Making tools available to the community
If you have a VM or VM-related tool or document that you'd like to publish to the VM community, please go to http://www.vmworkshop.org/tools/submit-a-tool and fill in the information there. It will be published to vmworkshop.org ASAP. -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
SSH/SCP/SFTP for CMS version 2.0 available
Sine Nomine would like to announce the availability of version 2 of our SSH, SCP and SFTP utilities for z/VM and CMS. This version provides several new features, and fixes a number of minor bugs. If you have a maintenance con- tract with us, the new VMARC file has been copied to your support id download area and is available for download at your convenience. NEW FEATURES IN VERSION 2.0 ___ o Base support for compressed file transfers implemented Version 2 now supports compression during file transfers if compression is enabled on the remote server, and the -C option is supplied on the command line. The delayed compression mode as implemented in OpenSSH is not yet available, but is planned for a future release. o Hardware support for the AES-128 and SHA-1 ciphers is now employed if available. If the Message Security Assist feature is available on the host, the CMS SSH, SCP, and SFTP commands will use it to reduce CPU utilization when transferring data. The system administrator is still responsible for ena- bling and setting up the facility prior to use by commands in the package; the utilities will fall back to software implementations of both algorithms if hardware acceleration support is not available. BUGS FIXED IN VERSION 2.0 _ o Commands operate correctly on z800 systems without crypto processor support The utilities now operate correctly on minimal z800 systems without any crypto processors. o OpenSSH keepalive requests now handled properly The utilities now handle keepalive packets from OpenSSH-based servers when connections are left idle for long periods. o Displayed lines in SSH are split more intelligently Output lines from remote systems are now more intelligently parsed and wrapped. This corrects a reported problem with lines being broken/wrapped unnecessarily when written to the CMS console device. o Screen size is now determined at runtime and negotiated during connection initiation. The screen size and line lengths are now determined at the time of con- nection initiation, and are passed to the remote server as part of con- nection setup. This allows the remote server to segment line writes in a way that behaves more intelligently with 3270 devices. o Recursive file transfers with SCPCMS are now handled more efficiently. The processing of recursive transfers of entire directories to and from CMS SFS and BFS file spaces are now handled in a more efficient way, reducing the amount of processing needed to establish the directory tree and lists of files to be transferred. This results in faster transfer times. o Wildcard file name parsing and processing is now correct. A bug in wildcard name expansion and conversion to CMS file naming con- ventions has been corrected. The bug related to correctly parsing some more obscure SFS and BFS file specifications. o Directory names in SFS and BFS file transfers with SCP are now correctly lower-cased if the '-l' option is specified. The -l option was not processed in version 1. FOR MORE INFORMATION Contact i...@sinenomine.net for more information. -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
2012 VM Workshop registration now open
Solved the last few details -- you can now register for the workshop, and submit sessions. -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
2012 VM Workshop details updated
Most of the arrangements and information for the 2012 VM Workshop have been posted to http://www.vmworkshop.org. The workshop will be held at the University of Kentucky on Wednesday June 27 to Saturday, June 30 2012. The price is the same as last year: $100 per attendee -- the best bargain out there for VM and Linux education on System z. Registration will be live shortly, but please check it out and put it on your calendars to save the dates. --db David Boyes (on behalf of the VM Workshop committee) -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
No, not crazy at all...
