Author Archives: Martin Packer

(Originally posted 2018-05-12.) In my “How To Be A Better Performance Specialist” presentation I have a bullet point that says ‘there’s no value in being “The Man Who Knew Too Little”’. Well, it astonishes me how often I am the man who knew too little. 🙂 I guess we keep on learning OR ELSE.1 InContinue reading “When Reality Bytes”

(Originally posted 2018-04-21.) Maybe it’s because I know nothing about DB2 buffer pools that I’ve never written about them.1 Actually, that wouldn’t be true. I would say I know a fair amount about DB2, but I’ve taken a bit of a step back from it – as we have a DB2 Performance specialist in theContinue reading “Maybe It’s Because…”

(Originally posted 2018-04-15.) This week I went from a very fuzzy “I’ve a sneaking suspicion this WLM policy doesn’t make sense” to a (clear as mud)1 🙂 “it makes perfect sense” – so I suppose it’s been a good week. 🙂 Something Clever Our Reporting Does I keep banging on about2 the value of SMFContinue reading “Just Because…”

(Originally posted 2018-03-05.) ”… And then two come along at once.” 🙂 Unlike Billboards or London Buses, only two here folks. 🙂 So, we had ideas (and somehow time) to record two episodes almost back to back. So we did. But we have no chance of recording together for a while, sadly. Which is aContinue reading “Mainframe Performance Topics Podcast Episode 18 “What We Won’t Have In Common Anymore””

(Originally posted 2018-03-01.) This episode really has been a long time coming. If I reflect on why, there are two things… The main one is our schedules. Marna and I, as you’ll see, have been all over the place. The minor one is that – until about a month ago – I wasn’t on aContinue reading “Mainframe Performance Topics Podcast Episode 17 “Two Good, Four Better?””

(Originally posted 2018-02-24.) I’ve used a title like this before. It was in 2011 in What’s In A Name?1. But this post bears only a slightly resemblance to that one. This post is about gleaning information from names, specifically data set names. Consider this one… PR04.XYZ892.XYZ893.D171130.T1700 So what are we to make of this dataContinue reading “What’s In A Name? – Revisited”

(Originally posted 2018-01-30.) I was fortunate enough to spend last week in IBM’s Silicon Valley Lab (SVL), both in formal sessions and talking to developers. One topic – which isn’t really all that new – is DB2’s REST support, which is pretty comprehensive and good. The basic idea with this support is you can callContinue reading “REST, JSON, And DB2 – Some Initial Thoughts”

(Originally posted 2018-01-26.) “What is this DB2 subsystem for?” is an important question – at least to me. And explaining this topic over lunch to a friend of mine who was a DB2 developer, convinced me it has more general importance. If you’re a DB2 sysprog or DB2 the answer is probably well known toContinue reading “What Is This DB2 Subsystem For?”

(Originally posted 2018-01-19.) So now I get to sit and relax for umpteen hours, while a 787 speeds me to California. So I can write something. And, yes, it’s been a while. To tell you the truth, I’ve been working on back-to-back engagements and enjoying vacation for what seems like forever. And after a stintContinue reading “Maskerade”

(Originally posted 2017-12-03.) In my “Parallel Sysplex Performance Topics” presentation I have some slides on Coupling Facility Processor Busy. I’ve worried about including them, considering them borderline boring.1 In my head I justified them because they: Help people understand Structure Execution Time (R744SETM). Help people see the changed behaviour with Thin Interrupts. For both ofContinue reading “Getting Nosy With Coupling Facility Engines”