Category Archives: Uncategorized

(Originally posted 2007-05-25.) I happened to be travelling through Heathrow Terminal 2 yesterday and the day before. Two incidents that made me scratch my head, both related to Passport Control… On the way out there are two Passport Control desks, just past Security. They are set a few feet apart and people can go eitherContinue reading “Madness At Passport Control”

(Originally posted 2007-05-18.) As you probably know this year’s UKCMG conference in June 25-27, Whittlebury Hall, Northants. I noticed when I read the agenda yesterday 2 things: Glenn Anderson’s being worked awfully hard. He’s a great speaker so do make the effort to attend his sessions. There’s a BOF session on each evening – justContinue reading “Birds Of A Feather Session at UKCMG Conference, June 25-27”

(Originally posted 2007-05-16.) I’m reminded of this white paper on XCF Performance from Joan Kelley and Kathy Walsh. It’s a good read and has been recently updated. It does also remind me that there are “D XCF” subcommands that give information that isn’t in the RMF data (SMF 74 Subtype 2). We process these recordsContinue reading “XCF Performance WSC White Paper”

(Originally posted 2007-05-12.) Now I know why, as previously reported here, there’s a new power meter on the HMC. See this blog entry and the links from it for more details of the “Big Green” energy efficiency initiative. And this goes way beyond the “packets of grass seed” campaign of last year – which highlightedContinue reading “Big Green”

(Originally posted 2007-05-12.) Here’s a nice BSOD from a ticket machine on the Nürnberg U-Bahn. 🙂

(Originally posted 2007-05-09.) Whenever I talk about zIIPs and zAAPs I’m reminded of Zip Zap miniature radio-controlled cars. But (to get past the censors I have to say) zIIPs and zAAPs are not toys. Here’s an extract from a post on MXG-L that Bernie Pierce made. (I reproduce it with his kind permission.) If thereContinue reading “When Good Work Doesn’t Go To zIIP / zAAP Heaven”

(Originally posted 2007-05-08.) Occasioned by some recent enhancements to MXG I thought it high time I talked about a couple of Coupling Facility commands that DB2 Version 8 can take advantage of: (And thanks to Barry Merrill for the MXG information and the sample data I’m using here.) MXG Version 25.04, May 7, 2007 providesContinue reading “DB2 Data Sharing Performance and Coupling Facility Enhancements for DB2 Version 8”

(Originally posted 2007-05-08.) Thanks to Margaret Koppes of the European Patent Office for this picture of me and Glenn Anderson hard at work at the “main tent session” 🙂 in München:

(Originally posted 2007-05-02.) I’ve just submitted my three presentations for this great conference: Much Ado About CPU Memory Matters in 2007 DB2 Data Sharing Performance For Beginners UKCMG is – for me – a great chance to catch up with customers, vendors and others in the industry. Its prime focus is Performance – multiplatform inContinue reading “UKCMG Conference, June 25-27, Whittlebury Hall, Northants”

(Originally posted 2007-04-27.) Hmmm: IBM press release on the gameframe. I’d like to see a lot more detail on this before I go “whoopie!” but it does sound like an intriguing idea. It would be the first “specialty” engine to actually feature different hardware. Reminds of me of the 3090 Vector Facility but it’s reallyContinue reading “Gameframes”