Ø Subject: A stupid idea? Using twitter like service for z/SO, et al., event notification. No, not crazy. If you have a console automation product like Netview/390 or something similar (I think you said you have Unicenter), and a convenient Linux host, it's actually pretty easy. Using the real Twitter is a bad idea, unless you really want those status messages archived in the Library of Congress forever and ever, but that's your neck if you want to do it that way. Same idea as below. One way you could do it is: 1) Configure syslog on USS. In your /etc/syslog.conf, put the following line: *.* @convenient.linux.host.com and comment everything else out. 2) See if you have a USS program called logger. If you don't, it's pretty easy to build from the Linux sources. What logger does is write a line to syslog, using the parameters you set wrt to syslog facility, etc. 3) On your convenient.linux.host, install a XMPP (aka Jabber) line mode client. There's lots; pick one your Linux distribution supports. Create a Jabber conference room for each class of message you might want to subscribe to. The OpenFire package has both a Jabber client and server, IIRC. There's a Java Jabber client. I think someone even wrote a COBOL Jabber client (sick, sick!) 4) On your convenient.linux.host, run something like this: tail -f /var/log/user6.log | awk -s $2 $4 | xmppmsg -f z...@host.commailto:z...@host.com -t $dest - 5) Configure your console automation tool to recognize the messages you want to make available and have it run logger -s user7 $message to log the message to syslog on z/OS. The message is automatically transferred to the Linux host and sent out as a Jabber message to the conference room. Anyone who wants to follow that conference room can use any Jabber client they like and the message appears. If you already have the console event stream (or whatever you want to monitor and get notices for) integrated with Unicenter, just install the Jabber client on the Unicenter machine, and use Unicenter's action routines to call the Jabber client to deliver the message. Jabber is fully encrypted, implements strong authentication, and logs everything. You can even set up most Jabber clients to respond to a message (kind of a poor-man's RPC) to trigger some event if you feel it necessary. There are phone, www, pc - pretty much anything - Jabber clients. If you weren't aware of it, Google Talk is a Jabber implementation -- a really, really big one. You probably could build the Jabber client and server on USS if you wanted; that'd keep it all on the MF. If you have Linux guests on Z, this is a good utility server function. Keep in mind, though, that implementing happy messages in your jobs will likely make any job scheduling product you buy very unhappy. -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
Re: IBM-MAIN Digest - 31 Dec 2011 to 1 Jan 2012 (#2012-1)
I am wondering how difficult it would be for IBM to publish their manuals in .mobi or .epub format. This would make them much more readable on cell phones or other media such a the newer Kindles or Nook ebook reader. It would even help on netbooks, laptops, and desktop as it wouldn't force the letter sized pages onto a device which cannot render them nicely. No brainer for the manuals still maintained with Bookmaster. Just need to postprocess the DCF output, and/or modify LP3820 to emit mobi or epub output. It's just XML with some extra taqs, so it shouldn't be too hard to do. Of course, that would mean that IBM would have to release the source for LP3820...*sigh*. Another thought: LP3820 already produces HTML output (albeit incredibly ugly HTML -- think 1980's HTML). The Docbook html2epub tools will eat HTML (obviously), so at least you'd have the text. Big hassle: the illustrations in the older manuals are in APF format, which isn't documented anywhere. You could probably transcode the PDFs with some of the Docbook .mobi support tools if you run them through pdf2ps, then through ps2mobi. Would totally break images and hyperlinks, though, and see above. Wouldn't be nearly as useful as the PDF books. -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
Sad News: [IP] Dennis Ritchie dies
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Re: IBM-MAIN Digest - 12 Sep 2011 to 13 Sep 2011 (#2011-256)
BTW, what is #39,t mean? I see it frequently, is it encrypted cursing? Hahaha No, it's an attempt by smart mail user agents to insert a fancy apostrophe character instead of using the single quote. The 39 is the hex character code for the apostrophe. -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
WWW based access to reports
Now for my random thought. Many web sites such as news sites and blogs use RSS and/or Atom news feeds. The user subscribes to the feeds that they are interested in. [snip] Am I stating the obvious and implemented? We implemented that in the report management feature for our NJE Bridge product earlier this year. You can subscribe to individual reports, versions of reports, directories/repositories, etc and get the info via SMS, RSS, email, etc. Works on most mobile equipment, desktops, etc. -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
OT: If you use linkedin.com...
You may want to read this. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/11/linkedin_privacy_stuff_up/ I don't know about you, but if they want to use my name and face, I expect them to rent it by the hour. -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
Trapping the LPAR Deactivate signal on z/OS?
