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System z Platform Test

Our latest tips and experiences

Here we provide you with additional information that we wanted to share in between publications of our test reports.

We've organized the information into the following categories:

	Coupling facility recovery
	Encryption Facility
	Enterprise Key Manager Offering for Tape Encryption
	Internal Coupling Facility (ICF)
	Server Time Protocol (STP)
	z/OS Communications Server

Coupling facility recovery

INJERROR: Error injector tool for coupling facility structures

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Encryption Facility

The IBM Encryption Facility for z/OS, from here on out referred to as Encryption Facility, provides encryption and decryption processing of data for exchange between different systems and platforms and for archiving purposes. The Encryption Facility consists of the following optional features:

Encryption Facility Encryption Services for z/OS
Encryption Facility DFSMSdss Encryption

A licensed Java™ reference program called Encryption Facility for z/OS Client is also downloadable from the Worldwide Web.

We tested various Encryption Facility functions including the following scenarios:

Implementing and testing the new Tape Encryption offering which uses the enhanced 3592 Model E05 tape drive in conjunction with the new Encryption Key Manager software. See Enterprise Key Manager Offering for Tape Encryption for more information.
Using the Encryption Services, from an MVS dataset, encrypt data and place it in a tape dataset
Using the Encryption Services, decrypt data from a tape dataset and place it in an MVS dataset
Using the Encryption Facility for z/OS Client, decrypt data, originally from a tape dataset and place it in an MVS dataset.

All of the JCL and shell scripts for the above 3 scenarios can be found on our Samples website.

Additional information on the Encryption Facility can be found in IBM Encryption Facility for z/OS: User's Guide.

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Enterprise Key Manager Offering for Tape Encryption

Enterprise Key Manager Offering for Tape Encryption shows how z/OS Integration Test implemented and tested the new Tape Encryption offering which uses the enhanced 3592 Model E05 tape drive in conjunction with the new Encryption Key Manager software.

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Internal coupling facility (ICF)

	ICF recovery considerations for DB2 group buffer pool duplexing

	Dynamic ICF expansion tuning information from the Washington Systems Center (Flash W98028). Dynamic ICF expansion allows you to define a coupling facility partition to use a shared CP in combination with its dedicated ICF CPs when needed.

	We also have a short chapter about the ICF in our December 1998 test report, and additional information is in Coupling Facility Configuration Options: A Positioning Paper.

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Server Time Protocol (STP)

The Server Time Protocol (STP) feature is designed to provide the capability for multiple servers and Coupling Facilities to maintain time synchronization with each other, without requiring a Sysplex Timer.

This section discusses the IBM System z Integration Test team's experiences associated with migrating to Server Time Protocol (STP) in the Poughkeepsie Development Lab, including:

A brief overview of STP and its terminology
A high level overview of the z/OS Integration Test lab environment related to its timing topology
Planning considerations
Actual migration steps taken by the team to deploy STP in their data center.

All of this can be found in IBM System z Integration Test Experiences: Server Time Protocol Migration.

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z/OS Communications Server

Critical VTAM structure storage messages not highlighted if you use a PPO.

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