July
In a July 15, 2010 presentation for Hillgang, the DC Vm and Linux Users' Group, Len Diegel offered a review of current trends and challenges across the IT industry, the impact of Cloud computing, and a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analyses that compares running Linux on commodity servers (x86) with other solutions including VMware, z/VM, and public virtual solutions.
From the Hillgang abstract:
When Linux on IBM System z Makes Sense (Cents)
The methodology and formulas used to develop the comparisons are included along with the results of recent migrations from Linux on x86 servers to Linux on IBM System z. The session concludes with real customer experiences and recommendations of proven products for capacity planning, identifying and resolving performance issues, and enablement tools for systems administrators and other IT professionals that make the job of administering Linux on z more doable; information that could mean the difference between a successful implementation or frustration and failure.
Len Diegel retired from IBM after more than 30 years that included efforts with S/360 through System z. He spent most of that time supporting VM –> z/VM product development, marketing, and sales efforts. His positions at IBM included managing a global team of highly skilled z/VM professionals focused on supporting IBM’s z/VM customers. That team was also responsible for researching and providing the initial business case for implementing Linux on IBM mainframes. Len has presented IBM’s strategy and direction on several occasions at SHARE, Guide/SHARE Europe, WAVV, and other IBM events. He was “knighted” by the SHARE organization for his efforts with VM in general. Len retired from IBM as Program Director of System z in 2001 to lead a division of Cornerstone Systems Inc.. He joined Velocity Software Inc. in 2009 as the company’s president and manages Velocity’s global business efforts.
October
These are presentations from the October 2010 meeting of the Hillgang, a Washington DC area mainframe user group. Some of the material in this section is provided courtesy other organizations, and posted here with permission of the copyright owners.
Full presentations are attached in PDF format.
Abstracts:
The GAO is directed by the needs of Congress to investigate, among other things, IT Security. In this role as the official watchdog for the American people the IT audit staff are routinely feared and loathed by the data center management and staff targeted for audit.
But through all of the grief and aggravation brought about by an IT audit the goal is quite simply to protect the assets of the USA. Everyone, corporate organizations and Federal Agency alike need this type of oversight and review.
Although the GAO has a primary focus on Federal Agencies the methods used are insightful for everyone, and the lessons learned over the past 10 years by the presenter will provide an interesting perspective on IT security. This action packed presentation will give you some of the basic knowledge to aid in the self-assessment of your own IT world.
IBM has issued a Statement of Direction describing its intent to permit multiple z/VM Systems to collaborate in a Single System Image cluster, and to allow a running guest to be moved from one member of a cluster to another with Live Guest Relocation. This presentation provides a preview of these enhancements.
The recently announced IBM zEnterprise System is a system of systems integrating System z along with other IBM system technologies. The key to this integration is the zEnterprise Unified Resource Manager. This presentation will cover the details of what needs to be done to a z/VM LPAR in order to participate in this new integrated management environment.
The zPDT offering provides a full suite of 64-bit mainframe level processing on Intel based platforms with very impressive performance. The first round of IBM availability has been for commercial application developers (ISVs) and IBM Rational mainframe licensees that use the mainframe for in-house development. The presentation will include some hands-on product demonstrations as well as an open discussion as to the general availability of the technology. Included in this session will be details behind a special program that is currently available to governmental agencies and the Armed Forces to use zPDT technology for application development, testing, training, and application demo activities.