SPARTA News January 2013

January 2013

SPARTA President’s Corner

by Brad Carson

Happy New year everyone! 2013 is getting off to an interesting start with another ride on the weather roller coaster. Days with highs in the 70's and then snow on others. No wonder so many people are having fun with colds and the flu. My goal is to try and keep healthy around here during the year.

For our November meeting we had a presentation from EMC about their current virtual tape platform and what it can do to help out with the diminishing number of physical tape options available. I know that we are looking closely at their solution here and might be converting sometime this year. Since the last manufacturer of STK/SUN/Oracle 9840 format tapes has ceased production, our management has gotten a little concerned about the future of tape processing, not to mention how much we have tied up with HIPAA/SOX/PCI regulatory issues.

On our DB2 V10 New Function mode front, we're in a holding pattern for our small production DB2 subsystem. IBM is scratching their head on this one. We've sent them copies of the catalog table spaces from that subsystem and have cloned it over to our TECH LPAR so we can try things with them. Now we don't have to do a mini DR to test things out for this subsystem. Our last QA subsystem will be migrated before the end of the month and the big production subsystem is targeted for March. We tested the conversion of that subsystem the last time we had our DR system up and encountered no problems with it.

With our z/OS 1.13 migration we are down to getting it running on our PROD LPAR. We now have it running on the other four LPARs and have been given a tentative date of February 17th, 2013 for completing the work on PROD. There is another big project also scheduled to move that weekend so we might get "bumped". Right now it's just wait and see. I'd like to get this completed so we can get back to work on z/VM 6.2 again.

This month our speaker will be Patty Little from IBM to talk to us about z/OS debugging techniques. I look forward to see you on the 29th at LabCorp in RTP.


Future Speakers
(subject to change)


Jan. 29 z/OS Debugging by Patty Little of IBM
Feb. 26 TBA
Mar. 26 TBA

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.

2012-2013 SPARTA
Board of Directors

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

Ron Pimblett - Vice President
DTS Software 919-833-8426
4350 Lassiter at North Hills Ave, Suite 235
Raleigh, NC 27609

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 2012 “CBT Tape” Shareware Online

The directory and files from the latest CBT tape V485 (dated December 16, 2012) 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 November 27, 2012 Meeting

•Meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by Brad Carson, the Chapter President.
•The meeting was held at SAS in Cary, N.C.
•Twenty-four (24) people were present of which sixteen (16) were members.
•Everyone in the room introduced themselves, told where they worked, and briefly described their job functions.
•The minutes of the October 30, 2012 meeting was approved as published in the November 2012 newsletter.
•Tommy Thomas, the Chapter Treasurer, gave the Treasurer's Report. As of November 13, 2012, the balance is $793.15. Motion was made and approved to accept the Treasurer's Report as published in the November 2012 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 SAS 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.

•There is no December meeting. The January SPARTA meeting will be January 29 at LabCorp in RTP.

•Food for the January 2013 meeting will be chicken.

NEW BUSINESS

•Thanks to SAS and Ed Webb for hosting the November 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 7:30 p.m.

PRESENTATION

•Presentation by Brian Kithcart and Monica Bennett of EMC about Mainframe Virtual Tape.

• Agenda

EMC Company History
- Growth and Investment Commitment to the Mainframe Tape Market
- Over 925 customers (Global 1000)
- Market leader for dedupe storage on mainframe (90%+ market share)
- Partnerships and strategic initiatives with strategic ISVs and consultants
- Shared mainframe and Open Systems support –Industry 1st
- Global Sales and Service: $100M+ investment in head count, equipment, support

• Why EMC Virtual Tape for the Mainframe?
- Eliminates all issues related to traditional tape handling
- Works seamlessly with existing applications
- Significantly improves performance
- Extends disaster recovery capabilities to the tape workload
- Enhanced data protection with encryption and RSA Data Protection Manager
- Easily scales as the workload increases

