SPARTA News May 2010

May 2010

SPARTA President’s Corner

by Brad Carson

Welcome to May and the warmer weather of summer (almost). Last month I was worried about so much pine pollen, this month we just needed some rain. Well we got quite a bit of that over the last few days, so now let’s see how my lawn recovers at the house.

Last month we had a visit from Robbin Lanning of LRS to talk to us about their view of business intelligence on the mainframe. It was an interesting presentation and I hope everyone came away with some information own what options you have available with mainframe processing.

Last month I stated that I hadn’t checked out the “V XCF,sysid,OFFLINE,REIPL” function in z/OS 1.11. This month I’m happy to say that we were able to test this in our DEVL LPAR on the Burlington machine. This works just as advertised, of course z/VM has had this feature for a while now it’s nice to finally have it in z/OS. Since we have z10’s we didn’t need anything extra in our HMC’s, but for z9 users you will need to make sure that you have the SCSI IPL support feature (no charge) on your HMC’s before you can use the REIPL function of z/OS.

A good bit of my last month has been spent in Unisys land.  We have a big project moving up into production and have hit a major performance issue with the application code. Since this is for a customer facing application it is a very visible project with upper management. I really wish there was a version of Strobe that would run on OS2200. We’re making headway, but it takes some time. I’ll have more on this next month.

In more testing of WebLogic under z/VM we have found that all the sample applications work well without spinning on excess CPU. So now we have the contractor beginning to look at their code. Of course all along they have been stating that there is nothing wrong with any of their code, it runs just fine on the Intel platform. So of course our management has decided to move this application to VMWare in the Intel world. So now we have to work harder to get them to look at z/VM as a good platform for hosting Linux based applications. Geeze…

This month Novell will be giving us SUSE Linux on System z, What’s New for IBM System z in SLES 11. I look forward to seeing you all on the 25th at LabCorp.


Future Speakers
(subject to change)


May 25 SUSE Linux SLES 11 on System z by Daniel Faile of Novell
June 29 DB2 Tuning by Mike Arnold of Softbase

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.

2010-2011 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 April 27, 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.

•Twenty (20) people were present; thirteen (13) were members.

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

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

•Tommy Thomas, the Chapter Treasurer gave the Treasurer's Report. As of April 13, 2010, the balance is $1204.94. Motion was made and approved to accept the Treasurer's Report as published in the April 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)

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 May SPARTA meeting will be on the 25th at LabCorp in the RTP.

•Food for the May meeting will be Chicken.

•Brad reminded everyone to keep the conference room clean.

NEW BUSINESS

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

•By affirmation the current SPARTA Board of Directors will continue as the 2010-2011 SPARTA Board of Directors.
Brad Carson - President
Ron Pimblett - Vice President
Tommy Thomas - Treasurer
Ed Webb - Communications Director
Mike Lockey - Secretary

•The business portion of the meeting ended at 7:55 p.m.

•Drew More of LRS gave a presentation about Business Intelligence (BI) on the mainframe.

- The Evolution of BI
- Trends in Today's BI
- User Trends
- Data Volume Trends
- The BI Data Realty
- The BI Data Movement Process-
- Warehouse DBRMS
- Federation
- Metadata, ETL and Data Cleansing
- Analytic Appliances
- Business Intelligence Tools
- Platform Choices-
- Real World Applications
- 9 Reasons for BI on the Mainframe
- Questions and Answers

Danny Ross of LRS gave a presentation about Enterprise Output Server.

•Meeting ended at 8:45 p.m.

Treasurer’s Report for May 2010

contributed by Tommy Thomas

The balance in the account is $1197.98 as of May 18, 2010.

Financial Report
3/01/2010 through 5/18/2010

Items of Interest


SPARTA Schedule and Menu for 2010

contributed by Tommy Thomas and Chris Blackshire

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!


Notes About SMP/E Fix Categories

contributed by Ed Webb

Users of SMP/E V3R5 can take advantage of the Fix Category attributes to APPLY needed service for a new Hardware Product or an add-on Software Product or for Compatibility and Tolerance Service. Many of the Categories are fairly obvious: IBM.Coexistence.z/OS.V1R12, for example, should be used with all service that you APPLY to z/OS R10 or R11 so you are ready for that “coming in Sept. 2010” release.

