SPARTA News

July 2014

SPARTA President’s Corner

contributed by Ron Pimblett

The penalty for not doing well in Mobile is steep in the IT business. This month Microsoft announced its failure into Mobile Computing by laying off a record 18000 people, mostly acquired when they bought Nokia.

Last month I spoke about the importance of offering mobile computing within your organization as a mainframe solution or at least enabling the functionality through access to big data on the mainframe. Looking down the road, this is a good long term bet to keep the mainframe big and bold in your shop as mobile devices and apps need access to core data reserves.

I guess what I am saying is that the opportunity to embrace the mainframe for these apps is there but it means promotion by the key mainframe technical staff.

For good content the new site IBM Mainframe Weekly is well done and provides excellent content to distribute internally.

I am dwelling on Mobile Computing this Month especially because IBM sees the future by embracing a partner that has been the best at Mobile since it’s inception.

Headlines on Wednesday, 16 July 2014: Apple to team up with IBM

"Apple and IBM have announced a business partnership that will see the two firms co-develop business-centric apps for iPhones and iPads.
In addition, IBM will start selling business clients Apple's mobile devices pre-installed with the new software."

Looking forward to a Mainframe Cloud presentation by Andrew Chapman of CA Technologies on Tuesday, July 29, at LabCorp in RTP. See you there.

Ron Pimblett

Future Speakers

(subject to change)

July 29 - CICS Update by IBM
Aug. 25 (Special Date) Baseball at Durham Bulls Athletic Park (DBAP)
Sep. 30 - SHARE in Pittsburgh Report by Ed Webb of SAS

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.

2013-2014 SPARTA

Board of Directors

Brad Carson - President

LabCorp

3060 S. Church St.

Burlington, NC 27215

Ron Pimblett - Vice President

MDI Data Systems 919-426-6518

866-634-3282

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.

Burlington, NC 27215

Ed Webb - Communications Director

SAS Institute Inc. 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 1912 T.W. 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-RTP Group. The newsletter is posted to the website about five (5) days before each meeting so you can prepare. The SPARTA-RTP Group is maintained by Chris Blackshire; if you have corrections or problems receiving your meeting notice, contact Chris at chrisbl@nc.rr.com.

June 2014 “CBT Tape” Shareware Online

The directory and files from the latest CBT tape V488 (dated June 03, 2014) are available from www.cbttape.org.

If you need help obtaining one or more files, contact Ed Webb at SAS (see Board of Director’s list for contact info).

Minutes of the June 24 On July 1, 2014 Meeting

•Meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by Tommy Thomas, the Chapter Treasurer.

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

•Twelve (12) people were present of which Eleven (11) were 2014 members.

•Everyone in the room introduced themselves, told where they worked, and briefly described their job functions or their job hunting challenges.
•The minutes of the May 2014 meeting were approved as published in the June 2014 newsletter.

•Tommy Thomas, the Chapter Treasurer, gave the Treasurer's Report. As of June 17, 2014, the balance is $942.62. Motion was made and approved to accept the Treasurer's Report as published in the June 2014 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 at 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.

•Tommy reminded everyone to leave the LabCorp conference room clean.

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

Date	Company	Speaker	Topic
July 29, 2014	IBM	Ed Addison	CICS
Aug 25, 2014 (Monday)	Baseball Night	Tommy Thomas	Durham Bulls playing Gwinett
Sept 30, 2014	SHARE Update	Ed Webb and ?	SHARE Topics
Oct 21/28, 2014	Innovation DP	TBD	FDR
Nov 25, 2014	Watson Walker	Cheryl Watson or Frank Kyne	Series z Performance

If you have suggestions about speakers and topics, contact Ron Pimblett (919-833-8426).

•The next SPARTA monthly meeting will be July 29, 2014 at LabCorp in RTP.

•Food for the July meeting will be BarBQ.

•The 2014 dues are due ($30) as of March 2014. Please pay Tommy Thomas.

NEW BUSINESS

•Thanks to LabCorp (Tommy Thomas) for hosting the meeting.