• EMC Mainframe Tape Solution Evolution
- 03/2008 = DLm4080 (First Generation)
- 12/2008 = DLm4020
- 07/2009 = Data Domain
- 08/2009 = DLm120, DLm960 (Second Generation)
- 07/2010 = MDL1000, MDL2000, Data Domain
- 08/2011 = Lm6000
- 02/2012 = DLm2000 (Third Generation)
- 04/2012 = DLm1010, DLm1020

• EMC Product Portfolio Chart (See Presentation)
• EMC / IBM Technology Relationship (IBM fully supports DLm = Fully Certified)
• EMC Disk Library for Mainframe (DLm)

• Mainframe Physical Tape Challenges
- Performance of batch/backup processing
- Reliability and availability of tape media
- Management complexity
- Disaster recovery operations challenges
- Media management risk
- Technology refresh cycles, (decreased capital requirements)

• EMC Disk Library for Mainframe (DLm) - The Family
- Deep-dive drill down - Look at both Asynchronous and Synchronous transactions
- Diagrams (GUI type) indicates nodes monitored (Use dynamic workspace links)

• Typical Mainframe Use Cases for Tape
- Backup = 3390 DASD volume dumps
- Space management = Meant to conserve DASD usage
- Data Archive = Fixed content data
- Work Tape = Short retention (temporary tapes)

• EMC DLm1010
- Data Domain DD640, DD670, DD880 or DD890 appliances
- 6 GbE ports per DLm
- 1 FICON per DLm
- Up to 174 MB/s per DLm
- Up to 32 emulated drives per DLm

• EMC DLm1020
- Data Domain DD640, DD670, DD880 or DD890 appliances
- 4 x 1 GbE, 2 x 10 GbE ports per DLm
- 2 FICON Interfaces per DLm
- Up to 350 MB/s per DLM
- Up to 128 emulated drives per DLm

• Industry’s Most Scalable Inline Deduplication Systems
- Data Domain Software Options
- DD Boost
- DD Encryption
- DD Extended Retention
- DD Replicator
- DD Retention Lock
- DD Virtual Tape Library

• EMC DLm2000 Highlights:
- Single-cabinet, high-density solution
- 13TB –143TB based on EMC VNX5300 technology
- 340 –640 MB/sec (up to 2 VTEs)
- High Availability (HA) data path with two VTEs
- Single ACP
- Integrated data path to VNX
- Modular capacity upgrades (13TB usable increments)
- No more tape migrations in the future.
- Emulates 3480,3490,3590 Tape drives
- Up to 256 virtual devices per VTE (512 total)
- Transparent to mainframe operations

• EMC’s Mainframe Virtual Tape Solutions: EMC DLm6000
- Ideal for backup, archive, batch & HSM
- True IBM tape emulation (3480, 3490, 3590)
- FICON support (DLm6000: Up to 12 FICON
- Virtual Tape Engine (VTE) scalability - DLm6000: Up to 6
- 256 tape devices per VTE (max 1,536)
- Scalable throughput (DLm6000: Up to 2.0GB/sec)
- Unmatched IP replication capability (both dedupe and non-dedupe storage)
- No single point of failure

• Product Overview –DLm6000 Features
- Utilizes VNX7500 and/or DD890 storage
- Platform independence
- Virtuent 7 software

• DLm6000 Components (Flagship Product)
- Virtual Tape Emulation Controller (VTEC)
- From 2 to 6 VTE (Includes Hardware Compression Card)
- FICON connectivity
- Emulates IBM 3480/3490/3590 tape drives
- Virtual cartridge size up to 16 TB
- No limitation in number of tape
- Disk consumption is based on data written
- Back-end storage (IP)
- Supports traditional NFS storage (1 or 2)
- Supports deduplication storage (1 or 2)
- Stores all tape images as files
- No Single Point of Failure - All VTEs can see all tape volumes, RAID 6 Protection

