Author Archives: Martin Packer

(Originally posted 2016-04-30.) I think we were much more relaxed when we put this episode together, and I hope it shows. We’re learning our craft, and I think quite fast. Below are the show notes. The series is here. Episode 2 is here. Episode 2 “Sound Affects” Show Notes Here are the show notes forContinue reading “Mainframe Performance Topics Podcast Episode 2 “Sound Affects””

(Originally posted 2016-04-09.) We enjoyed recording Episode 0, learning as we went. And people seem to have enjoyed it. So we recorded another one.   So here are the show notes for Episode 1.   By the way we publish the show notes with the audio.   You can get the series (and it isContinue reading “Mainframe Performance Topics Podcast Episode 1 “A Luta Continua” (“The Struggle Continues”)”

(Originally posted 2016-03-17.) I’m delighted Marna Walle and I are collaborating on a podcast series. We’re calling it “Mainframe, Performance, Topics Podcast”. You can guess where we got the name from. 🙂 Below are the show notes. The series is here. Episode 0 is here. Episode 0 “Sic Parvis Magna” ( “Greatness From Small Beginnings"Continue reading “Mainframe Performance Topics Podcast Episode 0 “Sic Parvis Magna” (“Greatness From Small Beginnings”)”

(Originally posted 2016-03-08.) Here are are two questions people would like easy answers to: What are the big CPU DB2 jobs accessing this DB2 subsystem? Which job steps access MQ? This post shows you how to answer both these questions without DB2- or MQ-specific instrumentation. The “without DB2- or MQ-specific instrumentation” phrase is important: I’mContinue reading “Batch DB2 And MQ The Easy Way”

(Originally posted 2016-02-21.) One of my new 2016 presentations is called “How To Be A Better Performance Specialist” – though I really could use a snappier title. Here’s the abstract:   I’ve spent 30 years doing Performance and Capacity. You’d think it’d seem stale and repetitive by now. Not a bit of it. It’s stillContinue reading “Oh The Arrogance Of It”

(Originally posted 2016-02-14.) I wish I’d started counting DB2 subsystems before. A recent study saw 43 DB2 subsystems, in 13 Data Sharing groups (and a few in none), across a large number of z/OS systems. And if I try to remember other studies these numbers have been typical of them (but this is not aContinue reading “Suffering Subsystems”

(Originally posted 2016-01-24.) DDF and Batch sound like two opposite ends of the spectrum, don’t they? Well, it turns out they’re not. I said in DDF Counts I might well have more to say about DDF. I was right. I’ve known for a long time that some DDF work can come in from other z/OSContinue reading “DDF Batch”

(Originally posted 2016-01-17.) I don’t think I’ve ever written very much about DDF. Now seems like a good time to start. I say this because I’ve been working pretty intensively over the last couple of weeks on upgrading our DDF Analysis code. Hence the recent DFSORT post (DFSORT Tables). I’m actually not the DB2 specialistContinue reading “DDF Counts”

(Originally posted 2016-01-10.) It’s been a while since I posted a DFSORT trick – and it’s high time I did. This post follows (distantly) on from More Maintainable DFSORT and is occasioned by some recent development work on our tools. As so often happens, developing this code has been a bit of a journey ofContinue reading “DFSORT Tables”

(Originally posted 2015-12-22.) I can cope with both “zee” and “zed”. [1] I love the myriad ways of pronouncing “CICS”. I can even detect such things as “Day Bay Tway” when I hear them. But there are a couple of things that I’m slightly bemused by: People saying “zee-oss” or “zed-oss” or “zoss”. People callingContinue reading “Tis The Season”