Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: IBM key management products

[P H]

Reminds me of something that happened decades ago. A failing 3350 disk was 
replaced. The failing disk was returned to supplier. The platters were very 
shiny. The disk had been through a sand blasting machine 




From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Radoslaw Skorupka <0471ebeac275-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu>
Sent: 16 April 2024 10:23
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: IBM key management products

"take disks back to work"
Well, an auditor could be very happy of this finding.
The disk was somewhere outside. Who read it? Was it replaced with
another one? Etc.

No, it is not so funny.
I know the case, financial company ordered disks destroyment. A lot of
disks - over 4000 approximately.
What happened?
Some disks fell out of the truck during transportation. Yes, and guys
responsible for that stopped the truck on a highway and collected fallen
disks. All of the disks? Nobody knows.
Obviously there were no list of of the disks. Despite security dept.
rules saying that every erased disk should be registered, with model,
type and serial number.
Ho, BTW: the company had degausser machine - it was enough to hire some
student to degauss all of the disks. (no SSD at the time)

--
Radoslaw Skorupka
Lodz, Poland



W dniu 15.04.2024 o 20:51, Pommier, Rex pisze:
> Nope, but I did take the now-holy disks back to work to show them the 
> destruction.  
>
> -Original Message-
> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
> rpinion865
> Sent: Monday, April 15, 2024 1:37 PM
> To:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
> Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: IBM key management products
>
> Did you have the auditors present so they could certify your actions :) ?
>
>
>
>
> Sent with Proton Mail secure email.
>
> On Monday, April 15th, 2024 at 2:32 PM, Pommier, Rex 
>  wrote:
>
>> Didn't phase the drill bit one bit (sorry for the bad pun). I just had to be 
>> careful not to punch a hole in the bottom of the drives so as to not get 
>> glass shards dropping on my (very messy) shop floor.
>>
>> -Original Message-
>> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion listibm-m...@listserv.ua.edu  On Behalf
>> Of Tom Brennan
>>
>> Sent: Monday, April 15, 2024 12:57 PM
>> To:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
>> Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: IBM key management products
>>
>> Nice! That's the first I've heard of glass platters. Hope your drill
>> bit survived the trauma :)
>>
>> On 4/15/2024 8:33 AM, Pommier, Rex wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Tom,
>>>
>>> Regarding #2, at a former job I got to decommission an HDS box that
>>> was shared between the mainframe and Unix boxes. Unencrypted disk in
>>> it. Mgmt wanted the data destroyed so they asked me to take the
>>> individual drives home and drill through each of them. That was when
>>> I found out that this particular disk drive had glass platters.
>>> There was no getting data off them when the drill bit shattered
>>> every platter in every spindle. 
>>>
>>> Rex
>>>
>>> -Original Message-
>>> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion listibm-m...@listserv.ua.edu  On
>>> Behalf Of Tom Brennan
>>> Sent: Friday, April 12, 2024 1:41 PM
>>> To:IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
>>> Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: IBM key management products
>>>
>>> We use SKLM/GKLM for data-at-rest encryption of DS8000/TS7000 devices, all 
>>> internal disk storage, no external cartridge tapes. So what does that do 
>>> for the customer, since (unless you're using an additional form of 
>>> encryption on the mainframe) the data is still spit out of the devices 
>>> unencrypted (not counting the additional feature that allows 
>>> FICON-in-transit encryption).
>>>
>>> I have a few theories on this:
>>>
>>> #1 If someone gets into the datacenter and steals disks (or the entire 
>>> DS/TS box), the encrypted contents should be useless.
>>>
>>> #2 When a DS/TS box is decommissioned, a customer could "potentially"
>>> skip any further destruction of the data in the box. Still, what
>>> I've seen in reality for decom is to run the IBM SDO (secure data
>>> overwrite to blot out the disks) and sometimes even shred the
>>> individual disks (I'd sure like to see that in action!)
>>>
>>> #3 If you steal a DS/TS box, make sure you steal the associated key server 
>>> unit too.
>>>
>>> I'd appreciate any comments on these theories.
>>>
>>> On 4/12/2024 9:21 AM, Jousma, David wrote:
>>>
 To place a bit more focus on what Rick says….. You lose/destroy the 
 key(s), you have lost your data. There is a lot of discussion about the 
 scope/use of the keys. One key, or one per application, or one per 
 dataset, etc. There is no right/wrong answer (well just one key for 
 everything is probably not advisable).

 I personally am still having a hard time wrapping my head around the “real 
 benefit” of dataset encryption. Everyone who has READ or more access to 
 the dataset, must also be permitted to the Key. Those same people are 
 still able to copy/print/steal that data. 

Re: Getting rid of a z14 zr1 - any value in the host cards?

[P H]

Re: What is supported in which system, you will find the relevant information 
in the System z Functional Matrix

https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/redp5157.html
[https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/images/thumbs/redp-5157-07_x2.jpg]
IBM Z Functional Matrix
This IBM® Redpaper publication can help you quickly understand the features, 
functions, and connectivity options that are available with the IBM z16™, IBM 
z15®, and IBM z14®. The intention of this publication is to compare the 
standard and optional
www.redbooks.ibm.com




From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Laurence Chiu <05c4ba336ee7-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu>
Sent: 27 February 2024 03:54
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: Getting rid of a z14 zr1 - any value in the host cards?

Somebody said to me the z14 cards cannot be used in a Z15 or z16 because of
a difference in form factor!  This seemed like an ill-informed comment to
me since all the cards probably use some sort of PCI connector and IBM
would not change them between model Z's. But it would be nice to be able to
quote some authoritative source as this person appears to have the ear of
some of our senior managers.

On Sun, Feb 25, 2024 at 3:19 AM Mike Smith  wrote:

> I would imagine that the FICON and OSA cards might have value to someone.
> These cards can still be used in other z14's, z15's and z16's.  With the
> hardware WKFM date for z15's having passed, the only way to add an adapter
> to a z15 is to acquire it from the secondary market (aka used).  You could
> try posting them on eBay or contact some of the companies that trade in
> used IBM parts.
>
> Good luck!
> Mike
>
> -Original Message-
> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf
> Of Laurence Chiu
> Sent: Friday, February 23, 2024 6:08 PM
> To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Getting rid of a z14 zr1 - any value in the host cards?
>
> Sorry. Z14
>
> On Sat, Feb 24, 2024, 2:59 PM Charles Mills  wrote:
>
> > z14 as in the Subject or z16 as in the body?
> >
> > CM
> >
> > On Sat, 24 Feb 2024 12:04:39 +1300, Laurence Chiu 
> > wrote:
> >
> > >I need to decommission and remove for potential destruction z16 zr1.
> > >It only has one active engine so it's capped at 88 mips which isn't
> > >very useful. But for a number of reasons it has a ton of 16G fibre
> > >channel cards (6 or 8 I think). They might have some value so I was
> > >thinking I would remove them before having the host removed. There
> > >are
> > also
> > >4 OSA Express cards (10G). Our IBM SE said IBM do not support used
> > >cards
> > in
> > >CEC's but that does not mean they won't work?
> > >
> > >Another thought was it could be used as a sysprog play pen, carving
> > >up
> > some
> > >storage of the DS8K we have and creating a small z/OS image. But how
> > >much play can you do in 88 MIPS?
> >
> > --
> > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send
> > email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
> >
>
> --
> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email
> to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
>
> --
> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
>

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: Insecure security

[P H]

Passwords and hackers. Is there anything safe?

https://eandt.theiet.org/2024/02/15/southern-water-admits-data-breach-may-impact-nearly-half-million-customers?utm_source=related-content-bullet-list

https://eandt.theiet.org/2024/02/15/state-sponsored-hackers-using-ai-cyber-attacks-microsoft-warns?utm_campaign=E%2BT%20News%20-%20Template%20Redesign%2015%20Feb%20%28Split%20test%29_content=E%26T%20News%20-%20Members_medium=email_source=Adestra_term=865089


Sent from Outlook for Android

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Jack Zukt <059cd493dd41-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu>
Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2024 3:25:18 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: Insecure security - was SDSF PS Command column

Hi Bill,
I can relate to your suspicions about password managers. Not to long ago
Lastpass found out that they have been hacked, which must have been a big
problem for its end users (which, fortunately I am not). On the other hand,
I have way too many passwords to be manageable without a password manager.
So, I use not one, but two. With different master passwords. And using a
password manager will not prevent you from sharing passwords with trusted
friends. I usually tell my colleagues that use excel or notepad to keep
their passwords to try and use keepass. It is as easy to use as those
methods but far for secure.
Regards
Jack


On Thu, 15 Feb 2024 at 14:01, billogden  wrote:

> My trivial comments:
>
> 1. Using a password manager seems to be putting all our eggs in one basket.
> What if that basket fails? Is it secure? Can I always access it? If we need
> to make a particular password available to a "trusted" friend (at some
> indefinite time), how should we manage that.
> 2. I have about 60+ passwords noted (on a paper, not in view of any camera)
> for various sites. Some have not been used in years, some are used
> frequently. I rather expect than very few of us (on this site) have a tiny
> number of passwords that can manage everything we need to do.
> 3. Minimum 16 characters, upper & lower case, numbers, symbols --- this can
> be very obscure to all the "computer uneducated" people that try to use the
> many services available via the web. We are expected to remember these?
> Many
> PWs are needed to avoid using the same PW for too many purposes.
> 4. Like most of us (on this site) I place tape over the camera lenses on
> all
> my systems.
> 5. Github? Being old and stupid, I have not used it yet. On my z/OS systems
> (that often run odd versions of z/OS, etc, etc) I really do not want to
> depend on a web service for program source code, etc, etc. A nice SMALL
> book
> that covers the most basic, practical uses of github (for a gethub
> beginner)
> without going into all the really wonderful things that might be done with
> it, would be handy. To me, a basic book would illustrate the specific web
> commands, the specific z/OS JCL, the specific TSO actions to install and
> perform basic operations in a simple/practical manner.
> 6. Too much obscure/difficult security == insecurity?  Amen, Amen, Amen.
> The
> IT executives seem to be in a terrific rush to go down this path. (Also,
> "too much security" seems to actually diminish the time available to
> create/improve application code, etc.)
> 7. "Trusted" (in the meanings used on this site) can be a very very complex
> concept!
>
> Bill Ogden
> z/OS old, old time z/OS person (started on OS/360 option 1), but still
> active (to some extent)!
>
> --
> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
>

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: How to check improvement after Mainframe upgrade

[P H]

For analysis of batch workload, the IBM tool is zBNA

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/ibm-zbna-0


From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of Tom 
Longfellow <03e29b607131-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu>
Sent: 13 February 2024 13:55
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: How to check improvement after Mainframe upgrade

I believe that you have entered the realm of WLM.
WLM is a key enforcer of that MSU capacity that you have licensed.  Has your 
CPU been capped at a value less than that 272 you saw in the benchmark 
documentation?

HOWEVER -- WLM only has to do enforcement when Demand is greater than Supply.   
Otherwise, it is pretty much hands off and let the workload get whatever it is 
demanding.
In times of extreme demand, you are being held to the 92 MSU level.

To see if individual tasks have seen improvement, you should look into the 
Batch modeling using one of the IBM purchased or no-charge tools.  (The names 
escape me at the moment)
As mentioned by others, these tools can analyze your SMF from before and after 
the upgrade.   You would then analyze that ouput.

It is very possible that if you were banging up against the MSU cap, you still 
are.  In that case the overall hardware usage numbers would not change.   A 
monthly average will not show you any pain points when Supply does not meet 
Demand.

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: How to check improvement after Mainframe upgrade

[P H]

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6354029


Did the customer use the zPCR tool? You will need SMF data before the upgrade.

Sent from Outlook for Android

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Ravikumar Srinivasan <0532115e11a8-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu>
Sent: Monday, February 12, 2024 5:03:52 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: How to check improvement after Mainframe upgrade

Hi Experts,

My customer was using Z14R1 3907-W02(272 MSU). z/OS version is 2.5. They 
upgraded it to Z16 3932-V02(272 MSU). Except this upgrade, there is no other 
change. I could not find LSPR value for z/OS 2.5 in the 
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/ibm-z-large-systems-performance-reference 
link.  So, I took the below values from Z/OS 2.4 benchmark.
Processor   #CPPCI**MSU***  Low* Average*   
   High*
3932-V0222195  2724.04   3.92   3.68
3907-W02  22192  2724.14   3.92   3.55

The upgrade was done in mid of Jan-2024.
The average monthly MSU utilization of the CEC is ~92 MSU before and after the 
upgrade.
Is there anyway to check if the upgrade brought in any improvement in terms of 
MSU utilization ?

Thanks,
Ravikumar

This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are for the sole use of the 
intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. 
If you are not the intended recipient(s), please reply to the sender and 
destroy all copies of the original message. Any unauthorized review, use, 
disclosure, dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this email, 
and/or any action taken in reliance on the contents of this e-mail is strictly 
prohibited and may be unlawful. Where permitted by applicable law, this e-mail 
and other e-mail communications sent to and from Cognizant e-mail addresses may 
be monitored.

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: Permission to redistribute LE

[P H]

Re John, retired and most probably enjoying his hobby of diving or the 
motorhome.

Sent from Outlook for Android

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Charles Mills 
Sent: Sunday, October 22, 2023 4:33:46 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: Permission to redistribute LE

Oh! And someone who obviously worked with John more than I did  points out 
to me privately that it is Eells, not Eels.

I enjoyed working with John. I wonder what he is doing now.

CM

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: Minimum LPAR size for z15 processor

[P H]

With z15, there will be a new level of CFCC. This may require additional 
memory. Although there are no structures, to be safe, I recommend you use the 
CFSizer tool.



