In Engineering – Part 8 – Remote Access Detection I talked about reasons why LPARs might go cross-drawer. One reason I didn’t give was about memory. (I should perhaps remind you that on modern machines a logical processor accessing Level 4 Cache or memory in another processor drawer incurs a significant performance penalty, showing upContinue reading “Remember Memory”
Author Archives: Martin Packer
Two Of These Are Not Like The Others
They were simpler times back then. “Back when?” You might ask. When PR/SM got started – in the mid 1980’s – a machine might have two or three LPARs. Similarly, when Parallel Sysplex got started the number of members was very small. For reference, a z17 ME1 can have up to 85 LPARs, and aContinue reading “Two Of These Are Not Like The Others”
Modern Machines, Modern Metrics
Modern Machines, Modern Metrics In z17 Sustainability Metrics – Part 0 I wrote about the new z17 Sustainability Metrics, or “Power Consumption”, if you prefer. This post isn’t part 1 – as I don’t intend to go into much detail about what I’ve learnt so far. I have learnt things, of course. During the SummerContinue reading “Modern Machines, Modern Metrics”
md2pptx 6 Is Another Big Step Forward
If the purpose of Version 5 was to add the ability to use Python in the context of md2pptx the purpose of version 6 is to extend md2pptx’s automation capabilities still further. This time instead of Python it’s AppleScript. The context is different too: With Version 5 the Python support runs the user-supplied code asContinue reading “md2pptx 6 Is Another Big Step Forward”
md2pptx 5 Is A Big Step Forward
A while back I experimented with executing user-provided Python. It seemed a small step at the time, but I had a hunch it would turn out to be a much bigger thing. Coding it was straightforward but two things delayed releasing it: Documentation is tricky. The python-pptx API is (necessarily) not for the faint ofContinue reading “md2pptx 5 Is A Big Step Forward”
mdpre Comes Of Age
I wondered a while back why I hadn’t got mdpre to 1.0. It turns out there were still some things I felt it needed to have it “graduate”. I suppose I should explain what mdpre actually is. It’s a tool for preprocessing text into Markdown, This text is “almost Markdown” or “Markdown+” so you canContinue reading “mdpre Comes Of Age”
REXX And Python
A long time ago I wrote blog posts about driving Unix System Services from REXX. My motivation at the time was relatively minor. Now, however, I have a stronger motivation: Python. You might or might not be aware that z/OS has modern Python support – and I expect it to keep up very well asContinue reading “REXX And Python”
Well, That’s Embarrassing
I’ve had a task on my to-do list for some time now to assess the state of my blog and publish some posts I knew I had drafted. Typically I write posts while in the air – as there’s precious little else to do. So I’d written several – some with more topicality than others.Continue reading “Well, That’s Embarrassing”
z17 Sustainability Metrics – Part 0
I call this “Part 0” because I haven’t yet seen any data. However I think it useful to start here, rather than waiting for customer data to appear – for two reasons: Sharing what data is available is useful. Showing how “folklore” is built is instructive and useful. As you might expect, I’ve been downContinue reading “z17 Sustainability Metrics – Part 0”
Mainframe Performance Topics Podcast Episode 36 “Telum Like It Is”
We were especially keen to get a podcast episode out on the day z17 was announced, having both worked on the launch project in various capacities. So, for once there was a deadline – which we actually made. It was a pleasure to record this, with almost every piece of it related to z17. SoContinue reading “Mainframe Performance Topics Podcast Episode 36 “Telum Like It Is””
Mainframe, Performance, Topics 