I've been discussing the idea of whether it would be possible/useful to write something to trap the hardware LPAR deactivation signal and use that to trigger an controlled emergency shutdown of z/OS. On VM and VSE, there is a trap present in the base OS that grabs that signal and starts a controlled shutdown of the OS (you can simulate it using the SIGNAL SHUTDOWN command on VM). z/OS doesn't seem to have any knowledge of this and proceeds to die horribly when the timer specified on the deactivate fires and the hardware goes away. Seems to me that this would be a Good Thing to have even for a LPAR-only install (in case some operator deactivates the wrong LPAR, or some similar awfulness) -- z/OS could do what it could to save state and then go down as gracefully as the time allotted (the LPAR deactivate signal has an optional time delay parm) permits. (The original need for us was to trigger automatic shutdown of the System Z processing when the UPS battery was getting low on our zPDT development system). I have sample assembler code on VM to trap the signal, but am not sure how best to implement this on z/OS. Suggestions? Ideas? -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
Vector facility
AFAIK, it was only supported for VS Fortran 2, and there was an extra set of libraries necessary to enable the VF code which you installed on top of the normal Fortran install. There was a second publication that discussed the VF support (developed at Cornell as part of the Cornell National Supercomputing Facility). They had a highly experimental 12 way (two 6 ways glued together somehow) and the VF code could also enable using the VFs on the other machine as well as the one you were on. I might have a copy of the extra pub somewhere; I know Rice's copy is probably gone. I believe that Ken Kennedy at Rice added some code for VS PL/1 to use the thing (that's why we had one), but you had to program specially to use it, and that code was never widely distributed (it came with PTOOL (a nifty automated parallelism analyzer for Fortran), if you had it, as a freebie, I think. -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
FYI: Melinda's papers and goodies relocating....
Princeton is kicking alumni and retirees off their mail and www servers, so all of Melinda Varian's classic papers and CMS Pipes stuff is moving to a new location. http://web.me.com/melinda.varian/ The old page at princeton.edu/~melinda is still up, but it's fate and lifetime is uncertain. Boo on Princeton. That's a trick that Harvard or Yalies would pull. -- db -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
Re: IBM-MAIN Digest - 21 Sep 2010 to 22 Sep 2010 (#2010-265)
Essentially I'm looking for a method of identifying MVS images so that I can talk to my agent running in each of those images. If my agent is not running on an image then neither is any other of my software. Take a look at the Zeroconf project. You can easily have your agent announce itself, and the other systems can look for the specific agent signature, and you're golden. Zeroconf.org Doesn't matter what OS or what configuration it's in. -- db -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
Re: IBM-MAIN Digest - 19 Sep 2010 to 20 Sep 2010 (#2010-263)
No real issue, just thought I would ask. I couldn't think of anything other than an OSA for TCP/IP communication. I had forgotten about the CIPS from CISCO. There are a fair number of devices that work with IBM TCPIP (both for VM and for MVS). Some other fun ones: 7170(basically a parallel channel interface to a DEC Unibus card cage, with a DEC DELNI network card in it, controlled by an original IBM PC with (wait for it!) 64K of RAM!), Genned as a CTC. Very temperamental, but it got bits on the wire. 8232(a channel attached PC/AT that came with a Ungermann/Bass 10mbit Ethernet card that jammed easily on networks with lots of collisions) also genned as a CTC 3172(aka LAN Channel Station, or LCS) genned as 3088, could support up to 3 network adapters (TR, Ethernet, ATM), although you were sad if you had the ATM adapter and tried to add anything else to it). This is the most common emulated adapter, and was available internally on the MP3K, FlexES and now zPDT. Came in parallel and ESCON versions, I think. BusTech BTI 1, 2 and 3: very popular with universities, as they were about a quarter to half the price of a 8232 or 3172 and took up a LOT less space (4 RU vs a half-height cabinet for a 3172). V1 required a special driver, but later models emulated a 3088. Supported Ethernet, TR, and ATM in various forms, and you could get one unit to support up to 4 adapters (the vendor sold only 3, but there was plenty horsepower for 10 Mbit Ethernet. ATI Hyperchannel -- did 10 and 100mbit Ethernet direct from the channel interface. Expensive, usually used when you had a Cray to do computing and the Z system was just playing smart I/O device to the Cray. X25IPI -- IP over X.25. You needed a FEP for this thing, or the internal X.25 interface in a 4361. Evil. Pure Evil. SNA LU - IP over SNA. VTAM set up a LU-LU session, and the IP stack used it like a serial line. Weird, but it worked. Cisco CIP - channel attached 75xx Cisco router. Parallel and ESCON versions, genned as a 3088. Fast (for the day) and very flexible. Could drive dozens of interfaces, offload 3270 traffic, deal with up to SONET speeds, bridge Ethernet and TR and ATM networks. The channel interface was the real bottleneck. Too bad there never was a FICON version. Cisco CPA - channel attached 72xx Cisco router. Similar to a CIP, but designed for the smaller 7200 series routers. Also had a parallel and ESCON version. Real CTC/CNCs -- if you had a 3088, you could use it to connect to other Z hosts and do IP over the channel. Fast, for the day, but not very useful unless you were VERY visionary and fought the SNA Wars well. The lockstep nature of the channel protocol was the big bottleneck. About that point was where the OSAs appeared. The stack still has the code to support most of these devices, but IBM (and the other vendors) probably don't support them officially any more. -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
OpenSolaris for System z finally available for download...