From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Mark Jacobs <0224d287a4b1-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu>
Sent: 04 August 2023 17:17
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Minimum LPAR size for z15 processor

We're migrating our CF processors from z13's to z15's. One of the CF LPARs on 
the z13 is assigned 1.5GB. There are no structures there, it's just used as 
placeholder for STP timing links. Will that LPAR activate on a z15 processor 
with the same 1.5GB allocation, or will we need to bump it up some?

Mark Jacobs

Sent from [ProtonMail](https://protonmail.com), Swiss-based encrypted email.

GPG Public Key - 
https://api.protonmail.ch/pks/lookup?op=get=markjac...@protonmail.com

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: Channelized I/O WAS: Mainframe Makers.... WAS: Ars Technica: The IBM mainframe: How it runs and why it survives

[P H]

Data Processing, most probably from DP division of IBM of that time.

Sent from Outlook for Android<https://aka.ms/AAb9ysg>

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Seymour J Metz 
Sent: Friday, August 4, 2023 12:14:07 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: Channelized I/O WAS: Mainframe Makers WAS: Ars Technica: The 
IBM mainframe: How it runs and why it survives

> The one I worked on at a sister (can I say this or should it be 'person' 
> organisation of CERN) had a grand total of 1 MB main memory!

That sounds more appropriate for a 65 than a 195.

> BTW: When I started my career during the early 70s, IT didn't exist. It was 
> 'computers' or 'computing'.

Also 'Data Processing'; I vaguely recall that there were a few more terms.


--
Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz
http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3


From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] on behalf of P H 
[04843e86df79-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu]
Sent: Friday, August 4, 2023 5:23 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Channelized I/O WAS: Mainframe Makers WAS: Ars Technica: The 
IBM mainframe: How it runs and why it survives

In response to your comments and some made by others, my 2 cents worth.

This discussion started talking about mainframes and 'split' into sub-threads 
questioning/focusing on IBM z e.g., z/Architecture, what has z ever done, any 
uniqueness/special features of z etc.

In my response, I tried to answer some Qs and correcting some of the numbers 
which were being quoted. I did end by saying 'horses for courses'. No single 
system/platform is perfect. All have their uniqueness, strengths and weakness. 
Today, other platforms may have similar functions/features as z and some may be 
even better, the point is during the evolution of z under it's different 
marketing names (S/360, S/370, S/390, eServer, System z etc) z has evolved, 
adapted and embraced technologies which businesses require for modern 
workloads. z continues to evolve! z can't be everything to everyone. There are 
alternatives to 'mainframes' both from IBM (POWER) and others.

Talking about weakness, as an example I did mention that my x86 also has 
limitations. I don't need a better machine, especially an overpriced Mac. Just 
like some customers think they don't need an overpriced z. With today’s mind 
set of 'good enough' computing i.e. if it doesn't work reboot, if what you have 
meets your needs, so be it.


Just like your iPhone, my smartphone has most probably more power/memory than 
S370/195 of early 70s. The one I worked on at a sister (can I say this or 
should it be 'person' organisation of CERN) had a grand total of 1 MB main 
memory! However, I doubt our smartphones could process tons of data generated 
by accelerators causing collisions of energetic particles to investigate the 
structure of the atomic nucleus. Even during the 70's S370/195 did it very 
successfully i.e., process large amounts of data (strength of the I/O subsystem 
??).


Yes, there are other suppliers of MF like systems. Someone else on this thread 
mentioned that they saw a demo of one which had similar RAS capabilities as of 
z. I am familiar with that system. Great demo that lots customers rushed to 
introduce these into their IT infrastructure. One customer I know of, who soon 
after Y2K were encouraged by their 'consultants' to ditch their centralised IBM 
MF installed lots of these systems at all their distributed sites, 3 systems at 
each site (Dev/Test/Prod). In case of this customer the hype of the demo turned 
sour as the systems were more 'down' then 'up'. To overcome the RAS 
deficiencies the solution was to have 'spare' systems on site. No pun intended, 
needless to say these systems were sunset and almost 20 years later the 
customer is still using z. I am sure amongst this list, others will have 
examples of customers ditching other platforms including z for all sorts of 
reasons.


We can debate for ever which system is better etc. At the end of day just put 
your money where your mouth is into what best suits your IT needs


BTW: When I started my career during the early 70s, IT didn't exist. It was 
'computers' or 'computing'.




From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
David Crayford 
Sent: 04 August 2023 00:42
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: Channelized I/O WAS: Mainframe Makers WAS: Ars Technica: The 
IBM mainframe: How it runs and why it survives

> On 3 Aug 2023, at 2:26 am, P H 
> <04843e86df79-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote:
>
> The numbers quoted by Tom:
>
> So I pointed out there's only 12 I/O drawers max on a z16 which is 12 x
> 16 = 192 slots or 384 ports max.  He replied, but didn't seem to fully
> accept that answer.
>
> are 100% correct. These numbers are the MAXIMUM. Depending on the 
> configuration, th

Re: Channelized I/O WAS: Mainframe Makers.... WAS: Ars Technica: The IBM mainframe: How it runs and why it survives

[P H]

My mistake, the 370/195 had 2 MB, this customer's 360/75 had 1 MB

Sent from Outlook for Android<https://aka.ms/AAb9ysg>

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Seymour J Metz 
Sent: Friday, August 4, 2023 12:14:07 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: Channelized I/O WAS: Mainframe Makers WAS: Ars Technica: The 
IBM mainframe: How it runs and why it survives

> The one I worked on at a sister (can I say this or should it be 'person' 
> organisation of CERN) had a grand total of 1 MB main memory!

That sounds more appropriate for a 65 than a 195.

> BTW: When I started my career during the early 70s, IT didn't exist. It was 
> 'computers' or 'computing'.

Also 'Data Processing'; I vaguely recall that there were a few more terms.


--
Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz
http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3


From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] on behalf of P H 
[04843e86df79-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu]
Sent: Friday, August 4, 2023 5:23 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Channelized I/O WAS: Mainframe Makers WAS: Ars Technica: The 
IBM mainframe: How it runs and why it survives

In response to your comments and some made by others, my 2 cents worth.

This discussion started talking about mainframes and 'split' into sub-threads 
questioning/focusing on IBM z e.g., z/Architecture, what has z ever done, any 
uniqueness/special features of z etc.

In my response, I tried to answer some Qs and correcting some of the numbers 
which were being quoted. I did end by saying 'horses for courses'. No single 
system/platform is perfect. All have their uniqueness, strengths and weakness. 
Today, other platforms may have similar functions/features as z and some may be 
even better, the point is during the evolution of z under it's different 
marketing names (S/360, S/370, S/390, eServer, System z etc) z has evolved, 
adapted and embraced technologies which businesses require for modern 
workloads. z continues to evolve! z can't be everything to everyone. There are 
alternatives to 'mainframes' both from IBM (POWER) and others.

Talking about weakness, as an example I did mention that my x86 also has 
limitations. I don't need a better machine, especially an overpriced Mac. Just 
like some customers think they don't need an overpriced z. With today’s mind 
set of 'good enough' computing i.e. if it doesn't work reboot, if what you have 
meets your needs, so be it.


Just like your iPhone, my smartphone has most probably more power/memory than 
S370/195 of early 70s. The one I worked on at a sister (can I say this or 
should it be 'person' organisation of CERN) had a grand total of 1 MB main 
memory! However, I doubt our smartphones could process tons of data generated 
by accelerators causing collisions of energetic particles to investigate the 
structure of the atomic nucleus. Even during the 70's S370/195 did it very 
successfully i.e., process large amounts of data (strength of the I/O subsystem 
??).


Yes, there are other suppliers of MF like systems. Someone else on this thread 
mentioned that they saw a demo of one which had similar RAS capabilities as of 
z. I am familiar with that system. Great demo that lots customers rushed to 
introduce these into their IT infrastructure. One customer I know of, who soon 
after Y2K were encouraged by their 'consultants' to ditch their centralised IBM 
MF installed lots of these systems at all their distributed sites, 3 systems at 
each site (Dev/Test/Prod). In case of this customer the hype of the demo turned 
sour as the systems were more 'down' then 'up'. To overcome the RAS 
deficiencies the solution was to have 'spare' systems on site. No pun intended, 
needless to say these systems were sunset and almost 20 years later the 
customer is still using z. I am sure amongst this list, others will have 
examples of customers ditching other platforms including z for all sorts of 
reasons.


We can debate for ever which system is better etc. At the end of day just put 
your money where your mouth is into what best suits your IT needs


BTW: When I started my career during the early 70s, IT didn't exist. It was 
'computers' or 'computing'.




From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
David Crayford 
Sent: 04 August 2023 00:42
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: Channelized I/O WAS: Mainframe Makers WAS: Ars Technica: The 
IBM mainframe: How it runs and why it survives

> On 3 Aug 2023, at 2:26 am, P H 
> <04843e86df79-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote:
>
> The numbers quoted by Tom:
>
> So I pointed out there's only 12 I/O drawers max on a z16 which is 12 x
> 16 = 192 slots or 384 ports max.  He replied, but didn't seem to fully
> accept that answer.
>
> are 100% correct. These numbers are the MAXIMUM. Depending on the 
> configuration, th

Re: Channelized I/O WAS: Mainframe Makers.... WAS: Ars Technica: The IBM mainframe: How it runs and why it survives

[P H]

In response to your comments and some made by others, my 2 cents worth.

This discussion started talking about mainframes and 'split' into sub-threads 
questioning/focusing on IBM z e.g., z/Architecture, what has z ever done, any 
uniqueness/special features of z etc.

In my response, I tried to answer some Qs and correcting some of the numbers 
which were being quoted. I did end by saying 'horses for courses'. No single 
system/platform is perfect. All have their uniqueness, strengths and weakness. 
Today, other platforms may have similar functions/features as z and some may be 
even better, the point is during the evolution of z under it's different 
marketing names (S/360, S/370, S/390, eServer, System z etc) z has evolved, 
adapted and embraced technologies which businesses require for modern 
workloads. z continues to evolve! z can't be everything to everyone. There are 
alternatives to 'mainframes' both from IBM (POWER) and others.

Talking about weakness, as an example I did mention that my x86 also has 
limitations. I don't need a better machine, especially an overpriced Mac. Just 
like some customers think they don't need an overpriced z. With today’s mind 
set of 'good enough' computing i.e. if it doesn't work reboot, if what you have 
meets your needs, so be it.


Just like your iPhone, my smartphone has most probably more power/memory than 
S370/195 of early 70s. The one I worked on at a sister (can I say this or 
should it be 'person' organisation of CERN) had a grand total of 1 MB main 
memory! However, I doubt our smartphones could process tons of data generated 
by accelerators causing collisions of energetic particles to investigate the 
structure of the atomic nucleus. Even during the 70's S370/195 did it very 
successfully i.e., process large amounts of data (strength of the I/O subsystem 
??).


Yes, there are other suppliers of MF like systems. Someone else on this thread 
mentioned that they saw a demo of one which had similar RAS capabilities as of 
z. I am familiar with that system. Great demo that lots customers rushed to 
introduce these into their IT infrastructure. One customer I know of, who soon 
after Y2K were encouraged by their 'consultants' to ditch their centralised IBM 
MF installed lots of these systems at all their distributed sites, 3 systems at 
each site (Dev/Test/Prod). In case of this customer the hype of the demo turned 
sour as the systems were more 'down' then 'up'. To overcome the RAS 
deficiencies the solution was to have 'spare' systems on site. No pun intended, 
needless to say these systems were sunset and almost 20 years later the 
customer is still using z. I am sure amongst this list, others will have 
examples of customers ditching other platforms including z for all sorts of 
reasons.


We can debate for ever which system is better etc. At the end of day just put 
your money where your mouth is into what best suits your IT needs


BTW: When I started my career during the early 70s, IT didn't exist. It was 
'computers' or 'computing'.




From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
David Crayford 
Sent: 04 August 2023 00:42
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: Channelized I/O WAS: Mainframe Makers WAS: Ars Technica: The 
IBM mainframe: How it runs and why it survives

> On 3 Aug 2023, at 2:26 am, P H 
> <04843e86df79-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote:
>
> The numbers quoted by Tom:
>
> So I pointed out there's only 12 I/O drawers max on a z16 which is 12 x
> 16 = 192 slots or 384 ports max.  He replied, but didn't seem to fully
> accept that answer.
>
> are 100% correct. These numbers are the MAXIMUM. Depending on the 
> configuration, these could be a lot less e.g. the number of coupling links 
> could reduce the numbers. If z16 is ordered with BPA power supplies, the MAX 
> I/O drawers go down from 12 to 10.
>
> I have already mentioned things like cache, memory, I/O Subsystem, on chip 
> data compression/Crypto (z has been a leader for this)/Sort/AI capabilities.

Maybe for crypto but certainly not for AI. My iPhone has a more sophisticated 
AI engine than the z16.  Other platforms have integrated AI engines, AMD 
ZenDNN, Intel oneDNN etc. Both ship with open source libraries and toolkits 
sadly lacking for z/OS. I noticed that IBM have shipped patched Python packages 
for TensorFlow and SnapML that exploit Telum for Linux on Z. I suppose like 
everything, we’ll have to wait a while for z/OS. Java 11 still does not utilise 
zEDC compression on z/OS.

Talking about compression and crypto, Intel have hardware accelerators as part 
of QAT, either PCIe cards or on-die. You could argue that the compression tech 
is better than zEDC as it supports more formats then just gzip.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/intel-quick-assist-technology-overview.html


>
> Talking about the I/O Subsystem, this is a ke

Re: Mainframe Makers.... WAS: Ars Technica: The IBM mainframe: How it runs and why it survives

[P H]

Well written.

