In Flight Magazine

January 2004

We wish all our subscribers a Happy New Year for 2004 and what a year it looks like being.  On the financial front it is predicted that our dollar will fall markedly in relation to the US dollar, good news for exporters not such good news for everyone else (book your US holiday early this year). 

Interest rate increases and house price decreases will be blamed on property speculators who after attending one too many property conference with one too many glasses of chardonnay now have a glut of un-saleable beach front condominiums.

PC's will leap through another technology barrier with the introduction of the PCI-X chip sets and motherboards, this new standard will increase the bus bandwidth from PCI's 1Gb to PCI-X's 8Gb.  The chances are that the flash new PC you bought for the family at Christmas will be out of date by June.

So overall pretty much the same as the start to every other year.

In this issue

To good to be true

A diet after my own heart, eat all the red meat and cheese you want and miss out on the boring breads, pasta's and vegetables.  Great, I'd inadvertently been following this diet to the letter for years, well almost to the letter, I had added the personal codicil that one could also drink as much of anything as one felt appropriate.  Now if I was nagged to go on a diet I could righteously claim that I was indeed dieting.

And what happens, after years of strict dieting (never losing any weight mind you) all of a sudden the diet is null and void.  No, I had never read the book. No, I had never bought any of the products.  I had relied on 3rd hand folklore about the diet mostly from a relative who weighs in at a healthy 380 pounds, that's 172 kilos in real money.

Allegedly his doctor had insisted he go on the diet, and no, he didn't lose any weight either, but he was terribly enthusiastic about it.  He passed on his enthusiasm whilst frying a small flock of chickens in a large vat of lard for his lunch.  And who wouldn't be enthusiastic, no miniature portions of tasteless food that has the consistency of cardboard, no guilt about that bacon sandwich for supper, no publicly humiliating weigh ins. 

Ah well, maybe I'll buy myself a Segway and change the world instead.  

 

(courtesy of www.codehappy.com)

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Aperture Technologies
Aperture have released two new product ranges Vista and View, these products replace Apertures Data Centre Management and Facilities Management products.  While retaining the strong visual data repository features Aperture have strengthened the feature list and introduced workflow with the Facility Request Application and a Web Portal with the Visual Web Solution.

Aperture Facility Request Application
Aperture Facility Request™ is a web-based, self-service, work-process application for automating your facility request process including the request submission, approval, delegation and service delivery - keeping everyone informed along the way. It enables you to automate, analyse and ultimately establish best practices in facility service delivery for your organisation.

Aperture Visual Web Solution
Web-enable your existing Aperture solution with the latest portal technology to allow anyone with permission to access the information stored in Aperture. With the Visual Web Solution™, you can add Locators, Reports and Visualisers to your solution.

Reduced Costs
Due to stronger Australasian currencies and new Aperture pricing policies Aperture’s Vista and View products have never been more affordable. 

Overview
Solutions are currently focused on two primary areas of Business Infrastructure Management – Data Centre Infrastructure Management and Workplace Management.

Aperture customers benefit from these solutions through:

  • Lowered operating costs
  • Increased efficiency
  • Reduced disruptions in service
  • Improved utilisation of resources
  • Automation of manual processes
  • Proactive management of infrastructure assets
  • Reduced risks associated with changes
  • Visual presentation of information
  • Quicker and more accurate decision making processes

 

Aperture VISTA™
Aperture VISTA is a management system designed to provide the IT organisation with a clear view into the complex environment of the data centre. Aperture VISTA provides a structured process to manage the overall physical environment of the data centre, including equipment, space, power, environmentals and network connectivity. It helps organisations to better align the IT organisation with overall business objectives, deliver maximum value to customers and make better business decisions with a higher level of precision and clarity.

Aperture VISTA assists the IT organisation in fully documenting the configuration of the data centre physical infrastructure in a visual repository and integrating that repository with an automated process (change) manage system – all through a central Web portal. It enables organisations to provide the required availability by reducing the time to resolve problems and minimising the risks associated with change. Through the use of Aperture VISTA, organisations can achieve best practice processes to improve productivity, accuracy and ultimately operational efficiency.

Aperture VISTA Provides Direct Returns on Investment
Through the use of Aperture VISTA, organisations can achieve clear, direct improvements and cost savings within the IT environment.