We've finally received all the clearances necessary, and the system images for build 95 of OpenSolaris for System z are finally available for download from http://distribution.sinenomine.net/opensolaris. 3 packaging choices are available: VMARC, AWSTAPE and a DVD image. All three are identical code, and can be used with the installation instructions available in the package and on the www page mentioned above. Docs are provided in the VMARC files in plain text, PDF and Bookmaster/READ format. You need a z/VM 5.3 or 5.4 system with VM64466 applied, and you must be running on a z9 BC, EC, or z10 to use these images. They will *NOT* run in an LPAR or on any form of 9672, z800, z890, z900, or z990. Support and education are available - please contact me offlist for more details. It's been two years in the making, but we're pretty proud of it. Please send questions, comments or bug reports to the OpenSolaris for System z discussion list at [EMAIL PROTECTED] We encourage anyone working with this code to subscribe (by sending mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the words SUBSCRIBE SOL-390 firstname lastname in the body of the message) and help us make OpenSolaris even better. Happy downloading, -- db David Boyes Sine Nomine Associates -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
Where the blazes is the buffer size setting for JES2 NJE links?
Oh Great JES Gods: 1) Where the devil do you set the buffer size for a NJE link in JES2? I can't find it anywhere. 2) What's the maximum buffer size for NJE links in JES2? I've been hunting around for days now, and can't find answers to either. Do you know, or have any idea where I should be looking in the enormous pile of MVS manuals I have? -- db -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
Safety Reminder: If you are planning disk upgrades, make sure you switch your Linux guests to by-path IDs in /etc/fstab BEFORE you switch
A safety reminder: If you're planning to replace disk subsystems, make sure your Linux guests (particularly any SLES 10 or above) guests do NOT use by-ID paths in /etc/fstab. Fix this BEFORE the new disk goes in, both RH and SuSE (Debian, too), or your guests will not be able to find their filesystems (and thus won't boot or run). This really should be in IBM and other DASD vendors planning information for new installs, and I'd demand a fix from your Linux vendors. By-ID is a stupid default for this architecture (for any architecture, I'd argue...) and needs a fix ASAP. IBM, EMC, Hitachi: how do we get this added to your planning guides? RH, Novell, how about it? -- db -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
Re: IBM-MAIN Digest - 25 Jun 2008 to 26 Jun 2008 (#2008-178)
Kind of a weird question I know, but ... it has been a day full of weird questions. A customer would like to know if they can open a TN3270 session *from* one z/OS host, to another z/OS host? Certainly. I'm typing this in one right now. I do not believe this is possible. For a start, you cannot have 2 SSCPs in the same Domain; so how can you have a Dependent LU?. Besides, there is no TN3270 client (AFAIK) for z/OS. However my customer - not on the face of it, a fool - sincerely believes that this is what he is doing, today. So who is right? Can I open a TN session to a host in another domain??? He is. The IBM TELNET application is a tn3270 client. VTAM doesn't really affect this because the connection will pass through the IP stack and it's the other z/OS system's problem to get the right LU assigned, etc. -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
SSL to printers
Many printer vendors support IPP (Internet Printing Protocol). It supports HTTPS to encrypt the data. I am not sure which, if any, mainframe printing products support the protocol. Or use NJE over IP to connect to a Linux guest or outboard system, and use IPP from there. Simple to implement, minimal impact on z/OS cycles (either use an IFL or an outboard Intel or other Unix box), and much less expensive than LRS or the others mentioned. Also gives you easy fax implementation and PDF creation for archival. -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
Hillgang mtg April 24 open to all
The next meeting of Hillgang (the Washington DC area VM users group) will be held on April 24 at CA in Herndon VA. The meeting will feature Mike Cowlishaw, IBM Fellow and creator of REXX, as well as technical updates on some new research, and the usual QA free-for-all with VM and Linux experts. Note: Some misinformation has been circulating re: needing an IBM nomination to attend. THIS IS NOT THE CASE. The meeting is open to ALL - we just need RSVPs for a headcount and getting the attendees on the access list for the CA office. RSVPs can be sent to hillgang (at) vm.marist.edu. -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
DCF: Can it live again?
