Here we provide you with additional information that we wanted to share in between publications of our test reports. We also provide hints for getting the most out of using our Web site.
We've organized the information into the following categories:
- Coupling facility recovery
- IBM® z/OS® Regular to Large Volume Migration
- Encryption Facility
- Enterprise Key Manager Offering for Tape Encryption
- Internal Coupling Facility (ICF)
- Server Time Protocol (STP)
- Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)
- z/OS Communications Server
- Web site quick tips
- Our test reports and more...
- Working with the HTML version of our books
- Searching for information in our books
- Working with the Adobe® PDF version of our books
Coupling facility recovery
IBM® z/OS® Regular to Large Volume Migration
This paper, available at www.ibm.com/systems/storage/disk/ess/whitepapers.html, discusses the Consolidated Service Test team's experience with migrating data from various 3390 volumes to larger 3390 volumes. It provides information about techniques to migrate from a direct access storage device (DASD) with smaller source volumes to an Enterprise Storage Server® (ESS) device with Large Volume support and z/OS V1R10 DFSMS Extended Address Volumes support.
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 (PDF, 238KB) 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 (PDF, 822KB).
Enterprise Key Manager Offering for Tape Encryption
Enterprise Key Manager Offering for Tape Encryption (PDF, 238KB) 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.
Internal coupling facility (ICF)
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.
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 tip discusses our 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 the chapter, "Migrating to a Server Time Protocol Coordinated Timing Network", in our June 2008 test report.
Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)
Deploying a secure SOA solution into z/OS and mixed z/OS and AIX environments, found at http://www.ibm.com/support/techdocs/atsmastr.nsf/WebIndex/WP101300, describes the experiences that IBM test teams encountered while creating, deploying, and testing a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) solution using the IBM SOA suite of products on the z/OS platform and the z/OS platform in conjunction with distributed platforms.
z/OS Communications Server
Critical VTAM structure storage messages not highlighted if you use a PPO.
Web site quick tips
We hope you find the information we provide on this website to be useful. To get the most out of using our Web site, check out the tips in the following sections.
Our test reports and more...
Our home page always has the latest edition of our z/OS Parallel Sysplex Test Report readily available. However, we have earlier editions of our report available that also provide useful information, as well as our companion document, OS/390 Parallel Sysplex Recovery. Just click on Library on the left-side navigation bar on any of our pages to find all of our reports in all of their available formats. We provide an HTML version for viewing and searching online, and a PDF format for viewing, downloading, and printing.
Working with the HTML version of our books
Our HTML format is actually a BOOK format built by IBM BookManager BUILD and then converted to HTML using IBM BookServer. If you are familiar with using IBM BookManager READ to view the softcopy books on IBM collection kits, then viewing the HTML versions of those books here on the Web is very similar. You get the same search capability and you can print selected topics to your workstation printer. When you click on one of the HTML books on our library page and it opens, you'll see icons across the top of your screen. Depending on your browser, you might or might not see "flyover help" for the icons. If not, you can click the help icon on the far right to access the help information. The help information includes descriptions of all of the icons on the toolbar.
Searching for information in our books
As mentioned above, using the HTML versions of our books allows you to perform a search similar to the search capability provided by IBM BookManager READ. If you know exactly which edition of our test report you want to look in, you can open it and search it individually, using the search icon (the books are all listed separately on our Library page.)
If you are not sure which edition of our report has the information you want, you can search all editions, including our book on Parallel Sysplex recovery, at the same time by using our bookshelf. This bookshelf is much like the bookshelves that are on IBM's softcopy collection kits. You enter search criteria, and you get back a list of books that contain matches. You can then click on an individual book to open to a list of the matches in that book, and so on.
Working with the Adobe® PDF version of our books
The PDF versions of our books provide the capability of viewing and searching online, as well as printing, which is what you can do with the HTML versions also. So, what's the difference? Well, with PDF files, you view and print pages exactly as they were designed to format and print by the author. The onscreen display is optimized to match the printed page. So, when you print, "what you see is what you get." To view and print PDF files, you need the Adobe Acrobat® Reader, which is free and can be obtained from the Adobe Web site:
Once you have the Acrobat Reader installed, if you click on one of our PDF files, the Acrobat Reader automatically starts up and opens the book.
You can also use your browser's Save As... feature to download the PDF file to your workstation. You can then start the Acrobat Reader directly and work with your local copy of the PDF file.