Episode 5 "The Long Back from Munich"

Here are the show notes for Episode 5 "The Long Road Back From Munich".  The show is called "The Long Road Back From Munich" because we've both returned from a successful z Systems conference 2016 IBM z Systems Technical University, 13 - 17 June, Munich, Germany

Mainframe

Our "Mainframe" topic was Marna's conference observations:

  • IBM HTTP Server Powered by Apache: it seemed about 30-40% were impacted by the move from the Domiino to Apache server. More than hoped, but if you work on it while on z/OS R13 or V2.1, you'll be well-positioned for z/OS V2.2.
  • zEvent sessions: Martin and Marna both went to Harald Bender's zEvent session where he discussed using your mobile device (either Apple or Android) to receive timely information about events on your z/OS system. The handouts are here: zEvent and z/OS Console Messages to Your Mobile Device . This app was so easy to download and start using, Martin did just that during Harald's session!
  • z/OSMF: Marna was happy with the interest in z/OSMF, and with the z/OSMF V2.2 enhancements rolled back into z/OSMF V2.1 in PTFs from January 2016 PTF UI90034.There is no reason to delay using it. The z/OSMF lab for SDSF, however, had a problem as CEA had gotten its TRUSTED attribute removed somehow before Munich. After it was made TRUSTED (after the conference), everything was fine again. Goes to show how important the security settings are for z/OSMF!
  • z/OS V2.2: Good interest in the release. Happy to see so many people already running z/OS V2.
  • Secure electronic delivery: Since regular FTP for electronic delivery was removed on March 22, 2016, only secure delivery is available. No one at the conference said they were impacted, which was nice to see.

Performance

Our "Performance" topic was Martin's conference observations:

  • State Of SMT Instrumentation Knowledge: Simultaneous Multi Threading (SMT) metrics are not well understood at this point. Customer data from turning on SMF (for both zIIP and IFL) is starting to appear on Martin's desk. The good news is that the pickup on this function is fast.
  • His Presentations: Martin's sessions were nicely attended. Martin is continuing with his fun at looking at DDF, and "He Picks on CICS" might have more information to be added in the future.

The presentations can be found on Slideshare. 

Topics

In our "Topics" section we discussed various other conference observations:

  • Martin presented sessions from his iPad.: Although a lot of cables had to be carried around, it did work fine. He even used his Apple Pencil to mark on the slides during his presentations. So he might never lug a laptop to a conference again. Famous last words!
  • Conference poster sessions: What a success! Martin & Marna had a poster about...wait for it...this podcast. Martin was very busy talking to people who were interested in our poster. Marna also had a poster on using MyNotifications for New Function APAR notification:

Contacting Us

You can reach Marna on Twitter as mwalle and by email.

You can reach Martin on Twitter as martinpacker and by email.

Om Podcasten

Martin Packer (Principal z Systems Investigator) and Marna Walle (z/OS Development) are two IBMers talking about whatever z/OS topics come to mind.  Often guest experts weigh in on current technologies.  This podcast will give you timely, interesting, and entertaining z/OS topics.  Each episode comprises a “Mainframe” item, a “Performance” item, and “Topics” which is anything Martin or Marna care to talk about, which might or might not be related to their jobs.  So it goes…