Sent from Outlook for Android

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Joel C. Ewing 
Sent: Thursday, August 3, 2023 6:47:37 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: Mainframe Makers WAS: Ars Technica: The IBM mainframe: How it 
runs and why it survives

There is a synergy that exists between z-architecture hardware and z/OS
that has evolved over many decades.

The hardware is designed with redundancy to detect failures in
components (processors, memory, I/O subsystems, interconnection cables),
correct any resulting data errors where possible, retry a failed
operation using different hardware components where appropriate, vary a
failing component off line, and in many cases allow concurrent repair of
failing components while production continues.  Undetected hardware
errors don't happen.

z/OS not only coordinates with the hardware when resources visible to
z/OS are affected by failures and concurrent maintenance, it is also
designed with the philosophy that software failures may occur within
parts of the operating system, either from a hardware failure or a
system software bug.   System recovery routines exist to clean up after
such failures, limit what running address spaces are affected, and allow
production to continue in unaffected address spaces.

An explicit part of the design philosophy is that applications running
in different address spaces are isolated:  a failure or bug in one
application cannot induce a failure in some different application in a
different address space, or induce a failure in the operating system
itself.

Another important feature of z/OS that requires some hardware
coordination is the System Measurement Facility that gathers measurement
of system activity and resource usage at a level to support performance
tuning or billing based on resource usage.

Aside from fact that z/OS is closed-source and only licensed by IBM to
specific hardware, if you could somehow succeed in running it under
Linux or on non-z hardware, it would lose the reliability, availability,
and serviceability it gets from that hardware/software synergy that
makes it an ideal production platform for critical workloads.

 Joel C Ewing

On 8/2/23 22:28, Jon Perryman wrote:
>   > On Wednesday, August 2, 2023 at 06:24:15 AM PDT, Rick Troth 
>  wrote:
>
>> I think Jon Perryman first asked us to define mainframe. And I bit!
>> [voice of Leonard Bones McCoy] "Dammit Jon! I'm a software developer,
>> not a field service engineer!"
>> But it really started with Andrew Hudson at Ars Technica getting a
>> number of facts wrong.
> The ARS Technica story made me wonder z/OS people think there is more than a 
> design difference between z/OS on z and Linux on Intel. Unix was ported ot 
> z/OS. I want to know why people think z/OS couldn't be ported to Linux. There 
> are people here who consider the article mostly true. What makes people think 
> that is more than a philosophical design difference? Would IBM be relevant if 
> it used Linux design philosophy?
>
>
> --
> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
Joel C. Ewing

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: Channelized I/O WAS: Mainframe Makers.... WAS: Ars Technica: The IBM mainframe: How it runs and why it survives

[P H]

The YouTube is excellent in promoting key strengths of z in a light hearted 
manner. With numerours z systems on the test floor during development, testing 
and product and stress testing the patch panel is key to enable 'any to any' 
configurations.



From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of Jon 
Perryman 
Sent: 03 August 2023 03:56
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: Channelized I/O WAS: Mainframe Makers WAS: Ars Technica: The 
IBM mainframe: How it runs and why it survives

> On Wednesday, August 2, 2023 at 09:34:34 AM PDT, Tom Brennan wrote:
> So I pointed out there's only 12 I/O drawers max on a z16

Sorry Tom and all. I don't recall anyone saying max of 12 I/O drawers otherwise 
it would have been obvious my number was wrong. Yahoo mail does strange things 
with tab, backspace, space and other keys.

> which is 12 x 16 = 192 slots or 384 ports max.

Thanks to youtube, the first IBM z I've seen was the z16 tour at 
https://youtu.be/ZDtaanCENbc. You say 192 slots or 384 ports. I understand 
slots being PCIe but was is ports? Is this fiber optic cables or does it 
somehow split a PCIe slot?

> I've had to untangle some 150+ cable rats nests, but> for that one I'd just 
> say, Naw... I'm going home :)

Towards the end of the video, they show the patch panels which are true rats 
nests. Looks like some of the network rooms I've seen. Some people don't mind 
dealing with a mess.



--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: Channelized I/O WAS: Mainframe Makers.... WAS: Ars Technica: The IBM mainframe: How it runs and why it survives

[P H]

The numbers quoted by Tom:

So I pointed out there's only 12 I/O drawers max on a z16 which is 12 x
16 = 192 slots or 384 ports max.  He replied, but didn't seem to fully
accept that answer.

are 100% correct. These numbers are the MAXIMUM. Depending on the 
configuration, these could be a lot less e.g. the number of coupling links 
could reduce the numbers. If z16 is ordered with BPA power supplies, the MAX 
I/O drawers go down from 12 to 10.

I have already mentioned things like cache, memory, I/O Subsystem, on chip data 
compression/Crypto (z has been a leader for this)/Sort/AI capabilities.

Talking about the I/O Subsystem, this is a key strength when it comes to 
handling large number of I/Os. Unlike x86, the I/O Subsystem handles this very 
well and lets the CP get on with what it's mean to do. What no one has 
mentioned is the 'processing' power of z. In addition to the main CPs (up to 
200 for z16 Models A01 and L01), the I/O Subsystem has up eo 192 POWER 
processors. These are in a N+1 config making a total of 384 in he sub-system 
alone.

Impressive numbers. What do all these prove? Taken out of context, these are 
meaningless. As I stated previously, one has to consisder the whole system. 
This is where z has strengths. It has a 'balanced system design'. This morning 
I decided to do a full virus scan on my 2 year old latop with an Intel i5 chip. 
While the scan was running, I couldn't even open a 10 MB Powerpoint 
presentation  (before the smartones give me their 2 cents worth, I know I 
could have run the scan as a background task).

Talking about numbers, the Airbus A380 plane has been designed to have up to 
840 passengers. Are there any airlines with A380s which carry such numbers!

Horses for courses!!


From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of Tom 
Brennan 
Sent: 02 August 2023 17:34
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: Channelized I/O WAS: Mainframe Makers WAS: Ars Technica: The 
IBM mainframe: How it runs and why it survives

> I’ve missed this thread.

He first said 1536 ports (not slots, not lanes) on a full z16.  I asked
where he got that number.  Response was there are 12 fanout slots on a
CEC drawer (true), so with 4 CEC drawers that's 48 fanout slots (true)
which means the 4 CEC drawers could address 48 I/O drawers with 16 cards
each and 2 ports per card = 1536 ports.

So I pointed out there's only 12 I/O drawers max on a z16 which is 12 x
16 = 192 slots or 384 ports max.  He replied, but didn't seem to fully
accept that answer.

Later he said there are 1600 slots (not ports, not lanes) on a z16 so I
asked where he got that new number.  He said he meant 1536 slots (not
ports, not lanes) so the number doubled from last time.  I replied same
as I did previously.

Below, he said 1536 slots again.  1536 cards on a single z16 could be
over 3000 cables!  I've had to untangle some 150+ cable rats nests, but
for that one I'd just say, Naw... I'm going home :)

On 8/2/2023 1:53 AM, David Crayford wrote:
>> On 2 Aug 2023, at 12:15 pm, Tom Brennan  wrote:
>>
>>> The IBM z16 can have up to 1,536 PCIe+ slots
>>
>> I'm gonna quit explaining this and just say, "WRONG" every time you say this 
>> as if it's a fact :)
>
> I’ve missed this thread. By 1,536 PCIe slots, that’s slots not lanes right? 
> Even if it were lanes that would be a ludicrous suggestions! That’s so far 
> fetched it’s laughable. The Redbook [1] is quite clear about I/O 
> configurations. What I find interesting is that the z16 seems to use PCIe gen 
> 3 and not gen 4 which doubles the transfer rate per lane. There must be a 
> good technical reason for this.
>
> [1] https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/redbooks/pdfs/sg248951.pdf
>
>>
>> On 8/1/2023 8:01 PM, Jon Perryman wrote:
>>>   > On Tuesday, August 1, 2023 at 05:20:33 PM PDT, David Crayford 
>>>  wrote:
 What’s the difference between between channelized I/O and a rack of
 x86 servers connected to a SAN using fibre channel driven by high speed 
 HBAs?
>>> PCIe was created specifically for PCs and IBM z16 chose to use that as 
>>> their only channel technology. Channelized I/O for PC has been available 
>>> for several decades and is not limited to PCIe. The IBM z16 can have up to 
>>> 1,536 PCIe+ slots.
>>> As for x86 fiber channel connection to a PC, PCIe is only one possibility.
>>> --
>>> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
>>> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
>>
>> --
>> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
>> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
>
>
> --
> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO 

Re: Mainframe Makers.... WAS: Ars Technica: The IBM mainframe: How it runs and why it survives

[P H]

Just the z800!

Regards

Parwez Hamid​


From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of Tom 
Marchant <000a2a8c2020-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu>
Sent: 31 July 2023 22:33
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: Mainframe Makers WAS: Ars Technica: The IBM mainframe: How it 
runs and why it survives

On Mon, 31 Jul 2023 14:33:26 -0400, Phil Smith III  wrote:

>I also STR that Fujitsu builds some of IBM's stuff, which doesn't mean 
>anything much but is sorta interesting, maybe.

IIRC it was Hitachi that built the z800 and z890 using IBM chips.

--
Tom Marchant

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN


From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of Tom 
Marchant <000a2a8c2020-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu>
Sent: 31 July 2023 22:33
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: Mainframe Makers WAS: Ars Technica: The IBM mainframe: How it 
runs and why it survives

On Mon, 31 Jul 2023 14:33:26 -0400, Phil Smith III  wrote:

>I also STR that Fujitsu builds some of IBM's stuff, which doesn't mean 
>anything much but is sorta interesting, maybe.

IIRC it was Hitachi that built the z800 and z890 using IBM chips.

--
Tom Marchant

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: Definition of mainframe? Was: Ars Technica

[P H]

IBM's definition of mainframe (Source: DICTIONARY OF IBM & COMPUTING 
TERMINOLOGY)

mainframe n. A computer, usually in a computer center, with extensive 
capabilities and
resources to which other computers may be connected so that they can share 
facilities.
Originally referred to the central processing unit of a large computer, which 
occupied the largest or central frame (rack).

In case of IBM z, a single component doesn't doesn't make it a mainframe. It's 
the whole system i.e. microprocessor, cache, memory, I/O Subsystem, PR/SM, 
microcode/firmware, instruction set , RAS, Security etc etc etc.

I suggest, comparison of individual components of IBM z with individual 
components of other technologies is not valid.


From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of Jon 
Perryman 
Sent: 29 July 2023 17:28
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Definition of mainframe? Was: Ars Technica

Can anyone provide the definition of MAINFRAME? The ARS Technica article is 
complete nonsense because the mainframe is a state of mind and nothing to do 
with reality. Can anyone prove me wrong? 
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/07/the-ibm-mainframe-how-it-runs-and-why-it-survives/.

The IBM z16 is just 4 motherboards containing 16 CPU and many PCIe slots. Linux 
will run on an IBM z16. Is a PC also mainframe? Forget zPDT because I suspect 
it still uses a PCIe zCPU card. I can't say with any certainty, but I suspect 
that z/OS will run on a PC by using Hercules. What is the definition of 
MAINFRAME?

1. CPU does not make a mainframe: The smallest IBM z16 (39 user cores of the 64 
cores) is the same as an AMD Ryzen 4.2Ghz CPU (64 user cores of 64 cores). The 
largest IBM z16 (200 user cores of the 256 cores) is the same as 4 AMD Ryzen 
CPU on 1 motherboard (256 user cores of the 256 cores). Both are CISC CPU (AMD 
uses X86 instructions versus IBM z instructions). IBM Telum (5.2Ghz) has a 
slightly faster clock than AMD Ryzen (4.2Ghz) but is offset by the 25% extra 
user cores. IBM z16 has 4 motherboards for 16 CPU and the same AMD Ryzen would 
need 1 motherboard for 4 CPU.

2. Hardware does not make a mainframe. IBM z16 has PCIe and ram which are also 
on every modern motherboard. IBM z16 chooses not to include other hardware 
(e.g. SATA, IDE, WIFI and more). Motherboards choose not to have 1,600 PCIe 
slots. IBM could allow PCIe graphics cards, mice, keyboards and more. 
Essentially, IBM z16 and AMD Ryzen can implement the same hardware if there was 
enough customer demand.

3. OS does not make a mainframe. Linux running on z16 doesn't make it mainframe 
Linux. There's nothing stopping Linux from taking advantage of every z16 
hardware feature (e.g. 1,600 PCIe slots) but no one is willing to build the 
Linux software. IBM hasn't duplicated z/OS software features in Linux.

4. Software does not make a mainframe. IBM sells DB2 for Linux and DB2 for 
z/OS. DB2 for Linux runs on all hardware including z16. With Linux, you can 
still run DB2 on z16 but large customers choose DB2 for z/OS.

ASK YOURSELF: Other than design philosophy, name 1 fundamental difference 
between IBM z16, AMD Ryzen and the software.

ASK YOURSELF: Since design philosophy is the only difference, name the 
philosophy that makes a mainframe.

Despite the story's false claims for z/OS relevance, it is ignorance in the 
Linux community that makes IBM z/OS relevant. Specifically, it's the lack of 
design in Linux. Consider DB2 for Linux and DB2 for z/OS which are the same 
product both from IBM and available on an IBM z16. Linux people tell you they 
provide the same results, but they ignore the intrinsic capabilities of z/OS 
design. DB2 for Linux supports high availability and large databases but it 
requires knowledge of big data solutions, Linux clustering solutions and more. 
Add a computer to the cluster and you must replicate the master disk. Take a 
computer offline from the cluster, then it must re-sync or replicate the master 
disk. DB2 on z/OS does not experience these problems because of z/OS shared 
dasd and dasd mirroring.