• Reduce HSM CPU Cycles
- Reduce/eliminate DFHSM ML1 Data
- DFHSM recycle time optimized

• EMC DLm8000 Overview (Unprecedented scale and Resiliency)
- High-availability (HA) DLm architecture
- 56TB –1,792TB per VMAX (20K)
- 700MB –2.8GB/second throughput (Up to 8 VTE’s)
- 512 –2,048 virtual devices
- 4 –16 FICON attachments
- SRDF/S and SRDF/A replication for tape
- GDDR for automated recovery
- Universal Data Consistency™ DASD & tape
- Transparent to mainframe
- 3-13 cabinets

• EMC DLm8000 Components (Unprecedented Scale)
- Virtual tape emulation controller (VTEC)
- Emulates IBM 3480/3490/3590 tape drives
- 256 tape drives per VTE
- Up to 2048 Total
- FICON connectivity
- NFS Gateways (VG8)
- Provide traditional NFS storage
- Stores all tape images as files
- Shares all tape volumes among all VTEs
- DLm8000 Storage Arrays (VMAX)
- Replication using SRDF
- Point-In-Time Copies using TimeFinder

• DLm Family = DLm8000, DLm6000, DLm2000, DLm1020, DLm1010
- Components/Features compared: VTE Number, Connectivity, Host Channels supported, Number of Virtual Tape Drives, Maximum Useable Capacity, Performance, Deduplication Storage and Capacity, Cabinets Needed, Replication
- Transparent to the Mainframe

• Virtuent 7 - Gateway To The Future
- “Brains” of the DLm platform
- Foundation for all future intellectual property
- 3480, 3490, 3590 tape emulation
- Advanced mainframe data deduplication pre-processing
- Virtuent 7 with DLm6000 has added features
- Production since March 2010 (GA)

• Virtuent 7 - DLm Management
- z/OS Console Support
- Issue commands to manage DLm from a z/OS console
- Available since August 2011
- EzSM (ISPF-style)
-3270 ISPF style DLm management
- Manage both CMAX and DLm from single pane
- Graphical UI –DLmConsole
- Web-based UI
- Real time “thermals” for Activity

• Virtuent 7 - z/OS Mainframe Management
- Virtuent 7.0 provides an optional started task for z/OS environments.
- The started task purpose is to allow a single z/OS LPAR to communicate over the channel(s) with DLm VTEs and provides for the following capabilities:
- All “DLm” messages normally sent to the VTCON / btilog can now be optionally routed to the z/OS operator console.
- DLm operator commands (QUERY, for example) can be sent from the z/OS operator console to an DLm VTE. Responses will be returned to the z/OS
- DLm Retrieve Information Such As: Space, Compression, Configuration, Paths, Paths assigned, Channel adapters, Rejected paths, Performance information, Slowest mounts

• Virtuent 7 - - DLm Console - Status, Gather Logs
- Filesystem Architecture - unlimited number of VOLSERs, any VOLSER anywhere
- Disk Library for Mainframe Encryption - mix encrypted and non-encrypted information
- Two encryption options supported - IBM’s MTL or by unit information
- VNX File Level Retention - File Level Retention

• Encryption - RSA Key Management
- VTEs include the RSA client
- Encryption requires a separately licensed RSA Key Manager
- Individual drives will be configured for encryption (as they are today)
- When a new tape is written for encryption, a call to the RSA Key Manager is made
- The Key Manager returns 2 keys; a clear key and an encryption key
- RSA client uses the encryption key to encrypt the data and stores the clear key on the volume
- Support for VNX Storage Only

• Remote Replication
- Back-end storage IP replication (Only changes are replicated)
- Flexible replication configurations
- Prioritize data for replication
- Replicate to one or two sites
- Reduce current tape RPO/RTO
- No performance penalty on mainframe host
- Snapshot Support
- Guaranteed Replication

