SPARTA News April 2012

April 2012

SPARTA President’s Corner

by Brad Carson

They say that "April showers bring May flowers" but nobody mentioned some very cold morning walks! My little 5AM strolls through our neighborhood have been very chilly this past week. I'm looking forward to the warmer weather that's coming our way. I believe that the little bird nesting (with 4 little eggs) in wreath on our front door is too.

In March Ed Webb gave us his "SHARE Trip Report". Since I was unable to attend SHARE this time I was looking forward to his report. It's always good to keep current with the happenings from IBM and SHARE. One of the big items I was expecting was the direction that would be a z/OS release every other year. This is how we normally do our z/OS upgrades here so we will have no problem with that. The troubling information was IBM's direction to drop Bookmanager support. I'm not too happy about this one. The search facility of Bookmanager is one of the best out there. Searching through a bookshelf of manuals online either in TSO or via Library Server, it can't be beat. We always keep a copy of the libraries local so that we don't have to "walk out" to the internet to get this information. It comes in real handy when working via a VPN connection from home when outside company internet access is blocked.

On our DB2 V10 front we are waiting for IBM to release the last PTF we need to move forward on migrating our last DB2 subsystem from V8 to V10. They changed the way that the clause "OPTIMIZE FOR 1 ROW" was being handled and it made performance of some our CICS transactions go right down the tubes. Seems we weren't the only customers with this issue and an APAR was taken to address this issue. So now there will be a new ZPARM option to control how the optimize clause will be handled. Once we get the PTF in we'll exercise it on our QAAD DB2's for a month. If all goes right during our May production outage, we'll upgrade out last DB2. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

We are still moving slowly with our z/VM 6.2 installation. We have our 2nd level systems running well now and are preparing to migrate the Burlington system from V5.4. Since this is the first migration from the team here, I'm letting them practice a few times so they can get comfortable with the process. I should have more on this next month.

This month our speaker will be Mike Puiu of MVS Solutions. See you on the 24th at LabCorp.


Future Speakers
(subject to change)


Apr. 24 Reduce Rolling Average by Mike Puiu of MVS Solutions
May 22 To MIPS or Not by Gary King of IBM
June 26 TBD

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.

2011-2012 SPARTA
Board of Directors

Brad Carson - President
LabCorp 336-436-8294
3060 S. Church St.
Burlington, NC 27215

Ron Pimblett - Vice President
DTS Software 919-nnn-mmmm

Raleigh, NC 276zz

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.

December 2011 “CBT Tape” Shareware Online

The directory and files from the latest CBT tape V483 (dated December 25, 2011) 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 27, 2012 Meeting

•Meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by Brad Carson, the Chapter President.
•The meeting was held at LabCorp in RTP, N.C.
•Fourteen (14) people were present of which thirteen (13) were members.
•Everyone in the room introduced themselves, told where they worked, and briefly described their job functions.
•The minutes of the February 2012 meeting were approved as published in the March 2012 newsletter.
•Tommy Thomas, the Chapter Treasurer, gave the Treasurer's Report. As of March 16, 2012, the balance is $1212.70. Motion was made and approved to accept the Treasurer's Report as published in the 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.

•Brad Carson reminded everyone to leave the LabCorp conference room clean.

•Future Speakers and Topics (subject to change based on internal politics, budget, the weather):

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

•The April SPARTA meeting will be April 24 at LabCorp in RTP.

•Food for the April 2012 meeting will be Pizza.

NEW BUSINESS

•SPARTA Annual Dues of $30 should be paid now.

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

•Send any e-mail address changes to Brad Carson so he can update the SPARTA Listserv.

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

•Ed Webb of SAS gave a presentation about his experiences at SHARE 118 in Atlanta, GA:

•Best Sessions:

- 10350 HLASM Favorites: A JES2 Perspective by Tom Wasik of IBM
- 10948 ISPF for Fun and Profit by Tom Conley of Pinnacle Consulting
- 19613 ISPF Hidden Treasures: Parts 1 and 2 by Peter Van Dyck of IBM
- 10866 zFS Cloning in a Shared File System Environment by Marna Walle of IBM

•Other Sessions:

- 10599 Bit Bucket x’2A’ - 21st Year of the Bit Bucket
- New z/OS releases are now on a 2 year Release Cycle
- GA22-7499-19 z/OS 1.13 Migration Redbook
- 09939 PDSE Information
- 10639 z/OS 1.13 JES2
- 10608 IBM Service Request - ServiceLink changing to SR

• Summary: It was a very good SHARE.

•Meeting ended at 9:10 PM.

Treasurer’s Report for April 2012

contributed by Tommy Thomas

The balance in the account is $1211.05 as of April 13, 2012.

Financial Report
3/01/2012 through 04/13/2012

Items of Interest


SPARTA Schedule and Menu for 2012

contributed by Tommy Thomas and Chris Blackshire

Apr. 24 - Pizza
May 22 - Chicken
June 26 - Subs
July 31 - BarBQ
Aug. 21 - DBAP Buy Your Own
Sep. 25 - Pizza
Oct. 30 - Chicken
Nov. 27 - Subs
Dec. 25 - No Meeting, Happy Holidays


z/OS Goes to Two-Year Release Cycle

contributed by Ed Webb

11Apr2012 Here’s the official release cycle change announcement for z/OS from IBM and includes the first mention of z/OS v2.1 and of dropping pre-z9 servers:
 
http://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?subtype=ca&infotype=an&appname=iSource&supplier=897&letternum=ENUS212-086

Other little goodies (Statements of Direction) in this announcement include the end of BookManager-format books, the requirement for Distributed Mode Consoles (Shared mode discontinued), JES2 after V2.1 requires z11 mode, and SMP/E will support Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) for FTP (FTPS) in 3Q2012 and require FTPS in 4Q2013.

