Re: Fed-Up With IBM Support!
I feel your pain! I too remember those days and have had many of the experiences in recent history. Some time ago I forgot my password to ShopzSeries and tried to find some way to reset for a new password. After looking all over the website I found nothing. Eventually I tried to call and ended up with someonemore than once with redirected phone numbers..that obviously had limited command of English and scripted troubleshooting procedures. Repeated attempts to explain what I wanted was total frustration and I ended up just hanging up. No ShopzSeries that day! I finally called my local rep and asked if he could solve the mystery. The answer was.go to the Resource Link web page and do it there! Now, why didn't I think of that!?! There was no hintno clue. Dave From: Michael Coffin michaelcof...@mccci.com To: IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU Date: 10/27/2009 11:32 AM Subject: Fed-Up With IBM Support! Sent by: The IBM z/VM Operating System IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU VENT You know what, I recall a day when IBMLINK ran on 3270 terminals and when you entered search criteria on a problem you'd ONLY get VALID responses for your OS and problem (not 3,000,000 keyword hits 99.99% of them having NOTHING to do with your OS or your problem!). I recall a day when you would call IBM Software Support at 1-800-237-5511 (burned into my memory from over 20 years of calling), immediately connect to KNOWLEDGABLE professionals who could quickly help you identify if your problem was known/existing or open a new problem report, and this was all done in clear, easily understood English! Now we have IBMLink 2000, ServiceLink, Passport/Advantage, ShopzSeries, etc. etc. etc. etc. Each of which seems to require its own userid/password combination, and none of which is simple or easy to use! I have spent the past TWO HOURS trying to open a software support ticket using IBM.com, and am now going to GIVE UP and use the phone the old fashioned way. 1. I sign in to IBMLINK 2000 using my userid and password. 2. I searched for any records associated with my existing problem (TCPIP abending, FWIW) - no recent hits. 3. I tried to open a Service Request. That takes you to a screen where you have to enter your IBM ID and password, which is not your IBMLINK ID and password. 4. I call the IBMLINK Help Desk at 1-800-543-3912 to figure out WHAT IBM ID it is asking for. They take my name and phone number and tell me someone will call you back. I guess it would be TOO efficient to let me talk to someone immediately! 5. Someone from IBM (IBMLINK Help Desk) calls me back. We walk through the exact same process I went through above until I am asked for my IBM ID again. He looks it up and tells me what it is. I enter THAT id and password only to have the website come back and tell me I'm not authorized to do anything (even though I am the ONLY registered user on this account!). I ask him to fix the account. He tells me I need to call the Software Support Help Desk at 1-800-426-7378, options 2-2. 6. I call the Software Support Help Desk using the options provided. We very quickly discover this is NOT the right number to call for problems with Passport/Advantage. It's the software defect support numbe (e.g. what formerly was on 800-237-5511). The IBM'er gives me that phone number. 7. I call IBM Passport/Advantage Help Desk at 1-800-978-2246. I describe my problem to the IBMer. He tells me IBM Passport/Advantage does not provide Help over the phone and that I must go to www.ibm.com/software/support to get the problem with my Passport/Advantage account authorizations straightened out. 8. I go to www.ibm.com/software/support - this is not a web page to request Passport/Advantage support! It's yet another search page! The only reference to Passport/Advantage on this page is under Buying and managing support, which is basically a page to convince you to buy Passport/Advantage!!! I give up! For crying out loud IBM, can't you have a SINGLE sign-on for a customer to be able to access ALL of the services/entitlements that they've paid for? Why do I need an IBMLINK id/pw, an IBM (presumably Passport/Advantage - although that's NOT what I'm prompted to enter!) id/pw, a ShopzSeries id/pw! And when all of these accounts get out of synch, how about ONE support phone number with ONE knowledgable professional who can RESOLVE the problem FULLY, instead of bouncing customers around from phone number to phone number, ultimately being directed to a web page that doesn't exist! Geez!!! Sorry folks, I just had to vent. !!! /VENT -Mike
Re: LDAP changes in z/VM 5.4 and Redhat z/Linux