• Testing the Disaster Recovery Environment
- Read-only mounts
- Disk arrays allow instant “read-only” copies
- Confirm that tapes can be mounted and all required data can be accessed
- No incremental storage capacity required
- Snapshots
- Disk arrays allow creation of “read-write” snapshot
- Confirm operation at the disaster recovery site
- Some incremental storage capacity required
- Remote replication is uninterrupted during testing
- Tape Status Management
- Mainframe Disk Library manages internal logs and maintains the status
- Logs are maintained in the Disk Library for mainframe storage
- These log files will be replicated to the remote site along with the tape volumes
- Provides status of all tape volumes inside the Disk Library

• “It All Starts with Tape Assessment”
- A comprehensive analysis of the current tape environment from: System log data, Tape device configuration, TMS catalog data, SMF data, HSM
- Report of the summary of findings:
- Tape Mount and Transport Activity
- Tape Library Analysis
- Tape Bandwidth Analysis
- Best candidates for Data Deduplication Evaluated

• Migration Analysis
- Determine best way to introduce Disk Library for mainframe to environment
- Let tape data expire normally
- Redirect HSM tape data (or similar data) - migration by redirection
- Migrate other tape information - Use host based tool

DLm TCO/ROI Analysis - Cost considerations
- Floor space
- Tape vaulting costs
- Cost of new tape media
- Power and cooling
- Software costs (HSC/LMU)
- CPU savings for elimination of ML1
- Reduction on batch window
- Schedule/unscheduled maintenance windows
- WAN costs for replication

• Phase 1 For A Typical Customer
- Verify results on a 30 day basis (same 4 week period compared including month/quarter end)
- Used MXG tool for the analysis
- Amount of HSM data increased
- Sample results:
- HSM Migrations - 32% reduction in CPU usage, 9% more data
- Daily Backup - 55% reduction in clock time, 27% reduction in CPU usage
- HSM Recalls - 2,000 recalls per day from 120 sec. to <1 sec, 27% reduction in CPU usage
- HSM Recycles - Migration Data - 58% reduction in CPU usage, 38% reduction in clock time
- HSM Recycles - Backup Data - 53% reduction in CPU usage, 41% reduction in clock time

• Customer Benefits of Tape-on-Disk
- 1) Operational
- Eliminate tape handling, Eliminate tape batch processing, No JCL changes, No started task needed, No software installed on mainframe, Built-in IP based replication for DR, Multi-site disaster recovers, Ultra-safe storage for reliable recovery, Operational simplicity, Massive data reduction
- 2) Financial
- Eliminate tape maintenance, Eliminate tape media purchases & racks, Reduce power costs, Reduce CPU cycles, Reduce cooling costs, Reclaim floor space, Reduce or eliminate off-site tape storage costs, Reduce # of host FICON / ESCON channels, Reclaim expensive Tier 1 –2 storage for ML-2 data, Eliminate expensive channel extension gear (if used)
- 3) Performance
- Faster than tape, Faster recoveries, Reduce MF compression cycles, Reduce CPU cycles, Address specific batch performance issues, Easy scalability –uses low cost / high performing SATA II disks, RAID-6 protection, IP replicate unique / de-duplicated data, Reduce WAN resources

•The meeting ended about 9:05 p.m.

Treasurer’s Report for January 2013

contributed by Tommy Thomas

The balance in the account is $784.84 as of January 14, 2013.

Financial Report
3/01/2012 through 01/14/2013

Items of Interest


SPARTA Schedule and Menu for 2013

contributed by Tommy Thomas and Chris Blackshire

Jan. 29 - Chicken
Feb. 26 - Subs
Mar. 26 - BarBQ
Apr. 30 - Pizza
May 21 - Chicken
June 25 - Subs
July 30 - BarBQ
Aug. 27 - DBAP Buy Your Own
Sept. 24 - Pizza
Oct. 29 - Chicken
Nov. 19 - Subs
Dec. 31 - No Meeting, Happy Holidays


It’s a Big Pond

contributed by Ed Webb

Our SHARE friend from IBM, Iris Rivera, now writes a System z blog. Here’s one of her latest posts:

http://www.destinationz.org/Community/Evangelizing-Mainframe/January-2013/It-s-a-Big-Pond----.aspx


SHARE 2013 in San Francisco Presentations Become Available

contributed by Ed Webb

SHARE will be in San Francisco, February 3-8, 2013 at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square. IBM will present its Preview of z/OS V2R1 and z/OSMF V2R1 as well as provide details on the newest zEnterprise system, the EC12.

