BMC AMI Ops: The Next Generation of Mainframe Systems Management

Assuring the performance of your mainframe systems and applications is an imposing task that keeps getting more complex all the time. It makes sense to arm your IT performance analysts, DBAs, and systems programmers with modern tools so you can optimize performance and thereby deliver superior service to your customers.

Of course, BMC MainView has helped IT professionals manage the performance of their mainframe systems and applications for years. But there are new challenges facing modern organizations that require adaptation and transformation.

Organizations are transforming to become autonomous digital enterprises (ADE). This means that things are getting more complex because availability requirements are expanding (many times requiring 24/7 availability), but IT pros are expected to resolve problems rapidly even as workloads become more unpredictable and IT staff has less experience. These challenges are real and require attention.

And that is why BMC is transforming its MainView product line into BMC AMI Ops!

With BMC AMI Ops you can experience next-level mainframe operational resiliency, AI-powered observability, an intuitive user interface with embedded expertise, actionable insights, and enterprise platform interoperability.

How is BMC AMI Ops engineered to help? Well, it is built for digital business with the understanding that being reactive is not sufficient these days. BMC AMI Ops provides a complete, modular solution with central administration and management.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques are being embraced by an increasing number of organizations for improving their business, so it only stands to reason that your IT operations and support functions should be looking to improve their capabilities using AI and ML, too. And BMC AMI Ops helps you to do that because it is infused with AI/ML-powered analytics to find and fix problems before business services are impacted. With BMC AMI Ops you can improve performance and availability by taking advantage of its built-in intelligent automation and remediation features.

And the user interface is brand new, engineered to support ease of use, to facilitate information instead of raw data, and to guide the user experience. BMC AMI Ops delivers a custom dashboard approach where you can group widgets together for related logical systems or business areas. And you get “out of the box” health indicators for each of the widgets you deploy, meaning it takes less time to be productive right away. Furthermore, a guided path is provided so the user can drill down into additional details as needed. If you are interested in seeing more details on the new user experience for BMC AMI Ops, chick out this blog post from Shay Alsberg (BMC AMI Ops: Evolving the MainView User Experience).

And not to fear, for those of you experienced mainframe pros who not only know how to drive ISPF panels but prefer it, BMC AMI Ops can still be accessed using character-based panels.

The bottom line is that BMC AMI Ops is designed for modern businesses and IT, as they embrace digital transformation to become autonomous digital enterprises, enabling them to deliver a simplified yet customizable systems management experience for optimizing your system and application performance. That’s BMC AMI Ops in a nutshell… and it is worth looking into how BMC AMI Ops can help you to improve the performance of your systems and applications.

Automation and the Future of Modern Db2 Data Management

Recently I was invited by BMC Software to participate in their AMI Z Talk podcast series to talk about modern data management for Db2... and I was happy to accept.

Anne Hoelscher, Director of R+D for BMC's Db2 solutions, and I spent about 30 minutes discussing modern data management, the need for intelligent automation, DevOps, the cloud, and how organizations can achieve greater availability, resiliency, and agility managing their mainframe Db2 environment.

Here's a link to the podcast that you can play right here in the blog!

BMC AMI Z Talk · Episode 7: Automation and the Future of Modern Db2 Data Management

Modern data management, to me, means flexibility, adaptability, and working in an integrated way with a team. Today’s data professionals have to move faster and more nimbly than ever before. This has given rise to agile development and DevOps - and, as such, modern DBAs participate in development teams. And DBA tasks and procedures are integrated into the DevOps pipeline. 

And as all of this DevOps adoption is happening, the amount of data we store, and have to manage, continues to grow faster than ever before.

These are just some of the challenges that Anne and I discuss in this podcast... and at the end, Anne even asks me to predict the future... 

I hope you'll take the time to listen to our discussion and sharing your thoughts and issues regarding the resiliency and agility required to succeed with modern data management and Db2 for z/OS.

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I’d also like to extend an offer to all the listeners of this BMC podcast (and readers of this blog post) to get a discount on my latest book, A Guide to Db2 Performance for Application Developers. The link is https://tinyurl.com/craigdb2

There’s also a link to the book publisher on home page of my website. Once you are there, click on the link/banner for the book and when you order from the publisher you can use the discount code 10percent to get 10% off your order of the print or ebook.

 

BMC AMI for DevOps Intelligently Integrates Db2 for z/OS Schema Changes

Organizations of all types and sizes have adopted a DevOps approach to building applications because it effectively implements small and frequent code changes using agile development techniques. This approach can significantly improve the time to value for application development. The DevOps approach is quite mature on distributed platforms, but it is also gaining traction on the mainframe.