What everyone else said. Look at z/VM Version 5 Release 4 Extending virtualization technology leadership for System z for a little more of an explanation. Martin, Terry R. (CMS/CTR) (CTR) terry.mar...@cms.hhs.gov Sent by: The IBM z/VM Operating System IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU 01/28/2009 01:12 PM Please respond to The IBM z/VM Operating System IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU To IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU cc Subject LDAP changes in z/VM 5.4 and Redhat z/Linux Hi Currently we are using LDAP on our z/Linux Red Hat 4.6 which is running on a z/VM 5.3 system to do our authentication. One of our z/OS folks said they saw somewhere that under z/VM 5.4 that you could no longer use LDAP on z/Linux to authenticate, that it would need to be done at the z/VM level. Is this true? Thank You, Terry Martin Lockheed Martin - Information Technology z/OS z/VM Systems - Performance and Tuning Cell - 443 632-4191 Work - 410 786-0386 terry.ma...@cms.hhs.gov
Re: z/VM 5.3 and PAV
Thanks for the reply Bill. Unfortunately, any numbers I have now are not any indication of where we will be. We have been in the early stages of development of our first application of Linux on z/VM for the last two years and I have yet to get the project folks to give me much in the way of what workload to expect. I anticipated combining some of the 3390-3 dedicated to specific filesystems to a M9 just to make the servers more manageable. Other than that we were looking at the possibility of needing PAV on M27 volumes that will have DB2 database. The numbers we were given when fully implemented was that the DB would be accessable to 30k+ users. Bill Bitner [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent by: The IBM z/VM Operating System IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU 07/03/2008 04:51 PM Please respond to The IBM z/VM Operating System IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU To IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU cc Subject Re: z/VM 5.3 and PAV Are you concerned you'll need PAV as you consolidate current volumes? or as you grow current workloads? If the former, I'd suggest looking at some statistics like I/O rate per GB of disk storage. For example if you are doing 15 I/Os a second on a 2.7GB disk, that's 5.6 I/Os/GB. If you are then going to configure your new volumes as 24GB volumes then on average you'd have 134.4 I/Os per second for the volumes. Ask your vendor about whether that would be significant enough to warrant PAV. It's been my experience that most VM shops do not need PAV for large number of volumes in the same way as they do in z/OS shops. If you do need PAV, a couple sources of additional information include: http://www.vm.ibm.com/storman/pav/index.html http://www.vm.ibm.com/devpages/farman/WAVVPAV.PDF http://www.vm.ibm.com/perf/reports/zvm/html/530hpav.html http://www.vm.ibm.com/perf/reports/zvm/html/520pav.html Bill Bitner
z/VM 5.3 and PAV
We are currently running a single z/VM 5.3 (701) system on Hitachi 7700E disk, set up as 3390-3, connected to a z9BC via ESCON. This has worked well, but the limited disk storage has kept us from growing past the 15 RH Linux guests. We are in the process of installing a new Hitachi USP V that will give us the storage capability to use some M9 and M27 for some of the new servers that are planned. With those volume sizes I am anticipating that we will need to utilize PAV for some applications. We don't have any prior experience or knowledge other than what the manuals tell us. Everything I have found on the subject so far has been pretty generic. We were looking at Hyper-PAV or possibly dynamic. Will dynamic PAV work for z/VM 5.3? Can anyone share any experiences or their particular application? (Volumes? Minidisks? Particular applications i.e. DB2, etc?) Appreciate any and all input. Dave
Re: z/VM 5.3 and PAV
Appreciate all of the responses so far. The Hitachi UPS V is relatively new on the market and was not ordered with any PAV in the initial buy. Yesit will be FICON attached and serve two z/OS LPARs along with a z/VM system with two IFLs. I have read the z/VM 5.3 enhancement notes talking about Hyper-PAV support. I just couldn't find anythingor anyone.that talked about dynamic PAV. I did find a paper that talked about how to do dynamic PAV with 5.1 or 5.2, but it looked real messy. The 5.3 CP Planning and Admin book outlines PAV pretty well, but seems to be generic as far as which type of PAV is being discussed. We would obviously like to do Hyper over anything else for all of the obvious work intensive reasons. I don't really have any way to test whether we are going to have I/O queueing problems since we can only do 3390-3 right now. The UPS V is still in install process and the planned servers after that. Trying to think logically, by running larger volumes with ..for example...a DB2 database on a M9 or M27 accessible to 30k+ users might be a problem without PAV. We would like to do it up front instead of catch up later.
