Author Archives: Martin Packer

(Originally posted 2015-11-27.) Applying the maxim “the customer is always right” this week revealed a bug in my analysis code. It also gave me the opportunity to write about how RMF sees the interaction between IRD Weight Management and Hiperdispatch.[1] But let me start with some brief, basic information about the technologies in question. IfContinue reading “IRD And Hiperdispatch – Wrong’Em Boyo”

(Originally posted 2015-11-22.) Sometimes a little visual tweak can make all the difference. This post is about one such case. Actually the code change to achieve it was quite complex but the visual rearrangement is simple. I have a number of customers with Integrated Coupling Facility (ICF) processor pools with both dedicated and shared CouplingContinue reading “A Picture Of Dedication”

(Originally posted 2015-11-16.) It's that time of year when I start to think about writing conference presentations for user groups and conferences in 2016. Already I have three in mind, with varying degrees of sketchiness. Their working titles are: He Picks On CICS Fun With DDF So You Want To Be A Better Performance Specialist?Continue reading “Good Things Come in Threes?”

(Originally posted 2015-11-15.) I don’t think I’ve written about the concept of Capture Ratio[1] before. To be honest it’s kind of a “nerdy” or “internal” thing. But a recent experience suggests to me it is interesting, even if only for the wrong reason. What Is Capture Ratio? Not all CPU in a z/OS system canContinue reading “Captivating Capture Ratios”

(Originally posted 2015-11-14.) Or can they? Actually I can’t answer that question. I’m aware my blog gets distributed in Development in Poughkeepsie (at very least) so maybe one of them can give a far better answer than I can. Though this post isn’t meant to address this in its entirety I have a point ofContinue reading “Offline Processors Can’t Hurt You”

(Originally posted 2015-11-06.) This is about the third time I’ve written about this, and it probably won’t be the last. 🙂 [1] I was presenting to customers about the Coupling Facility Path Latency statistics I’ve previously spoken of when one of them told me of the following incident. I’m sure he won’t mind me sharingContinue reading “And Latency Once More”

(Originally posted 2015-10-31.) It’s difficult to write about a live situation for two reasons: You don’t want to spoil the surprise. You mustn’t expose the customer. Actually, make that three reasons: You don’t know how it’s actually going to turn out. 🙂 So why am I writing at all? Well, the big engagement my teamContinue reading “The CPU That You Do”

(Originally posted 2015-10-06.) I’ve played some more since I wrote Slide Over A Bit, most notably from the perspective of developing a web app that acts as a Slide View widget. This post addresses some of the issues. In particular: Offline web apps, a feature of HTML 5. Responsive design – writing a web appContinue reading “Slide Over A Bit More – Responsive Design”

(Originally posted 2015-10-02.) The last post hit both the “Mainframe” and “Performance” aspects of this blog. This one is firmly in the “Topics” category.[1] You might’ve noticed a slew of announcements from Apple recently, and iOS 9 and OS X 10.11 “El Capitan” delivery. [2] I’d like to talk here about one feature of iOSContinue reading “Slide Over A Bit”

(Originally posted 2015-09-30.) DB2 Accounting Trace names are a(n endless) [1] source of fascination to me. As many of you know, bridging the gap between DB2 and callers and the environment is permanently an imperative for me. These names might be cryptic but they can usually be related to non-DB2 concepts. As I’m about toContinue reading “CICS and Batch DB2 Identifiers”