Oracle question

2006-06-30 Thread McKown, John
Not exactly the right forum, but I'll ask the question and then
forgiveness.

How well does the current release of Oracle's RDMS run on z/OS 1.6? In
two main areas. First, how reliable / robust is it? Second, it is
reasonably efficient?

>From what I understand, we have a "site license" which allows us to run
Oracle on every CPU in our datacenter. We are currently 100% VSAM for
all our "databases". We in Tech Services, at least, would like to
install Oracle on our z890 (capacity 250). If for no other reason than
to learn and "be ready". I would also like to learn a bit about it.

I will be honest and say that I would prefer DB2. But that is not a
possibility. If we get any RDMS on z/OS, it __will__ be Oracle. Mainly
due to: (1) that site license; (2) we have Oracle DBAs and no DB2 DBAs.

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John McKown
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HealthMarkets
Keeping the Promise of Affordable Coverage
Administrative Services Group
Information Technology

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Re: Oracle question

2005-12-06 Thread Timothy Sipples
>We run Oracle on z/OS here but i haven't come across a VSAM Transparency
>option. i had a quick look in Oracle Metalink and someone had asked a
>similar question and the answer was 
>"Oracle's SQL*Loader will load MVS VSAM data directly into Oracle tables.
>However we do not offer a "VSAM Transparency" feature like you describe 
at
>this time." This was dated December 2004.

GREAT question.

I'm assuming that you want to put VSAM data into a relational database 
(Oracle, specifically) but you have an ample investment in applications 
(batch, online, whatever) that expect to be dealing with VSAM datasets and 
are programmed as such.  I'm further assuming that you want to move those 
data into a relational database in order to address some new requirement 
(such as more 24x7-oriented online access or perhaps the ability to 
perform ad hoc queries via JDBC/ODBC interfaces, or both). And I'm 
assuming you don't have DB2 and wouldn't be interested in moving to DB2, 
at least for the VSAM data -- though that would certainly solve the 
problem.

I'm not sure there is a VSAM Transparency for Oracle either, but you might 
want to contact your friendly IBM Representative to see if they'd take a 
product requirement to expand the scope of VSAM Transparency.  Always 
helps to say you'd purchase VSAM Transparency if IBM added that feature.

That said, if I'm correct about the underlying business problems, you 
don't necessarily have to move those data into Oracle for z/OS. (Or vice 
versa.) You might be able to address the 24x7 requirement by taking a look 
at some combination of transactional VSAM and/or selective refactoring of 
your applications, preferably into good I/O modules if you can. MQ is 
another tool that might help, because sometimes you find you can queue up 
work and deliver something like 24x7 online access (from a business 
perspective) while you have a selective outage due to VSAM reorg. There 
are also circumstances in which you can move data back and forth between 
VSAM and Oracle via MQ. (Theoretically, basically, if the two were in 
perfect sync all the time you could keep everyone happy, but that's a 
whole separate and maybe long discussion.)

The JDBC/ODBC access to VSAM data is easy. One way to do it is WebSphere 
Information Integrator Classic Federation, which is kind of the mirror 
opposite of what VSAM Transparency does.  VSAM Transparency makes a 
relational database look like VSAM.  Classic Federation makes VSAM look 
like a relational database.  In fact, Classic Federation might also let 
you include Oracle in a single federated query (or update), giving you 
"one view" of multiple datasets for ad hoc queries, reporting, etc.  (I'd 
have to double check whether Classic Fed supports Oracle -- I know it 
supports lots of different databases.)

Hope that helps!

- - - - -
Timothy F. Sipples
Consulting Enterprise Software Architect
IBM Americas zSeries/z9 Software
Phone: +1 312 529 1612
E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

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Re: Oracle question

2005-12-05 Thread Ross Biddulph
We run Oracle on z/OS here but i haven't come across a VSAM Transparency
option. i had a quick look in Oracle Metalink and someone had asked a
similar question and the answer was 

"Oracle's SQL*Loader will load MVS VSAM data directly into Oracle tables.
However we do not offer a "VSAM Transparency" feature like you describe at
this time." This was dated December 2004.

thanks ... ross

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Re: Oracle question

2005-12-02 Thread John S. Giltner, Jr.

McKown, John wrote:

Sorry if this is the wrong forum, but I had a simple Oracle question. Is
there a "VSAM Transparency" function for Oracle like there is for DB2
and CA-DATACOM/DB? That is, a VSAM program that can access an Oracle
database without rewriting.

We are supposedly going to put Oracle on z/OS. The reason is
complicated, but we basically ended up with an Oracle Enterprise License
which means that putting Oracle on the zSeries would be "free". At least
according to what I have been told.



What out, the last time we got something for "free", it turned out to be 
mighty expensive when it came time to renew the maintenance on the 
"free" product.  As it turned out they just waved the purchase price, 
but the people who they were talking to did not realize that.  Luckily 
we had only spent about 6 months implementing it and only a few things 
in production actually used it, so it was a fairly simple back out.


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Re: Oracle question

2005-12-02 Thread Ed Finnell
 
In a message dated 12/2/2005 11:22:31 A.M. Central Standard Time,  
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:

which  means that putting Oracle on the zSeries would be "free". At  least
according to what I have been told.




>>
Processor upgrades included?

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Oracle question

2005-12-02 Thread McKown, John
Sorry if this is the wrong forum, but I had a simple Oracle question. Is
there a "VSAM Transparency" function for Oracle like there is for DB2
and CA-DATACOM/DB? That is, a VSAM program that can access an Oracle
database without rewriting.

We are supposedly going to put Oracle on z/OS. The reason is
complicated, but we basically ended up with an Oracle Enterprise License
which means that putting Oracle on the zSeries would be "free". At least
according to what I have been told.

--
John McKown
Senior Systems Programmer
UICI Insurance Center
Information Technology

This message (including any attachments) contains confidential
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content is protected by law.  If you are not the intended recipient, you
should delete this message and are hereby notified that any disclosure,
copying, or distribution of this transmission, or taking any action
based on it, is strictly prohibited.
 

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