SPARTA News April 2010

April 2010

SPARTA President’s Corner

by Brad Carson

Here we are at the end of April and we’ve been putting up with the worst pollen season in 25 years. I think that everyone’s car or truck is the same color now, pine pollen yellow!  I hope we get a little rain and wind to get most of this out of the air soon, I’d like to stop taking so much sinus medicine soon.

Last month Ed Webb gave us his trip report from SHARE 114 in Seattle. I wish I could have gone to this SHARE event but work kept me here in North Carolina. As always there is so much information from SHARE it was difficult to compress it down to a 90 minute session here. I would remind everyone to visit the “Proceedings” section of the SHARE web site (www.share.org).  I’m still going through the information that has been posted there.

Here at LabCorp we are well underway in our installation of z/OS 1.11. We have the base system up now and are modifying or adding the required LabCorp USERMODs to the system. One thing I’ve checked out already is the “LOGONHERE” support in TSO and TCPIP/TN3270, and it works like a charm.  You need to make sure that you have a non-zero value on the RECONLIM= keyword in the PARMLIB member TSOKEY00. If it is zero, this disables the LOGONHERE support. When I get a moment, I want to check out the REIPL option on the V XCF,xxxx,OFFLINE command.  Maybe by next month I’ll get a chance.

We’ve also been busy setting up STK/SUN/Oracle 9840D tape drives that are accessed via SAN switches. Some interesting things you have to do in HCD to get these devices defined correctly but, once HCD and SAN switches are happy, things work great.  As we migrate to these drives, we’ll be freeing up a good number of ESCON CHPids.

On our z/VM system we are still fighting with an issue between WebLogic and IBM JAVA 1.6. We are now working with external support groups on remediating this problem. Since we’ve started our z/VM LPAR in Burlington, it has been running at 100% CPU while the z/OS systems run between 2 and 10%. I’ll keep you posted in future newsletters how this goes.

This month Robbin Lanning of Levi, Ray, and Shoup will be giving us LRS’ view of Business Intelligence on the Mainframe.  I look forward to seeing you all on the 27th at LabCorp.


Future Speakers
(subject to change)


Apr. 27 Business Intelligence on the Mainframe by Robbin Lanning of LRS
May 25 Update on CA Automation and Performance by Robb Steiskal of CA

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.

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
3060 S. Church St. 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 Brad Carson; if you have corrections or problems receiving your meeting notice, contact Brad at 336-436-8294.

Late 2009 “CBT Tape” Shareware Online

The directory and files from the latest CBT tape V478 (dated December 27, 2009) 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 March 30, 2010 Meeting

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

•The meeting was held at LabCorp in RTP, N.C.

•Sixteen (16) people were present; twelve (12) were members.

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

•The minutes of the February 2010 meeting were accepted as published in the March 2010 newsletter.

•Tommy Thomas, the Chapter Treasurer gave the Treasurer's Report. As of February 28, 2010, the balance is $438.69. Motion was made and approved to accept the Treasurer's Report as published in the March 2010 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)

Apr 27, 2010: Robbin Lanning, LRS, z/Series Software
May 25, 2010: Robb Steiskal, CA, Update on CA Automation & Performance
June 29, 2010: Mike Arnold, Softbase, DB2 Tuning
July 27, 2010: Serena Software, Security Compliance
Aug. 31, 2010: Durham Bulls at the DBAP
Sept. 28, 2010: SHARE Attendees, "Share Update" from Boston Aug.
Oct. 26, 2010: Craig Mullens, zPrime, What the ?
Nov. 30, 2010: Emmanuel Sauvion, Sysload Software, Performance Management Virtual Environment

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

•The April SPARTA meeting will be on the 27th at LabCorp in the RTP.

•Food for the April meeting will be Pizza.

•Brad reminded everyone to keep the conference room clean.

NEW BUSINESS

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

•A nomination committee chairperson is needed for the April meeting. This committee will present a slate of officer candidates to be elected at the April meeting. No person to lead the nomination committee has volunteered.