As mainframe development teams begin to rely on DevOps practices more extensively, the need arises to incorporate Db2 for z/OS database changes. This capacity has been lacking until recently, requiring manual intervention by the DBA team to analyze and approve schema changes. This, of course, slows things down, the exact opposite of the desired impact of DevOps. But now BMC has introduced a new solution that brings automated Db2 schema changes to DevOps, namely BMC AMI for DevOps.

BMC AMI for DevOps is designed to integrate into the DevOps tooling that your developers are already using. It integrates with the Jenkins Pipeline tool suite to provide an automated method of receiving, analyzing, and implementing Db2 schema changes as part of an application update.

By integrating with your application orchestration tools AMI for DevOps can capture the necessary database changes required to move from test to production. But it does not just apply these changes; it enforces and ensures best practices using built-in intelligence and automated communication between development and database administration.

The ability to enforce best practices is driven by BMC’s Automated Mainframe Intelligence (AMI), which is policy driven. The AMI capability builds much of the DBA oversight for schema changes into the DevOps pipeline, enforcing database design best practices as you go instead of requiring in-depth manual DBA oversight.

Incorporating a database design advisory capability into the process offloads manual, error-prone tasks to the computer. This integrated automation enables automatic evaluation of Db2 database schema change requests to streamline the DBA approval process and remove the manual processes that inhibit continuous delivery of application functionality.

Furthermore, consider that intelligent database administration functionality can be used to help alleviate the loss of expertise resulting from an aging, retiring workforce. This is a significant challenge for many organizations in the mainframe world.

But let’s not forget the developers. The goal of adopting a DevOps approach on the mainframe is to speed up application development, but at the same time it is important that we do not forgo the safeguards built into mainframe development and operations. So you need a streamlined DevOps process—powered by intelligent automation—in which application developers do not have to wait around for DBA reviews and responses. A self-service model with built-in communication and intelligence such as provided by AMI for DevOps delivers this capability.

The Bottom Line

BMC AMI for DevOps helps you to bring DevOps to the mainframe by integrating Db2 for z/OS schema changes into established and existing DevOps orchestration processes. This means you can use BMC AMI for DevOps to deliver the speed of development required by agile techniques used for modern application delivery without abandoning the safeguards required by DBAs to assure the accuracy of the database changes for assuring availability and reliability of the production system. And developers gain more self-service capability for Db2 schema changes using a well-defined pipeline process.

Time for the IDUG North American Db2 Tech Conference 2019

It is hard to believe that May is almost over already and that means that the 2019 IDUG North American Db2 Tech Conference is right round the courner! This year’s event is being held in beautiful Charlotte, NC the week of June 2-6, 2019. That is a little bit later than normal, but I think that is a good thing as it should be nice and warm in North Carolina in June!

I hope you’ve already made your plans to be there, but if you haven’t there’s still time to get your manager’s approval, make you travel plans, and be where all the Db2 folks will be the first week of June.

If you’ve ever attended an IDUG conference before then you know why I’m excited. IDUG offers a world of phenomenal educational opportunities delivered by IBM developers, vendor experts, users, and consultants from all over the world. There will be a slew of informative technical sessions on all of the latest and greatest Db2 technologies and features. The 2019 event offers more educational opportunities and training than ever before, including:

·                     Five days of educational sessions

·                     Half and full-day workshops

·                     Over 100 one-hour technical sessions

·                     Two expert panels on z/OS and LUW

If you have any doubts whether there will be something worthwhile for you there just take a look at this packed agenda! For me, one of the highlights of the conference is always the Db2 for z/OS Spotlight session. It will be delivered right after the keynote on day one by Jeff Josten, Maureen Townsend, and John Campbell. I always learn something new about what is going on with my favorite DBMS at this spotlight session.

What Am I Up to at IDUG?

As usual, I will be busy at this year’s IDUG. I will be arriving in Charlotte the Saturday before the conference to participate in some pre-conference meetings. On Saturday I’ll be meeting up with the other IBM Gold Consultants to hear from IBM and, of course, to catch up with my consultant friends. Then on Sunday I’ll be participating in Db2 customer meetings that IBM conducts to share upcoming “things” and to get feedback.

The first time you will probably get a chance to see me this year will be at the opening keynote, where I’ll be chatting on a panel about DevOps, impact on database administration and operations, and its importance moving forward.

I also will be delivering two sessions this year. My conference session is on Tuesday, June 4, at 8:00 AM (Session E05) titled Coding Db2 for Performance: By the Book. This session is based on my latest book and it is aimed at application developers. The general idea is to give an overview of the things that you can do as you design and code your Db2 programs (for z/OS or LUW) with performance in mind. All too often performance is an afterthought – and that can be quite expensive. Nail down the basics by attending this session!

I’m also delivering a vendor-sponsored presentation (or VSP) for Infotel, also on June 4^th but later, at 10:40 AM. This presentation, titled Improving Db2 Application Quality for Optimizing Performance and Controlling Costs. My portion of the presentation focuses on the impact of DevOps on database; it will be followed up by Carlos Almeida of Infotel, who will talk about how their SQL quality assurance solutions can aid the DevOps process for Db2 development.

