In
Episode 1 of MPT Podcast we discussed Markdown and Marna asked me if it could be run on z/OS.
My answer was “you could try a Python Markdown processor via Jython ”. [1] Then, on IBM-MAIN, Dave Griffiths suggested using one of the Java Markdown processors, instead of Jython. So I got to experimenting: I downloaded Java Markdown to my Linux machine. It’s a jar file. I wrote a... [More]
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I think we were much more relaxed when we put this episode together, and I hope it shows. We’re learning our craft, and I think quite fast. Below are the show notes. The series is here . Episode 2 is here . Episode 2 “Sound Affects” Show Notes Here are the show notes for Episode 2 “Sound Affects”. Follow Up We had some follow up items: Marna talked about the new SDSF... [More]
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We enjoyed recording Episode 0, learning as we went. And people seem to have enjoyed it. So we recorded another one. So here are the show notes for Episode 1. By the way we publish the show notes with the audio. You can get the series (and it is a series now) from here , and Episode 1 from here . And rest assured we have plenty of plans for the future. Episode 1 “A Luta... [More]
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I’m delighted Marna Walle and I are collaborating on a podcast series. We’re calling it “Mainframe, Performance, Topics Podcast”. You can guess where we got the name from. Below are the show notes. The series is here . Episode 0 is here . Episode 0 “Sic Parvis Magna” ( “Greatness From Small Beginnings" ) Show Notes Here are the show notes for Episode... [More]
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Here are are two questions people would like easy answers to: What are the big CPU DB2 jobs accessing this DB2 subsystem? Which job steps access MQ? This post shows you how to answer both these questions without DB2- or MQ-specific instrumentation . The “without DB2- or MQ-specific instrumentation” phrase is important:
I’m working with a customer with something like 50 DB2... [More]
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One of my new 2016 presentations is called “How To Be A Better Performance Specialist” - though I really could use a snappier title. Here’s the abstract: I’ve spent 30 years doing Performance and Capacity. You’d think it’d seem stale and repetitive by now. Not a bit of it. It’s still fresh and interesting. More to the point I think I’m... [More]
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I wish I’d started counting DB2 subsystems before. A recent study saw 43 DB2 subsystems, in 13 Data Sharing groups (and a few in none), across a large number of z/OS systems. And if I try to remember other studies these numbers have been typical of them (but this is not a typical set of numbers). Two thoughts entered my head: How on earth do you get to these sorts of numbers, and is it a... [More]
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DDF and Batch sound like two opposite ends of the spectrum, don’t they? Well, it turns out they’re not. I said in DDF Counts I might well have more to say about DDF. I was right. I’ve known for a long time that some DDF work can come in from other z/OS DB2 subsystems, but not really thought much about it. Until now. And I don’t really know why now. Maybe it’s just... [More]
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I don’t think I’ve ever written very much about DDF.
Now seems like a good time to start. I say this because I’ve been working pretty intensively over the last couple of weeks on upgrading our DDF Analysis code.
Hence the recent DFSORT post ( DFSORT Tables ). I’m actually not the DB2 specialist in the team but, I’d claim, I know more about DB2 than many people who... [More]
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It’s been a while since I posted a DFSORT trick - and it’s high time I did. This post follows (distantly) on from
More Maintainable DFSORT and is occasioned by some recent development work on our tools. As so often happens, developing this code has been a bit of a journey of discovery.
And I’ve learnt (the hard way) a couple more ways you can make the code more maintainable.... [More]
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I can cope with both “zee” and “zed”. [1] I love the myriad ways of pronouncing “CICS”. I can even detect such things as “Day Bay Tway” when I hear them. But there are a couple of things that I’m slightly bemused by: People saying “zee-oss” or “zed-oss” or “zoss”. People calling WLM “Willem”. I... [More]
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WLM will give up on an unachievable goal, eventually. Recently I came across a customer who didn’t know this and for whom this was a big problem. [1] This customer, like many others, was running heavily constrained for CPU. [2] But it does have consequences. In this particular case they had defined two service classes - one for their main Production IMS address spaces and one for their... [More]
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After writing Reviewing The Situation I got thinking. [1] I’ve known for a long time the WLM Policy (XML) has timestamps in it. The thought was “maybe there’s value in doing timestamp analysis”. Here is a fragment of a real customer policy, showing a resource group definition: It’s pretty easy to read. Obviously the XML elements whose node name start with... [More]
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I might have written about this before but it’s such a nebulous subject Web searches don’t enable me to tell.
In any case it’s a subject worth reviewing every now and then. The subject is “when to review your WLM policy”. I’ve written extensively on how to look at a policy. While I think you should read
Analysing A WLM Policy - Part 1 I want to refer to... [More]
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I’ve been very lucky (and kept busy and challenged) these last two months. In addition to my usual case load of customer situations I’ve had the enormous privilege of participating in the ITSO 2015 Mainframe Topics tour.
I’ve presented whole-day sessions on Performance and Availability in five cities:
Amsterdam, Paris, Warsaw, Vienna and Bromsgrove. [1] The main topics have... [More]
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