The Scoop on z/OS v1.8

Earlier this year IBM announced details of the next version of z/OS and z/OS.e - Version 1.8. It seems to me that the hallmark of this new version is availability. There will be new features that enable more granular options for fast replication of data and improved recoverability options in a sysplex. And logical support for up to 4 terabytes of real storage that can be exploited by a single LPAR or z/OS image is a big availability improvement.

What else? Well there are a lot of improvements being offering in z/OS V1.8. For example, it provides improved XML support with XML System Services. It offers the ability to parse and process XML documents. And RACF will support pass phrases - or passwords over 8 characters. And the Unicode 4.0 standard is supported. Of course, these are just a few of the improvements.

But why am I writing about this now? Well, v1.8 is planned for general availability in September 2006 - so it can't hurt to do some up-front planning now in order to be prepared to move to the new version of the operating system in a couple of months.

For those looking for some additional information, there is an interesting article in IBM Systems Magazine called z/OS v.1.8: More of the Same, and That's a Good Thing by Jim Schesvold that offers a quick synopsis of the z/OS and z/OS.e V1.8 announcement.

A New Online DB2 Community

Just a quick posting today to inform my readers of a new, online DB2 community that I stumbled across while surfing the web. It is called DB2 Noise and it is an independent community -- meaning it is not affiliated with IBM or any other IT vendor.

The site, at http://www.db2noise.com/main/, is designed to provide DB2 professionals a meeting place to help others, learn and encourage the effective use and development of the DB2 product range.

Check it out when you get a chance.

IBM Announces Their CMDB

IBM announced that their Change and Configuration Management Database (CCMDB) will be shipped on June 30, 2006 -- along with additional process management tools. The IBM CCMDB is billed as a command center for the automatic discovery of IT information on servers, applications, storage and network devices and software across an enterprise. To hear more about IBM's news read this Q+A with Al Zollar, general manager for Tivoli Software at IBM, conducted by Computerworld.

Why is this interesting? Well, for one, it seems like IBM has a good handle on the actual problem, linking it to master data management. And IBM's system software is typically top notch. But to take it up a few levels, why should anyone truly adopy CMDB? Well, according to a recent article Network World (CMDB adoption: What some numbers tell us and why) the CMDB is at the heart of change and configuration management, service assurance, and problem and incident management initiatives.

These are important initiatives because many organizations do not know what assets they have deployed, so they are over- and under-buying these assets. This, of course, results in inefficiencies -- either too much IT spend or ineffective IT. And the bugaboo of missed SLAs should always be top of mind. And implementing a CCMDB promises to help alleviate these problems. And this is goodness...

Mainframe Availability

Sometimes those of us who work with mainframes can start to take them for granted. But today's mainframes offer many great features and capabilities for delivering extremely high availability. To that end, I just wanted to point my readers to a nicely written article that details the availability features of z/OS.

I Lied! One More IDUG Blog

OK, so yesterday I said that I wasn't going to post another blog entry from IDUG, but I guess that was a lie because here I am posting another entry. But not to fear, this will be a short one.

I just finished my final presentation (the one on NULLs) and I'm sitting in an empty hallway as I type this. And, I have to say, this has been a very productive IDUG.

Anyway, I know that my blogs on IDUG this week have been brief, but that is because IDUG is a very busy week for me (as it is for most of the attendees, I suppose). If you are looking for more in-depth coverage of IDUG, I suggest you check out IDUG's Official Conference Blog. There is a LOT of great stuff (as well as pictures) posted there.

Also, if you are interested in another perspective on IDUG, click on over to Willie Favero's DB2 Blog for Willie's insights on the week.

Cheers!