Re: Performance toolkit under zVM 5.3...Looking to see a snap shot of CPU utilization and Storage Utilization
A lot to look at on the screens, but option #1 CPU load and trans. and option #2 Storage utilization on the PERFSVM green screen should tell you most of what you need to know to give you some idea. Hamilton, Brian [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent by: The IBM z/VM Operating System IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU 06/24/2008 02:30 PM Please respond to The IBM z/VM Operating System IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU To IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU cc Subject Performance toolkit under zVM 5.3...Looking to see a snap shot of CPU utilization and Storage Utilization Hi, Looking to find some where on one of the performance toolkit screen something that will show me the overall CPU utilization and Storage utilization. We are trying to determine if another IFL is needed or more real storage on the box. Thanks Brian
Re: Maints 500 disk.
Exactly what the install directions tell me after downloading the z/VM 5.3 703 EDS to my workstation. It is specifically offering up the Maint 500 disk as the target for uploading to the z/VM host. Bill Munson [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent by: The IBM z/VM Operating System IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU 06/05/2008 12:36 PM Please respond to The IBM z/VM Operating System IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU To IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU cc Subject Re: Maints 500 disk. Howard, Probably starting with Version 5 it has been an mdisk to receive electronic service Bill Munson VM System Programmer 201-418-7588 President MVMUA http://www2.marist.edu/~mvmua/ Howard Rifkind [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent by: The IBM z/VM Operating System IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU 06/05/2008 12:03 PM Please respond to The IBM z/VM Operating System IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU To IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU cc Subject Maints 500 disk. Saw a Maint 500 mindisk of 600 cylinders. Anyone know who this minidisk belongs to? Thanks. _ LEGAL NOTICE Unless expressly stated otherwise, this message is confidential and may be privileged. It is intended for the addressee(s) only. Access to this E-mail by anyone else is unauthorized. If you are not an addressee, any disclosure or copying of the contents of this E-mail or any action taken (or not taken) in reliance on it is unauthorized and may be unlawful. If you are not an addressee, please inform the sender immediately, then delete this message and empty from your trash. *** IMPORTANT NOTE* The opinions expressed in this message and/or any attachments are those of the author and not necessarily those of Brown Brothers Harriman Co., its subsidiaries and affiliates (BBH). There is no guarantee that this message is either private or confidential, and it may have been altered by unauthorized sources without your or our knowledge. Nothing in the message is capable or intended to create any legally binding obligations on either party and it is not intended to provide legal advice. BBH accepts no responsibility for loss or damage from its use, including damage from virus.
Re: Getting Console Logs Files to z/OS from z/VM
Please send it my way..thanks! Lionel B. Dyck [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent by: The IBM z/VM Operating System IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU 05/27/2008 10:18 AM Please respond to The IBM z/VM Operating System IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU To IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU cc Subject Re: Getting Console Logs Files to z/OS from z/VM Hi - we don't have RSCS or TCPNJE so our solution was to build an exec that extracts the files from the spool, wraps iebgener jcl around it, and then ftp's to z/OS where the job runs and the output is then picked up for archiving by CA-View (aka SAR). I'd be willing to share this if anyone is interested Lionel B. Dyck, Consultant/Specialist Enterprise Platform Services, Mainframe Engineering KP-IT Enterprise Engineering 925-926-5332 (8-473-5332) | E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] AIM: lbdyck | Yahoo IM: lbdyck Kaiser Service Credo: Our cause is health. Our passion is service. We're here to make lives better. I never guess. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle NOTICE TO RECIPIENT: If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are prohibited from sharing, copying, or otherwise using or disclosing its contents. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and permanently delete this e-mail and any attachments without reading, forwarding or saving them. Thank you.
Re: Backing up and restoring zVM 5.2 using IBM's DSS backup utility under zOS 1.7/1.9
We do the same type of backup. Right now it works well for us just because we can afford to bring down the z/VM system once a month for full volume dumps. The Linux servers are backed up nightly using Tivoli. All this may change in the future. Hamilton, Brian [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent by: The IBM z/VM Operating System IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU 02/19/2008 12:19 PM Please respond to The IBM z/VM Operating System IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU To IBMVM@LISTSERV.UARK.EDU cc Subject Backing up and restoring zVM 5.2 using IBM's DSS backup utility under zOS 1.7/1.9 Is anyone using DSS to backup their VM system under zOS and have you been successful in restoring and IPL?ing ? Sample of the DSS backup statements were using, DUMP TRACKS(0,0,3338,14) INDDNAME(DASD) OUTDDNAME(TAPE) ADMIN - CPVOLUME CANCELERROR Thanks Brian