•There are currently 43 people on the SPARTA-RTP e-mailing list. There are no new additions since last month.

•Send any e-mail address changes to Chris Blackshire so he can update the SPARTA-RTP Listserv. You will be added by the moderator (Chris) sending you an invitation to Join the list. (ChrisBl@nc.rr.com)

•President’s Corner submissions are wanted. Please assist Ron Pimblett and Ed Webb with ideas or try actually writing a President’s Corner article. If your shop is installing software or an OS process like Brad wrote about, please write about it.

•Ed Webb and Pam Tant are planning to attend SHARE in Pittsburgh in August.

•Tommy is having a conflict between his vacation time and our meeting dates. He wants us to think about changing the meeting night to the first Tuesday of each month. With LabCorp requiring that Tommy work the first half of each month and our meeting on the last Tuesday of each month, Tommy has no time left to take vacation weeks. Please think about your schedules to change our meeting date to make Tommy's schedule better. At the July 29th meeting, please be prepared to discuss changing our meeting date to the first Tuesday of each month.

•The meeting ended at 9:00 p.m.

PRESENTATION

• Presentation was given by Paul Massengill of HDS.
Topic: Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform (VSP) G1000 - Mainframe Storage Support

• Agenda
- Introduction
- VSP G1000 overview
- Storage Optimization and Management
- Business Continuity and Data Protection
- Summary and Wrap-up

Introduction

• Introduction - Hitachi Data Systems
- 30 years of Hitachi mainframe heritage and experience
- Hitachi Data Systems first to deliver
   - Mainframe volume-level in-system copies
   - Storage virtualization for mainframe environments
   - Delta re-synchronization in 3-data- center multi-target replication configurations
   - Remote pull of data from primary storage controller by remote storage controller
- Hitachi making data storage systems from 1978 to this current G1000 VSP

• VSP G1000 Family overview
- Essential Compatibility Plus
   - Increased ability to offload mainframe MIPs to storage systems and increase operational automation
   - Improved performance and QoS
   - Reduced capital and operating costs
   - Assured reliability and scalability to grow as much as needed
   - Experienced mainframe team and partners

• Hitachi Mainframe Storage Strategy
- Essential Compatibility (Leveraging IBM)
- Middleware and Application Level (IMS, CICS, DB2, MQ Series)
- BC/DR Solution Level (IBM and Hitachi Portfolio)
- Storage Compatible Functions (Concurrent Copy, Flash Copy, Metro Mirror)
- Operating Systems Compatibility (zOS, DFSMS, Linux, z/VM, z/VSE, zTPF)
- Hardware Interface Compatibility (FICON, zHPF, FCP, MA, PAV, HyperPAV)

• VSP Already The High-End Storage Leader
- Gartner: Critical Capabilities for General-Purpose, High-End Storage Arrays March 2014
   - VSP Rated #1 for every use cases
- Users: Storage Magazine - Quality Awards March 2013
   - Rated 7.15 which was the highest rating category

• VSP G1000 Family Mainframe Storage Support
- Essential Compatibility Plus
   - Increased ability to offload mainframe MIPs to storage systems and increase operational automation
   - Improved performance and QoS
   - Reduced capital and operating costs
   - Assured reliability and scalability to grow as much as needed
   - Experienced mainframe team and partners

• Hitachi Accelerated Flash
- HDS's HAF approach is unique…
    - “That gives it a performance advantage, data management software advantages inherited from the parent array, and, we shall see, a possible total cost of ownership edge”
   - Author: Chris Mellor November 12, 2013
- Flash Modules Mounted on Controller Cards