•The business portion of the meeting ended at 8:10 p.m.

•Ed Webb of SAS presented SHARE session topics from the SHARE conference he attended in Seattle, Washington from March 14 to 18, 2010.

Download session presentations for full details at http://www.share.org. Some of the SHARE Topics and Session highlighted:

•516 full paid attendees in Seattle versus 622 in Denver (Aug 2009), versus 650 in Austin (Mar 2009) versus 850 in San Jose (Aug 2008). Next SHARE is Boston in Aug 2010.

•Interesting sessions attended by Ed
•SHARE opening by Don Tapscott
•z/OS Keynote by Tom Rosamillia
•Other sessions attended with some highlights

•2200 MVS Core Technologies Project Opening
- See SHARE website for Jerry Ng's APARs of Interest
- Important APARs include OA31115, OA31404, OA32088, OA31604, OA30664

•2224 What's New in z/OS
- z990's supported by z/OS R12
- R12 Library Server Improvements - also see session 2216
- R12 Health Check has simpler message interfaces for developers
- Tools and Toys "tsocmd function" added to z/OS UNIX
- New return codes for failing TSO/E commands
- New DELETE dsname (*) for a high level delete of all members of a PDS
- VSAM Control Area (CA) reclaim

•2328 JES2 Product Update
- SYSLOG BROWSE
- See session 2329 for JES 1.11 Enhancements
- OA31565 for high CPU due to linkage stack and extra queue scan
- OA31813 JES2 command multiple filters poor performance
- OA30164 NODE (X),DIRECT=YES does not always work
- OA29977 Missing call for new XCF group
- OA29854 FSS recovery issue

•2240 Detecting Soft Failures Using z/OS PFA
- R12 - model rebuilt every 12 hours
- R12 - uses one initialization file in /etc/pfa
- R12 - introduces RDT 9Run Time Diagnostics

•0026 Enterprise Cloud Computing: Immediate, Urgent, Inevitable
- Global IT down 5.2% during 2009
- With "Cloud", startups can afford to succeed
- "The Cloud" moving toward zero down
- 1 coherent and resilient environment
- Scalability in response to changing needs without changing hardware
- Issue: cloud security

•2227 BCPii: Secure z/OS Interface To Your HMC and SE
- Who uses BCPii - vendors, control center, systems management, applications
- BCPii does not work under z/VM on z/OS guest
- OA24945 Capacity Provisioning Manager
- OA29638 List reset
- Session 2251 has SYSPLEX BCPii setup steps screenshots

•2249 z/OS Management Facility
- z/OS MF web browser environment checking tool
- Use override file in interactive mode
- See presentation Chart 68 for summary of incident log use

•2251 Parallel Sysplex Partitioning Using BCPii
- Still missing SYSREXX support
- OA26037 Tolerance APAR for R9 and R10
- D XCF,COUPLE command review

•2254 Configuring z/OS to Handle SVC dumps
- If MAXSPACE is too small, then get partial dumps
- If too big, performance issues
- In R11 use AUXMGMT=ON and not MAXSPACE parm
- ROT - Auxiliary size = maximum CSA allocated size

•2257 GRS ENQ and Latch Usage and Contention
- OA29329 reduces stupidity by compressing GRS "hot queues"
- Goal is "Stupidity Reduction" (per Bob Rogers)
- Mainframers should be faster at the stupidity reduction than other platforms

•2246 z/OS UNIX File System Availability
- NOAUTOMOVE not recommended for system specific file system

•2294 ISPF Hidden Treasures and New Features
- DDLIST (ISRDDN)
- Left and Right F keys on main panel
- Curser on VOLSER and press enter to see VTOC info
- Search module to see if loaded in address space
- Counter members in a PDS
- DUP DDNAME to find duplicate names in a concatenation
- Browse primary command
- Sort prompt field
- Filter field

•2229 System Programmer Productivity Tool Bag
- OA28192 Catalog Service Tasks
- REDP-4535-00 Introduction to Assist
- Problem Documentation Upload Utility
- Boulder Fix Server Status website http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/gdbm/home.html

