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DFSORT Processing SMF Records
It's going to sound like the only thing I talk about is DFSORT. While that isn't entirely true I am currently updating my "What's New With DFSORT?" foils. And it made me think about processing SMF data... In our internal analysis processes we chuck SMF data around quite a bit, whether subsetting it or actually mangling the records. In this entry I want to talk about subsetting - as most people... [More]
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New Support for BatchPipes/MVS
As many of you know I've been very fond of BatchPipes/MVS (aka "Pipes") down the years (17 to be precise). So I'm pleased to see APAR PK34251: ADDING BATCHPIPES SUBSYS SUPPORT TO TEMPLATE UTILITY describes some new support in the DB2 Load Utility (as driven by the Template utility) which makes it much easier to use with BatchPipes/MVS. (For reference here's the BatchPipes For OS/390 Version 2... [More]
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Drawing The Line
You'd think it would be pretty simple to draw a line. Right? This post discusses an enhancement I'd like to make to my current reporting - and I'm pretty sure that technically I can do it. The question is whether I should . Consider my current "Memory by address space within Service Class" graph. Here's a sample: And here's what I think I might like it to look like: Obviously the line's... [More]
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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]
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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]
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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]
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DB2 Data Sharing and XCF Job Name
Back in z/OS R.9 RMF Parallel Sysplex New Fields (in 2007) I mentioned a new field: R742MJOB (XCF Member Job Name.) At the time I had no real customer data so I could only espouse the HOPE that this field would be useful. (When I asked for it to be added to the SMF 74 Subtype 2 record it seemed to me it probably would be.) Now that z/OS R.9 is "mainstream" I'm seeing lots of data at this level.... [More]
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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]
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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]
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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]
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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]
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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]
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What I Did On My Vacation
First of all, a happy and prosperous 2010 to one and all. As with most vacations it's been a time partially filled with playing with technology and learning stuff there isn't (legitimate) time to learn about during the rest of the year. So, lest the rest of this post make you think I ONLY play with web stuff :-) I present to you a short list of REALLY good other things from the past few weeks:... [More]
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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]
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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]
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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]
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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]
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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]
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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]
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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]
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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]
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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]
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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]
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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]
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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]
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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]
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Workload Manager Policy in XML Format - Part IV
So here's yet another way of parsing the WLM XML Service Definition. This time it's on z/OS, using DFSORT. Relatively recent features in DFSORT have made it easier to do useful things with XML. In this example I've made some attempt to make the output pretty - by creating a HTML table. Below is the SYSIN you need to parse the <SchedulingEnvironment> elements. I'm assuming you know how to... [More]
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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]
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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]
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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]
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We Have Residents!
Back in May I wrote about a new batch residency planned for this October and invited good people to apply to join the team. It's been very pleasing how many people applied to be residents and the high quality of the entrants: It was genuinely difficult to pick the eventual team. We also had to reduce the scope a bit - which was a disappointment to both Frank Kyne and I. So, if you didn't get... [More]
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Workload Manager Policy in XML Format - Part III
Here's another way to process a WLM Service Definition - once you've got it into XML format. XSLT (XML Stylesheet Transformations if you prefer) is another technology that's been around for a while. In simple terms you write another piece of XML (the stylesheet) that describes how to transform your original XML into something else. There's a lot of flexibility in this but the example in this post... [More]
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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]
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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]
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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]
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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]
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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]
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CICS and SecondLife
In Mainframe v-Business Boas Betzler threw out a challenge: "Demonstrate SecondLife talking to CICS". I've picked this up on behalf of IBM. Now, why on earth would you want to do that, Martin? To get beyond the "because it's fun" answer (which is also true) let me tell you my view on SecondLife... First, it is NOT a game. Emphatically not. Though it is a lot of fun. By way of analogy consider the... [More]
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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]
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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]
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Hackday X - Batch Analytics Baby Steps
Hackday X was good clean fun yesterday - though I think it deserves more than one kiss. Seriously, for once I think I have a hack that actually worked - at least up to a point. I called my entry "z/OS Batch Analytics Baby Steps" and I think that's about right.
My purpose in taking part in successive Hackdays has been more to participate rather than to win any prizes, and to wave the flag a little... [More]
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Scratch - A Great Way To Teach Children Programming
Some time ago a colleague pointed Scratch out to me. It's a programming environment for children. When I was a kid I kind of learnt programming from the Elsevier Monographs my Dad had on his bookshelf. He (who's probably going to read this) gave them to me for safekeeping some time ago. So I count HIM as my first bad influence. :-) But he did insist on STRUCTURED programming, so maybe he's a GOOD... [More]
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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]
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Another Usage Of Usage Information
This post is about unusual ways of using the SMF 30 Usage Data information, some of which you're certain to want if you're managing z/OS systems' performance. A long time ago I noticed character strings in SMF 30 records that looked like product names. (As is my wont I was looking at the raw Type 30 records for a different purpose and spotted them.) Some time later I figured out these were Usage... [More]
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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]
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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]
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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]
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Flash Saviour Of The Universe?
When I first heard of Flash Express as part of the zEC12 announcement -
some time before announcement - I thought of one use case above all,
and one of particularly poignant resonance with some of my readers: Dump capture amelioration. Then, in the marketing materials, I heard of others.
And the discussions have grown more numerous recently.
So it’s time I expressed (pardon the pun) my... [More]
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IMS Version 10 Memory Enhancements
Regular readers would know I'm working on my "Memory Matters in 2008" presentation, which is a re-spin of the '07 Version. One of the things I talk about is IMS. Thanks to my team mate Andy Wilkinson for this list of IMS Version 10 enhancements, all of which are virtual storage usage improvements. Here are the more important items: OTMA message flood protection (prevents LSQA filling). This is... [More]
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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]
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