Mainframe Voice

Cobol v5.1; Long wait, worth it?

Marcel den Hartog — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 20:48:00 GMT

I think that most of the readers are not surprised to read something about the latest version of Cobol. They know that there are still millions of applications running happily making billions of dollars for companies that run them. But as with everything, the world has changed and so have the applications and the tools we work with…..

Even though many “legacy” Cobol programs do what they have done for a long time, the environment in which they run has changed dramatically; XML, more available memory, connections to middleware, webservices, Java, more and more complex data, just to name a few. Many companies have found that it is easier to adapt the environment that they have to accommodate this than to do something more drastic. After all, the cost of the existing environment is clear, and this is especially the sort of stuff companies these days are looking for. “Let’s try to make the most of what we have instead of trying to go down a path of uncertainty and risk”…

However, this means that these legacy applications have to support all the technology I just mentioned. So it is only logical so see a new version of Cobol that supports all of this (and more). But since the programming language is only part (be it the most important) of the eco-system that companies run to create and run applications, the tools around Cobol need to support this new version as well.

And that is exactly why CA Technologies has announced same day support of Cobol v5.1. So you can use things like:

New compiler options to exploit and tune your code to run on your choice of the z/Architecture levels of the z/OS platform in the most optimal way
Support for large data items and XML enhancements
Interoperability with Java™ 7 to help you incorporate web-based applications as part of your business processes.
Java interoperability to Java 7 to help you incorporate new, web-based applications as part of your business processes.

and still rely on your favorite tools that you have used for so many years.

Some of the key CA Technologies solutions that support Enterprise COBOL v5.1 include the CA Application Quality and Testing Tools, CA Endevor® Software Change Manager, CA IDMS™, CA Datacom® and CA Telon®

For more information about CA Technologies extensive portfolio of innovative mainframe solutions, ho here: http://www.ca.com/us/mainframe-products.aspx

A Game of Virtual Servers

David Hodgson — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:27:00 GMT

by David Hodgson

Remember when a game console was a simple computer that connected to a TV set? Much has changed since then. Microsoft recently announced the new Xbox One, a game console that will be a complete home entertainment system with capabilities multiplied by the cloud.

Early response among gamers varies; some have proclaimed excitement while others see cloud connections as part of the requirement set for any new gaming console. Microsoft has stated that for every Xbox One it builds it will provision three times the device’s computing power and storage on cloud servers.

Microsoft is deploying 300,000 servers in three data centers in three countries to achieve this. According to Microsoft, this is more computing power than existed in the entire world in 1999.

We have to assume this deployment relies heavily on virtualization. Otherwise, this is the sort of data center expansion that is probably unsustainable in terms of the environmental impact alone. For comparison, let us start by taking a moment to consider what sort of energy footprint this type of deployment might have, if not virtualized.

In a traditional server deployment (one physical server per server instance), each server might consume 427 Watts at average load, or roughly 3741 kilowatt/hours (KW/h) per year. A quick calculation shows that these servers would consume approximately 1,122,300,000 KW/h per year. Given a conservative electricity pricing in US dollars (let’s call it $.107 per KW/h for argument’s sake) the servers would cost $120,086,100 per year to run –and that doesn’t include software licensing, cooling, maintenance, storage, or any of the other associated costs. These additional costs could very easily triple the annual operating cost of each server. It’s a very big number.

So of course, no company in its right corporate mind would deploy like that today. A company would be far more likely to run a set of farms built around virtualized servers. If we, once again, use fairly conservative numbers we might expect to see a 75 percent reduction in energy costs. That brings the electricity bill down to $51,855,361— also, without cooling, maintenance, storage or other costs. It’s a better number, but this still represents a huge operating expense and there are other options.

For example, an IBM zEC12 or z196 mainframe can host tens, even hundreds, of thousands of virtual machines depending, of course, on how big they are. In Microsoft’s use case we can safely assume that they would be relatively small. Using a fully configured machine running Linux for System z, clients can create and maintain a Linux virtual server in the z114 for as little as $500 per year, so the basic costs are very competitive—and that’s before figuring in additional considerations like staffing levels, total space requirements, management and reliability.

The point is not really whether Microsoft could have, or should have used a mainframe for its Xbox One Cloud. It is really that server virtualization and cloud computing can take place on a variety of hardware platforms—a wider variety than many organizations are willing to consider.

If your enterprise is looking at a large virtual server farm or hybrid cloud, it’s possible that it could see great operational savings by looking beyond the rack server. Broaden your server horizons—the potential savings make it much more than a game.