And let's not forget the exhibit hall (aka Solutions Center) where vendors present and demo their products that can help you manage Db2 more effectively. It is a good place to learn about new technology solutions for Db2, but also to hang out and meet with IBMers, consultants, and your peers.

Additionally, this year I'll be spending some time in the booth with some of my favorite Db2 vendors.

	On the first day of the Solutions Center, Monday, I'll be at the BMC Software booth supporting a new DevOps-related Db2 for z/OS offering they are delivering. Be sure to stop by the BMC booth to hear about it and ask me what I think about it… and, of course, talk with BMC folks about your favorite Db2 products and see what’s new with BMC and Db2!

On the second day of the exhibition hall, Tuesday, I'll be at the Infotel booth, but only for an hour at lunchtime. So if you have any questions we didn’t answer in the VSP, you can ask us at the Infotel booth. Be sure to stop by and say hello, take a look at Infotel’s SQL quality assurance solutions for Db2 for z/OS, and register to win one of 2 of my Db2 application performance  books that will be raffled off. If you win, be sure to get me to sign your copy!

That is a lot for one week, but there is more.

Just Look at All That IDUG Has to Offer!

You can go to full-day education sessions on Sunday June 2^nd (at an additional cost – but only $250). These sessions are typically chockful of useful information that you can take home and apply to your Db2 environment. And this year there are sessions teaching how to get certified as a DBA for either z/OS or LUW or as a SYSADMIN, SQL PL best practices, and Db2 for beginners.

You can also attend one or more of the 8 different Hands-On Labs (with hands-on training led by IBM). There are hands on labs focused on diagnosing performance problems, Machine Learning for z/OS, DevOps, Mobile, Cloud and more.

There are also two different half-day workshops on June 6^th – you can choose either Db2 12 for z/OS Migration Planning Workshop or Hands-on Machine Learning Bootcamp.

And don’t forget to attend one of the Special Interest Groups where you can discuss the latest industry trends and topics with other interested technicians. This year’s SIGs span the spectrum from big data to cloud to continuous delivery to IDAA and even AI.

Be sure to download the mobile app for the conference to help you navigate all the opportunities available to you! Armed with the mobile app you’ll get daily intel on what’s happening at the conference.

Justifying Your Attendance

Finally, if you need any help justifying your attendance at this year’s IDUG event, just use this justification letter as your template to create an iron-clad rationale for your boss.

The Bottom Line

The IDUG Db2 Tech Conference is the place to be to learn all about Db2 from IBMers, gold consultants, IBM champions, end users, ISVs, and more. With all of this great stuff going on this year in Charlotte, why wouldn't you want to be there!?!?

BMC and the Mainframe: An Ongoing Partnership

No, the mainframe is not dead… far from it. And BMC Software continues to be there with innovative tools to help you manage, optimize, and deploy your mainframe applications and systems.

BMC, Db2 for z/OS, and Next Generation Technology

One place that BMC continues to innovate is in the realm of Db2 for z/OS utilities. Not just by extending what they have done in the past, but by starting fresh and rethinking the current requirements in terms of the modern IT landscape encompassing big data and digital transformation requirements.

Think about it. If you were going to build high-speed, online utilities for Db2 today, would you build them based on technology from the 1980s? For those of us who have been around since the beginning it is sometimes hard to believe that Db2 for z/OS was first released for GA back in 1983! That means that Db2 is 35 years old this year. And so are the old utility programs for loading, backing up, reorganizing and recovering Db2 data. Sure, they’ve been updated and improved over the years, but they are built on the same core technology as they were “back in the day.”

BMC High Speed Utilities with Next Generation Technology are modern data management solutions for Db2 with a centralized, intelligent architecture designed specifically to handle the complex problems facing IT today. They were engineered from the ground up with an understanding of today’s data management challenges, such as large amounts of data, structured and unstructured data, and 24/7 requirements. Through intelligent policy-driven automation, BMC’s NGT utilities for Db2 can help you to manage growing amounts of data with ease while providing full application availability.

The NGT utilities require no sorting. Think about that. A Reorg that does not have to sort the data can dramatically reduce CPU and disk usage. And that makes it possible for larger database objects to be processed with a fraction of the resources that would otherwise be required.

Furthermore, BMC is keeping up with the latest and greatest features and functionality from IBM for z/OS and Db2. Using BMC’s utilities for Db2 you can implement IBM’s Pervasive Encryption capabilities with confidence because BMC’s database utilities for DB2 (and IMS) support pervasive encryption.

With NGT utilities for Db2 you can automate your environment like never before. Wouldn’t you like to free up valuable DBA time from rote tasks like generating JCL and coding complex, arcane utility scripts? That way your DBAs can focus on more timely, critical tasks like supporting development, optimization, and assuring data integrity.