• VSP G1000: Block Storage Specifications

Specifications Chart	VSP G1000 1-Cntrler	VSP 2-Cntrler	VSP 2-Cntrler Chassis
Max Flash Devices	96/192 SSD	192/384 SSD	192/256 SSD
Max Internal Disks (HDD)	1152 2.5 inch	2304 2.5 Inch	2048 2.5 Inch
	576 3.5 Inch	1152 3.5 Inch	1,280 3.5 Inch
Max Cache Path	384	768	128
Max Virtual Director Pairs	4 (64)	8 (128)	4 (32)
Max Host Ports	96	192	192
Max Cache Memory	1 TB	2 TB	1 TB
Max Power Consumption	18.5 KVA	37 KVA	41.4 KVA
Max Local Copy Pairs	32K	32K	16K
Max Remote Copy Pairs	64K	64K	32K
Max LUNs/LDEVs	64K	64K	64K

• IT is Realizing That There is a Better Way
- VSP G1000 hardware built for 5+ years useful life
- Scalable hardware, capacity, and performance
- Built for long life and maintainability
- Designed for upgradeable software and hardware enhancements
- Gartner: “Five- to seven-year ECB disk storage infrastructure refresh cycles will become the new normal.”

Storage Optimization and Management

• Virtualization Drives Agility and Efficiency
- Superior external storage virtualization
   - Increase storage utilization
   - Extend useful life of existing assets
   - Repurpose existing assets
   - Simplify IT infrastructure
- Advanced Dynamic Provisioning
   - Simplifies provisioning
   - Improves performance
   - Increases efficiencies, reduces waste

• Hitachi Dynamic Tiering for Mainframe Multi-Tier Volume in a Storage Group
- Automated Storage Group Classification: MultiTiered: SSD - SAS - SAS NL
- Hitachi Dynamic Tiering for Mainframe with SMS Storage Groups and ACS Routines
- Impact of Hitachi Dynamic Tiering for Mainframe
- Common Operations Before and After Hitachi Dynamic Tiering (HDT) for Mainframe

• Hitachi Tiered Storage Manager for Mainframe Hitachi Dynamic Tiering Management
- Host-based software
- Enables centralized and unified mainframe management of Hitachi Dynamic Tiering
- Automation Policies
- Integration with DFSMS and storage groups
- Facilitates online storage service level controls
- Increase application performance
- Improves problem avoidance
- Delivers a single, consistent interface
- ISPF Command based and/or
- REXX Script driven
- Eliminates configuration errors through auto-discovery
- Accelerates deployment
- Provides reporting and automatic notifications
- Optimizes Use of Storage Tiering
- Reduce Storage Complexity with Dynamic Tiering

Business Continuity and Data Protection

• IT Challenge: Business Continuity and Data Protection
- Key Trend: Reduction of RTO for TIER-1 Applications
- Business Continuity and Data Protection: Align Recovery objectives and Architectures
- Virtual Storage Platform G1000 Mainframe Business Continuity Portfolio
- Hitachi Universal Replicator
   - Asynchronous replication to remote site
   - Primary storage controller keeps replication metadata and user data in cache and disk-based journal
- Storage controller-based replication
   - Remote storage controller requests data from primary storage controller
   - Remote storage controller manages replication
- Provides end result equivalent to z/OS Global Mirror (XRC)
   - No system data mover or remote host required
- Significant MIPs reduction

• Universal Replicator: Journal Usage
- Asynchronous Replication
   - Written data chronologically reflected to secondary site from journal cache or disk volume
   - JNL keeps consistency across multiple volumes
   - JNL data is copied by means of special read I/O (read JNL) initiated by remote system
- Three Data Center Multi-Target Support:
   - TrueCopy Synchronous and Universal Replicator
- Hitachi-IBM replication compatibility
   - Hitachi storage is compatible with IBM z/OS PPRC
   - PPRC commands are accepted by Hitachi storage controllers
   - Supported with TrueCopy synchronous and ShadowImage In-System Replication
   - Not supported with Hitachi Universal Replicator
   - PPRC operates on individual replication pairs
- Business Continuity Manager value-add over IBM
   - Single ISPF-based tool/reduced complexity
   - Enhanced control and visibility (supports gen’d and un-gen’d devices)
   - Simplified management
   - Reduces RPO and RTO risk