Increase Operating Efficiency
Aperture VISTA provides a standardised, automated process to easily and efficiently capture and communicate changes within the data centre, coordinate the tasks required to provision and install equipment and notify those involved in the process with constant, up-to-date status information.

Improve Service Levels
The Aperture VISTA visual repository helps IT organisations relate assets to customers and deliver the predefined level of service required. In addition, through the use of automated equipment move, add, change processes, IT organisations benefit from a reduction in errors, added accountability and faster provisioning to improve “time to market.”

Reduce Risk
Aperture VISTA provides a disciplined engineering process to ensure every change to the infrastructure is documented and performed according to specification, minimising the possibility of future outages and downtime due to incorrect installation of devices.

Make Better Decisions
Aperture VISTA maintains a centralised, up-to-date repository containing a wealth of information regarding the operations and configuration of the data centre. The data can be used for capacity planning, troubleshooting, disaster recovery, planning changes and better management decision-making.

Reduce Disruptions
With Aperture VISTA, IT organisations can easily assess the impact of changes prior to implementation and conduct the necessary planning to minimise potential disruptions. When problems do arise, equipment can be quickly located to minimise downtime and reduce mean time to repair (MTTR).

Reduce Cost
Through detailed documentation in the Aperture VISTA visual repository, IT organisations conduct better asset management processes to eliminate unnecessary payments on unused equipment, better utilise the data centre space and infrastructure and accurately charge back for services provided. Streamlined, automated processes reduce rework due to errors in manual processes.

Aperture VIEW™
Aperture VIEW™ is a management system designed to transform the way organisations manage their workplace. Through the use of innovative Web technology, Aperture VIEW™ reduces costs and promotes higher service levels by enabling organisations to visually manage their space and occupancy and automate manual processes

Reduce Cost by Effectively Managing Space
Aperture VIEW™ provides a standardised method of tracking and managing space and occupancy throughout an enterprise. It improves efficiency by streamlining the processes of assigning space for employees, moving employees and releasing space. Employee location, department assignments and space use can be modified through web forms using a standard web browser and space chargeback reports and department occupancy drawings can be accessed over the Intranet.

Improve Operations by Delivering Key Information
With every change being captured and all information centralised, Aperture VIEW™ maintains a single, up-to-date repository as part of the process. This repository contains all information about the organisation’s space and occupancy and can be used for cost reduction, business continuity planning, planning and communicating changes, and management decision-making. The Aperture VIEW™ Visual Repository contains detailed drawings of all properties and office space.

Provide Better Service while Reducing Cost
With Aperture VIEW™, organisations will always know their current space utilisation and the available space for future growth. It will help workplace, property management and facility management organisations to avoid unnecessary costs and optimise their space. It improves operational efficiency through better communication and coordination of plans and changes.

Mycroft Systems provide a full range of services for Aperture products throughout Australasia; which range from a completely outsourced solution to ad hoc consultancy, hardware and 24 x 7 support.  Find out more about Aperture solutions at www.aperture.com or email callumm@mycroft.com.au to arrange a demonstration.

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Z Journal

 

The z/Journal is an independent magazine dedicated to the users of IBM’s zSeries and S/390 systems.  z/Journal strives to present articles that will not only help you improve productivity in your shop, but also inform you of the latest developments in the mainframe world.

 z/Journal is a bi-monthly publication published in Dallas, Texas by Bob Thomas.  Mycroft Systems receive a limited number of each publication to distribute to our customers in Australasia.  We still have a few copies which need a good home, so if you would like a regular complimentary copy of this magazine please email me at colinw@mycroft.com.au and you will be added to the distribution list.

 Have a browse of the z/Journal web site at www.zjournal.com.

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The whingeing Pom in America
 
