Understanding runtime environment

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Your next planning task is to decide what types of runtime environments to set up for the components you plan to deploy on your z/OS images.

Fill out the Worksheet: Information for configuring your runtime environment as you read this section.

A runtime environment is a logical grouping of runtime libraries that are referenced by started tasks as they run on a z/OS image. When you run the Configuration Tool to configure the Tivoli Tape Optimizer Monitoring Agent, you start this process by defining a runtime environment of a certain type, which determines the number and types of runtime libraries required.

The following table summarizes the types of libraries created during installation and configuration of the Tivoli Tape Optimizer Monitoring Agent.

Table 1. Types of libraries
Type of Library	Description
Runtime libraries	General term for libraries referenced by started task procedures. Includes SMP/E target, base, and LPAR-specific libraries.
SMP/E target libraries Abbreviated `&thilev`.	SMP/E maintained target libraries.
Base libraries Abbreviated `&rhilev` or `&rhilev.&rte`.	Read-only runtime libraries that the configuration process does not alter and that are shareable between systems. These libraries physically exist in a full or base runtime environment, or as SMP/E target libraries (if a runtime environment shares with SMP/E). The base libraries can contain the actual data sets maintained by SMP/E, or a copy of them. Use a clone or copy of the SMP/E installation libraries for a production environment.
LPAR-specific libraries Abbreviated `&rhilev.&rte`.	Runtime libraries that are built during configuration to run on a specific logical partition (LPAR). These libraries contain the unique elements required for a particular LPAR and cannot be shared among z/OS images.

The following table explains the types of runtime environments that you can create during product configuration.

Table 2. Types of runtime environments
Type of runtime environment	Description
Full (self-contained) runtime environment	Runtime environment containing a full set of dedicated libraries, consisting of both LPAR-specific libraries and a copy of the SMP/E installation read-only base libraries eligible for sharing with other runtime environments. See Example 1. Full (self-contained) runtime environment
Base runtime environment	Runtime environment containing exclusively read-only, shareable base libraries, which are a subset of the libraries needed to run monitoring agents. Therefore, they must be shared by another runtime environment. See Example 2. Base runtime environment.
Sharing-with-base runtime environment	Runtime environment containing LPAR-specific libraries and referencing the base libraries configured in a base runtime environment. See Example 3. Sharing-with-base runtime environment
Sharing-with-full runtime environment	Runtime environment containing LPAR-specific libraries and referencing the base libraries configured in a full runtime environment. See Example 4. Sharing-with-full runtime environment topic.
Sharing-with-SMP/E runtime environment	Runtime environment containing LPAR-specific libraries and referencing the libraries managed by SMP/E. See Example 5. Sharing-with-SMP/E runtime environment.

The distinction among library types allows you to optimize your product environment. For example, by allocating common base libraries to a single runtime environment that can be shared by other runtime environments, you can substantially reduce the amount of disk space required, as well as simplify the application of product maintenance across remote z/OS images.

Quick start suggestion for a runtime environment configuration

There are many variables and lots of information to consider when deciding on a runtime environment configuration for your installation. To get you started quickly, here are a couple of suggestions:

In most cases, you can get good results with a sharing-with-base or sharing-with-SMP/E type of runtime environment.
If you want to test Tivoli Tape Optimizer Monitoring Agent on an isolated test system, use a full, self-contained type of runtime environment.