(Forwarding an off-list response back to the List)
Patrick makes a very good point about the impact on software licensing when
moving from multiple CECs to a single large one. In our old configuration,
we had two pairs of medium-sized CECs. Because of the work distribution,
most software had to be licensed on every CEC.
In our new configuration, most software is licensed only on the hefty z10.
Next to that machine is a small one that *in no way* functions as a backup
or failover for its big bro. My SHARE pitch does not use the term 'penalty
box', but that's how we referred to the small CEC during our planning.
Besides supplying a second set of ICF LPARs, the penalty box runs several
key 'enterprise utility' products that need to run somewhere but not
necessarily on the same CEC as data hosts: job scheduler, VTAM session
manager, sysout manager, etc. These products tend to be expensive and
MIPS-priced. They live very nicely on a small CEC, which can easily be
sysplexed with LPARs on the big box.
After all was said and done, we saved money with the new configuration
without extracting any big concessions from software vendors. My point is
that it's time to revisit long-held views about how to configure and manage
your mainframe environment. Before the z10, we never seriously considered
doing this.
.
.
JO.Skip Robinson
Southern California Edison Company
Electric Dragon Team Paddler
SHARE MVS Program Co-Manager
626-302-7535 Office
323-715-0595 Mobile
jo.skip.robin...@sce.com
----- Forwarded by J O Skip Robinson/SCE/EIX on 03/23/2009 02:39 PM -----
"Mullen, Patrick"
<patrick.mul...@g
wl.ca> To
jo.skip.robin...@sce.com
03/23/2009 08:43 cc
AM
Subject
RE: How Many Mainframes Do You
Need?
Agreed, but sadly there are still some software vendors that charge for
the entire machine even when their product only runs on an lpar
consuming 2% of that machine.
<snip>
-----Original Message-----
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:ibm-m...@bama.ua.edu] On
Behalf Of Skip Robinson
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2009 10:23 AM
To: IBM-MAIN@bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: How Many Mainframes Do You Need?
The thrust of my z10 User Experience segment in Austin is that it's time
to
rethink the 'classic' mainframe configuration. Insistence on multiple
CECs
to provide 'adjacent' failover in case of planned or unplanned outages
leads to chronic problems of load balancing. A single machine that (1)
you
can trust and (2) can be extensively reconfigured without a POR,
immediately solves the balancing problems while still promising stellar
availability. The z10 is such a machine.
http://ew.share.org/client_files/callpapers/attach/SHARE_in_Austin/S2839
SR192048.pdf
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