ASK YOURSELF: Name 1 brilliant feature design that originated directly from 
Linux or Unix. Please don't use features that originated from IBM (e.g. 
databases, SQL, HTML, Cloud and more).

Brilliant feature design exposes very little. For instance, does anyone know 
the problems solved by z/OS shared dasd and dasd mirroring. Linux people on the 
other hand can easily name those problems solved if you mention clustering 
solutions and big data solutions. I've personally seen one sysplex split 
between 2 sites 40 KM apart using line of site satellite dishes for 
communication, yet z/OS app programmers were informed. In other words, IBM 
designs for the 21st century.

ASK YOURSELF: Name 1 brilliant unnoticed Linux feature. Name several brilliant 
unnoticed z/OS features.

The story claims Linux feature design is similar to z/OS feature design. For 
example, the story 

Re: How does Chinese banks runs their IT?

[P H]

Re the comment about 'limited to DOS/VSE'. Not true now. The largest Chinese 
bank, possibly the world (all depends how you define 'largest') uses z/OS, with 
a high availability configuration. Unless something has changed during the past 
few years, I will suggest they were 'bleeding' edge in exploiting z 






From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Wayne Bickerdike 
Sent: 28 July 2023 04:06
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: How does Chinese banks runs their IT?

I believe that many Chinese banks ran mainframe but were limited to DOS/VSE
not MVS due to technology embargoes.

I also heard that huge numbers were running bootleg versions, including
Hercules.

When I worked in Indonesia, the company I worked at (A state enterprise)
ran lots of unlicensed software, IBM and third parties often overlooked
this in order to sell hardware. At the time, Hitachi were their main
competitor.

On Fri, Jul 28, 2023 at 6:44 AM Radoslaw Skorupka <
0471ebeac275-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> wrote:

> I would rephrase the question.
> We know the 95 of top 100 banks are using mainframes. The same for
> airlines, retailers, etc.
> Numbers presented may differ slightly, but it doesn't matter.
>
> The question is: WHAT ABOUT THE REST???
> I would like to know in details the remaining 5 cases.
>
>
>
> BTW: In Poland, due to historical reasons like communism and COCOM
> (export limitations) we were not using advanced technologies.
> In fact, before the 1989 IT in banking almost did not existed. Then we
> started from scratch, due to still existing limitations we started from
> PCs, LAN and Netware. And ICL DRS 300 (very poor). Then Unix systems
> arrived.
> In fact the first mainframe-based core banking system was launched in
> 2000. I know it well, because I was the person who launched it.
> Yes, it was pure-Internet (no branch offices) bank, called mBank.
> Today we have 3 largest banks on mainframes and some foreign banks (like
> Citi or DB) having their mainframes somewhere "in the cloud", means abroad.
> More, we have huge HSBC IT division in Cracow, despite HSBC banking
> business is not present in Poland. It it the largest IT employer in
> Cracow. With mainframe division.
> We also support Nordea, which is also not present in Poland (the were,
> but they sold the business and now hire 4000+ employees).
>
> --
> Radoslaw Skorupka
> Lodz, Poland
>
> --
> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
>


--
Wayne V. Bickerdike

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: Userid schemes

[P H]

At one time, many moons ago, IBM systems which used the employee number for the 
userid, the world-wide 'uniqueness' was simple by prefixing the employee number 
by the letters GB (Great Britain) or IBM's oountry code for countries it 
operated in e.g. 866 for Great Britain.

Regards

Parwez Hamid​

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
David Spiegel <0468385049d1-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu>
Sent: 14 July 2023 14:58
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: Userid schemes

Hi Paul,
You said: "...Just remarking that "man number" is conspicuously
gender-specific.  ..."
True, but, you have to remember the historical context for it.

You said: "...IBM has over 300,000 employees. Are the numbers required
to be unique? ..."
AFAIK, my number was unique in Canada.
My Retain ID had to be changed because someone else (probably an
American) already was using my Man Number to LOGON.

Regards,
David

On 2023-07-14 09:45, Paul Gilmartin wrote:
> On Fri, 14 Jul 2023 06:43:49 -0400, David Spiegel  wrote:
>> EEOC is an American thing. In Canada, we have an equivalent.
>>
> Just remarking that "man number" is conspicuously gender-specific.
>
>> Please explain:  "... Five digits isn't enough. ..." Enough for what?
>>
> IBM has over 300,000 employees.  Are the numbers required to be unique?
>
>> (I think you're confusing employee number with SIN (equivalent to
>> American SSN).
>
>> On 2023-07-13 22:53, Paul Gilmartin wrote:
>>> On Thu, 13 Jul 2023 21:56:55 -0400, David Spiegel wrote:
 When I worked at IBM Canada full time (1994-2002), our TSO Userids were
 XXn, where n was a person's "man number" (aka employee number).

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: A question about CPU usage on z/OS

[P H]

All processing units (PUs), whether CPs zIIPs, SAPs, ICFs or IFLs have the SAME 
cycle time (speed). It's the CAPACITY settings which are different. For 
example, in case of the z16 the 701 is 100% then the relative capacity of a 601 
is approx 66% of the 701, 501 is approx 41% of the 701 and 401 is approx 12% of 
the 701

Regards

Parwez Hamid​

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of Jon 
Perryman 
Sent: 15 July 2023 05:54
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: A question about CPU usage on z/OS

While each cpu in the 504 is slower than a 701 cpu, running 4 batch jobs at the 
same time should reduce run time because each batch job expect reduced wait 
because there is reduced competition for the CPU. However, you could be correct 
if the 4 batch jobs are experiencing heavy I/O wait.
On Friday, July 14, 2023 at 06:05:24 PM PDT, Tom Brennan 
 wrote:

 On 7/14/2023 3:01 PM, Jon Perryman wrote:
 > As for batch running slower at night after you went from 1 CPU to 4,
that doesn't make sense unless other things changed.

I'm thinking it could be as simple as say, going from a 701 to a 504.
The overall MIPS are bumped up, multi-task address spaces are happier,
but single threaded work can be left in the dust.

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN


--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: z/OSMF

[P H]

https://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/ShowDoc.wss?docURL=/common/ssi/rep_ca/3/897/ENUS223-013/index.html=en#keyprx

In the Key Requirements section z13 or z13s isn't listed for z/OS 3.1!

Regards

Parwez Hamid​

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Brian Westerman 
Sent: 30 June 2023 07:01
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: z/OSMF

So is IBM definitely dropping support for the z13s BEFORE z/OS 3.1 is 
officially out?  If not, then it should be supported by z/OS 3.1, as well as 
products like z/OSMF (which are required in order to install z/OS) should be 
able to be run on the z13s, isn't that correct?

Obviously the 4341 and z/OS 2.5 (or z/OS at all) were not compatible, and the 
4341 was discontinued (hardware and software support) before z/OS was announced 
or made available.

In this case, the z13s is still supported by IBM, and is supported by z/OS.

I guess what I am looking for is an official statement that the z13s is not 
supported by z/OS 3.1.  All I currently see is that the z13s isn't listed on 
the installation list for z/OS 3.1, but as it's no longer marketed, that makes 
sense.  That doesn't mean that the z13s can't 'run" z/OS 3.1.

Can the z13s "run" z/OS 3.1?  All I need is a simple yes or no.  Or even a 
"maybe" depending on extended lifecycle support.

If it is 100% not going to run z/OS 3.1, then I would like to be able to tell 
the managers of the 5 sites that are running them that they will need to "move 
up" or "migrate off".  I can't do that without a definitive response.

Brian

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: GRS setup for MONOPLEX to SYSPLEX

[P H]

Some folks have mentioned 'backplane' etc. There is no such thing as 
'backplane' connectivity.  One solution for a FICON CTC within a SINGLE CEC/CPC 
is to use a 'jumper cable' between 2 FICON ports - either on the same FICON 
card or 2 different ones. More about using and spec of the jumper cable in 
Planning Fiber Links manual - GA23-1409.

Regards

Parwez Hamid​

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Dana Mitchell 
Sent: 22 June 2023 13:22
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: GRS setup for MONOPLEX to SYSPLEX

Where are you seeing this or what is it called?  The only shortcut I of know is:

https://www-40.ibm.com/servers/resourcelink/lib03010.nsf/0/D78D2E0FE578329485258194006D1387/$file/SB10-7174-00.pdf

With FICON partition-to-partition communication technology, communication
between logical partitions of a single physical system can be achieved 
utilizing only a single physical
FICON channel attached to a FICON Director switch.

On Thu, 22 Jun 2023 00:19:21 -0500, Brian Westerman 
 wrote:

>According to the manual, you can configure them to be connected apparently 
>without wires.  I believe it does the route internally, but I can't really 
>tell from the manual.  There is probably a better manual because I seem to be 
>seeing just the overview, bur it does appear to not need any cabling.
>
>Brian

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: Mainframe help now available!

[P H]

As an old timer, having worked for 46+ years, I well remember the good old 
Personal department. They were always very helpful and more importantly took 
responsibility to resolve/address the issue/problem I had raised. Then came 
along the Human Resources department. They never took responsibility, failed to 
address the issue and 'closed' it by just quoting the rules from the employees 
or the managers handbook. During a meeting (town hall for the US folks) which I 
attended, held by HR for PR purposes, got the same old BS from them. I publicly 
suggested to the HR managers that the 'value' we got from their department the 
more appropriate name for HR would be department of Human Remains. At least it 
generated a great applause from the 100+ attendees.

Regards

Parwez Hamid​

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of Bob 
Bridges 
Sent: 13 June 2023 14:04
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: Mainframe help now available!

Regarding your first paragraph: To be fair to the "Human Resources" moniker, 
the point when it first became chic was to remind the Personnel department that 
people, too, are important to the organization.  We don't abuse computers or 
desks, we don't waste pens or typewriter ribbons, we ought to treat the human 
beings too as valuable.

Regarding your second: A change in terminology doesn't by itself fix an 
underlying problem.  "HR" became the new word for "Personnel", but a company, 
to survive, still has to spend as little as possible and produce as much as 
possible.  And the centralized HR folks can never understand your value as well 
as your boss can...even if your boss can't.

---
Bob Bridges, robhbrid...@gmail.com, cell 336 382-7313

/* [Infant Sophie is] exploring her environment, as her brain learns to perform 
the incredibly complex set of functions we call human thought ("Maybe THIS will 
fit into my mouth! Maybe THIS will fit into my mouth! Maybe THIS will...").  
-Dave Barry, 2000-09-17 */

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of Tom 
Brennan
Sent: Monday, June 12, 2023 20:42

When things like the "Project Management Office" became common in maybe the 
late 1990's where I worked, they called us Resources.  I remember writing a 
note back saying I'm not a lump of coal or even a vein of gold.

The real problem though, was like you mentioned, they treated us as a simple 
headcount.  That didn't work because it might take 10 of me to do the work of 
(for example) one good CICS person, if I can figure it out at all.

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: Provenance and citation for Multiple channel subsystems?

[P H]

Introduced with the z990
https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg246947.html
[https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/images/thumbs/sg24-6947-01_x2.jpg]
IBM eServer zSeries 990 Technical 
Guide
The IBM Eserver zSeries® 990 scalable server provides major extensions to the 
existing zSeries architecture and capabilities. The concept of Logical Channel 
Subsystems is added, and the maximum number of Processor Units and logical 
partitions is
www.redbooks.ibm.com


https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/tips0188.html
[https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/images/thumbs/generic.jpg]
CHPID/PCHID Mapping
This Technote contains a diagram showing suggested steps to define a new z990 
or z890 I/O
www.redbooks.ibm.com


Regards

Parwez Hamid​

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Seymour J Metz 
Sent: 29 May 2023 01:53
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Provenance and citation for Multiple channel subsystems?

I'm editing the wiki article on IOCP. I've added information on Multiple 
Subchannel Subsystems starting with z9 and z10, but I'm not sure when Multiple 
Channel Subsystems and the mappiong of CHPID to PCHPID came in. Can anybody 
give me the relevant model and a link to a publication that does not require 
registration? Thanks.



--
Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz
http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: IBM z16 Model A02 Announcement

[P H]

Re no statements of direction. Maybe there aren't any at this time. There were 
a few when the z16 Model A01 was announced.

Sent from Outlook for Android

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Bodra - Pessoal <02eda2bc565a-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, April 4, 2023 2:30:43 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: RES: IBM z16 Model A02 Announcement

There are no Statement of Direction in announcement.


Carlos Bodra
IBM zEnterprise Certified
São Paulo – SP – Brazil


-Mensagem original-
De: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  Em nome de Parwez 
Hamid
Enviada em: terça-feira, 4 de abril de 2023 06:52
Para: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Assunto: IBM z16 Model A02 Announcement

USA:

https://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/ShowDoc.wss?docURL=/common/ssi/rep_sm/1/897/ENUS3932-_h01/index.html

EMEA:

https://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/ShowDoc.wss?docURL=/common/ssi/rep_sm/1/877/ENUS3932-_h01/index.html

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: CF links and non-IBM machines (historical)

[P H]

Re: greater than 256 channels. I vaguely remember it was the top end of Amdahl 
5995Ms which could have 512 channels. In order to use these the system had to 
be partitioned in 2 (not using MDF?) with a max of 256 channels in each.

Re CF links, Hitachi were known to licence the IP for some System z functions. 
Maybe they did this for the links.