Oo! A whole new country to whinge about - a Pom's dream come true.  We've been in the USA for 6 months now (Asheville, North Carolina to be precise) and there's a whinge on every corner.  Where to start?  Well, the Americans are a bit touchy about their hallowed institutions, such as Hollywood, so I will start with, predictably enough, Hollywood.  The land of overpaid sycophants and women who have no idea how to dress themselves.  (I watched the Golden Globes a few nights ago and decided that the Globes in question are those that the dresses try to reveal as much of as possible.  The only person there who looked as if he had dressed himself was Peter Jackson).
My main whinge about Hollywood is the impression they like to give of the country.  Go on, think of the USA as seen on the goggle box and at the cinema.  What do you see?  Skyscrapers and people stepping over corpses in the street as cars screech round back-alleys with the drivers shooting at each other until one of them hits a rubbish bin and explodes.  Pretty much describes Asheville to perfection - we've got buildings towering nearly 20 storeys high and you do have to pick your way over the bodies on the pavements, especially outside Barleys Brewhouse on a Saturday night.  The USA clearly doesn't have a Minister of Tourism (or if there is one, they should be sacked) but instead employs Hollywood to put people off coming here.  OK, you've seen the scenery in the movies - the Grand Canyon (with or without crashing planes), the Rockies (ditto the planes) but what about the beautiful Smoky Mountains where we live?  If you want to see what Asheville looks like, go and see Cold Mountain which is set here.  It was filmed in Roumania.

 

Cheers - John Mycroft
johnm@cobbsmill.com
www.cobbsmill.com

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Last Editions Competition Results

 Congratulations to Mike Hall from IBM St. Leonards who won the previous competition with a stupendous 19 words from ‘Mycroft’ and who correctly answered the two questions;

 Which company invented Ethernet.  Answer : Xerox

 Complete the following series of letters O U E U I A.  Answer : U as the first vowel in Sunday.

 Unfortunately Mike is a teetotaller, so we drank the wine and sent him some lovely pictorial guides to New Zealand (by request).

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Dump Detective

Dump Detective is a full function, interactive, source-level dump analyser for CICS programmers.  It aids the testing and maintenance of CICS applications by speeding up problem resolutions, diagnostic information pinpoints the cause of the problem.

Dump Detective is an easy to use cost effective tool which has been produced by software professionals with years of procedural debugging experience.  The product is constantly being refined and improved and is fully compatible with TRACK and XRAY products.

Dump Detective improves programmer efficiency solving production errors and intermittent errors swiftly.  Programmers may have dumps held for later access.

Dump Detectives source processor captures the compile and link data into its own source repository that may contain multiple versions of the compile listing for each program.  Dumps are captured and stored in a file for analysis and display.

Once captured a dump can be chosen from the Dump Detective directory via a selection key.  When a dump is first accessed there is logic that (1)identifies where the problem occurred. (2) searches for the correct version of the program. (3) produces diagnosis information.  If the source code is available Dump Detective will display the source at the point of failure with the abend reason and the contents of the relevant data fields.  In the example of a COBOL program, data field contents can be displayed from the working storage or procedure division display.  If source is unavailable, the current instruction is displayed together with the general purpose registers.

Although Dump Detective provides information to point the programmer in a particular direction to solve a problem, the programmer also has the flexibility to access all the information relevant to the problem to assist in resolving complex issues.

Dump Detective stores and keeps track of dumps and program information together with the date and time of the error.  The dump index displays in chronological order all this information along with reason the dump occurred.

When a dump is selected for analysis an abend detail display automatically shows the situation at the time the dump occurred.  The system also provides a 'dump contents' display to show what is contained in the dump and permit programs.

Within the dump the contents of working storage, general storage areas, Bll cells and registers may be displayed.  CICS areas such as EIB, TWA, CWA, TCT and others may also be displayed.  There is a facility to display group data items in COBOL which handles all data types and arrays at all levels with horizontal and vertical scrolling.

The CICS trace table may be viewed via a formatted display, each user may personalise their Dump Detective session settings and full function indexed help is available using the PF keys.

Trial Dump Detective in your environment by contacting steveb@mycroft.co.nz. 

 

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 This Editions Competition

For this edition we have written a crossword to tease your grey matter out of the summer recesses coma like state. Rather than force an unwanted prize on the winner we will let the winner choose their own prize (within strict financial boundaries).

 

Clues

 Across

  1. Sherlock Holmes’s cleverer brother.
  1. With a cross, kingly power makes.
  1. On the radius.
  2. Missing the target without reason perhaps.
  1. Binding on a shoelace.
  2. Fruity appointments.
  1. Leave the handle behind.
  2. A participant in a combination.
  1. Manufactured.
  2. Find that gold.
  3. Not before.
  4. A different form again.
  1. If a male must.
  1. Diminutive business.
  2. Sitting in exam scores.
  3. Inner substance.