However, some categories are less obvious. The good news is that IBM is planning to update the Enhanced HOLDDATA webpage with descriptions of the various Fix Categories; the bad news is that the FIXCAT descriptions are not there yet.

Here’s a sample of an APPLY I ran recently that illustrates the use of Fix Categories and, in particular, one of the less obvious categories: IBM.ProductInstall-RequiredService.

APPLY  CHECK  GROUPEXTEND
  SOURCEID(
         RSU*      /* ALL 20YY   SERVICE THRU RSU1004         */
         IBM.ProductInstall-RequiredService  /* Only with FORFMID */
         IBM.Function.HealthChecker
         IBM.Coexistence.z/OS.V1R12
          )
  FORFMID(
          HMP1H00  /* 5694-A01 SMP/EXTENDED z/OS V1R11 (BASE 3.5)*/
         )
      BYPASS(
             ID,
             HOLDSYSTEM,
             HOLDCLASS(ERREL,UCLREL)
            )           /* CBPDO 1019 W/SERVICE THRU RSU1004 +  */ .

contributed by Ed Webb

Since I have not heard of MAID storage until now, I thought I’d share this article with you.

http://www.mainframezone.com/it-management/enterprise-storage-maid-1-vs.-maid-2

Hint: Multiple Array of Idle Disks (MAID)


The Steve Jobs Simplicity Test for PowerPoint Presentations

contributed by Chris Blackshire

The View from Harvard Business

By Sean Silverthorne, April 29th, 2010

As you know, most PowerPoint presentations are boring and ineffective.

Here's why. We create them not to convey crucial information, but rather to help us ease our uncomfortableness with public speaking. I'm convinced this is true. We use PPT like a magician uses a lovely assistant - to misdirect the attention of the audience.

As a result, most slide decks are:
* Simply speech outlines. We encourage the audience to follow along by reading the screen rather than looking and listening to us. What could be more deadly?
* Jammed with much too much information, presented poorly. Your audience must decide whether to digest the slide or listen to the speaker - impossible to do both.
* Choreographed to bullet point style. Bullet points have no rhythm, no tempo, no liveliness - and neither do presentations that rely on them.

Look, I'm not one of those PPT Haters who think it has no value. The key to using PowerPoint, Keynote or any other presentation technology effectively is to use it to complement your talk and drive home key points, not to serve as the main event.

Learn from the master presenter, Steve Jobs. Look at the opening minutes of his iPad intro earlier this year to see how he uses the medium wonderfully:

Color: The slides are bathed in a soothing dark blue color. He heightens interest by occasionally just leaving an empty blue screen.

Space: When he presents a key data point, such as the number of programs available in the App Store, that number is about the only thing you see on the slide. It encourages you to listen to him for the context.

Images: Instead of filling the screen with text, a beautiful image often delivers the message. Jobs' remarks on the opening of a new Apple store in NY is back dropped by a few beautiful photos rather than bullet points about how many marble steps were used or how many people crowded in during the first month.

Special effects: The effect - a spinning product, a dust cloud - usually appears at the start of the slide, drawing your attention, but then is quickly gone.

Like his products, a Steve Jobs slide show is about simplicity, elegance and impact. So take your next slide presentation and run it through this five-question filter.

1. Does each slide convey just one idea?

2. Are images sometimes used instead of words to convey those ideas?

3. Do the slides make use of empty space?

4. Does the deck sometimes disappear, leaving nothing between you and your audience?

5. Have you minimized bullet lists, distracting effects and eye charts?

What do you think are the keys to a good slide presentation?


Humor


History of Common Phrases

contributed by Chris Blackshire

They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & sold to the tannery.......if you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor"

But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot.......they "didn't have a pot to piss in" & were the lowest of the low!

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be.

Here are some facts about the 1500s:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June. However, since they were starting to smell . .. . Brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water!"

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying "Dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence: a threshold.

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat.

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and honored guests got the top, or the upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer...

Membership Information

Don’t Forget the Next SPARTA Meeting

Tuesday, May 25, 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: Chicken, Drink, Dessert

Program:

What’s New for System z in SLES 11?

Speaker:

Daniel Faile of Novell

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

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