Sent from Outlook for Android

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Radoslaw Skorupka <0471ebeac275-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu>
Sent: Monday, March 20, 2023 3:34:48 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: CF links and non-IBM machines (historical)

I'm aware it is quite obsolete topic.
Q: was it possible to connect Amdahl or Hitachi machines with IBM CPC
using sysplex links?
Did they use the same hardware and protocol?

BTW: I found the following Hitachi CF link descriptions: ISCH2, ICF,
ISB, ICC. Any of them is similar to IBM links (I know IBM channels, its
names, etc.)
Any clue?

Another question: I found some non-IBM machines offered over 256
channels. How???
Note, it was definitely before XMP machines (multiple CSS).

--
Radoslaw Skorupka
Lodz, Poland

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: Question for our international friends (mostly)

[P H]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CmaLgxLDE0_channel=JJMClark
[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0CmaLgxLDE0/maxresdefault.jpg]
The Two Ronnies Fork Handles - Now 1080p - March 
2019
The Two Ronnies - Fork Handles - 1080p
www.youtube.com


Regards

Parwez Hamid​

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Rupert Reynolds 
Sent: 18 March 2023 14:46
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: Question for our international friends (mostly)

Yes, although it's "A for 'orses" (hay for horses) and so it goes part-way
to explaining itself.

Proper rhyming slang doesn't explain itself and you just need to know that
"loaf" -> "loaf of bread" -> head. Thus "Use your loaf!" was one I heard
throughout my teens :-)

Roops

On Sat, 18 Mar 2023, 12:47 Bob Bridges,  wrote:

> I suppose this is based on rhyming slang?  I wouldn't begin to know how to
> decipher it.
>
> ---
> Bob Bridges, robhbrid...@gmail.com, cell 336 382-7313
>
> /* The first virtue is to restrain the tongue; he approaches nearest to
> the gods who knows how to be silent, even though he be in the right.  -Cato
> the Younger (BC 95-46) */
>
> -Original Message-
> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf
> Of Rupert Reynolds
> Sent: Saturday, March 18, 2023 03:10
>
> Back in the days of analogue mobile phones, I used phonetics a lot!
>
> Once or twice, I used the Cockney phonetics ;-)
>
> A for 'orses
> B for mutton
> C for miles
> ...
> X for breakfast
> Y for girlfriend
> Z for a joke  (i.e. 'said for a joke')
>
> --- On Sat, 18 Mar 2023, 00:23 Bob Bridges,  wrote:
> > Under marginal conditions (which includes cell-phone calls) I use
> > alpha / bravo / charlie / ... / x-ray / yankee / zulu.  But "zed" is
> > probably unmistakable.
>
> --
> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
>

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: CS/CDS instruction

[P H]

This doc (url below) will give you a list of what is available/supported on 
different generations of the current System z. However if you want to know 
about a specific system you have then discuss with your IBM Rep who will be 
able to give you a complete list of features (VPD) for your System.

https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/redp5157.html

Regards

Parwez Hamid​

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Ituriel do Neto <03427ec2837d-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu>
Sent: 15 March 2023 13:30
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: CS/CDS instruction

Can we detect if a specific feature is available in the current hardware?


Best Regards

Ituriel do Nascimento Neto
z/OS System Programmer






Em sábado, 11 de março de 2023 às 14:05:12 BRT, Paul Gilmartin 
<042bfe9c879d-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu> escreveu:





On Sat, 11 Mar 2023 00:03:06 -0800, Leonard D Woren wrote:

>If some particular instruction set feature is installed, the
>definition of ASI/AGSI is enhanced to serialize the update, making it
>a simpler solution than a CDS loop or PLO.
>
>In some performance testing a while back on a z14 or z15 which I think
>had the above serialization feature, the execution times for a very
>large number of executions of L / AHI / ST were very close to the same
>count of ASI.  If I recall, the ASI was a few percent slower, I guess
>because of the serialization.  I.e., unless you're doing abnormal
>tests as I did, you won't notice the difference.
>

From the PoOps (excerpted):
  The storage-operand update reference for the follow- ing
  instructions appears to be an interlocked-update reference as
  observed by other CPUs and channel programs.

• TEST AND SET
• COMPARE AND SWAP
(of course)

• AND (NI and NIY), when the interlocked-access facility 2 is installed
• OR (OI and OIY), when the interlocked-access facility 2 is installed
(at last!)

• ADD IMMEDIATE (ASI and AGSI), when the interlocked-access facility
  1 is installed and the first operand is aligned on an integral
  boundary corresponding to its size

The feature-dependent instructions are treacherous.  Programmers must
avoid them in multi-tasking code intended to be portable.

I consider it bad hardware design to introduce feature-dependent
instructions.  They should have remained invalid operations on models
lacking the interlock facility.

I believe NI and OI are primeval: they antedate multiprocessors and
became unsafe only at the advent of multiprocessors.

--
gil

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: Looking for Beta Clients

[P H]

Re: CHPID type OSE:


   IBM z16 will be the last IBM Z server to support OSE networkingchannels. IBM 
Z support for the Systems Network Architecture (SNA) protocol being transported 
natively out of the server using OSA-Express 1000BASE-T adapters configured as 
channel type OSE will be eliminated after IBM z16. Client applications that 
rely on the SNA protocol and use OSE networking channels as the transport, as 
opposed to FICON CTC, must either migrate to TCP/IP, or the networking 
configuration of the operating system image must be updated to make use of some 
form of SNA over IP technology, where possible, such as z/OS Enterprise 
Extender.


Regards

Parwez Hamid​

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of Tom 
Brennan 
Sent: 08 March 2023 23:19
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: Looking for Beta Clients

To do LU6.2 outside the machine don't you need an OSA card setup as
OSA-E for SNA?  Unless I read it wrong, IBM has a statement of direction
that z16 will be the last to support OSA-E.

For IND$FILE, check the terminal emulator and see if there's an option
to increase the I/O block size used for that processing.  I've found
increasing it can make a big difference.

On 3/8/2023 2:48 PM, rpinion865 wrote:
> I know of a client that does not have a TCP/IP stack, and won't consider one 
> (OS/390 2.10, yeah you read that right), that needs something more reliable 
> than IND$FILE.  We have a need to transfer large binary datasets, and 
> IND$FILE is way too slow, and it often dies in the middle of a large transfer.
>
> I remember LU 6.2 transfer programs.  But, I couldn't find anything
> still available.
>
> Sorry for tagging on to another thread.
>
>
>
>
> Sent with Proton Mail secure email.
>
> --- Original Message ---
> On Wednesday, March 8th, 2023 at 5:19 PM, Tom Brennan 
>  wrote:
>
>
>> Looks interesting!
>>
>> Since you didn't mention things like SFTP/FTP/TSO/CICS as requirements,
>> and the doc mentioned port 443, can I assume the product requires a
>> started task listening on the mainframe side? Just asking because
>> that's probably the way I would do it in order to bypass all the hassles
>> of those other services.
>>
>> On 3/8/2023 1:36 PM, Tony Tancredi wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Everyone,
>>>
>>> I apologize if this isn't within group protocol, but I need help.
>>>
>>> I have created a TLS enabled, TCP/IP file transfer program that performs 
>>> transfers 156 times faster than IND$FILE. It supports files, PDS, VSAM, 
>>> SYSOUT, can submit jobs, print to mainframe printers, and be automated. As 
>>> a beta client, I'm offering 1 free year if you choose to keep it. All I ask 
>>> for is some of your time and feedback. I will provide constant support 
>>> during your effort.
>>>
>>> The requirements are:
>>> - z/OS 2.3 and above
>>> - TCP/IP enabled
>>> - AT-TLS (instructions to setup are in our documentation)
>>> - Windows 10 or above for the client
>>>
>>> Please visit https://entegriasystems.com and https://fastssr.net (click the 
>>> Documentation link on the left side) to view details of FastSSR.
>>>
>>> I greatly appreciate your consideration.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Tony Tancredi
>>> 856-316-0017
>>>
>>> --
>>> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
>>> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
>>
>>
>> --
>> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
>> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
>
> --
> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
>
>

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: Z15 EOM

[P H]

The slide 91 is NOT the z16 'mid-range/business class' system. Depending on the 
configuration the z16 'high end' system, as announced, comes in 1, 2, 3 or 4 
racks.l!

Sent from Outlook for Android

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of Joe 
Monk 
Sent: Thursday, March 2, 2023 7:29:14 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: Z15 EOM

"The one rack z16 (aka Business Class) has not yet been announced,"

It already exists. See slide 91.

https://ibm-zcouncil.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/z16-Technical-Overview-50M-KennyStine.pdf

Joe





On Thu, Mar 2, 2023 at 7:45 AM Mike Shorkend 
wrote:

> The one rack z16 (aka Business Class) has not yet been announced,so I
> expect the z16+1 is still some time in the not so near future. Likewise the
> EOM for the z15.
>
> On Thu, 2 Mar 2023 at 15:34, Paul Gorlinsky  wrote:
>
> > It should also be noted that the z14 is still a supported processor for
> > zOS 3.1  ...
> >
> > --
> > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
> > send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
> >
>
>
> --
> Mike Shorkend
> m...@shorkend.com
> Tel: +972524208743
>
> 
>
> 
>
> --
> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
>

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: Z15 EOM

[P H]

At the risk of stating the obvious, the date will be made known via an 
announcement letter. As yet I haven't seen one 

z17??

Regards

Parwez Hamid​

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Tommy Tsui 
Sent: 02 March 2023 07:36
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Z15 EOM

Hi all

Anyone know when ibm will issue the withdrawal letter for z15. Anyone
planning to upgrade z17?  It seems a bit late due to COVID-19?

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: Hardware instrumentation presentation

[P H]

Even better,  try John Burg of the 'Washington Systems Center '. He used to 
have presentations on the TechDoc website and also presented at SHARE.

Sent from Outlook for Android

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Lennie Dymoke-Bradshaw <032fff1be9b4-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu>
Sent: Thursday, March 2, 2023 1:10:47 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: Hardware instrumentation presentation

I recommend you speak to Martin Packer at IBM.
Lennie

-Original Message-
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On Behalf Of 
Colin Paice
Sent: 01 March 2023 18:00
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Hardware instrumentation presentation

I've been asked to give a talk on performance to a University Computing 
department.

I know the z hardware has in builtin instrumentation which allows you to see 
where the delays were for a particular instruction.  For example this load 
instruction got data from the L3 cache and it took x nano seconds.

Is there a presentation on this?

I remember seeing a presentation (it may have been IBM confidential) showing 
that a Load could be slow, if the data was in a the cache in a book
3 ft away, compared to it being in the cache on the chip.
Also the second time round a loop is faster than the first time because the 
instructions are in the instruction cache.

This was all mind blowing stuff!

Colin

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to 
lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: TKE and USB filesystem

[P H]

Searched Google for 'IBM TKE USB format'.

A number of docs discuss how/what for/when to format the USB memory stick.

Regards

Parwez Hamid​

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Tony Harminc 
Sent: 09 December 2022 05:59
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: TKE and USB filesystem

On Thu, 8 Dec 2022 at 19:22, Timothy Sipples  wrote:

> I'm a bit confused. IBM Trusted Key Entry (TKE) Workstation microcode
> updates are performed by an IBM Customer Engineer (CE). If you have
> separation of duties-related concerns that's perfectly fine, but you still
> should have IBM CE assistance available — you can ask the CE, basically,
> and then decide who actually physically performs certain steps. (Recently
> there's also a network-based USB-less microcode update method, but at least
> for now you should still have an IBM CE available with your machine
> warranty/maintenance. On-site, even.)
>
> Part of the TKE microcode upgrade process involves backing up the critical
> parameters and other site/customer-specific data from your TKE Workstation.
> You can back up that data to a USB memory key/drive. But that's a "closed
> loop." The TKE Workstation formats the drive ("TKEDATA" format) for you.
> There's nothing to do on a PC, Mac, or other device.
>

It can't be 100% closed or no updates would ever get done. Somehow the new
code has to get into the TKE box. If not from a USB device (and not
necessarily from the network), then what?


> Am I missing anything?
>

The piece I'm missing is that Radoslaw evidently *has* the microcode on a
Windows machine, and wants to apply it. How it got there is a good
question. Are you and others saying that those USB sticks physically come
from IBM ("the factory") formatted in some proprietary way that Windows
can't even see? Does the CE (wow - I remember when we all had at least one
on-site...) have Windows/Unix tools to write to these USB sticks, or do
they have to come ready-to-go from IBM Central?

Tony H.

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: TKE and USB filesystem

[P H]

Not my area of expertise. However, I came across the following in a TKE 
presentation.

Format your IBM supported USB memory for Trusted Key Entry data (TKE Data).

This suggests that it's some special format and can only be done on a TKE 
itself.

It seems for some reason you are trying to load or refresh the TKE code 
yourself. Not sure you can do this without IBM CE.


Regards

Parwez Hamid​

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Radoslaw Skorupka <0471ebeac275-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu>
Sent: 07 December 2022 20:00
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: TKE and USB filesystem

I need to update microcode in my TKE.
Unfortunately I used USB pendrive formatted as ext-FAT and it was
unrecognized.

Q: what filesystems/formats are supported by TKE v9?
Due to some reasons I'd like to avoid Linux ext2 or ext3, because I copy
microcode from Windows 10 machine.

--
Radoslaw Skorupka
Lodz, Poland

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: Once upon a time......

[P H]

IBM did make an attempt to 'offload' some workloads from z to Intel and System 
p with the zBX. There weren't many takers for this. My 2 cents worth - using 
the I/O drawers may impact power/cooling requirements and other infrastructure 
within the z frame(s). Having onboard 'accelerators' on the z chip seems to be 
the current trend.