Customers report that NGT utilities have helped them to:

•         run Reorgs that otherwise would have failed altogether or taken too much time,
•         reduce CPU and elapsed time,
•         eliminate downtime,
•         lower DASD consumption by eliminating external SORT, and
•         simplify their Db2 utility processing.

By deploying BMC Db2 NGT utilities you can stay current and utilize Db2 to the extremes often required by current business processes and projects.

There’s more…

Although there is always that lingering meme that the mainframe is dying, it really isn’t even close to reality. Last quarter (July 2018), IBM’s earning were fueled by mainframe sales more than anything else. So the mainframe is alive and well and so is BMC!

BMC understands that a changing world demands innovation… the company is actively developing tools that serve the thriving mainframe ecosystem, not just for Db2 for z/OS. Tools that build on BMC’s long mainframe heritage, but are designed to address today’s IT needs. For example, BMC’s MLC cost reduction solutions focus on one of the mainframe world’s biggest current requirements: making the mainframe more cost-effective.

BMC also offers a complete suite of management and optimization tools for IMS, which still runs some of the most important and performance-sensitive business workloads out there! Their Mainview performance management solutions and Control-M scheduling and automation solutions are stalwarts in the industry. Not even to mention that BMC has partnered with CorreLog to strengthen mainframe security capabilities.

Summary

BMC is active in the mainframe world, with new and innovative solutions to help you get the most out of your zSystems. It makes sense for organizations looking to optimize their mainframe usage to take a look at what BMC can offer.

BMC and CA: Impending Nuptials?

Have you heard the one about BMC Software acquiring CA, Inc.? 

At first glance, to those of us who have been in the business for awhile, that sentence may look odd? Those two have been slugging it out in the mainframe software world for decades now. And to be fair, not just the mainframe world, but also in the distributed world.

But the chatter is out there that this could happen. Read this Reuters article or this Bloomberg article or this one from the Register. 

The general idea is that BMC and its financial backers are working on a deal to take CA private and combine it with BMC. This would indeed be interesting.

The two companies have competing solutions across the board in many areas, which would make the combination challenging... at least in terms of customer satisfaction. First, the new combined entity (BMCA?) would have to identify all of the competing software products (both companies probably already know this, so no big deal). The next steps are the troubling ones. For each case where there are competing offerings they would have to choose to support both (costly in the long run and not sustainable), choose one to sunset (probably making existing customers not very happy), or combine the best of both products (technologically difficult and I know of no concrete examples where this happened successfully post-acquisition). So there is that to deal with.

Nevertheless, a combined BMC and CA would be a very powerful systems software vendor. But it would come into existence when a lot of software offerings are moving into the cloud. This will be on most analyst's lips if this "merger" moves forward. But it is not a big concern to me as there are still a lot of organizations that rely on systems software (from both BMC and CA) that are not going to move it all to the cloud any time soon.

From a DB2 perspective, the two companies have competing products (and solutions) across all the major categories (fast DB2 utilities, performance management, change management, backup/recovery, and catalog visibility). So if this acquisition happens, it is likely that a whole suite of DB2 for z/OS tooling (that has been "out there" for decades) gets completely eliminated. I'd bet on most of the BMC stuff surviving… not just because BMC would be the "acquirer" but because BMC has been paying more attention to their DB2 product line (lately) than CA. Nevertheless, it’d be sad to see some of the old Platinum stuff retired (e.g. Detector).

The DB2 tools are one component, but not the biggest. Think job scheduling and workload automation, for example. CA has the CA7 and AutoSys product lines for mainframe and distributed; BMC has Control-M. What happens to consolidate these products is anybody's guess?

Two areas without a lot of cross over in the two companies portfolios are help desk and release management. CA probably covets BMC’s help desk (Remedy) and BMC probably covets CA’s software release management (Endevor). But the whole DevOps revolution is impacting the ongoing viability of products like Endevor. Now that is not to say that the market for such tools will disappear overnight, but...

At any rate, I think the hassle would be tremendous for customers as the combined company tries to rationalize its product portfolio. If it goes the traditional BMC route it keeps both sets of products at least for some time; the CA route it lets all products sort of die by attrition over time. The best case scenario would that that a ruthless product-customer-focused view be deployed so that winners in each category are determined with a reasonable conversion plan for customers to switch to whatever wins. I’d be surprised if that happened because in my experience “reason” rarely prevails with an acquisition.

Also, and this is not a minor concern, I’m not sure that this would pass the regulatory anti-trust requirements, but who knows?

I would think that discounting would not be as great in a post-acquisition market because prospects will no longer be able to play one vendor against another. IBM could become more of a viable choice for competing system management software.

What do you think? Should BMC and CA combine together? How would it impact your company if they did?