Manage Risk; Now more important than ever?

Marcel den Hartog — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 12:48:00 GMT

Especially on the mainframe, we tend to avoid risk. And for good reasons; if we fail, in many cases, the company looses a lot of money.

This is one of the reasons why we smile when people talk about DevOps (true ALM in place for decades), 101% Security (check!), Auditability (check!) and Disaster Recovery (100% in place and tested regularly, CHECK!) and much much more. Does this mean we can sit back and relax because it is all under control? No, of course not!!! Not just the world is changing every day, your mainframe also changes almost every day. New workloads, new app(lication)s connecting to your databases running on the mainframe and new initiatives that come from outside (Governments, regulators etc.) all have an im[pact on your every day job.

Also in the world of software vendors things change. Smaller vendors decide to focus on different platforms and even large vendors sometimes change focus. All of this means that you have to be alert. Will these changes have an impact on the reliability of your IT Infrastructure? Will they limit you in the near future on how you can serve the business? Are your vendors really looking at the future and how they can help you with new initiatives?

In IT, we are often asked to act as business people and proper risk management is part of that. I agree it is not the most fun part, but doing it properly will definately help you to show how serious you take your job.

Hear from the experts; “Who is going to manage my mainframe?”

Marcel den Hartog — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 14:43:00 GMT

If YOU work on a mainframe, look around you and there is a big chance you'll not see a lot of people who are your age. Ever wondered what a young person will have to go through before he/she is capable of doing the things you do?

If you are like many others, you probably don't even want to think about it. But reality is that there will be (and in some cases already is) a new generation of mainframers. They will have to learn the tools AND at the same time try to learn enough from YOU before they will be as capable as you are today. And this will not happen if we just give them the same tools as we have been using for many, many years.... Especially if you manage todays complex DB2 databases, you know how hard it is to really understand how to deal with complex migrations, performance issues and other database related activities.

If you want to see that the technology to make this possible actually exists, join us for a webcast tomorrow. CA's experts will show you just how young people can be brought up to speed quicker than most of us imagine, but also how YOU can work more efficient. Register here to find the answer to the question "Who is going to manage my mainframe?"

Nobody really likes change (by Maddalena Tosoni)

Marcel den Hartog — Fri, 31 May 2013 08:10:00 GMT

When CA first approached me and offered me the job I am doing now, my first reaction was: “Thank you, but no, thank you”. The job description was simply too different from what I had been doing for the past 20 years. I thought there was no way I could do what they were asking me to do. Or better, I thought there was no way I could do it well.

CA insisted in a face to face meeting, and since I had nothing to lose, I reluctantly agreed to meet with who would then become my first line manager. He depicted a job that, despite having the word Architect in it, was very similar to roles I had already had previously in my career. Only better. So I said I would take the job.

From that first interview to my first day at CA a few months passed and those were not easy months. Doubt started creeping up. Had I made the right decision? Now I knew I could do the job, but it involved a lot of travelling… How was I going to cope with THAT having two very young children, a house etc…?? I spent many sleepless nights weighing pros and cons. But once I started it was almost immediately clear I had made the right decision. Not only that, but this turned out to be the dream job I did not know could exist!

Luck you might say? Yes, part of it was being in the right place at the right time. The other part was facing the fear of change.
We in the Mainframe business have faced many more or less subtle changes since the Mainframe was born. But in recent times, more dramatic ones have appeared:

Use Unix commands in USS and OMVS
Linux
Having to deal with Java code
Doing a lot more with a lot less resources
Shrinking budgets
Consolidation of datacenters (with sometime the requirement to move city to keep the job)

That is only a partial list, which does not include the most dramatic of changes a lot of us find really hard to accept; The new generation of Mainframe Management products.
These products are forcing us to leave behind the black screen and embrace a GUI where, instead of the keyboard, we need to use the mouse to navigate. They are forcing us to look at things from a different angle, use new terminology, think faster, and expand the concept of multitasking as we knew it. They are forcing us to face the fact that we will not pass on our legacy the way it was given to us.

And all of this is scary. No, actually it is terrifying.

BUT, what if facing our fears could make us better?
What if this change that is being pushed on us will make us discover and explore qualities and interests we did not know we had?
What if these changes will open up possibilities we did not dare to dream about??

One of my favorite mottos is: if you can’t beat them, join them.
And remember, it is not the smartest species that survives. It is the one that can best adapt to change.