Regards

Parwez Hamid​

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Dave Jones 
Sent: 21 August 2022 19:17
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Once upon a time..

IBM was known for making some really nice scientific number-crunching systems. 
The 7090-7094, the S/360-195 and the follow-on s/370-195, the array processor 
3838 and the vector instruction set supported by the 30xx models come to mind. 
Over time, and with the rise of the Intel-based chips and their floating point 
capabilities, IBM decided not to pursue that market any more.
Now I am wondering if, perhaps, the time is right for IBM to re-consider that 
decision. On modern z processors, we already have IEEE floating point 
instructions in the hardware, Linux (a popular options for Intel-base 
number-crunch systems), and support for PCI.e IBM is already allowing 3rd-party 
SSD drives to be attached and accessed by the o/s. What if we were able to 
connect a number, say, 40, of GPU cards (like the Nvida Tesla 1000) to a z box. 
Have the I/O system pass the GPU card directly an LPAR running on the system. 
Porting the CUDO drives over to Linux (or z/OS, or CMS for that matter) does 
not appear to be that difficult and the hardware changes should be transparent 
to the o/s. Linux already supports a large number of scientific. software 
applications, runs the latest versions of popular scientific languages 
(FORTRAN, C/C++, Python). I believe the IBM z would be well-suited to this, as 
the density of cards in the PCIe cages is far greater than the density that 
could be obtained in normal PCs. This, combined with the strong sysplex 
clustering ability of z/OS (or SSI on z/VM) could allow the system Z platform 
to pack more computing power into a smaller footprint than a comparable 
Intel-based Linux cluster system, while being easier to use as programs would 
not have to be rewritten to take advantage of the system's clustering. It might 
be an easy sell on it's energy-reduction assets alone, since everyone is now 
worried about how much energy data-centers now consume.

Thoughts/comments/objections welcome, of course. Full disclosure: this idea was 
first suggested to me by Enzo Damato after his tour of the POK lab.
DJ

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: IBM upgrade path Z13s to Z16

[P H]

There isn't one. The only announced upgrade paths are from z14 and z15. 
Normally there isn't an upgrade path from the baby z to its big brother. 
Suggest you talk to IBM sales for a possible 'upgrade' via a supported upgrade.

Regards

Parwez Hamid​

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Charles MacNiven <0325e5af57fe-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu>
Sent: 19 August 2022 09:59
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: IBM upgrade path Z13s to Z16

Hi,
Does anyone have information on an upgrade path from a Z13s to a Z16.

Many thanks in advance,
Charles.

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: HMC and zombie USB device

[P H]

As previously stated, when the rack mounted 1U Servers for the SEs and HMCs 
were introduced, at that time, the physical hardware used was the same for both.

The internal USB attached Smart Card reader for each SE was installed with a 
smart card as a default for use by firmware for FoD (feature on demand) and 
Flash Express - this was not for customer use and hence not accessible.

Regards

Parwez Hamid​

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Radoslaw Skorupka 
Sent: 18 August 2022 12:02
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: HMC and zombie USB device

(Clicked ENTER too fast)
To complement: The SmartCard Reader is documented in Service Guide, BUT...
But it is documented is *Support Element* Service Guide. HMC Service
Guide shows no SmartCard reader inside.

So, it looks like wrong hardware taken for HMC. The PC is configured for
SE purposes, not HMC purposes. Note, the differences are really minor
and do not harm any feature or operations.


--
Radoslaw Skorupka
Lodz, Poland



W dniu 18.08.2022 o 12:54, Radoslaw Skorupka pisze:
> OK, I found it. It is *internal* device, inaccessible to the user. And
> it is not for typical smart cards.
> Strange, it is reported as connected to USB - yes, USB can be
> internal, but IMHO the goal is to report external devices, which is
> important from security point of view.
>

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: HMC and zombie USB device

[P H]

The 1U SE/HMC chassis did have an internal USB attached Smart Reader. This was 
always present! You would have to take it apart to access this USB attached 
devices 

Regards

Parwez Hamid​

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Radoslaw Skorupka 
Sent: 16 August 2022 22:32
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: HMC and zombie USB device

As many of us know HMC reports all external devices connected via USB -
mice, keyboards, pendrives, etc.
That's good from security point of view.
However I noticed some HMC (2.15) report *non-existent* device. Yes, I
checked it thoroughly. Imagine pizza-box HMC machine and all the cables
and ports clearly visible. No place to hidden plug or USB hub. However
the HMC reports Gemalto SmartCard Reader.
SmartCard reader is typical equipment of TKE, but not HMC. And it is
*not connected* externally. And I strongly doubt it could be connected
internally - 1U chassis cannot contain SmartCard reader hidden inside.
Yes, I'm pretty sure the HMC reports that device - I restarted HMC and
observed all the messages. There is absolutely no way someone
plugged/unplugged it during the process.

Any clue?

--
Radoslaw Skorupka
Lodz, Poland

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: Question about z16 allowed cores

[P H]

Simple answer, Yes for any flavour of speciality engine. However if you want 
more than 39 CPs then you can't have sub-capacity CPs.

Get Outlook for Android

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Horne, Jim 
Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2022 5:43:41 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Question about z16 allowed cores

Does anyone know if you can have more than 39 total cores configured on a z16 
sub-capacity model with the MAX82 feature?  I know you can have a max of 39 
GCPs, but can zIIPs spill over to the second book?  What about ICFs and IFLs?

Thanks,
Jim Horne

NOTICE: All information in and attached to the e-mails below may be 
proprietary, confidential, privileged and otherwise protected from improper or 
erroneous disclosure. If you are not the sender's intended recipient, you are 
not authorized to intercept, read, print, retain, copy, forward, or disseminate 
this message. If you have erroneously received this communication, please 
notify the sender immediately by phone (704-758-1000) or by e-mail and destroy 
all copies of this message electronic, paper, or otherwise. By transmitting 
documents via this email: Users, Customers, Suppliers and Vendors collectively 
acknowledge and agree the transmittal of information via email is voluntary, is 
offered as a convenience, and is not a secured method of communication; Not to 
transmit any payment information E.G. credit card, debit card, checking 
account, wire transfer information, passwords, or sensitive and personal 
information E.G. Driver's license, DOB, social security, or any other 
information the user wishes to remain confidential; To transmit only 
non-confidential information such as plans, pictures and drawings and to assume 
all risk and liability for and indemnify Lowe's from any claims, losses or 
damages that may arise from the transmittal of documents or including 
non-confidential information in the body of an email transmittal. Thank you.

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: "Mainframe outage affecting W.Va. state agencies could take 48, 72 hours to resolve"

[P H]

In the absence of the exact details of the failed 'cards', if, as has been 
mentioned by others these were ESCON cards and after failure the customer may 
have decided to 'enable' additional ESCON ports then a 'recode' (to the 
die-hard MFers it's LIC-CC) is required.

It's been such a long time but from memory:

16-port ESCON feature: The feature has 16 ports, up to a maximum of 15 active 
ESCON channels per feature. There is a minimum of one spare port per feature to 
allow for channel sparing in the event of a failure of one of the other ports 
on the same ESCON channel card.

16-port ESCON channel port enablement: The 16-port ESCON feature channel cards 
are initially installed as a pair, and then in increments of one. The 15 active 
ports on each 16-port ESCON feature are activated in groups of four ports via 
Licensed Internal Code - Control Code (LIC-CC).

If it was a single port failure, then the failing port would have swapped to 
the 'spare'. From the little info available, it seems it was a complete card(s) 
failure. If this was FICON 'card' then the need to 'recode' doesn't make any 
sense!

Regards

Parwez Hamid​

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Doug 
Sent: 26 July 2022 20:32
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: "Mainframe outage affecting W.Va. state agencies could take 48, 72 
hours to resolve"

The idiocy in this article is truly astounding. I have been in this
industry for 50 years. I have never seen anything like the following:

House Technology and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Del. Daniel
Linville, R-Cabell, said that two mainframe parts failed at the same
time.

“The parts were not available for the both of them here in town,”
Linville said. “Because of that very unfortunate set of circumstances,
multiple parts had to be ordered, and get here as quickly as possible.”
.
.
.

  Linville said as of Thursday morning at 10 a.m.,the parts were in, but
functionality had not yet been restored and the manufacturer had to
recode the system.

So let me get this straight: Parts fail, you replace them, then recode
the system?

I am at a loss as to exactly what Mainframe works like this. IBM is
making the only true business mainframe, and I have been there for loads
of parts replacements, and I have NEVER had to "recode" the system
afterward.

I wonder what credentials Mr. Linville brings to the table to make these
pronouncements.

But Larry Linville was Maj. Frank Burns, and no one in the 4077th except
Hot Lips was impressed with his knowledge or skill

Just sayin'

Doug Fuerst


-- Original Message --
From: "Mike Schwab" 
To: IBM-MAIN@listserv.ua.edu
Sent: 26-Jul-22 15:22:34
Subject: Re: "Mainframe outage affecting W.Va. state agencies could take
48, 72 hours to resolve"

>When one part goes down, all you get is a message.  You don't get an
>outage until enough parts go down and the devices stops working
>(enough raid volumes to not rebuild blocks, all communications
>channels).
>
>On Tue, Jul 26, 2022 at 1:05 PM John S. Giltner, Jr.  wrote:
>>
>>  Seems 2 parts failed and it happened last week.
>>
>>  
>> https://www.wvpublic.org/government/2022-07-21/mainframe-failure-shuts-down-dmv-dhhr-computer-systems
>>
>>  --
>>  For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
>>  send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
>
>
>
>--
>Mike A Schwab, Springfield IL USA
>Where do Forest Rangers go to get away from it all?
>
>--
>For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
>send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: Restore DS8884 firmware without ibm support contract

[P H]

In addition to the excellent points made by Timothy, you will have to do 
additional checks.

It seems that this DS8K might have been used to sell off individual components 
as 'spares'.

Does it still have the embedded HMC?

What type of FICON adaptors does it have (SX or LX). From previous discussions 
your z114 has SX. The DS8K end also needs to be SX.

Regards

Parwez Hamid​

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Enzo D'Amato 
Sent: 12 June 2022 22:58
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Restore DS8884 firmware without ibm support contract

Hello. I am a high school student who has recently purchased a z114 mainframe 
(I have posted about the project before here). I have been working to find CKD 
storage for my machine, so that I can do a proper z/OS installation. I have an 
opportunity to acquire a DS8884 storage unit that I know has the licences 
required for mainframe attach. Unfortunately, the person who owns it it knows 
very little about the unit, and all of the drives have been removed. The owner 
claims that they have all of the CDs to do a full restore to factory settings, 
but they have not sent over pictures of the CDs. Is it really possible to fully 
restore one of these units with just disks? Additionally, if the disks aren't 
available, can the unit be restored without them? I am aware that getting the 
unit back up and running may take some work, but I am welling to put in the 
effort, as CKD storage is extremely difficult to find, but I don't want to 
embark on an impossible project. I would appreciate any information that you 
may have that could help me ensure that I can get the machine up and running 
before I commit to shipping it.

Thank you,
Enzo Damato?


--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: my new z114

[P H]

Enzo,

There is 99% chance that all the required code for the I/O and Crypto features 
is on the system. When do a POR (power on reset), the code will be loaded from 
the SE.

The reason I say 99% is that the 'code' for Crypto is a separate orderable NO 
charge feature. There is a possibility the original owner might not have 
'ordered' this free feature.  Before you ask the reason: Crypto code for all z 
Systems is 'controlled' to make sure unauthorised countries don't get it 

In your list of I/O features you don't mention if you have the Crypto Express 
feature. This is installed in the I/O or PCIe Drawer. Even if you don't have 
this feature, the CPACF function is std on the processor chip.

If you haven't done it yet, get the z114 Technical Guide Redbook:

https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247954.html
[https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/images/thumbs/sg24-7954-00_x2.jpg]
IBM zEnterprise 114 Technical Guide | IBM 
Redbooks
Table of contents. Chapter 1. Introducing the IBM zEnterprise 114 Chapter 2. 
Central processor complex hardware components Chapter 3. Central processor 
complex system design
www.redbooks.ibm.com


Regards

Parwez Hamid​

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Enzo D'Amato 
Sent: 27 May 2022 15:43
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: my new z114

Parwez is correct that this is a M05 model, I will let you know what I have in 
terms of processor capacity as soon as I finish setting up power and turn it 
on. I in terms of my IO card configuration, this is what I currently have in 
the box:
2 2 port pcie 8g ficon cards (pcie)
2 2 port rj45 Ethernet cards (pcie)
1 4 port ficon card (IO drawer)
2 16 port escon cards (IO drawer)

I did want to ask however, do that crypto express cards and OSA adapters 
require LICCC codes to enable? Most of my home network is 10GbE, and I wanted 
to put one of those cards in so I can directly network it to my core switch, 
but I don't want to order one if it will not activate. I am currently working 
on sourcing FICON storage, and I will update you if I make any headway on that 
front. I also have a plan and I think I will be able to get some mainframe 
attached virtual tape set up. As Harry recommended, I do plan on doing some 
experimenting with the bare metal on the machine, but I don't have much 
experience with embedded/bare metal programming, so I would really be starting 
from the ground up with that. I would like to get in contact with someone about 
getting software disks/licences for my machine. I know that you said that it 
would be a special order as the software is withdrawn from marketing, but 
considering the circumstances, it may not hurt to ask. I would also like to 
look into what would be involved in getting a LICCC capacity upgrade (the z114 
is not completely out of support until the end of this year). If you know 
anyone who I should reach out to, please let me know.