“Since its initial release in 2001, IBM® z/OS® Version 1 has delivered over 11 years of value, offering support of IBM System z® and providing our customers with the foundation to run their most critical business solutions. The z/OS journey continues with new efforts to drive value while reducing complexity. In support of these efforts, IBM plans to introduce a new version of the z/OS operating system, z/OS Version 2, with z/OS V2.1 to be released in the second half of 2013 as part of a new two-year release cycle. As the System z platform continues to deliver value for smarter computing, IBM intends that z/OS Version 2 serve as the foundational layer for new capabilities. This is an exciting time for IBM and for you, our customers, as we prepare new versions of z/OS and z/OS Management Facility (z/OSMF) to be delivered through a release schedule that is intended to align well with your business requirements.

Going forward, IBM intends to make new z/OS and z/OSMF releases available approximately every two years. Such a schedule would be intended to provide you with sufficient time to plan for new releases and to leverage them for the most business value. In addition, beginning with z/OS Version 2, IBM plans to provide five years of z/OS support, with three years of optional, fee-based extended service (5+3) as part of the new release cadence. Beginning with z/OSMF Version 2, IBM also plans to provide five years of z/OSMF support. However, similar to z/OSMF Version 1, optional extended service is not planned to be available for z/OSMF Version 2.

In addition, in z/OS V2.1, IBM plans to further leverage enhancements in the current IBM mainframe servers and storage control units. z/OS V2.1 is planned to IPL only on System z9® and later servers. Also, z/OS Version 2 is planned to require 3990 Model 3 (3990-3), 3990 Model 6 (3990-6), and later storage control units.”


Spring 2012 SCMG Meeting Soon

contributed by Ed Webb

On Friday, May 4, 2012, the Southern CMG (Computer Measurement Group) meets at SAS in Cary for its Spring Session. SPARTA’s own Jim Horne is one of the presenters. Register by April 30 to save $10.

http://regions.cmg.org/regions/scmg/spring_12/raleigh/meeting.htm


Value of Mainframe Skills Increases

contributed by Ed Webb

“Anyone who believes the mainframe is yesterday’s technology, should consider this: Plenty of mainframe tech jobs are currently available, and the number is bound to increase in coming years as longtime mainframe professionals reach retirement age. People with mainframe skills tend to stand out in the IT tech crowd, the experts say. And if that’s not enough, they stress that many mainframe jobs pay well into the six figures.

That was the message from a stream of speakers at the recent SHARE in Atlanta conference. Speakers acknowledged the mainframe has been overshadowed by glossy newer technologies, such as cloud computing and social networking, but continues to offer a viable career path for young would-be techs.”

Read more and see if you agree:

http://presidentscorner.share.org/2012/04/13/value-of-mainframe-skills-rises-as-job-openings-increase/


IBM Support Portal Provides a One-Stop Shop

contributed by Ed Webb

Can you make the IBM Support Portal work for you?

“The IBM Support Portal provides a single entry point for access to support information for IBM hardware and software products. It offers much more than a traditional aggregation site, which is typically just a collection of URLs. When you search for support information on a specific IBM product, the portal will pull data from multiple IBM support sites. The results are presented in a well-organized format with tabs for different types of support activities. You can even customize the portal with your specific products and platforms.”

Get some setup hints and tips here:

http://ibmsystemsmag.com/mainframe/tipstechniques/miscellaneous/support_portal/

Humor


Hack the Memeframe, Er, Mainframe

contributed by Ed Webb

(Ed. Note: From http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/)

 The shrinking number of workers who can program and administer a mainframe, sometimes referred to as the “red-haired stepchild of IT,” are members of an exclusive club with a language and sense of humor all their own.

 We’ve compiled a few of our favorite mainframe-related jokes and catchphrases from the Internet. Be forewarned that some are groaners, but if you’re a mainframer — or even if you’re not — you might just chuckle.

 Old mainframers never die. They just take a dump and re-IPL.

 Elvis and Jesus are editing their programs on TSO when the system crashes. Who lost his files?
Elvis, because Jesus saves.

 It might be a mainframe:

·         If you can fit a bed and mini fridge inside.

·         If the power supply is bigger than your car.

·         If the only “mouse” it has is the one living inside it.

·         If you need earth-moving equipment to relocate it.

 You might be a mainframer:

·         If the phrase “green card” doesn’t make you think of immigration.

·         If you think all computers belong on a raised floor.

·         If your definition of “bursting” has nothing to do with too much turkey on Thanksgiving.

 A systems programmer is at lunch with some data processing auditors. The waitress asks the sysprog what he wants to order. “Pork chops,” he says. “What about the vegetables?” she asks. The sysprog says, “Oh, they can order for themselves.”

Membership Information

Don’t Forget the Next SPARTA Meeting

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

7 p.m.

LabCorp in the RTP

Free Food: Pizza, Drink, Dessert

Program:

Reduce Your 4-Hour Rolling Average

Speaker:

Mike Puiu of MVS Solutions

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

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