•2208 Bit Bucket x'27'
- JES2 is a bottleneck - you can start other services that don't need JES2
- The secret is to remove SYSOUTs in the JCL procedures
- Or put SYSOUTs to disk data sets
- Candidates include VTAM, TCPIP, TSO, and TN3270 (running under MSTR)

•2235 z/OS Mean Time To Recovery Best Practices
- SC24-7816 Redbook is now available

•2228 z/OS Sysprog Goody Bag
- TSO/E LOGONHERE
- Delete data sets without recall with IEFBR14
- EDT Common Storage Reduction
- System REXX support for concatenated REXXLIB

•2007 z/OS Ask The Experts Panel and MVS Closing Program
- FIXCAT categories
- AXR shutdown
- V XCF...,OFFLINE, REIPL (try it, works great like VM)

•Meeting ended at 9:30 p.m.

Treasurer’s Report for April 2010

contributed by Tommy Thomas

The balance in the account is $1204.94 as of April 13, 2010.

Financial Report
3/01/2010 through 4/13/2010

Items of Interest


SPARTA Schedule and Menu for 2010

contributed by Tommy Thomas and Chris Blackshire

Apr. 27 - Pizza
May 25 - Chicken
Jun. 29 - Subs
July 27 - BarBQ
Aug. 31 - Pizza
Sept. 28 - Chicken
Oct. 26 - Subs
Nov. 30 - BarBQ
Dec. 28 - No meeting. Happy Holidays!


Update to SMP/E Security “Enhancement” - Still Take Action Now!

contributed by Ed Webb

In March, we told you to review Info APAR II14489 or the HOLDDATA in PTFs UO01051-UO01054 for IO11698 (Integrity APAR you cannot view on IBMLink, try ResourceLink) for Security changes that are Required to run SMP/E. If you fail to take action (do so today!), you may not be able to run SMP/E at all after APPLYing one of these PTFs.

RDEFINE FACILITY GIM.* UACC(READ)
SETROPTS REFRESH(FACILITY)

Recently IBM has opened APAR IO12263 (which you can view on IBMLink) that discusses additional documentation that is missing from the HOLDDATA in the PTFs UO01051-UO01054 for SMP/E.

My original request remains relevant: Take Action Now! But read APAR IO12263 to get a more complete story.


REFVTOC Syntax in DEVSUPxx PARMLIB Member

contributed by Ed Webb

If you are running or about to run z/OS V1R11, you can take advantage of the automatic VTOC refresh (REFVTOC) feature if you know the trick.

Basically the REFVTOC enhancement in R11 means that, when you resize your DASD volume (from a 3390 Mod9 to a Mod27, for example) dynamically on IBM’s DS8000 series DASD, z/OS will automatically detect the DASD size change and rebuild the VTOC Index. In prior z/OS releases, the DASD Administrator had to manually run the DSS REFVTOC function after resizing a volume.

But there’s a catch as documented in APAR OA31439. The REFVTOC automation function is enabled with a parameter in the DEVSUPxx member of PARMLIB. Other parameters in that member use the “equals” syntax (such COMPACT=NO) and the R11 Init and Tuning Reference says that REFVTOC is =ENABLED or =DISABLED. Unfortunately, not true, according to this APAR and our experience at SAS. While COMPACT=NO is correct, the REFVTOC parameter is REFVTOC(ENABLE) or (DISABLE).

I think it’s time to request the assistance of IBM’s Bob Rogers regarding the elimination of stupidity.

And yes, the book will be updated this spring with the “correct” syntax for REFVTOC.