Summary and Wrap-up

• VSP G1000 Mainframe Software Packages (Mainframe Bundles)
- Existing:
   - Storage Virtualization Operating System
   - Hitachi Compatible PAV Package for Mainframe
   - Hitachi Command Suite Data Mobility for Mainframe
   - Hitachi Local Replication for Mainframe
   - Hitachi Remote Replication for Mainframe
   - Hitachi Remote Replication
- New:
   - Hitachi Compatible PAV Package for Mainframe
   - Hitachi Command Suite Data Mobility for Mainframe
   - Hitachi Local Replication for Mainframe
   - Hitachi Remote Replication for Mainframe
   - Hitachi Remote Replication Extended

• Hitachi-IBM Relationship
1. License agreement to share APIs
- 2001: Initial Hitachi-IBM license agreement
- Hitachi access to IBM API and interface specification for storage platform
- Enabled PPRC, XRC, FlashCopy, PAV, MA
- IBM access to Hitachi API for NanoCopy and ShadowImage In-System Replication
- 2009: Current agreement signed - Ongoing agreement with no expiration –
    can be cancelled by either party
2. Qualification and interoperability
- testing at IBM
- New Hitachi storage platforms and features
- IBM mainframes, operating systems and critical features
- GDPS PPRC and XRC
- FlashCopy
- High-Performance FICON (zHPF)
- 3DC HUR with delta resync plus BCM
3. Problem resolution
- Hitachi and IBM have long-term agreement
- Provide assistance in effort to quickly resolve joint customer escalations.
- Intent of agreement is to jointly determine problem source
- Root cause and solution is provided by owning vendor
- Resolve internal issues after customer problem resolution

• Speaker Contact Information
- Paul Massengill of HDS - Hitachi Data Systems
- Work: 919-495-7578 - Email: paul.massengill@hds.com

• Presentation was given remotely by Garth Godfrey of IBM.
• Topic: zAware: Using Analytics to Improve System z Availability

• Agenda

• The presentation and meeting ended about 8:45 PM.

Treasurer’s Report for July 2014

contributed by Tommy Thomas

The balance in the account is $844.49 as of July 11, 2014.

SPARTA Financial Report
3/01/2014 through 07/11/2014

INCOME

Opening Balance	0.00
Total Deposits
Dues	680.00
Close RBC	329.15
TOTAL INCOME	$1009.15

EXPENSES
Food	273.87
Web Site	0
xfer to Petty Cash	0
Bank Service Charge	0
TOTAL EXPENSE	$273.87

BANK BALANCE Fidelity	735.28
PETTY CASH	109.21
TOTAL CASH	$844.49

Items of Interest

SPARTA Schedule and Menu for 2014

contributed by Tommy Thomas and Chris Blackshire

July 29 - BarBQ

Aug 25 - DBAP Buy Your Own (Monday night)

Sept 30 - Pizza

Oct 28 - Chicken

Dec 2 - Subs

Dec. 31 - No Meeting, Happy Holidays

Hadoop on System z

contributed by Ed Webb

"IBM along with business partner Veristorm announced Hadoop for System z at IBM’s Mainframe50 event April 8. vStorm Enterprise couples zDoop, a fully supported implementation of the open-source Hadoop project from the Apache Software Foundation, with data connector technology, making z/OS data available for processing using the Hadoop big data paradigm without that data having to leave the mainframe.

It is currently the only commercially supported solution on the market that allows mainframe data to be analyzed with Hadoop while preserving the mainframe model of security, ease, agility and efficiency. Because the entire solution runs in Linux on System z, it can be deployed to low-cost, dedicated mainframe Linux processors, IFLs. The vStorm Enterprise offering can be used to build out a highly scalable private cloud for big data analysis."

For more about How Unstructured Data Can be Analyzed on the Mainframe, check out this IBM Systems Magazine article from June 2014.

Cheryl Watson and the SHARE MVS Program Need Your Help

contributed by Ed Webb

From Marna's Musings blog at SHARE:

"Cheryl Watson has just [created] a survey that has been released. This survey is important as it can provide information on what functions enterprises are using. I can't tell you how many times we've asked in IBM, "how many people are using x?" The answer is usually "we don't know". This can help change that, and also help us know where you need more assistance to use those new functions you may already be paying for.

