA interfaces, support for SNA Interconnect (SNI) is still
a requirement keeping the old hardware in place. Recently CISCO announced EOL
on the CIP, commonly used as a TN3270 gateway. IBM suggests moving to APPN for
SNI replacement, a hard task when you do not own the other end of the
connection. Moving the CIP card gateway function to the OSA may introduce
performance or flexibility bottlenecks.
Visara addresses these concerns with the FEP-4600.
The Visara FEP-4600 provides an alternative to network communications
traditionally provided by IBM Front End Processors and other channel attached
gateway products. No IBM NCP licensing is required when using this product.
Host connectivity is provided through ESCON channel connections each capable of
communicating with up to 16 LPARs and 256 sub-channel addresses.
The FEP-4600 provides a variety of attachments using SNA and Non-SNA gateway
technology. Through its ESCON interface, the FEP-4600 and its attached
resources appear to an LPAR as one or more Control Units (CNTLUNIT macros). The
number and makeup of these Control Units is dependent upon what your
requirements are.
Several types of Control Units that can be defined.
¥PU 2 Nodes (3174, XCA) - Provides support for traditional 3270 controllers, PC
gateways, midrange controllers (i.e. AS400), APPN nodes (NN, EN, and LEN),
standalone PCs (IBM PCOM, or OS/2), Banking ATMs
¥PU 4 Nodes (SCTC) - Provides support for connections to remote 3745s and
remote channel connections
¥Non-SNA 3270 (3174, 2701) - Provides support for remote 3270 controllers,
banking ATMs
Multiple Control Units of each type and Control Units for multiple LPARs (EMIF
supported) can be defined. If you attach the FEP-4600 through an ESCON
director, the FEP-4600 can provide network connections for multiple CPUs. A
properly configured FEP-4600 can use a single ESCON interface to replace
multiple Bus and Tag interfaces required by a 3745.
Features supported by the FEP-4600 include:
¥ESCON Host attachment for multiple LPARs (16 LPARs per ESCON Interface)
¥ESCON to ESCON (SCTC) connections between LPARs
¥SNI over SCTC connections
¥Support for SDLC-attached PU 2.0 and PU 2.1 Platforms
¥SDLC-attached PU 4 Platforms (including SNI connections)
¥Ethernet/TR LLC-attached PU 2.0 and PU 2.1 platforms
¥Ethernet/TR LLC-attached PU 4 Platforms (including SNI connections)
¥IP based clustering - to support remote 3745 replacement
¥SNI over IP/SSL - by replacing both ends of an SNI connection
There is a list of features in the queue that customers have requested. We are
always looking for local BETA sites, so if you have a test environment and
would like to check out the 4600 while giving it a working trial in your
environment, let us know. Here is the list, in approximate planned release date
order:
¥CIP TN3270 replacement - TN3270 gateway supporting XCA
¥FICON host attachment
¥VTAM BiSync-attached 3270 Platforms
¥EP-BiSync – for RJE and 3270
¥SDLC/BiSync Dial out
¥X.25 QLLC
You can check this out further on the Visara Web Site at www.visara.com
or give me a call and we can discuss this all day long:
Tom Frost (704) 799-3407
Humor
The Philosophy of Ambiguity
contributed by Chris Blackshire
For those who love the philosophy of ambiguity, as well as the idiosyncrasies
of English:
1. Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.
2. One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor.
3. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
4. If man evolved from monkeys and apes, why do we still have monkeys and apes?
5. The main reason that Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the bad
girls live.
6. I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self-help
section?" She said if she told me it would defeat the purpose.
7. What if there were no hypothetical questions?
8. If a deaf child signs swear words, does his mother wash his hands with soap?
9. If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is it
considered a hostage situation?
10. Is there another word for synonym?
11. Where do forest rangers go to "get away from it all?"
12. What do you do when you see an endangered animal eating an endangered
plant?
13. If a parsley farmer is sued, can they garnish his wages?
14. Would a fly without wings be called a walk?
15. Why do they lock petrol station bathrooms? Are they afraid someone will
clean them?
16. If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?
17. Can vegetarians eat Animal Crackers?
18. If the police arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to remain
silent?
19. Why do they put Braille on the drive-through bank machines?
20. How do they get deer to cross the road only at those yellow road signs?
21. What was the best thing before sliced bread?
22. One nice thing about egotists: they don't talk about other people.
23. Does the little mermaid wear an algebra?
24. Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?
25. How is it possible to have a civil war?
26. If one synchronized swimmer drowns, do the rest drown too?
27. If you ate both pasta and antipasto, would you still be hungry?
28. If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done?
29. Whose cruel idea was it for the word 'lisp' to have an 's' in it?
30. Why are hemorrhoids called 'hemorrhoids' instead of 'asteroids'?
31. Why is it called tourist season if we can't shoot at them?
32. Why is there an expiration date on sour cream?
33. If you spin an oriental person in a circle three times, do they become
disoriented?
34. Can an atheist get insurance against acts of God?
Words
contributed by Chris Blackshire
¥The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference . He
acquired his size from too much pi.
¥I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an
optical
¥She was only a whisky maker, but he loved her still.
¥ A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a
weapon of math disruption.
¥ The butcher backed into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.
¥ No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.
¥ A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
¥ A grenade thrown into a kitchen in
¥ Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
¥ Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
¥ A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into
it.
¥ Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
¥ Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the
other, "You stay here; I'll go on a head."
¥ I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.
¥ A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: "Keep off the
Grass."
¥ A small boy swallowed some coins and was taken to a hospital. When his
grandmother telephoned to ask how he was, a nurse said, "No change
yet."
¥ A chicken crossing the road is poultry in motion.
¥ The short fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
¥ The man who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.
¥ A backward poet writes inverse.
¥ In democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's your count that
votes.
¥ When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.
¥ Don't join dangerous cults: Practice safe sects!
DonÕt
Forget the Next
Special Date: Tuesday, August 18, 2009
7 p.m.
Special Location:
Check out this
link for directions: http://www.dbulls.com/stadium/directions.html
Fee
Food: Whatever You Buy
Program:
Triple-A Baseball
Speaker:
First Class Postage