 

Down

  1. Household with hopes for three.
  2. Stake not barbequed.
  3. Provocative look.
  4. Bracing support is tabled.
  5. Leave it out mate.
  6. Can be less than you agreed on.
  1. Safety Fibre.
  2. Adjective suffix (well it got complicated)
  1. Restraint is the best policy.
  1. Acquire stored information.
  2. Guard progeny.
  3. Keep it quiet.
  1. Briefly a ductile alkali element.
  2. Serving papers by a short soldier.
  3. Sylvan farm animals combined.
  4. Brief argument.

 

 

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The winning entry will be deemed to be the first received reply where all the answers correspond to the answers selected by Mycroft Systems Australasia Ltd.  Mycroft's decision will be absolute and final.  Mycroft Systems will not enter into any correspondence regarding their choice of winner or their choice of answers to the competition.  Entries should be emailed to callumm@mycroft.com.au. The winning entry will receive a prize of their choice valued at up to AU$200.00 plus GST.

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The Jokes

Q: How can you tell it's midnight at an American airport?

A: When you see the 8:00 PM flights taking off

 

Legal Quotes

Recently reported in the Massachusetts Bar Association Lawyers Journal, the following are questions actually asked of witnesses by attorneys during trials.

1. "Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until the next morning?"

2. "The youngest son, the twenty-year old, how old is he?"

3. "Were you present when your picture was taken?"

4. "Were you alone or by yourself?"

5. "Was it you or your younger brother who was killed in the war?"

6. "Did he kill you?"

7. "How far apart were the vehicles at the time of the collision?"

8. "You were there until the time you left, is that true?"

9. "How many times have you committed suicide.

 

George Bush

George Bush and his driver were cruising along a country road one evening
when a pig ran in front of the car. The driver tried to avoid it but
couldn't.

The pig was killed.

The President told his driver to go up to the farmhouse and explain to the
owners what happened. About an hour later the driver staggers back to
the car with his clothes in total disarray. He was holding a bottle of wine
in one hand, a cigar in the other and smiling happily.

"What happened?" asked the President.

"Well," the driver replied "the Farmer gave me the wine, his wife gave me
the cigar, and their beautiful daughter made mad passionate love to me."

"My God, what did you tell them?" asked the President.

The driver replied: "I'm George Bush's driver, and I just killed the pig." 

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BIM-VSAM/Easy

BIM-VSAM/Easy, hereafter just VSAM/Easy, is an easy to use, general purpose VSAM I/O interface utility designed to simplify and standardize access to VSAM files. VSAM/Easy provides full VSAM access from programs written in many fourth generation languages (4GL) such as NATURAL and Focus. VSAM/Easy also provides a more powerful, easier and more efficient way of accessing VSAM from programs written in third generation languages such as COBOL and PL/I.

  • VSAM/Easy is a standardized VSAM interface. VSAM/Easy simplifies and standardizes VSAM access procedures for all languages, provides consistent VSAM access across applications and processing environments, and reduces VSAM training requirements for your programming staff.
  • VSAM expertise is no longer required in order to access VSAM files! VSAM/Easy is based on the premise that VSAM users should be able to use VSAM without extensive VSAM training.
  • VSAM/Easy increases VSAM functionality. VSAM/Easy adds additional VSAM commands and functions to programs accessing VSAM while simplifying VSAM coding.
  • VSAM/Easy improves programmer VSAM productivity. VSAM/Easy permits programmers to easily access VSAM files from any program written in any language, (including COBOL, PL/I, NATURAL, and Assembler and most 4GL's).
  • VSAM/Easy enhances your programmers' VSAM proficiency. VSAM/Easy reduces the frequency of VSAM programming errors, simplifies VSAM request processing and provides consistent VSAM error code analysis and handling. VSAM/Easy ensures that correct VSAM command protocol is implemented.
  • VSAM/Easy makes COBOL and PL/I easier to use. VSAM/Easy manages all the complexities involved with accessing VSAM files. Inexperienced and proficient programmers alike are freed from considering most technical aspects of using VSAM. Programmers need to know fewer commands and handle fewer errors when they access their VSAM files with VSAM/Easy.
  • VSAM/Easy makes VSAM access more efficient. Benchmarks against native COBOL have demonstrated that VSAM/Easy executes VSAM I/Os as much as 63% faster than performing the same I/Os under COBOL.

The 4GL Connection

VSAM/Easy allows 4GL users to read and write VSAM files.