There's 28 questions. Several of them are long and require a little investigation and thought, but they are all important to know and worth asking. You can resume the survey once you've started it if you need to talk to coworkers and get back to it later. They are all optional, if you felt a need to skip some.

Here is a link to the survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MR59B5Q . The results will be gathered before August 1, so please don't wait too long. Cheryl will be talking about the results of the survey at SHARE in Pittsburgh (session 15567: Exploiting z/OS - Tales From the MVS Survey (Friday at 9:30 am)). It will also be put in the SHARE proceedings so you can see them if you can't be in Pittsburgh.

I'm sure you'll be as anxious as we are to see what's in use out there. Heck, you may even find something to investigate you weren't aware of just by taking the survey!

Happy clicking."

SHARE Adds a Hotel for August 2014 Event

contributed by Ed Webb

Because of SHARE's popularity this summer, the conference has added an additional hotel.

Omni William Penn Hotel
530 William Penn Place
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
412.281.7100
$179 per night for all room types

Registration is still open for SHARE in Pittsburgh, August 3-8, 2014. With over 500 user-focused sessions, unmatched networking opportunities, and hardware and software product highlights that will help you stay at the forefront of the industry, you won't want to miss this event.

The Mainframe is 50

50 Things That Turned 50 with the Mainframe

contributed by Ed Webb

"It’s a milestone year for the mainframe, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2014. The platform’s evolution over the past 50 years is remarkable, as is its continued relevance among the most data-heavy industries.

The world itself has changed radically since 1964. And if I may be so bold, the mainframe has powered much of the advancement. It continues to transform businesses, industries and daily life, powering everything from ATM transactions to the latest weather forecasting technologies.

Mental Floss recently took a look at what else is celebrating its fifth decade in 2014. While the mainframe didn’t make the website’s list, it’s nonetheless an interesting collection of birthdays that all help give some context to what life was like in 1964—and how many of the innovations from that year are still vibrant parts of our lives today."

What are the Fifty? Finish reading this SHARE blog and follow the link.

Humor

Suthnuhs

contributed by Chris Blackshire

FOR THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW THE RULES
Southerners know their summer weather report:  Humidity  Humidity  Humidity

Southerners know their vacation spots:  The beach  The rivuh  The crick

Southerners know everybody's first name:  Honey  Dahlin'  Shugah

Southerners know the movies that speak to their hearts:  Fried Green Tomatoes  Driving Miss Daisy  Steel Magnolias  Gone With The Wind

Southerners know their religions:  Bapdiss  Methdiss  Football

Southerners know their cities dripping with Southern charm:  Chawl'stn  S'vanah  Foat Wuth  N'awlins  Addlanna

Southerners know their elegant gentlemen:  Men in uniform  Men in tuxedos  Rhett Butler

Southern girls know their prime real estate:  The Mall  The Country Club  The Beauty Salon

Southern girls know the 3 deadly sins:  Having bad hair and nails  Having bad manners  Cooking bad food

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.

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, and all y'all is plural.

Every Southerner knows  that tomatoes with eggs, bacon, grits, and coffee are perfectly wonderful;  that red eye gravy is also a breakfast food;  that scrambled eggs just ain't right without Tabasco,  and 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 sweet little heart"... and go your own way.

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

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

Southern girls know men may come and go, but friends are fah-evah!

There ain't no magazine named "Northern Living" for good reason.  There ain't nobody interested in livin' up north and nobody would buy the magazine!

Membership Information

Don’t Forget the Next SPARTA Meeting

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

7 p.m.

LabCorp in the RTP

Take I-40 to Miami Boulevard and go north. Turn right onto 1912 T.W. 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: BarBQ, Drink, Dessert

Program:

CA Mainframe Strategy and Cloud Storage for z

Speaker:

Andrew Chapman of CA Technologies

SPARTA News

P.O. Box 13194

Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-3194

First Class Postage

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