Author Archives: Martin Packer

(Originally posted 2017-03-26.) We recently went to z/OS 2.1 on our Production system in Greenford. And just last week I threw into Production some JCL that used two of the new z/OS 2.1 JCL changes, plus an oldie that might have escaped your attention. Now we are firmly on 2.1 we can exploit them, withContinue reading “A Few Of My Favourite Things”

(Originally posted 2017-03-25.) This has to have been one of the most trouble-prone episodes we’ve ever done, when it comes to pulling it together. All the issues have been audio[1], not the material. I think you’ll spot some of those but I think the material is very good, so bear with us. (I don’t thinkContinue reading “Mainframe Performance Topics Podcast Episode 11 “XI T’ing””

(Originally posted 2017-03-19.) I’m probably the last person you should give a new piece of kit to – if you want them to remain productive. 🙂 But I’m probably towards the front of the queue if you want them to exploit the hell out of it. 🙂 So IBM got me a new Macbook ProContinue reading “Mac-hinations”

(Originally posted 2017-03-13.) If confronted by a plethora1 of things to manage you have to be careful with the approach you take. And so it is with Coupling Facility structures. Usually I would look at the biggest structures – whether memory, request rate, or CPU is the metric of “bigness”. And normally I’m expecting aContinue reading “Structural Analysis”

(Originally posted 2017-03-11.) Not sugar and spice and all things nice. 🙂 Seriously, I'm interested in how Workload Manager (WLM) goals come to be. I've talked about WLM quite a bit over the years and one theme has repeated itself a number of times: “Just how did you arrive at that goal?” As I wroteContinue reading “What Are Goals Made Of?”

(Originally posted 2017-02-25.) So here we are, barely one week on, with another episode. As I indicated, we had bits of this in the can when we put Episode 9 together. It was really nice to interview Elpida, and we have ideas for a couple more items in a similar vein; I always contemplated thisContinue reading “Mainframe Performance Topics Podcast Episode 10 “234U””

(Originally posted 2017-02-18.) In Lost For Words With DDF I wrote about matching up Client DB2 and Server DB2 Accounting Trace (SMF 101) records – for DDF. In this post I'm writing about a more generally relevant technique for DDF. In fact I've just completed some prototype code for this and, of course :-), thrownContinue reading “DDF Networking”

(Originally posted 2017-02-17.) It's been a long time since I… … recorded a podcast episode. But Marna and I have had lots of commitments since we last did. But we're back, and intend to stay that way. Indeed we have bits of Episode 10 “in the can”. And such a lot has happened in theContinue reading “Mainframe Performance Topics Podcast Episode 9 “Back In Black””

(Originally posted 2017-02-12.) I'm lost for words with DDF, I really am. “What's up with him?” my one reader asks. 🙂 So let me explain… I debuted a presentation last year called “More Fun With DDF”. But I've made progress since then. So what do I add to the front of this title? “Still”? “Yet”?Continue reading “Lost For Words With DDF”

(Originally posted 2017-01-15.) What is a batch suite? That might seem like a silly question to ask but it’s inspired by some significant enhancements to our Batch reporting. Dave Betten and I have worked hard on these as time permitted over more than a year. Traditional Definition Of A Suite Traditionally, a batch suite isContinue reading “The Suite Spot”