zEC12: What’s in it for DB2 pros?

IBM recently announced the zEnterprise EC12 (zEC12), an enterprise system that provides cloud computing capabilities. Here's a nice overview, and here's Willie Favero dissecting the name.

The day of the zEC12 announcement, the IBM Redbook team released a draft titled, “IBM zEnterprise EC12 Technical Introduction."

I mention this publication because it cites three new features that I believe will improve DB2 processing. 

The first is the introduction of 2 GB page frames. This support means that the page size limit of 1 MB that's available in DB2 10 has grown by 2,048 times. IBM has this statement of direction:

• IBM plans for future maintenance roll-ups of 31- and 64-bit IBM SDK7 for z/OS Java to provide exploitation of new IBM zEnterprise EC12 features, including: Flash Express and pageable large pages, Transactional Execution Facility, Miscellaneous-Instruction-Extension Facility, and 2 GB pages.
• Beyond the existing DB2 support for zEC12, DB2 plans further enhancements designed to improve performance in two ways: 1) using pageable large (1 MB) pages and Flash Express and 2) enabling support of 2 GB pages

The second new feature is improved DB2 I/O response time based on changes to MIDAW and FICON channels. For more, see IBM Redpaper, “How does the MIDAW Facility Improve the Performance of FICON Channels Using DB2 and other workloads?”

The final new feature involves improvements in Java execution on z/OS. Java is planned to exploit a significant set of the new instructions available in zEC12. Here's IBM statement of direction on this:

"IBM SDK7 for z/OS Java is available for use by IBM middleware products running Java, such as IBM IMS 12, IBM DB2 10 for z/OS, and the Liberty profile of IBM WebSphere Application Server for z/OS v8.5 and is planned for use by a future release of CICS Transaction Server for z/OS."

IBM's intent to provide future maintance roll-ups of 31- and 64-bit SDK7 for z/OS Java (detailed above) also applies here.

I look forward to learning more about Flash Express, pageable large pages and the other new capabilities to come.

So is your company moving to zEC12? What's driving the decision for your upgrade?

Getting Started with SSL

If you're a DB2 systems programmer who must configure DB2 to support secure client communication through SSL, or if you're a developer who needs to configure your application to use SSL, be sure to check out IBM's recently published Redpaper: "DB2 10 for z/OS: Configuring SSL for Secure-Client Communications."

I frequently recommend IBM Redbooks publications on this blog. I love them. I've worked in many small shops over the years, and when you're in that role, having to wear as many hats as you do, it's tough to become an expert in any one area. That's why I've always appreciated Redbooks. They've helped me with install DB2 for z/OS and configure many different DB2 components. I find the publications valuable because they explain the subject and provide sample JCL and scripts.

For this particular Redpaper (a Redpaper is a shorter technical document that's published on the Web only), you'll appreciate the overview with pictures in the first chapter. It's a good starting point for anyone who's unfamilar with SSL and TCP/IP AT-TLS. The next few chapters discuss how to configure SSL for the DB2 10 server as well as the DB2 10 requester.

Then it's time to examine what it takes to get your application to work with SSL. One technique involves using the IBM Data Server Drive for JDBC and SQLJ to enable a Java application to connect to DB2 using SSL. You don't use Java? You want to use SSL to connect your DB2 for LUW (Linux, UNIX, Windows) application to DB2 for z/OS? Read on. The next few chapters introduce the IBM Global Security Kit (GSKit) and DB2 Connect server for LUW (Linux, UNIX, Windows). The final chapter covers providing client access to DB2 using digital certificates.

By the way, SSL is a relatively new capability, having been introduced with DB2 9 for z/OS. So plenty of folks have little or no experience with it. If you've configured DB2 or your application to take advantage of SSL, please share your experience in Comments.