Here’s a handy link to SHARE sessions that already have presentations available. Check back often as we get closer to SHARE in early Feb. for more presentations.
 
https://share.confex.com/share/120/webprogram/uploadlistall.html


z/OSMF Replaces Software Deployment with Software Manager

contributed by Ed Webb

Via a SPE (small programming enhancement) released in mid-December 2012, IBM replaced the Software Deployment plug-in in its free z/OS Management Facility (z/OSMF) with the Software Manager plug-in. This enhancement adds Software information capabilities to Software Deployment.

http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/z/os/zos/zosmf/enhancements.html

http://publibz.boulder.ibm.com/epubs/pdf/izuz3122.pdf

https://share.confex.com/share/120/webprogram/Handout/Session13082/zOSMF%20Software%20Management.pdf

Get Ready for Secure FTP to Get IBM Service

contributed by Ed Webb

IBM has stated that it intends to require Secure FTP to download product service beginning in Third Quarter 2013. To get your shop ready for this significant change, you can go to a Shopz page (cleverly obscured) to set up a Connectivity Test for Secure FTP:

http://www.ibm.com/services/forms/preLogin.do?lang=en_US&source=cbct

The site provides a Read Me set of instructions, sample JCL for the test, and FTP control statement changes you need to make.

Good luck.


Humor


Once A Pun A Time

contributed by Chris Blackshire

1. Two vultures board an airplane, each carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at them and says, "I'm sorry, gentlemen, only one carrion allowed per passenger."

2. Did you hear that NASA recently put a bunch of Holsteins into low earth orbit? They called it the herd shot 'round the world.

3. Two boll weevils grew up in South Carolina. One went to Hollywood and became a famous actor. The other stayed behind in the cotton fields and never amounted to much. Naturally, the second one became known as the lesser of two weevils.

4. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, but when they lit a fire in the craft, it sank proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it, too.

5. A three-legged dog walks into a saloon in the Old West, slides up to the bar, and announces: "I'm looking for the man who shot my paw."

6. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal?  He wanted to transcend dental medication.

7. A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories.  After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse.  "But why?" they asked, as they moved off.  "Because," he said, "I can't stand chess nuts boasting in an open foyer."

8. A woman has twins, and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named Amal.  The other goes to a family in Spain; they name him Juan.  Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Amal. Her husband responds, "They're twins!  If you've seen Juan, you've seen Amal."

9. These friars were behind on their belfry payments, so they opened up a small florist shop to raise funds. Since everyone liked to buy flowers from the men of God, a rival florist across town thought the competition was unfair. He asked the good friars to close down, but they would not. A week later, he went back to the friars store and again begged them to close; But, they ignored him. So, the rival florist hired Hugh MacTaggart, the roughest and most vicious thug in town to "persuade" the friars to close their shop.  Hugh beat up the friars and trashed their store, saying he'd be back if they didn't close up shop. Terrified, they did so, thereby proving that: Hugh, and only Hugh, can prevent florist friars.

10.  And finally, there was a woman who sent ten different puns to friends, in the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. Unfortunately, no pun in ten did.

Membership Information

Don’t Forget the Next SPARTA Meeting

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

7 p.m.

LabCorp in the RTP

Free Food: Chicken, Drink, Dessert

Program:

z/OS Debugging Techniques

Speaker:

Patty Little of IBM

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

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