Author Archives: Martin Packer

(Originally posted 2011–04–11.) I’m working on my presentations for System z Technical University – Vienna, May 2–6 and I’m reviewing the agenda. As well as my four presentations there are lots of other goodies. These range from the Management level down to the purely technical. (I guess mine are towards the latter end of theContinue reading “IBM System z Technical University – Vienna, May 2-6”

(Originally posted 2011-04-04.) Inspired by two of Bob Leah’s posts on QR Codes – here and here I started experimenting with creating and consuming QR codes. But what is a QR  code? In short it’s a two-dimensional barcode that can contain e.g plain text or a URL. In the latter case a QR code readerContinue reading “Experimenting With QR Codes”

(Originally posted 2011-03-30.) In 2007 I posted twice on memory metrics. The original posts are Memory Metrics Now That z/OS Release 8 Is Upon Us and Mor(e )on UIC I should probably have posted an update some time ago. In the latter I said "Obviously copious free frames would suggest no constraint." That’s true butContinue reading “Memory Metrics – An Overdue Update”

(Originally posted 2011-03-29.) I’m not an architect. I don’t even play one on TV. 🙂 In fact real architects would probably say I’m in the babble phase, architecturewise. But I’ve been involved in a few situations over the past year or so (and I’m involved in a couple starting round about now) which have ledContinue reading “Batch Architecture, Part Zero”

(Originally posted 2011-03-25.) I hope you do. Special thanks are due to Bob Leah, Victoria Ovens and David Salinas for getting me this far: Bob created the new template I’m using (and it is discussed further here. Victoria created the new blog header graphic (of a z196 and a zBX) and David put it upContinue reading “Do You Like The New Look?”

(Originally posted 2011-03-23.) … or "The Nightmare That Never Ends". 🙂 The concept of a babble phase comes from Child Development: When children are learning to talk they start by making sounds they think might get them somewhere. (Some might say that’s a phase they never leave.) 🙂 Such a developmental stage is called "theContinue reading “Exiting The Babble Phase?”

(Originally posted 2011-03-17.) A while back I set myself a technical challenge: To learn how to program an Android device. NOTE: I don’t have a real application in mind, just idle curiosity and a degree of annoyance at the prerequisites to be able to program an iPhone (apart from as a WebApp). Here’s what I didContinue reading “Learning Android Programming”

(Originally posted 2011-03-13.) There’ve been times in the past when a request for extra data in SMF has been met by "you can issue a DISPLAY command to get that". (Another variant is "you can go to the HMC for that".) I’m here to tell you why I don’t think that’s a brilliant answer: SuchContinue reading “When Display Commands Aren’t Good Enough”

(Originally posted 2010-01-24.) I’m beginning to look at performance data slightly differently these days… As well as plotting things by Time Of Day (which our tools have done for 25 years) I’m beginning to plot things more directly with load. (Time Of Day is sort of code for With Load but not really – tellingContinue reading “WLM Velocity – “Rhetorical Devices Are Us””

(Originally posted 2010-01-22.) In the interstices between finishing off a "rush job" piece of analysis for ONE customer and a conference call with a vendor on behalf of ANOTHER it’s time to catch up with a piece of news… As some of you will know I have a new job in IBM… I’ve joined SoftwareContinue reading “Going Global”