Back when S&L banks were getting into NOW accounts, what we know as checking accounts, I was hired to be the manager of systems programming. They were running unsupported versions of the operating system, CICS, BTAM and everything else. They had a 99.9% up-time and every one slept well, all because nothing had changed in YEARS. Then they had to bring in new software to do check processing and it needed current versions of the software and go to VTAM. Making all those changes, and not having another machine to do it on, was a challenge. There were bumps in the road, but we stayed at over 95% uptime and clawed our way back to over 99%. Management slept well, I didn't for about 3 months. Oh, and then they decided to move the data center.
Chris Blaicher Technical Architect Mainframe Development Syncsort Incorporated 2 Blue Hill Plaza #1563, Pearl River, NY 10965 P: 201-930-8234 | M: 512-627-3803 E: [email protected] www.syncsort.com CONNECTING BIG IRON TO BIG DATA -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of David Crayford Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2017 10:26 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Old hardware How do your management sleep at night with an unsupported software? On 19/04/2017 8:58 PM, John McKown wrote: > That is interesting to know. But, unless the situation changes (IMO > "for the better"), then we are stuck on our current configuration > FOREVER. Upper management utterly hates, despises, abhors, and > denigrates the existence of z/OS. They truly seem to be "all Windows, > all the time!". I firmly believe that we could upgrade z/OS if and > only if the current I.T. management is completely replaced (and the COO as > well). > > We have a number of software packages on a permanent execution > license, but with _no_ upgrades or support included. When we upgraded > from z/OS 1.10 to 1.12, one of them died a horrible death. It put in > an address space termination exit which would _occasional_ abend with > S0C4-?? . I found that happened when the address space was in some > sort of cross memory mode. I had to create my own "patch" which > basically detected this and made a branch to the "right place". So, > upgrading z/OS is definitely out of the question. It could well cause > more products to abend due to incompatibilities and we would be stuck. > > On Wed, Apr 19, 2017 at 12:01 AM, Timothy Sipples <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> John McKown wrote: >>> z9BC here. A two CP machine. Two LPARs running z/OS 1.12, but one >>> is just my "sandbox". >> FYI, since the announcement of IBM Multi-Version Measurement (MVM): >> >> https://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/rep_ca/3/897/ENUS217-093/ENUS217-093.P >> DF >> >> you are permitted to run newer IBM products that are compatible with >> your machine, within the same capacity(ies), at no additional >> charge.(**) Or, in other words, there is no more Single Version >> Charge (SVC) period. (Hurray!) MVM begins on June 1, 2017, based on >> your May, 2017, Sub-Capacity Reporting Tool (SCRT) submission. Since >> SVC offered a minimum of 12 months, anything newer that you start >> running now will only consume one or two months of SVC before MVM kicks in. >> In other words, MVM has effectively already arrived. >> >> Here are some examples of software releases compatible with your z9BC >> machine: >> >> z/OS Version 2.1 (not 2.2 or above) >> DB2 Version 10 for z/OS (not 11 or above) Enterprise COBOL Version >> 6.1 (*) CICS Transaction Server Version 5.3 (*) IBM SDK for z/OS Java >> Technology Edition Version 8 (*) WebSphere MQ Version 9 for z/OS (*) >> >> (*) Latest releases as I write this. >> >> All of the software releases listed above are currently IBM >> supported, as I write this. DB2 10 will reach End of Service (EoS) on >> September 30, 2017. >> Since DB2 10 requires z/OS 1.10 or higher, if you're running DB2 then >> you might already have Version 10. >> >> Of course I don't recommend staying on a z9BC machine, but you can >> still move up somewhat without additional charge and without a machine >> upgrade. >> Indeed possibly a lower peak processor utilization requirement, for >> example if you put Enterprise COBOL Version 6.1 to good use. >> >> (**) Read the fine print since it's *possible* to do something >> otherwise, as always. >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------ >> -------------------------------------------- >> Timothy Sipples >> IT Architect Executive, Industry Solutions, IBM z Systems, AP/GCG/MEA >> E-Mail: [email protected] >> >> --------------------------------------------------------------------- >> - For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, >> send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO >> IBM-MAIN >> > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN ________________________________ ATTENTION: ----- The information contained in this message (including any files transmitted with this message) may contain proprietary, trade secret or other confidential and/or legally privileged information. 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