ISYS 4453/5453 –Introduction
to Enterprise Servers
Wednesday evenings– 5:30 to 8:20 PM
Hunt 220
What is the first thing that comes to
you mind for the word mainframe?
Common Challenges
System z is too expensive
 System z is legacy, stabilized and new
development should be on other platforms
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◦ Then, the z will eventually go away
I’m afraid if I use z I will have a “single
point of failure”
 The MF skills are all ready to retire—who
will support “anything” MF going forward?
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Myths that have to be overcome
?
Questions

In what decade was the first MF?
◦ What was its name?
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Last year, the world produced more transistors than grains of rice? t/f
What MF name was used for the first follow on MF from above?
By 2010, there will be more than 30 billion RFID tabs in circulation. t/f
What version of MF would used in the 90’s?
What is the major database used on MFs?
There are more than 1 billion camera phones in use today? t/f
What has been the most prevalent programming language on the MF?
What are “modern” languages being used on the MF?
Link1
Link2
Link3
Why take this course?

Jobs
◦ Know companies like Baldor, Data-Tronics, Dillards, JB Hunt, Walmart, etc.
◦ http://mainframejobs.zjournal.com/a/jbb/find-jobs
Additional computing platform that many students do not
have opportunity to learn
 Broading skillsets as System z becomes more open and
accessible
 Fast growing server—appears to continue as a major
computing platform
 RAS—Reliability, Accessibility, Scalability
 Did I say Jobs? Or did I say Jobs?
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Gartner’s platform positioning 4Q08 –
Platform Summary
Platform choice – Fit for purpose, workload and situation
Many factors influence a platform selection, making it difficult to present a simple selection matrix.
GDPS-The Ultimate Availability Solution
World-Wide Corporate Users
The expanding System z community
Recent Announcements
Recent Announcements
(cont)
Why are datacenters consolidating to
System z ?
Freedom vs. Manageability
System z clouds achieve operational efficiency
through economies of scale
Fractional Availability Improvements Are
Important
Where are IT Budgets being Spent?
The financial benefits of System z are
compelling
Linux on Z
Ft. Smith Company
Baldor
(cont)
A government organization consolidates
applications and data to drive down costs of
hardware, software and management by 70%!
Interesting facts about DB2 on z/OS
System z With DB2 Scales Further Than Best
HP Superdome Banking Benchmark, with Java
The Data Warehouse and BI Solution on System z
Advantages of Portal on z
New CICS 4.1 Information
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yuyz4zPMO8&feature=channel_page
Application Performance Characteristics – what
fits on which platform?
Workload performance varies by application and can be best served by different
platforms or the right mix of multiple platforms.
Teach the teachers…
System z Professor Summer Seminars
Faculty Spotlight in Mainframe Education
Reference Schools worldwide teaching System z
Global – Master the Mainframe Contest
Ocoee High School FL
Mainframe Masters
Course Goals

Be able to express the benefits of a mainframe including
◦ Z Series architectural concepts
◦ Consolidation and TCO advantages of this environment
◦ Major applications running on the mainframe as well as the type
of applications for which it makes sense to put on a mainframe
◦ The role of JCL for scheduling and batch processing
◦ How z/VM exploits virtualization and allows Linux to be run as a
virtual guest
◦ Know the value of Linux on the mainframe
Course Goals (cont)

System z skills under zOS
◦ Be able to navigate TSO/ISPF and RDz environments
◦ Be able to create partitioned datasets; edit, upload,
download files
◦ Be able to used selected utilities including IDCAMS
to create VSAM files
◦ Be able to run simple programs that utilize files and
JCL on the mainframe
Course Goals (cont)

Linux skills using the Integrated Facility for Linux.
◦ Be able to effectively work in the Linux environment
including RDz
◦ Be able to do essential system tasks
◦ Be able to work with files including creation, editing,
coping, etc.
◦ Be able to write basic Linux scripts
◦ Be able to create Web sites using LAMP (Linux,
Apache, mySQL, PHP)