Check out this Health Checker Redpaper

contributed by Ed Webb

Exploiting the IBM Health Checker for z/OS Infrastructure
Published: March 30, 2010
More details are available at http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redpapers/abstracts/redp4590.html?Open


Linux and Open Source

contributed by Chris Blackshire

10th Anniversary of Linux for the Mainframe: Beginning Today

By: Bill Claybrook 2010-04-07

2010 marks the 10th anniversary of Linux for the mainframe. Here, Knowledge Center contributor Bill Claybrook delves into the 10-year history of Linux for the mainframe, discussing its first deployments, advantages and appropriate workloads, as well as its current market outlook, cost of ownership and available applications. He also offers advice on how you can determine if Linux for the mainframe is the right choice for your data center's server virtualization project.

The year was 1999. It was the beginning of Linux for the mainframe. IBM and SUSE (which was later acquired by Novell in 2004) began working on a version of Linux for the mainframe. By 2000, the first enterprise-ready, fully supported version was available: SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for S/390. The first large, important customer was Telia, a Scandinavian telecommunications company. This year, 2010, is the 10th anniversary of Linux for the mainframe. The value propositions for Linux for the mainframe that were important in 2000 are still important today.

See the remainder of this article here.

Humor


Suthen-ism’s

contributed by Chris Blackshire

Only a Southerner knows the difference between a hissie fit and a conniption fit, and that you don't "HAVE" them, you "PITCH" them.


Only a Southerner knows how many fish, collard greens, turnip greens, peas, beans, etc.., make up "a mess."


Only a Southerner can show or point out to you the general direction of "yonder."


Only a Southerner knows exactly how long "directly" is, as in: "Going to town, be back directly."


Even Southern babies know that "Gimme some sugar" is not a request for the white, granular sweet substance that sits in a pretty little bowl in the middle of the table.


All Southerners know exactly when "by and by" is. They might not use the term, but they know the concept well.


Only a Southerner knows instinctively that the best gesture of solace for a neighbor who's got trouble is a plate of hot fried chicken and a big bowl of cold potato salad. If the neighbor's trouble is a real crisis, they also know to add a large banana puddin!


Only Southerners grow up knowing the difference between "right near" and "a right far piece." They also know that "just down the road" can be 1 mile or 20.


Only a Southerner, both knows and understands, the difference between a redneck, a good ol' boy, and po' white trash.


No true Southerner would ever assume that the car with the flashing turn signal is actually going to make a turn.


A Southerner knows that "fixin" can be used as a noun, a verb, or an adverb.


Only Southerners make friends while standing in lines, ... and when we're "in line,"... we talk to everybody!


Put 100 Southerners in a room and half of them will discover they're related, even if only by marriage.


In the South, y'all is singular, all y'all is plural.


Southerners know grits come from corn and how to eat them.


Every Southerner knows tomatoes with eggs, bacon, grits, and coffee are perfectly wonderful; that red eye gravy is also a breakfast food; and that fried green tomatoes are not a breakfast food.


When you hear someone say, "Well, I caught myself lookin'," you know you are in the presence of a genuine Southerner!


Only true Southerners say "sweet tea" and "sweet milk." Sweet tea indicates the need for sugar and lots of it -- we do not like our tea unsweetened. "Sweet milk" means you don't want buttermilk.


And a true Southerner knows you don't scream obscenities at little old ladies who drive 30 MPH on the freeway. You just say, "Bless her heart" ... and go your own way....


To those of you who are still a little embarrassed by your Southerness: Take two tent revivals and a dose of sausage gravy and call me in the morning. Bless your heart!


And to those of you who are still having a hard time understanding all this Southern stuff, .... bless your hearts, I hear they are fixin' to have classes on Southernness as a second language!


And for those that are not from the South but have lived here for a long time, all y'all need a sign to hang on y'alls front porch that reads “I ain't from the South, but I got here as fast as I could.”


Southern girls know men may come and go, but friends are fahevah !


Now...... Shugah, send this to someone who was raised in the South or wish they had been! If you're a Northern transplant, bless your little heart, fake it. We know you got here as fast as you could.

Membership Information

Don’t Forget the Next SPARTA Meeting

Tuesday, April 27, 2010
7 p.m.

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:

Business Intelligence on the Mainframe

Speaker:

Robinn Lanning of LRS

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

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