I am quite close to both the z/VM and Marist events (I am like 20 minutes from 
the IBM Poughkeepsie plant), but I will have to check my calendar to see if I 
can make them (I should be able to, but I may have finals that week. I will 
have to check).

I will keep this list updated as I make progress and work on getting the system 
set up.
Thank you,
Enzo Damato

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Timothy Sipples 
Sent: Friday, May 27, 2022 6:04 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: my new z114

Enzo,

Congratulations on your acquisition!

I’m curious if you happen to know yet the physical model (it’ll be either 
2818-M05 or 2818-M10) and general capacity details, notably the capacity model, 
number/type(s) of specialty engines (if any; IFLs, zIIPs, ICFs), and memory 
configuration. The capacity model is a letter (A to Z), the number 0, and a 
number 0 to 5. For example, Q02. [A00 would be unfortunate since that’d mean no 
general purpose engines (CPs) are configured. If it’s a Z05 you won this 
lottery, but really any CP capacity is fine for a home lab.] Also, have you 
figured out yet what features you have installed in the I/O slots?

As I think I mentioned, if you have a 2818-M10 and/or lots of I/O features you 
might be able to (unofficially, after very careful study) field modify the 
physical configuration so that you’re powering fewer components to reduce 
electricity consumption and heat output in your home lab. But if you have a 
-M05 with just a few I/O features then this’ll be a moot point.

I wonder if the machine has any Crypto Express adapters.

I really like the suggestion to visit the z/VM conference if you can. There are 
bound to be many curious and knowledgeable people there. If 21st Century 
Software happens to be at that conference then you could ask them about VSEn 
6.3 if that interests you. There’s also a mainframe conference 

Re: my new z114

[P H]

The picture suggests it's a 2818-M05. Where the 2nd CPC drawer (Making it a 
M10) is supposed be, it has 'blanking plates'.

Regards

Parwez Hamid​

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Timothy Sipples 
Sent: 27 May 2022 11:04
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: my new z114

Enzo,

Congratulations on your acquisition!

I’m curious if you happen to know yet the physical model (it’ll be either 
2818-M05 or 2818-M10) and general capacity details, notably the capacity model, 
number/type(s) of specialty engines (if any; IFLs, zIIPs, ICFs), and memory 
configuration. The capacity model is a letter (A to Z), the number 0, and a 
number 0 to 5. For example, Q02. [A00 would be unfortunate since that’d mean no 
general purpose engines (CPs) are configured. If it’s a Z05 you won this 
lottery, but really any CP capacity is fine for a home lab.] Also, have you 
figured out yet what features you have installed in the I/O slots?

As I think I mentioned, if you have a 2818-M10 and/or lots of I/O features you 
might be able to (unofficially, after very careful study) field modify the 
physical configuration so that you’re powering fewer components to reduce 
electricity consumption and heat output in your home lab. But if you have a 
-M05 with just a few I/O features then this’ll be a moot point.

I wonder if the machine has any Crypto Express adapters.

I really like the suggestion to visit the z/VM conference if you can. There are 
bound to be many curious and knowledgeable people there. If 21st Century 
Software happens to be at that conference then you could ask them about VSEn 
6.3 if that interests you. There’s also a mainframe conference coming up at 
Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, from June 12 to 14, if convenient.

https://ecc.marist.edu/web/conference2022

Operating systems that do not require ECKD/FICON-attached storage (technically, 
leaving any licensing issues aside): Linux, z/VM, z/VSE, VSEn. Possibly also 
MUSIC/SP, as a guest of z/VM anyway, but I’m guessing a bit. I think you can 
start the z/OS Customized Offerings Driver without actually having any attached 
storage, but then you can’t do that much with it.

Operating systems that require ECKD/FICON-attached storage: z/OS, z/TPF. (z/TPF 
is even a little more particular about minimum storage configurations. I 
believe it requires some physical or virtual tape as well.)

There are some bootable “mini things” that people don’t generally consider 
operating systems but that do serve useful functions. Standalone IOCP and Jan 
Jaeger’s ZZSA are two good examples.

Good luck, and please keep us posted.

— — — — —
Timothy Sipples
Senior Architect
Digital Assets, Industry Solutions, and Cybersecurity
IBM zSystems/LinuxONE, Asia-Pacific
sipp...@sg.ibm.com


--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: Mark your calendars for July 10, 2022 - CustomPac intended removal date

[P H]

End of Service (EoS) and Withdrawn from Marketing (WDFM) are 2 different 
things. The former is when IBM will stop 'servicing' e.g., maintenance/provide 
parts of/for the System. The latter is when IBM will stop selling any upgrades 
(MES) etc. Upgrades requiring physical components or just Licenced Internal 
Code (LIC) could have different dates for WDFM.

z13 and z13s are as yet not EoS.

As it has already been mentioned, this URL is an excellent reference for 
various dates:

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/ibm-mainframe-life-cycle-history
IBM Mainframe Life Cycle 
History
Each family of the IBM Z mainframe hardware products has followed a similar 
life cycle pattern: product announcement, general availability, marketing 
withdrawal, and service discontinuance.
www.ibm.com


Regards

Parwez Hamid​

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Carmen Vitullo 
Sent: 20 May 2022 16:29
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: Mark your calendars for July 10, 2022 - CustomPac 
intended removal date

that would be nice - but now with z13 and z13s processors you cannot
even get IBM to perform any hardware changes since those boxes are
EOSI think last June ?

we were somewhat lucky the processors are already IN THE BOX so an MES
of our Z13s was done in May before the EOS date to add a second zIIP
processor


Carmen


On 5/20/2022 10:21 AM, Tom Brennan wrote:
> Of course a free zIIP would be the best solution.  But that's a
> decision to be made by sales people, while running z/OSMF remotely
> would be work (and maybe even a fun project) for a programmer. Now...
> which group would more likely say yes?  In my experience, don't even
> bother trying to get something for free from someone in sales :)
>
> On 5/20/2022 6:14 AM, Pommier, Rex wrote:
>> One would think that since IBM is forcing everybody to use z/OSMF
>> they would accommodate their own customers and not force their
>> smallest ones into expensive upgrades just to run this software.  As
>> Seymour mentioned, since zIIPs and the like are all normal
>> processors, IBM should be able to build a bit of microcode to use an
>> unlicensed engine to run z/OSMF.
>>
>> Rex
>>
>> -Original Message-
>> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  On
>> Behalf Of Tom Brennan
>> Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2022 9:04 PM
>> To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
>> Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: Mark your calendars for July 10, 2022 -
>> CustomPac intended removal date
>>
>> Since z/OSMF is written in java, then why can't that high-CPU work
>> run on another platform such as Power or x86, and then communicate
>> with the mainframe for the z/OS work (i.e. submit jobs or whatever it
>> does to run the actual installation).  Or am I thinking too far out
>> of the box?
>>
>> On 5/19/2022 6:15 PM, David Crayford wrote:
>>> On 20/5/22 08:23, Andrew Rowley wrote:

> Having a zIIP gives you plenty of horsepower for z/OSMF, and having
> an IBM z15 gives you System Recovery Boost which gives you…plenty of
> horsepower for z/OSMF at least during the first 60 minutes. (It’s
> the z/OSMF startup that can take a long time on a low capacity
> configuration.

 I wouldn't be surprised if once people start using z/OSMF, it's not
 just the startup that is slow on a small system. Maybe IBM should
 give everyone one zIIP with their z/OS 2.5 license... it might even
 be a useful stimulus for smaller z/OS sites.
>>>
>>>
>>> 100% agree. The z/EDC ASIC is now free and on-die on the new hardware.
>>> IBM should do the same with at least 1 zIIP.
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send
>>> email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN .
>>>
>>
>> --
>> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
>> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
>>
>> --
>> The information contained in this message is confidential, protected
>> from disclosure and may be legally privileged. If the reader of this
>> message is not the intended recipient or an employee or agent
>> responsible for delivering this message to the intended recipient,
>> you are hereby notified that any disclosure, distribution, copying,
>> or any action taken or action omitted in reliance on it, is strictly
>> prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this
>> communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to
>> this message and destroy the material in its entirety, whether in
>> electronic or hard copy format. Thank you.
>>
>>
>> --
>> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive 

Re: Mark your calendars for July 10, 2022 - CustomPac intended removal date

[P H]

Re: simulate S/390 on x86 chips. Don't think it was x86 technology!

Regards

Parwez Hamid​


From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Seymour J Metz 
Sent: 20 May 2022 12:09
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: Mark your calendars for July 10, 2022 - CustomPac intended removal 
date

Did the MP2000 and MP3000 simulate S/390 on x86 chips, use P/390 technology or 
use tailored hardware?

Since ZAAP (remember it?) and ZIIP are marketing gimmicks to begin with, IBM 
could easilly add one to the mix if they believed that there was a business 
case.


--
Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz
http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3


From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] on behalf of 
Andrew Rowley [and...@blackhillsoftware.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2022 8:23 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Mark your calendars for July 10, 2022 - CustomPac intended removal 
date

On 19/05/2022 5:50 pm, Timothy Sipples wrote:
> That’s even more difficult to characterize, but (eyeballing it) 1000X
> must be too high.

Maybe... it's hard to find a good comparison over that length of time.
But a Multiprise 2000 is in the original Pentium era.

A $1500 Lenovo boasts an Intel i7 with 8 cores/16 threads. If 8 cores
gives e.g. 5x throughput, it only has to achieve 200x the single CPU
speed of a 1996 Pentium for 1000x increase overall. It might not be
1000X but it must be close.

> Having a zIIP gives you plenty of horsepower for z/OSMF, and having an IBM 
> z15 gives you System Recovery Boost which gives you…plenty of horsepower for 
> z/OSMF at least during the first 60 minutes. (It’s the z/OSMF startup that 
> can take a long time on a low capacity configuration.

I wouldn't be surprised if once people start using z/OSMF, it's not just
the startup that is slow on a small system. Maybe IBM should give
everyone one zIIP with their z/OS 2.5 license... it might even be a
useful stimulus for smaller z/OS sites.

--
Andrew Rowley
Black Hill Software

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: Mark your calendars for July 10, 2022 - CustomPac intended removal date

[P H]

At a very high level and keeping it simple, physically all the 'cores' on the 
chip are the same. Depending on what is purchased, these are then 
'characterised' as a CP, zIIP, IFL, ICF or a SAP with microcode during POR and 
PR/SM designates as to which core will be used for what 'function'.

Regards

Parwez Hamid​

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Seymour J Metz 
Sent: 20 May 2022 12:03
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: Mark your calendars for July 10, 2022 - CustomPac intended removal 
date

AFAIK there is nore are no physical differences among the various specialty 
engines, just how they are configured after manufacturing.


--
Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz
http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3


From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] on behalf of 
David Crayford [dcrayf...@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2022 9:15 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: Re: Mark your calendars for July 10, 2022 - CustomPac intended removal 
date

On 20/5/22 08:23, Andrew Rowley wrote:
>
>> Having a zIIP gives you plenty of horsepower for z/OSMF, and having
>> an IBM z15 gives you System Recovery Boost which gives you…plenty of
>> horsepower for z/OSMF at least during the first 60 minutes. (It’s the
>> z/OSMF startup that can take a long time on a low capacity
>> configuration.
>
> I wouldn't be surprised if once people start using z/OSMF, it's not
> just the startup that is slow on a small system. Maybe IBM should give
> everyone one zIIP with their z/OS 2.5 license... it might even be a
> useful stimulus for smaller z/OS sites.


100% agree. The z/EDC ASIC is now free and on-die on the new hardware.
IBM should do the same with at least 1 zIIP.


--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: IBM z16 Announcement in Asia

[P H]

All info about z16 is now available on ibm.com including the z16 Redbook.

Regards

Parwez Hamid​

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
zMan 
Sent: 05 April 2022 16:06
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: IBM z16 Announcement in Asia

Am I just mising it, or does today's announcement mailing mention z16 for
various products, but not actually include the z16 itself?

On Tue, Apr 5, 2022 at 12:46 AM Parwez  wrote:

>
> https://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=an=ca=gpateam=872=ENUSAG22-0002
>
> --
> For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
> send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
>


--
zMan -- "I've got a mainframe and I'm not afraid to use it"

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: Manuals for 3179G, 3192G, 3979

[P H]

3979 was an expansion unit attached to a 3179 and enabled GDDM to use a plotter 
or a colour printer - direct from the host.

Regards

Parwez Hamid​


From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Bodra - Pessoal <02eda2bc565a-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu>
Sent: 04 January 2022 15:35
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: RES: Manuals for 3179G, 3192G, 3979

I never listen about IBM 3979, terminals that I know are IBM 2250, 2260, 3101,
3178, 3179, 3180, 3191, 3192, 3193, 3194, 3275, 3276, 3277, 3278, 3279, 3290,
3472, 3482 (of course there are a lot of models of each one, for example, 3277-1
and 3277-2, 3192C, 3192D, 3192F, 3192G, 3192L and 3192W).


Carlos Bodra
IBM zEnterprise Certified
São Paulo – SP – Brazil


-Mensagem original-
De: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  Em nome de
Alexander Huemer
Enviada em: terça-feira, 4 de janeiro de 2022 03:40
Para: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Assunto: Manuals for 3179G, 3192G, 3979

Hi,

I am searching for documentation to these devices, especially the 3979.
So far I couldn't even find a picture of the 3979.
There is [1], but the price is rather bold.