DCF and Waterloo SCRIPT had a few differences in the interpretation of the dot commands, so often macros written for one didn't work on the other. Waterloo SCRIPT did support GML, but again, a slightly different set of tags than DCF, so that documents written for one often looked different on the other (or didn't format correctly). The key to what I want is the Bookmaster tag set, which doesn't work with Waterloo SCRIPT. Ordinary GML is pretty boring and utilitarian; Bookmaster is the set of specialized tags that IBM created to write their own manuals, and the combination of a really good understanding of what's necessary to easily create significant amounts of technical documentation and the practicality of how to get that documentation written is what makes the DCF+Bookie combination interesting. I can knock out a really stunning set of docs for a product in a tiny amount of time, and you'd never know they didn't come straight out of IBM Information Design in POK -- it looks, smells, and feels like IBM documentation, and better yet, it works like IBM documentation. Good example: the OpenSolaris for z documents are created with DCF and Bookie: the same source generates plain text, PDF (via Adobe Distiller and the LISTPS file that comes out of DCF), HTML, and (via Bookmaster/BUILD VM), a Library Manager compatible file. You install them like IBM docs, they're structured like IBM docs, and they work with the same tools that IBM docs. (I know that IBM produces PDF versions of manuals; I have the CMS version of DCF and the rest of the Bookmaster tools and I use them to create my own. I just wish I could run them somewhere else, since IBM seems hell-bent on neutering CMS into just a virtualization layer management tool) I know that DocBook has been mentioned in this thread and compared unfavorably with DCF. I've used both, although I haven't used DCF for many years. We recently started using DocBook on a couple of projects, and overall we were pretty pleased with it. I've used both as well; the comparison is closer if you compare GML to DocBook; raw DCF is rather like raw troff macros; not for the faint of heart. I think the problem I have with DocBook is twofold: 1) documentation on how to USE DocBook is nigh unto nonexistent. There's plenty of discussion about how it should work, and how various DTDs are applied and distributed, but there's almost nothing about how you actually *author* useful documents. Compare to Bookie: 3 page intro to what's happening, and you're producing useful output. This has been changing lately, but in comparison to the Bookie user guide, it's still very difficult to determine how to do simple things without inordinate amounts of research. (I know, I know, write your own damn book, but still...) If anyone knows of a good tutorial for DocBook, I'd sure like to know about it too. The Oreilly book on DocBook is pretty much useless, and it's the best I've seen (it's also visually ugly as sin, which is unusual for a Oreilly book). 2) XML is much more difficult to read and parse for humans than the simpler GML tag structure. I have editors that can do both, but if you're hunting for some weird formatting problem, it's a LOT harder to hunt that down in the XML files than in a flat text file with the simpler GML tagging. It's hard to create XML with XEDIT or ISPF, but as you say, Eclipse does a fine job. I can't run that on CMS, though (and AFAIK, no formatters exist for DocBook on CMS or TSO). A side note: another nice thing about Bookie is that it easily enables the native source file control stuff (ie CMS update) so versioning and maintenance of the docs is a LOT simpler. XML makes that very difficult -- you should see what a update file against a XML doc looks like after running EXECUPDT. 8-) I guess I should just buckle down and take the Bookie syntax definition and write a set of macros for TeX or troff that emulate them. It'd still be nice to have something on Linux that understands 1403 listings, though. Oh, well. C'est la vie. -- db -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
DCF: Can it live again?
Would you guys stop talking about DCF (Document Composition Facility, 5748-XX9) a.k.a. Script in the past tense? It is still available for z/OS, z/VM, and z/VSE. Yes, but aren't DCF, BookMaster and BookManager MVS all functionally stabilized? I'll say in public: if IBM is willing to let me have the source for DCF and Bookie, I will port it to Linux for free. I want it for my own use, and I think there are others who feel the same. For all it's warts and antiquities, DCF and Bookie are still more usable (and a darn sight better documented) than any of the Linux alternatives. DocBook is a lame, lame piece of work by comparison. Bookie was written by people who actually had to PRODUCE large amounts of docs. If DCF could produce PDF directly, I'd be thrilled. -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
SHARE no handouts(?)
Another issue is SHARE claiming copyright on materials. Some employers have issues with that, and I know there are speakers who find that particularly offensive - myself included. I choose to share what I know with peers without charge at SHARE; that does NOT give SHARE the ownership or copyright interest of those materials, and selling that knowledge by charging for the proceedings CD is even more offensive. Yes, it costs money to produce the CD, but that's the cost of doing business if you're doing conferences. It's one of a number of major reasons why I no longer attend SHARE meetings unless invited. Another observation: no other major conference I attend permits (let alone requires) paper handouts - they get charged for the cleanup and disposal after the conference. It's time SHARE moved on, just like the cash bar at SCIDS. It's time. I like the USB pen drive idea a lot. Buying a bunch of 2G pen drives in volume makes them about $1-2 each (just got a promo chatchkes catalog, and that's what they list at for quantities 1000), and gives SHARE a nice advertising opportunity. After all, the speakers all have power outlets for *their* laptops, and a little USB writer gadget for each room would be a reusable item that would be good for multiple conferences. That, plus a pad and pen is a nice compromise solution, and would be useful after the conference as well. -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
OpenSolaris on System Z live at SHARE in Orlando
For those of you who have been following the saga of bringing OpenSolaris to System Z, I'm pleased to say that those of you coming to SHARE in Orlando will get a chance to get your hands on it live. IBM has allowed us to put a few copies of the virtual machine on the z9 in their booth, and we'll be around during the show hours to give guided tours and answer questions about it. Stop by the IBM booth if you're in the trade show, and have a look at it. Bring friends, bosses, Solaris gurus, etc. It's pretty impressive. -- db David Boyes Sine Nomine Associates -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
Re: IBM-MAIN Digest - 27 Dec 2007 to 28 Dec 2007 (#2007-362)
If I have an IPL'd Stand Alone system running on the New z9 and zVM/CMS is installed; can I take a Full volume dump on zOS; ftp it to zVM/CMS; save the file and then use this file as input to the Stand Alone Restore process? If so how? z/OS utilities only understand z/OS I/O, so you would somehow have to get the file onto a OS-formatted disk (or tape, which we know you don't have). None of the CMS TCPIP utilities understand OS formatted disks directly, so you would have to FTP the dataset to a CMS minidisk, access a OS-formatted minidisk, and then use FILEDEF and MOVEFILE to actually write the file to the OS-formatted disk. You'd then have to worry about VTOC formats (thank IBM for killing both OS VSAM and OS compatibility...sigh). It's not worth it. Put bluntly, see my other note on using CMSDDR. Getting a 1 pack VM system up on the Flex box works MUCH better, CMSDDR understands CMS file structure so you can just pass images of the volumes over, and as long as you restore the entire volumes, z/OS won't even know it happened. Useful note: when you FTP the CMSDDR output files between the VM system on the Flex box and the new system, use TYPE E, MODE B before you do the PUT or GET in the FTP session. This tells the FTP server on the other end to preserve character set and file parameters, so you won't have to worry about it. Also, keep in mind that your Flex system can create AWSTAPE format files, and that CMS has a AWSTAPE pipe stage that can feed that to CMS utilities. If you're worried about licensing for VM on the Flex box, I think VM/370 (which IBM does not complain about usage) will run CMSDDR. I'll have to look into creating a IPLable system image for people in your situation. Shouldn't be too hard. -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
Re: IBM-MAIN Digest - 26 Dec 2007 to 27 Dec 2007 (#2007-361)
2. Connect new server to the existing disk or old server to the new disk systems - not possible, the old system has only internal disk and the new disk is FICON and cannot be connected to the old processor. You could consider turning the Flex box into a FlexCUB temporarily, which would make the internal disk connectable via ESCON. Talk to Cornerstone offline about that; we've found them to be pretty reasonable about things, and it's a small investment that also gives you the ability to deal better with the outside world and support DLT, etc. 3. Load and customise zVM via the z9 HMC using DVD's thus having a zVM and CMS environment and somehow dump the old system and FTP it across to the new zVM CMS system running on the z9 If you have one 3390 mod 9 or 2 3390 mod 3s available on the Flex box, this is the best option. You need only one userid, and a utility called CMSDDR which is available from the IBM Download Library (it's a modified version of DDR that can read/write it's data from CMS files). Very effective (and you'll want VM anyway...8-)) We believe we can build a Stand Alone (SA) DFDSS pgm in card image form (BUILDSA) on the old system and FTP this across to a CMS user. This user should be able to receive this card image as a CMS file and punch it to the virtual reader. We could then IPL from the reader on this zVM virtual machine This then creates a IPL'd SA DFDSS environment This last and final part is the bit we are struggling with. We can create a DFDSS full volume dump of the OnePak System to DISK and FTP it to the zVM/CMS system on the z9. What I am struggling with is how to get the as input to the DFDSS SA program from the zVM/CMS environment? Is this a complete non starter as a process OR if possible; how would it be done? Well, you can get the DFDSS SA utility up and running w/o problems, but I don't think it understands any of the VM disk storage formats, so I don't know how you'd point it at the data to restore. CMSDDR is a lot easier, and if you can bring up a 1 pack VM system on the Flex box, the dump looks like (assuming your 1 pack MVS system is on dasd 1234, and 4567 is a full-pack minidisk formatted for CMS) From MAINT or other privileged ID: ATTACH 1234 MAINT 1234 ACCESS 4567 C CMSDDR SYSPRINT CONS INPUT 1234 3390 volser OUTPUT FILE volser DISKIMG C DUMP ALL blank line And the restore is (assuming the disk to restore is 3FFF and the file has been moved to a similar 4567 minidisk on the new system via FTP or NJE): ATTACH 3FFF MAINT 3FFF ACCESS 4567 C CMSDDR SYSPRINT CONS INPUT FILE volser DISKIMG C OUTPUT 3FFF 3390 SCRTCH RESTORE ALL blank line Repeat this for all the volumes you want to move. DDR doesn't care what is on the disk; it's a physical copy, so MVS won't get unhappy at all. CMSDDR can be gotten from http://www.vm.ibm.com/download. -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
Re: IBM-MAIN Digest - 7 Sep 2007 to 8 Sep 2007 (#2007-251)
What does that mean? Do you want to know which manual describes the Bookmaster tags? Do you think they released the libraries you include when executing Document Composition Facility (a.k.a. SCRIPT) to the public? No. A SGML DTD is a syntax description of the tags in a formalized grammar that describes how to use the tag in context. Think of it as the COBOL reference syntax diagrams. You'd need something like it to write a formatter, or a context-sensitive editor, or any tool that accepted the input and did something with it. There's no code involved; just a formal description of the syntax. I have the Bookie manuals. What I want do is write a tool that allows me to format documents written with Bookie tags on other platforms. The Bookie tags are well-thought-out, well documented, and easy to learn. I'd like to keep them alive, because the alternatives frankly suck. -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
SGML DTD for Bookmaster
I tried to ask this on SCRIPT-L, but it appears that that list has finally passed beyond mortal ken and no longer exists. Does anyone know whether IBM ever published a SGML DTD for Bookmaster? I'm trying to find a way to generate a proper translation from the wonderful Bookmaster tags and tools to the utterly hideously documented and supported DocBook. Both are SGML tagsets, and it appears that the renderers for DocBook are generic enough to use alternative DTDs if you have a well defined tag set. Since Bookmaster is decently documented, has examples, and can be created with any normal text editor by any normal mortal (DocBook doesn't qualify on any of these levels), I'd really really love to find a DTD for it. I know there was SGML support for the starter set GML tags, but I really want Bookie. I also know about B2H, but I want to continue to create native Bookie docs too. Ideas? Does anyone know who I might ask? -- db -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
Re: IBM-MAIN Digest - 19 Aug 2007 to 20 Aug 2007 (#2007-232)
The issue is quite possibly scalability. Only a tiny fraction of Solaris users need huge machines, and scalability is something IBM is quite good at. It might make good business sense for Solaris to cede the very top end to IBM and avoid the huge expense of extreme scalability when only a few of their customers need it. Actually, quite the converse. The sweet spot is virtualization. IBM can't compete on computational power, but they can compete on manageability. There's a lot more to be done to deal with the rafts of pizza boxes than the big 106-ways. And there are a lot more opportunities to do it. A television commercial here a few minutes ago crowed about Nissan (I think) managing 56,500 servers using Microsoft System Center. THEY GOT THEMSELVES INTO THAT MESS, AND THEY'RE _PROUD_ OF IT ?!? Silk purse. Sows ear. -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
Solaris on z
Just minor correction: Sun and IBM are collaborating with Sine Noimine to get Solaris on Z. Neither company is doing the work. -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
Subject: Re: Distance between primary and DR site
From:Binyamin Dissen [EMAIL PROTECTED] I take it that you have not considered the possibility of a supernova. Actually, I did, a the back-of-the-envelope risk analysis indicated that the likely delay of 6.2 million years before likely exposure was deemed acceptable, interstellar terrorism by the Romulan Empire and Vogon constructor fleets notwithstanding. Random acts of God, terrorist actions, and takings of condemnation by the local interstellar planning commission aren't within my design portfolio, and are excluded liabilities in the usual commercial terms and conditions under US contract law. Now go to the back of the class. Oh, goody. Time to ignore the poor plodder at the front of the class and catch up on the remaining Horace and Catullus I haven't read yet. Nobody gets hassled for not paying attention if you're reading stuff in Latin. 8-) Worked all through high school, probably still works now...8-) -- db -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
Distance between primary and DR site
The Pacific Ocean is nearby, I guess we'll have to build the DR where? On the Moon !! *That* would be a serious DR site ! Well, you have to admit that it does have no common points of failure. 8-) As far as Brian's concerned, I'd suggest Canberra or Alice Springs. Not quite the moon, but you can see it from there. 8-) -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
FW: Distance between primary and DR site
-Original Message- From: David Boyes Sent: Fri 8/3/2007 6:00 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: David Boyes Subject: Distance between primary and DR site If you can't afford (or your bosses are too cheap) to do a full risk study, I use what I call the Greek Elements model: Consider the classical Greek elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, plus the modern element, plasma. A good general ROT is that your DR site should be no closer than 2.5 times the diameter of the largest possible disaster that could occur in the area. If there are earth problems (quakes, slides, etc), your backup center should be at least 2.5 times the distance from the center of the last major problem. If there are wind problems (high winds, tornados, etc), you should be at least 2.5 times the diameter of the largest storm destruction area recorded. If there are fire problems in the area, you should be at least 2.5 times the distance of the diameter of the largest fire recorded in the area. If there was water nearby, you should be at least 2.5 times the width of the body of water. To avoid nuclear burst areas (the plasma element), assume 100 mile burst radius, and apply the 2.5 rule. If there are multiple hazards, the rule applied should reflect the largest hazard. Example: if the area gets hurricanes with storm tracks of 100 miles in diameter, your DR center should be no closer than 250 miles away. If your area gets tornadoes with 10 mile destruction paths, your DR center should be no closer than 25 miles away. If there is a dam on a lake 5 miles away, your DR center should be no closer than 12 miles away. Never failed me yet. (I really liked the at least 50 megatons distance response...) -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
Spam from SHARE
I grumbled about this a couple SHAREs ago and was told that vendors that are SHARE sponsers get to email SHARE members that have not opted out of SHARE announcements. You don't have use a spam filter; you can ask SHARE not to send them. After hours on the phone to get to the right person to get off their bloody mailing lists, since the automated systems don't work more than about half the time. I personally hate advertisements and commercials of all kinds, but I grit my teeth and just delete these. The vendors provide income to SHARE. Pat O'Keefe On the other hand, an organization that purports to provide IT education *ought* to know what is acceptable and not acceptable as good practice in a well-run IT organization. SHARE's IT decisions are just embarrassingly bad. This is just another one in a long string of bad decisions. News flash to SHARE: if you insist on combining junk mail with the conference-related announcements, then both go in the trash. It's that simple, guys. Buy a clue. -- db -- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