Many fourth generation languages (4GL) will only read VSAM. Only a few will allow users to both read and write VSAM. Over 100 users of Software AG's fourth generation language (NATURAL) have used VSAM/Easy to access VSAM files with full power and exceptional reliability. Users can bring all the power and productivity of their 4GL programming language to the VSAM world, making VSAM a full partner to their Data Base Management System (DBMS).

The VSAM/Easy and 4GL partnership optimizes development efforts by:

  • Requiring only one programming language for all application development and increasing programmer productivity by 10:1 over COBOL and PL/I;
  • Coupling the productivity of your 4GL with the efficiency of VSAM and permitting users to quickly satisfy report requests and requests for VSAM information;
  • Accessing VSAM and DBMS files at the same time in the same program, eliminating the need to maintain redundant copies of VSAM files in your DBMS;
  • Delaying (or avoiding altogether) unneeded conversion of VSAM files to DBMS, allowing users to easily handle VSAM files that they don't wish to migrate to the DBMS.

The COBOL Connection

VSAM/Easy makes COBOL easier to use.

In addition to providing VSAM access from languages that do not have native access to VSAM, VSAM/Easy also provides easy VSAM access from languages that do have native access to VSAM such as COBOL and PL/I.
 
VSAM/Easy makes VSAM access easier and more flexible in COBOL and PL/I programs.
VSAM/Easy offers an extremely simple syntax and standard Assembler calls. COBOL and PL/I users no longer have to concern themselves with complex VSAM protocol or with knowing anything VSAM.
 
In addition to being simpler to use, VSAM/Easy allows users to perform operations that are either difficult in COBOL or totally impossible. Some of these functions include: automatic loading to empty files, backward browsing in the middle of a file, reset to empty on the fly, automatic retrieval of record lengths for variable length records and enqueue/dequeue.

VSAM/Easy makes COBOL/VSAM access more efficient.

VSAM/Easy makes COBOL/VSAM access faster and more efficient. Benchmarks have shown that accessing VSAM through VSAM/Easy from COBOL programs is much faster than using native COBOL code.
 
The following table shows the results of a recent benchmark. The benchmark consisted of updating 20,000 records to a KSDS VSAM file containing 25,000 master records, and adding 400 records to the same file. The results showed a five percent improvement in CPU usage when updating, and a sixty-three percent improvement when adding records.
  VSAM/Easy font> COBOL Reduction
Update Transactionsfont 40.52 secondsfont 42.23 seconds - 5.0%
Add Transactions 2.67 seconds 7.19 seconds - 63.0%

VSAM Access Options

VSAM/Easy provides a common interface into your VSAM files, whether that access originates within CICS, TSO, COM-PLETE or from any concurrently executing program(s) written in any language and running online or in batch mode.
 
Online Access
Application programs access VSAM files through a standard program CALL with associated parameter values. All programming languages that can call Assembler sub-routines are supported.
VSAM/Easy can access VSAM data in the following online environments.
  1. CICS Application Program Calls.
  2. TSO Application Program Calls.
  3. COM-PLETE Application Program Calls.
  4.  
Batch Access
VSAM/Easy supports VSAM access for batch environments. All programming languages that can call assembler sub-routines are supported. The batch facilities provide easy access to VSAM files from any program written in any language and executed in a batch mode. Batch programs access VSAM files through a standard program CALL with associated parameter values.

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Contacts

We do try very hard to keep our mailing list up to date and accurate, if you do not want to receive any future copies or if you would like a copy or any further information then please email info@mycroft.co.nz and your request will be processed faster than a speeding bullet.

Mycroft Systems Australasia can be contacted at;

Australia

MSL Prop. Ltd.
Level 11, 580 St. Kilda Road
Melbourne 3004

Tel : +61 3 9526 3657
Fax : +61 3 9525 2343
info@mycroft.com.au
 

New Zealand

MSL Australasia Ltd.
PO Box 15-569
New Lynn
Auckland

Tel : +64 9 828 1900
Fax : +64 9 828 6900
Info@mycroft.co.nz

Or if you would like to wake up the owners at any time call;

Callum +64 21 422 480
Colin   +64 21 422 580
 

DISCLAIMER
Whilst every effort has been made to accurately represent software applications accurately on this site, no responsibility is accepted by the publishers for misleading or inaccurate information.

Any views expressed in this document are the authors alone.

 

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