-Alex

[1] https://www.ebay.com/itm/114320868683

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: CF structure type SERLIST

[P H]

Not sure if there is a more current version.

https://www.ibm.com/downloads/cas/JZB2E38Q?mhsrc=ibmsearch_a=Coupling%20facility%20configuration

Get Outlook for Android

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Radoslaw Skorupka 
Sent: Friday, December 17, 2021 12:46:59 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: CF structure type SERLIST

I just found a coupling facility structure of type Serialized List. aka
SERLIST aka SLIST.
Is it documented anywhere?

The only documentation which mention serlist is ...z/TPF manual. I
browsed z/OS doco, up to V2R5, but only found good old lock, cache and
list. No serlist.



Another question, CF links: Assuming a sysplex has two Coupling
Facilities - do CFs need to be connected one to each other?
Note, I don't mean z/OS - CF connection. It is about CF-CF connection.
I know it *was* a requirement, but maybe something has changed.

--
Radoslaw Skorupka
Lodz, Poland

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: z/OS 2.5 Announcement out yet?

[P H]

https://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?appname=skmwww=897%2FENUS5650-ZOS=DD=SM=ibmsearch_a=Z%2Fos%202.5

Get Outlook for Android

From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Richards, Robert B. (CTR) <01c91f408b9e-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu>
Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2021 1:40:12 PM
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: z/OS 2.5 Announcement out yet?

I haven't been able to find anything on z/OS 2.5. It is supposed to be out 
today. Has anyone seen it and if so, can you provide me with the link(s).

Bob

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: OSA Physical ethernet ports

[P H]

Tony,

Thanks for the correction. My mistake, I meant to say z9 BC and NOT z114.

As the Qs were related to channel type OSC and OSE, my answer was specific to 
the OSA-Express2 and 3 1000BASE-T (both supported by the z10 BC). Yes, there 
were other OSA features (10 GbE and 1 GbE) but these don't support channel type 
OSC.

To avoid a 'chapter and verse' about OSA, in reality, by the time you take into 
consideration the different 'flavours' of the 10 GbE feature ( Long Reach and 
Short Reach) there were a total of 6 different 'bigger cards' (OSA-Express3) 
for the z10 BC. The bigger cards were actually 2 'small' cards with their own 
separate PCI-E adaptors. Each PCI-E adaptor supported 1 (10 GbE) or 2 ( 1 
GbE/1000BASE-T) ports. The 2 port 1 GbE and 1000BASE-T features were a 'reduced 
cost' option for the z10 BC only with a single PCI-E adaptor - effectively 
making it a 'half' card (half full or half empty) but keeping the bigger card 
format.

Irrespective of the number of 'ports' on the card, each PCI-E adaptor supported 
ONE PCHID/CHPID.

I have also seen all the different I/O cards/features 

Regards

Parwez Hamid​


From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Tony Thigpen 
Sent: 10 September 2021 17:12
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Re: OSA Physical ethernet ports

P H,
z10 was generation before z114. It only supports the old/bigger cards.

The large format OSAs came in four physical port layouts:
1 port at top (1 CHPID)
1 port at top and 1 port at bottom (2 CHPIDs)
2 ports at top only (1 CHPID)
2 ports at top and 2 ports at bottom (2 CHPIDs)
(I have seen all 4.)

Tony Thigpen

P H wrote on 9/10/21 11:25 AM:
> If your z10 BC was upgraded from a z114, then it might have a 2-port 
> OSA-Express 2 1000BASE-T feature and if during the upgrade process additional 
> features were added than it might also have OSA-Express 3 1000BASE-T 2-port 
> or 4-port feature(s).
>
> If the z10 BC was purchased as new, then it will be OSA-Express 3 1000BASE-T 
> 2 port or 4 port features.
>
> For the 2-port feature, a single CHPID is defined as type OSC or OSE i.e. 
> both ports have to be the same 'type'.
>
> For the 4-port feature, each pair of ports has a single CHPID defined i.e. 2 
> CHPIDs for the 4 ports. The 2 CHPIDs can be the same type or different i.e. 
> both as OSC or OSE or one of each type. For each CHPID, the pair of ports 
> have to be the same 'type'.
>
> BTW: There are some Redbooks which you might want to refer to:
>
>1.  OSA-Express Implementation Guide
>2.  OSA-Express Integrated Console Controller Implementation Guide (bit 
> dated now)
>3.  IBM System z Connectivity Handbook
>
> Regards
>
> Parwez Hamid​
>
> 
> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
> (K.K.Paradox)T.Kobayashi 
> Sent: 10 September 2021 09:36
> To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
> Subject: OSA Physical ethernet ports
>
> Hello,
>
> I planing to configure z/OS's native TCP/IP on z10-BC machine.
> IOCP DECK is shown at the end of this mail.
> The OSA-ICC 3270 sessions are currently configured.
> OSE CHPID is defined, but nothing else is configured.
>
> I understand that OSE (Non-QDIO mode) requires UA and port, IP addr, mapping
> in OAT.
> Also, OAT and z/OS TCPIP PROFILE (DEVICE and LINK) setting will mapping.
> But, I don't understand how to assgin the OSA Physical ethernet ports.
>
> Qeustions:
> 1) Is the port set in OAT a OSA Physical port?
>
> 2) Can OSA-ICC 3270 sessions and OSE ports share a OSA Physical port?
> Should these have separate Physical ports?
>
> 3) Where is the physical port of the OSA-ICC session set?
>
> 4) OSE is assigned to ZOS2 LPAR in the PARTITION statement.
> But SHARED is also specified by CHPID.
> Are OSE devices also available in ZOS1 LPARs?
>
>   RESOURCE PARTITION=((CSS(0),(ZOS1,1),(ZOS2,2)))
> *
>   CHPID PCHID=190,PATH=(CSS(0),02),TYPE=OSC,SHARED
>   CHPID PCHID=191,PATH=(CSS(0),03),TYPE=OSE,SHARED,PARTITION=((ZOS2))
> *
>   CNTLUNIT CUNUMBR=0F00,PATH=((CSS(0),02)),UNIT=OSC
>   CNTLUNIT CUNUMBR=0F10,PATH=((CSS(0),03)),UNIT=OSA
> *
>   IODEVICE ADDRESS=(0F00,8),CUNUMBR=(0F00),UNIT=3270,MODEL=X,   +
> PARTITION=((CSS(0),ZOS1))
>   IODEVICE ADDRESS=(0F10,8),CUNUMBR=(0F00),UNIT=3270,MODEL=X,   +
> PARTITION=((CSS(0),ZOS2))
>   IODEVICE ADDRESS=(0F20,8),CUNUMBR=(0F00),UNIT=3286,MODEL=2,   +
> PARTITION=((CSS(0),ZOS1))
>   IODEVICE ADDRESS=(0F30,8),CUNUMBR=(0F00),UNIT=3286,MODEL=2,   +
> PARTITION=((CSS(0),ZOS2))
>   IODEVICE ADDRESS=(0E10,15),UNITADD=00,CUNUMBR=(0F10),UNIT=OSA
>   IODEVICE ADDRESS=(0E1F),UNITADD=FE,CUNUMBR=(0F10),UNIT=OSAD
>
> Best regards,

Re: OSA Physical ethernet ports

[P H]

If your z10 BC was upgraded from a z114, then it might have a 2-port 
OSA-Express 2 1000BASE-T feature and if during the upgrade process additional 
features were added than it might also have OSA-Express 3 1000BASE-T 2-port or 
4-port feature(s).

If the z10 BC was purchased as new, then it will be OSA-Express 3 1000BASE-T 2 
port or 4 port features.

For the 2-port feature, a single CHPID is defined as type OSC or OSE i.e. both 
ports have to be the same 'type'.

For the 4-port feature, each pair of ports has a single CHPID defined i.e. 2 
CHPIDs for the 4 ports. The 2 CHPIDs can be the same type or different i.e. 
both as OSC or OSE or one of each type. For each CHPID, the pair of ports have 
to be the same 'type'.

BTW: There are some Redbooks which you might want to refer to:

  1.  OSA-Express Implementation Guide
  2.  OSA-Express Integrated Console Controller Implementation Guide (bit dated 
now)
  3.  IBM System z Connectivity Handbook

Regards

Parwez Hamid​


From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
(K.K.Paradox)T.Kobayashi 
Sent: 10 September 2021 09:36
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: OSA Physical ethernet ports

Hello,

I planing to configure z/OS's native TCP/IP on z10-BC machine.
IOCP DECK is shown at the end of this mail.
The OSA-ICC 3270 sessions are currently configured.
OSE CHPID is defined, but nothing else is configured.

I understand that OSE (Non-QDIO mode) requires UA and port, IP addr, mapping
in OAT.
Also, OAT and z/OS TCPIP PROFILE (DEVICE and LINK) setting will mapping.
But, I don't understand how to assgin the OSA Physical ethernet ports.

Qeustions:
1) Is the port set in OAT a OSA Physical port?

2) Can OSA-ICC 3270 sessions and OSE ports share a OSA Physical port?
Should these have separate Physical ports?

3) Where is the physical port of the OSA-ICC session set?

4) OSE is assigned to ZOS2 LPAR in the PARTITION statement.
But SHARED is also specified by CHPID.
Are OSE devices also available in ZOS1 LPARs?

 RESOURCE PARTITION=((CSS(0),(ZOS1,1),(ZOS2,2)))
*
 CHPID PCHID=190,PATH=(CSS(0),02),TYPE=OSC,SHARED
 CHPID PCHID=191,PATH=(CSS(0),03),TYPE=OSE,SHARED,PARTITION=((ZOS2))
*
 CNTLUNIT CUNUMBR=0F00,PATH=((CSS(0),02)),UNIT=OSC
 CNTLUNIT CUNUMBR=0F10,PATH=((CSS(0),03)),UNIT=OSA
*
 IODEVICE ADDRESS=(0F00,8),CUNUMBR=(0F00),UNIT=3270,MODEL=X,   +
   PARTITION=((CSS(0),ZOS1))
 IODEVICE ADDRESS=(0F10,8),CUNUMBR=(0F00),UNIT=3270,MODEL=X,   +
   PARTITION=((CSS(0),ZOS2))
 IODEVICE ADDRESS=(0F20,8),CUNUMBR=(0F00),UNIT=3286,MODEL=2,   +
   PARTITION=((CSS(0),ZOS1))
 IODEVICE ADDRESS=(0F30,8),CUNUMBR=(0F00),UNIT=3286,MODEL=2,   +
   PARTITION=((CSS(0),ZOS2))
 IODEVICE ADDRESS=(0E10,15),UNITADD=00,CUNUMBR=(0F10),UNIT=OSA
 IODEVICE ADDRESS=(0E1F),UNITADD=FE,CUNUMBR=(0F10),UNIT=OSAD

Best regards,
Toyokazu Kobayashi

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: RoCE Express Features on z15-T02

[P H]

A new build z15 Model T02 supports the following features:

10 GbE RoCE Express 2.1 (Feature Code 0432)
25 GbE RoCE Express 2.1 (Feature Code 0450)

However, if upgrading from a prior generation of z to z15 and it has the 
following features:

10 GbE RoCE Express (Feature Code 0411)
10 GbE RoCE Express 2 (Feature Code 412)

25 GbE RoCE Express 2 (Feature Code 430)

these can be carried forward to the z15 as part of the 'upgrade' process.

Regards

Parwez Hamid​


From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Mark Jacobs <0224d287a4b1-dmarc-requ...@listserv.ua.edu>
Sent: 02 July 2021 16:13
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: RoCE Express Features on z15-T02

Does anyone know what level of RoCE those features support V1 or V2?

Mark Jacobs

Sent from [ProtonMail](https://protonmail.com), Swiss-based encrypted email.

GPG Public Key - 
https://api.protonmail.ch/pks/lookup?op=get=markjac...@protonmail.com

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

Re: Best catch up resources for MVS / ZOS Technologies

[P H]

Others have mentioned a number of resources. One of the best resources for 
details are the IBM Redbooks for Z.

For a high-level summary of functions and features for different generations of 
z Systems, if can you still get these are the S/390 Reference Guides (I 
authored these during the period 1995-2005).

The Ref Guides were superseded by the IBM Z Functional Matrix (version 1,  
co-authored by myself):

https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/redp5157.html?Open
[https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/images/thumbs/redp-5157-05_x2.jpg]
IBM Z Functional Matrix | IBM 
Redbooks
This IBM® Redpaper™ publication provides a list of features and functions that 
are supported on IBM Z, including the IBM z15™ (z15) - Machine type 8561, IBM 
z14™ (z14) - Machine types 3906 and 3907,
www.redbooks.ibm.com
Just to get to grips with the new z alphabet soup (acronyms) I would start with 
the Functional Matrix:-)

Regards

Parwez Hamid​


From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List  on behalf of 
Steve Estle 
Sent: 18 May 2021 02:41
To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU 
Subject: Best catch up resources for MVS / ZOS Technologies

Hello Everyone in Mainframe Land,

I've been out of the mainframe world since about 2001, but spent the prior 20 
years immersed in that world working with everything from MVS/370 to MVS/ESA 
and VM, performance and capacity planning disciplines across a variety of 
situations in the IT Services and consulting spaces.  I, am, now as a "IT 
Infrastructure Engineer- IBM z/OS Mainframe Engineer" after nearly 20 years of 
other activities (Project Mgmt, entrepreneur, etc) am about to potentially come 
back into a new mainframe role and I need to catch up as quickly as possible.  
Any suggestions on ways to fill in the gaps for ZOS, ZVM, hardware, 
performance, etc?  Bottom line I'm looking for that gap education to as quickly 
as possible get up to speed with changes in platforms since 2001.  If prefer to 
call - all my info is below.

Thanks,
Steve Estle
303-604-0925
sest...@gmail.com

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN

--
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN