85
All posts
Two Kinds Of Pipes
It's been a while since I last posted here. And that's been more a matter of being incredibly busy than anything. Some of you will have seen me "on stage" - there having been several conferences and user groups recently. Some of you were with me at the zChampions meeting and some of you I'm actively working on customer situations with. (By the way one of the rules of zChampions isn't... [More]
|
XML, XSLT and DFSORT, Part Zero - Overview
In the distant past I've written about using DFSORT to parse XML. This post (and two follow-on posts) will describe
an experiment to make such processing much more robust. In this post I'll talk about what the problem I'm trying to solve is. And why. And a brief outline of my solution. About XML This isn't meant to be the most detailed description of XML, nor a complete list of where it's used. I... [More]
|
Memories of Hiperbatch
It's nice to see a flurry of activity in IBM-MAIN about Hiperbatch. And it's more for the emotional reason of reminiscence than for any stunning insights that I'm blogging about it... Back in 1988 I ran a technical project in my then customer, Lloyds Bank, to evaluate Data In Memory (DIM). It was a fun project with a wide range of workloads on multiple machines, including the then-new DB2. So we... [More]
|
z/OS R.9 RMF Parallel Sysplex New Fields
I've just re-read the XCF (74-2) and CF (74-4) sections of the z/OS Release 9 SMF Manual. There are some nice things in there... XCF (74-2) Number of buffer 1KB blocks by path (R742PUSE). This should tell you whether memory waste by over-specifying CLASSLEN is a problem. And some of the other scenarios. Member job name (R742MJOB). I'd like to believe this would tell us which IRLM a given member... [More]
|
Late To The Party
I'm towards the end of revamping our analysis code to support (z9) and z/OS R.8. What took us so long? :-) I'm telling you this for two reasons: So you know what there is that might slow you down. So you have some view as to whether we can competently process your data. :-) System z9 About the only change in instrumentation between z990 and z9 is the separation of specialty engines into pools. But... [More]
|
Batch Capacity Planning, Part 2 - Memory
I can't believe it's been almost a week since I wrote Batch Capacity Planning, Part 1 - CPU . Where did the time go? Re-reading it I'm struck by the overwhelming theme of Batch's unpredictability and lumpiness. This is true of memory, as well, but to a much lesser degree. Why to a lesser degree? Well, in most systems I look at the memory usage is mostly fairly constant and dominated by big... [More]
|
He Picks On CICS
If you think this title is obscure bear in mind the original working title was "Send In The Hobgoblins". 1 When I started to write - actually before the "mind mapping" stage - it was going to be all about inconsistency in the way bits of systems are named. You'll see some of that reflected in the finished article (pun intended) but the post has mostly gone in a different... [More]
|
Self-Documenting Systems (Actually Coupling Facilities) - One Year On
About a year ago I posted: A Small Step For RMF, A Giant Leap For Self-Documenting Systems . A year on I've encountered some customer data that's made me go "huh?", related to this. In the referenced post I mentioned R744FLPN, the Coupling Facility's LPAR Number. For the first time I've seen data where the match - with SMF 70 Logical Partition Number (in Logical Partition Section) -... [More]
|
zAAP and zIIP Delay
I was going to start this post with an apology. But, as any sensible blogger would, I left it a few days to write this. Now I realise that there's a wider point than the "I was wrong" one. (But I was wrong - in a way that I think many other people might've been wrong too.) So let me talk about two things in this post: zAAP and zIIP Delay. How I came to be wrong and what we can all... [More]
|
I May Not Know Who You Are But I Have Some Idea Why You're Here
I don't think you can see this information but I can see what are called "Referrer URLs" for hits on this blog. (The HTTP protocol defines a header that contains the URL you came from - when you clicked on a link.) Disregarding the several "Direct" hits - which tell me nothing - I see lots of referrer URLs with some information in them, such as: Google, Yahoo etc searches. Other blogs.... [More]
|
XML, XSLT and DFSORT, Part One - Creating A Flat File With XSLT
This is the second part of a (currently) three-part series on processing XML data with DFSORT, given a little help from standard XML processing tools. The first part - which you should read before reading on - is here . To recap, getting XML data into DFSORT is a two stage process: Flatten the XML data so that it consists of records with fields in sensible places. Process this flattened data with... [More]
|
WLM-Managed DB2 Stored Procedure Address Spaces
I was contacted by the team updating the SG24-7083 "DB2 Stored Procedures: Through The Call And Beyond" this past week. Their question was quite straightforward: "One of the statements in the book, in the chapter on WLM address space management states: To help analyze the use of resources by different types of stored procedures, you should name the server address spaces in such a way that it is... [More]
|
LLA and Measuring its use of VLF
I'm reminded by a question on MXG-L Listserver that many people don't understand how LLA works - and in particular how to interpret the statistics in VLF's SMF 41 Subtype 3 record. You really have to understand the exploiter to make sense of the statistics. Here's how it applies to LLA... LLA (when it was Linklist Lookaside, prior to becoming Library Lookaside) could cache load library directories... [More]
|
Haven't We Been Here Before?
Well, some of us have. Well before we announced zEnterprise I thought it would be rolled out and adopted in a similar manner to Parallel Sysplex (and to many other technologies - whether mainframe or otherwise). Reading zEnterprise Use Cases Start Rolling In I still think I'm right. And I will admit I needed to see something encouraging like this. Back in the mid 1990's we introduced Parallel... [More]
|
Is It The Structure Or The Content That's Important?
The other three residents are busy doing extensive setup work - and we hope to have some nice measurements later on. (I'm not sure how much later on there actually is, mind.) :-) So I have no RMF or DB2 SMF to play with yet. :-( Meanwhile I'm beginning to come up to speed again after the glorious experience of recovering from moving five time zones to the west. :-) So I actually got to writing... [More]
|
You Might Just Be A Clone If...
As previously discussed I'm often in a situation of trying to make sense of a set of job-related SMF data. Even though it may be your own installation's data, you're probably confronted with what I like to call “a journey of discovery” occasionally, too. I'm always looking for what I can discern from the data. 1 And, when confronted with a set of data about batch jobs, I go into overdrive. This... [More]
|
WLM Response Time Distribution Reporting With RMF
If you’re running a workload with WLM Percentile Response Time goals
take a look at the RMF Service Class Period Response Time Goal Attainment instrumentation.
It’s in the Workload Activity Report but this post is about using the raw data to tell the
story better than a single snapshot (or long-term “munging”) can. (An example of a percentile response time goal is “90% of transactions must end... [More]
|
Do You Like The New Look?
I hope you do. Special thanks are due to Bob Leah, Victoria Ovens and David Salinas for getting me this far: Bob created the new template I'm using (and it is discussed further here . Victoria created the new blog header graphic (of a z196 and a zBX) and David put it up for me. You'll have noticed I'm also blogging again - after a gap of about a year. (I talk about that somewhere in the middle of... [More]
|
The Sign Of The Four - How Mind-Mapping Turned One Blog Post Into More
Given I'm not paid to blog, and given I've no real motivation to maximise my blog post count, the frequency of posting is just "what it happens to be". In that spirit this post isn't about how to "game" blogging statistics (and it itself isn't a gratuitous attempt to increment the count by one). What I want to convey is my experience with mind-mapping software, in the hope it's... [More]
|
Performance Numbers and the Redbook
So, I'm about to start writing. At last! As a team we had a discussion yesterday about how to deal with performance numbers. One of the roles I'm playing on the team is "the guy who writes about performance numbers". So we came to the following conclusions: We really can't talk about products made by other people - such as SAS/MXG or TMON for DB2. That's right out - because of our basic provenance... [More]
|
Time To Move From zAAPs to zIIPs?
Prompted by Troy Coleman's article zEC12 and zIIP Processors I thought I'd write about how I see the future for zAAPs. First, his article does a good job of covering the area. So I recommend you read it. Troy mentions the "zAAP on zIIP" function - which allows zAAP-eligible work to run on a zIIP. It's not news and it's a good piece of function: It means you can fill zIIPs more readily, making them... [More]
|
Batch Capacity Planning, Part 1 - CPU
It's been a week since the following was posted in IBM-MAIN: Batch Capacity Planning - BWATOOL? So far there's been no reply. Though a little disappointed, I'm not surprised. "Disappointed" as I was looking for a good debate (even though it wasn't me who asked the question). "Not surprised" as I think the subject of Batch Capacity Planning is a tough one. The original post... [More]
|
DB2 Data Sharing and XCF Job Name - Revisited
It's been almost four years since I wrote DB2 Data Sharing and XCF Job Name .
It mostly stands the test of time but there are a couple of things I want to bring up. I was in the DB2 Development lab a couple of days ago, talking with a couple of developer friends about DB2 Data Sharing and XCF.
They know DB2 Data Sharing and IRLM much better than I do but XCF not so much.
(It's probable that XCF... [More]
|
Memories of Pipes
!Somehow I seem to have end up writing a "Memories of..." series of blog posts. That wasn't the intention but a set of threads on IBM-MAIN Listserver got me to thinking about these nice venerable technologies - VIO, Hiperbatch, Batch LSR and Pipes. By couching these posts in terms of "memories of" it sounds like they're perhaps obsolete. With the possible exception of Hiperbatch that probably... [More]
|
Batch Architecture, Part Zero
I'm not an architect. I don't even play one on TV. In fact real architects would probably say I'm in the babble phase, architecturewise . But I've been involved in a few situations over the past year or so (and I'm involved in a couple starting round about now) which have led me to the following simple conclusion: Many installations would benefit from drawing up a Batch Architecture . I don't... [More]
|
zAAP CPU Time Bug in Type 72 Record - OA29974 Is The Cure
If you use RMF Postprocessor you won't see this one. If you use Service Units rather than CPU seconds fields in the SMF 72-3 record you also won't see it. It's only if (like me) you use the CPU time for zAAPs in your CPU Utilisation calculation that you'll run into this problem.
If you examine fields R723IFAT (zAAP CPU Time) and R723IFCT (zAAP on GCP CPU Time) you might find them zero when you... [More]
|
Plan Your ESQA Carefully For z/OS Release 11
Thanks to Marna Walle for pointing out this change: In z/OS Release 11 there is a requirement for an additional 1608 bytes of ESQA per address space. To put that in context, I'll do some obvious maths: That's about 1.6MB per 1000 address spaces. It just might be of interest to certain customers I know with thousands of CICS regions in a system, or very large TSO or Batch systems. It's probably not... [More]
|
I Said "Parallelise Not "Paralyse" Part 4 - Implementation
Now with free map , this is the concluding part of a four part series on batch parallelisation, with especial focus on cloning. In previous parts I discussed: Motivation Classification Issues This part wraps up with thoughts on implementation. I'm going to break it down into: Analysis Making Changes Monitoring While there probably are iterations of this, this is the essential 1-2-3 sequence within... [More]
|
Is UCB Too Obscure For Wikipedia?
Well, is it? Apparently there are umpteen (count'em if you want a more precise number) :-) expansions of the acronym "UCB". But the one I care most about is Unit Control Block. (I think had been born before this meaning came into being - but I'm not sure.) :-) Actually Unit Control Block was not one of the listed meanings. So I added it yesterday - but didn't write much on it. You're probably... [More]
|
I Said "Parallelise" Not "Paralyse" Part 1 - Motivation
I have enormous trouble pronouncing "parallelise" right - and not saying "paralyse". It's true, and I bet many of you have the same trouble (sober or not). It's on a par with "red lorry yellow lorry" or "the Leith Police dismisseth us". But it's a word I think we're going to have to get used to pronouncing right. And this post will explain why. This looks to... [More]
|
Hello, I'm Martin And I'm An Algebraic :-)
If you're sat next to me on a plane you'll probably notice at take off and landing I do algebra puzzles. You may not have heard of the term "algebra puzzles" before and perhaps think the juxtaposition of the two words to be odd, but I think it apt...
(You may also think this whole post to be showing off, but that's a risk I take in sharing a passion I have.)
A classic problem... [More]
|
DB2 Timings For CICS Transactions - With Thread Reuse
There was a time before blogging and what I'm about to talk about is something I used to explain quite often back in those days. Reminded by a current customer situation - and needing to explain it again - I thought it time to do it this way. (Here I'm presenting a simplified view, but one that covers the salient features that might help you.) The CICS / DB2 Connection code provides a number of... [More]
|
Generating XML Using DFSORT - Part II
In Generating XML Using DFSORT - Part I I described how to generate XML using some of DFSORT's new features. But the XML we generated was only one of the possible styles of XML: Most of the information was specified as attributes (with the values enclosed in quotes). Here's a sample line: <member surname="Mercury" firstname="Freddie" job="Singer" /> In this case the attribute job has the... [More]
|
XML, XSLT and DFSORT, Part Three - Multiple XML Input Files
While I was putting together the original three posts in this series a number of thoughts struck me, amongst which two really cried out for further investigation: I don't know how your XML data arrives on z/OS but quite a lot of scenarios don't have the data all as one document (file). XSLT looks complex - particularly if recursion does your head in. Thought 2 I'll deal with in a... [More]
|
System z10 CPU Instrumentation
Since I got back off vacation in L'Hérault in late August I've been working on adding z10 support to our CPU analysis code. It's quite a substantial set of changes - and I don't think I'm finished yet . But I'd like to share with you what I've learned so far. But first let's briefly review what's changed with z10. (This is a very brief review and not a tutorial on the subjects mentioned.)... [More]
|
DB2 Accounting Trace And Unicode
As I said in this post I recently came across the need to handle Unicode when processing DB2 Accounting Trace (SMF 101). I was astonished not to have run into it before in all my many sets of customer data. So I had two things to do: Understand the circumstances under which it happens - which isn't just "be on Version 8 and it will happen automatically." and Figure out how to handle... [More]
|
A Great Song For A Great Cause
!This is a great song for a great cause... I saw Queen + Paul Rodgers play this in 2005 in Hyde Park. Actually Paul did nothing - Roger Taylor sang it. :-) But now they've worked on it as part of their current studio sessions and have rushed it out - for free . So download, play it, donate and tell your friends.... Get it from here and read all about it . Now I've Downloaded And Listened To It I... [More]
|
DB2 Package-Level Statistics and Batch Tuning
I don't know how many years it's been since DB2 Version 8 was shipped but I've FINALLY added support for some really useful statistics that became available with that release. As so often happens I was caused to open up my code because of some customer data that exposed a problem in it: The customer sent DB2 Version 8 SMF 101 Accounting Trace data that contained Unicode. In particular DB2... [More]
|
Rhino's
The very first computer game I ever played was called Rhino and it ran on a Commodore PET. The school had been lent one for a fortnight. (I don't know why as we didn't go on to buy any, instead getting a single RML 380Z.) Imagine a character-grid screen where the rhino's are represented by pi symbols that chase you as you try to move from A to B. It was written in BASIC and allowed from 1 to 10... [More]
|
zIIP / zAAP Capacity Planning
I'm not a capacity planner but I play one on TV 1 sometimes. A customer asked me about the subject of zAAP Capacity Planning so I thought I'd post a few thoughts here. (Almost everything I say here is equally true of a zIIP.) The main point is I don't think it terribly different from regular CPU Capacity Planning. But there are some quirks: While we do have queuing we also have Crossover. But at... [More]
|
Square Roots In DFSORT
DFSORT's Arithmetic operators can do many things but the one thing they can't do is take the square root of a number. You might think that's minor but it means you can't calculate a Standard Deviation.
(Variance is fine but dimensionally not so nice when used in conjunction with the Mean.)
And I needed Standard Deviation in a real live customer situation. So I set out to "roll my... [More]
|
SYSIN In A Proc - New With z/OS Release 13 JES2
One of the nice enhancements in z/OS Release 13 JES2 was the support for SYSIN in a JCL procedure. (See here for the announcement letter.) I have a personal example of where it would've been handy. You probably have your own. We used to distribute sample JCL to use DB2 DSNTIAUL to unload the DB2 Catalog, one table at a time. Obviously with such a repetitive use in a single job step you'd want... [More]
|
Coupling Facility Structure CPU Time - Initial Investigations
I had to eat a little bit of humble pie today - because I made an elementary mistake. I'm going to share it with you - to save you making it, too. :-) And I'm very sure I'm not going to make it in a customer situation. (Residencies are great for making mistakes in a safe environment.) :-) In CFLEVEL 15 and z/OS Release 9 RMF you get a new field at the structure level: R744SETM. This is the CPU... [More]
|
SMF Dump Program - IFASMFDP
I just started talking to the original developer of the IFASMFDP SMF Dump Program about adding more record selection sophistication to it. I can promise absolutely nothing but are there any requirements any of you have for the SMF Dump Program?
|
Coupling Facility Structure CPU - An Interesting Test
I'm not sure if anyone's done this before. Certainly I've not seen any results... We're beginning to write up some tests the "A Team" (Alain and Pierre) ran before their return to France. Which provides me with some test data. Fortunately I had a stab at mapping the new fields this data contains. One in particular is Stucture CPU (R744SETM)... So, I got to plotting CPU per request against request... [More]
|
DDF Performance - Version 3 - but still highly relevant
I've just submitted a set of slides to Slideshare. They're not mine, they're not new, they're not even in a modern format. But they are a very good presentation worth preserving... In 1993 Curt Cotner presented a set of slides on the new DDF Inactive Thread support in Version 3 of DB2. It's still highly relevant and this support was the base on which the Version 4 WLM classification line item was... [More]
|
HTML5 Up and Running - A Review Of Sorts
William Gibson's "The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed" applies very well to HTML5. It's even more true of CSS3. Despite that (or maybe because of it) it's a good time to dive into HTML5 - before everyone else does. So, a few months ago I bought, read and inwardly digested Mark Pilgrim's HTML5 Up and Running , published by O'Reilly in August 2010. I have a... [More]
|
Another Way Of Looking At CICS Monitor Trace Data
The CICS Monitor Trace SMF Record (Type 110) has got to be one of the most complicated SMF records in existence - and for good reason. Which is precisely why I'm not going to attempt to process the raw records in my code. (And why PMCICS doesn't support releases after a certain point.) But the "and for good reason" hints at the fact I think this is a tremendously valuable type of... [More]
|
I Said "Parallelise" Not "Paralyse" Part 2 - Classification
I hope you don't get the idea I'm overly into rigour, talking about Classification. But I think it has to be done - to provide terminology for this series of posts. This is the second of four posts on Batch Parallelism, following on from
Motivation . If I think about how parallelism works in batch it broadly falls into two camps: Heterogeneous Homogeneous ( If you look these two terms up in... [More]
|
My HackDay 6 Project - Mashing Up RMF
Another 6 months on and another HackDay... Hackday6 was on 24 October - and being distracted by little things such as GSE Conference and an important customer situation I haven't blogged about it yet. So, a little late, here goes... Many of you will know that RMF has a WebPortal for monitoring performance and capacity usage. And you'll know that the z10 processor's HMC is web-based (though I don't... [More]
|
