Mainframe Basics Training

What is a Mainframe?
 A highly secured computer system designed to continuously run large, mixed workloads at high levels of utilization while
meeting the user-defined service level objectives
Factors contributing to mainframe use

 Reliability
 Availability
 Serviceability
 Security
 Scalability
 Compatibility
 Evolving architecture
 Environmental friendliness
Mainframe workloads

 Batch Processing
 Online Transaction Processing
Mainframe workloads – Batch processing

 Batch processing is the execution of jobs on the mainframe system without user interaction
 Characteristics
 Large amounts of input data are processed and stored and a large volume of output is produced
 Immediate response time is usually not a requirement
 Information is generated about large number of users or data entities
 A scheduled batch process can consist of the execution of hundreds or thousands of jobs in a pre-established
sequence
 Mainframe operating systems are typically equipped with sophisticated job scheduling software that allows data center
staff to submit, manage and track the execution and output of batch jobs
Mainframe workloads – Batch processing
1. At night, numerous batch jobs running programs and utilities are
processed. These jobs consolidate the results of the online transactions
that take place during the day.
2. The batch jobs generate reports of business statistics.
3. Backups of critical files/databases are made before/after batch window.
4. Reports with business statistics are sent to a specific area for analysis the
next day.
5. Reports with exceptions are sent to the branch offices.
6. Monthly account balance reports are generated and sent to all bank
customers.
7. Reports with processing summaries are sent to the partner credit card
company.
8. A credit card transaction report is received from the partner company.
9. In the production control department, the operations area is monitoring
the messages on the system console and the execution of the jobs.
10. Jobs and transactions are reading or updating databases and many files
are written to the tape.
Mainframe workloads – Online transaction processing

 Transaction processing that occurs interactively with the user is referred to as online transaction processing (OLTP)
 Transaction systems are often mission-critical applications that businesses depend on for their core functions
 Transaction systems must be able to support an unpredictable number of concurrent users and transaction types
 Main characteristics of a transaction system is that the interactions between the user and the system are short
 Examples of few industry uses of mainframe-based online systems include:
 Banks: ATMs, teller systems for customer service and online financial systems
 Insurance: Agent systems for policy management and claims processing
 Travel and Transport: Airline reservation systems
 Manufacturing: Inventory control and production scheduling
 Government: Tax processing
Mainframe workloads – Online transaction processing

 Characteristics
 Small amount of input data, a few stored records accessed and processed, and a small amount of data as output
 Immediate response time, usually less than one second
 A large number of users involved in large numbers of transactions
 Round-the-clock availability of the transactional interface to the user
 Assurance of security for transactions and user data
Mainframe workloads – Online transaction processing
1. A customer uses an ATM which presents a user-friendly
interface for various functions: withdrawal, deposit,
transfer, query balance, etc.
2. Elsewhere, in the same private network, a bank
employee in a branch office performs operations, such
as consulting, working with applications, etc.
3. At the bank’s central office, business analysts tune
transactions for improved performance. Other staff use
specialized online systems for inventory control work.
4. All requests are directed to the mainframe computer
for processing
5. Programs running on the mainframe computer perform
updates and inquiries to the database management
system
6. Specialized disk storage systems store the database files
z/OS

 z/OS is mainframe operating system designed to offer

a stable, secure, continuously available and scalable
environment for applications running on the
mainframe
 z/OS operating system is designed to make full use of
the latest IBM mainframe hardware and its many
sophisticated peripheral devices as represented in a
simplified view to the right
 z/OS operating system executes in a processor and
resides in processor storage during execution. z/OS is
commonly referred to as the system software or base
control program (BCP).
 z/OS is capable of multi-programming and multi-
processing
z/OS – Multiprogramming and Multiprocessing

 Multiprogramming
 Multiprogramming is the ability to execute multiple programs concurrently
 With multiprogramming, when a job cannot use the processor, the system can suspend or interrupt the job freeing
the processor to work on another job
 z/OS makes multiprogramming possible by capturing and saving all the relevant information about the interrupted
program before allowing another program to execute. When the interrupted program is ready to begin executing
again, it can resume execution just where it left off.
 Multiprocessing
 Multiprocessing is the simultaneous operation of two or more processors that share the various hardware
resources such as memory and external disk storage devices
Physical Storage

 Central Storage
 Physical storage located on the mainframe processor itself. This memory is often called as processor storage, real
storage or central storage
 Central storage is accessed synchronously with the processor, that is, the processor must wait while data is
retrieved from central storage
 Auxiliary Storage
 Physical storage external to the mainframe including storage on direct access devices such as disk drives and tape
drives. This storage is called auxiliary storage
 Auxiliary storage is accessed asynchronously. The processor accesses auxiliary storage through an input/output
(I/O) request, which is scheduled to run amid other work requests in the system. During an I/O request, the
processor is free to execute other, unrelated work.
Virtual Storage

 z/OS uses both types of physical storage (central and auxiliary) to enable another kind of storage called virtual storage
 Virtual storage means that each running program can assume it has access to all of the storage defined by the
architecture’s addressing scheme
 z/OS supports a 64-bit addressing scheme, which allows an address space to address, theoretically, up to 16 exabytes of
storage locations, but in reality the mainframe will have much less central storage installed
 To allow each user to act as though this much storage really exists in the computer system, z/OS keeps only the active
portions of each program in central storage. It keeps the rest of the code and data in files called page data sets on
auxiliary storage
 z/OS uses a series of tables and indexes to relate locations on auxiliary storage to locations in central storage. It uses
special bit settings to keep track of the identity and authority of each user or program
 The range of virtual addresses that the operating system assigns to a user or a program is called an address space
TSO (Time Sharing Option)

 TSO is an interactive time sharing environment

that allows users to create an interactive session
with the z/OS
 TSO provides a single-user logon capability and a
basic command prompt interface to z/OS
 In a z/OS system, each user is granted a user ID
and a password authorized for TSO logon
 Logging into TSO requires a 3270 display device
or more commonly a TN3270 emulator running
on a PC
ISPF (Interactive System Productivity Facility)

 Most users work with TSO through its menu

driven interface, Interactive System
Productivity Facility (ISPF)
 ISPF is a collection of menus and panels
offering a wide range of functions to assist
users in working with data files on the
system
Data sets

 z/OS files are called data sets

 Before any data can be written to a data set, space for data sets must be reserved on disk. The user specifies the
amount of space and the formatting of it.
 Below are some of the terms used when allocating a data set

Characteristic Description
Volume Serial A six-character name of a disk or tape volume. Ex: TEST01
Device Type Model or type of disk device. Ex: 3390
Organization Method of processing a data set. Ex: Sequential (PS); Partitioned (PO)
Record Format Data stored in chunks called records which are either fixed (FB) or variable length (VB)
Record Length Length (number of characters) in each record
Block Size If records are joined together to save space, this specifies the length of block in characters
Extent Allocation of space to hold the data. When the primary extent is filled, the operating system will
automatically allocate more extents called secondaries.
Space Disk space is allocated in units called blocks, tracks or cylinders
Data Sets – Record Formats
Format Description
F (Fixed) Fixed means that one physical block on disk is
one logical record and all the blocks and
records are the same size
FB (Fixed Blocked) This format designation means that several
logical records are combined into one
physical block
V (Variable) This format has one logical record as one
physical block
VB (Variable Blocked) This format places several variable-length
logical records in one physical block.
U (Undefined) This format consists of variable-length
physical records and blocks with no
predefined structure

BDW (Block Descriptor Word)

RDW (Record Descriptor Word)

Data Sets - Space

 Space for a disk data set is assigned in primary and

secondary extents
 An extent is a contiguous number of disk drive tracks,
cylinders or blocks
 Data sets can increase in extents as they grow

Unit Description
Cylinder A cylinder is a unit of storage with a fixed
number of tracks
Tracks Cylinders contain tracks which are circular paths
of the surface of a disk on which information is
magnetically recorded and from which recorded
information is retrieved
Blocks Records can be grouped into data blocks which
are the units of recording on the disk
Data Sets - Organization

 Sequential
 Records are stored consecutively
 To retrieve the 10th item, the system must pass the preceding nine items
 Partitioned
 Partitioned Data Set (PDS) consists of a directory and members
 The directory holds the address of each member and thus makes it possible for programs or the operating system
to access each member directly
 Each member however contains sequentially stored records
 Partitioned data sets are often called libraries
Data Sets – Naming Conventions

 A data set name is usually segmented, with one or more periods used to create the separate data set qualifiers of one
to eight characters
 The first data set qualifier is known as the high level qualifier (HLQ)
 Segments or qualifiers are limited to eight characters, the first of which must be alphabetic (A to Z) or special characters
(#, @, or $). The remaining seven characters are either alphabetic, numeric (0 to 9), special characters or a hyphen (-).
 Including all name segments and periods, the length of the data set name must not exceed 44 characters
 Invalid data set names
HLQ.ORGANIZATION.DETAILS (qualifier longer than 8 characters)
HLQ.EMPLOYEE. (ends with a period)
HLQ..CUSTOMER (two successive periods)
HLQ.145231.ACCNUM (qualifier does not start with alphabetic or special character)
Data Sets – Naming Conventions

 Below are some conventions (not rules) that are usually followed or widely used
 The letters LIB indicates that the data set is a library (Ex: HLQ.PROD.SRCLIB)
 The letters JCL, JCLLIB, JOB, or JOBLIB indicates that the data set contains JCL (Ex: HLQ.PROD.JOBLIB)
 The letters LOAD, LOADLIB, or LINKLIB indicates that the data set contains executable modules (Ex:
HLQ.PROD.LOADLIB)
 The letters PRC, PROC, or PROCLIB indicates that the data set contains JCL procedures (Ex: HLQ.PROD.PROCLIB)
ISPF - Line Commands

Command Description
E Edit the data set
B Browse the data set
D Delete the data set
R Rename the data set
I Information about the data set
Data Set - Line Commands
Command Description
Enter key Press Enter without entering anything to escape insert mode
i Insert a line
i<n> Obtain <n> input lines. Ex: i8 inserts 8 new lines
d Delete a line
d<n> Delete <n> lines. Ex: d5 deletes 5 lines
dd/dd Delete a block of lines
r Repeat a line
c, then a or b Copy a line after or before
c<n>, then a or b Copy n lines after or before
cc/cc, then a or b Copy a block of lines after or before
m, then a or b Move a line after or before
m<n>, then a or b Move n lines after or before
mm/mm, then a or b Move a block of lines after or before
Volume Table of Contents (VTOC)

 z/OS uses a catalog and a volume table of contents

(VTOC) on each DASD to manage the storage and
placement of data sets
 z/OS requires a particular format of disks as shown in the
figure
 Record 1 on the first track of the first cylinder provides
the label for the disk. It contains the six character
volume serial number and a pointer to the volume table
of contents (VTOC), which can be located anywhere on
the disk.
 VTOC lists the data sets that reside on its volume along
with the information about the location and size of each
data set and other data set attributes
 VTOC also has entries for all the free space on the
volume
Catalog

 A catalog describes data set attributes and indicates the

volumes on which a data set is located
 When a data set is catalogued, it can be referred to by
name without the user needing to specify where the data
set is stored
 Data sets can be cataloged, uncataloged or recataloged
 All system managed DASD data sets are catalogued
automatically in a catalog
 Both disk and tape data sets can be catalogued
 To find a data set that the user has requested, z/OS must
know the following:
 Data set name
 Volume name
 Unit
Hands On Exercises
 Create a sequential data set named ‘HERC01.EMPLOYEE.DETAILS’ with a fixed record length of 80
 Add data to the above the data set named ‘HERC01.EMPLOYEE.DETAILS’
 Positions 1 – 30 (Employee Name)
 Position 31 (Space Separator)
 Positions 32-39 (Employee Number)
 Position 40 (Space Separator)
 Position 41 – 55 (Designation)
 Position 56 (Space Separator)
 Position 57 – 80 (Employee Address)

 Browse the above data set ‘HERC01.EMPLOYEE.DETAILS’

 Add more employee details to the above data set ‘HERC01.EMPLOYEE.DETAILS’
 Create a sequential data set named ‘HERC01.TEMP.DATASET’ with a fixed record length of 50
 List all the data sets whose HLQ is ‘HERC01’
 Delete the data set named ‘HERC01.TEMP.DATASET’
 Play around with various line data set line commands
 Rename the data set ‘HERC01.EMPLOYEE.DETAILS’ to ‘HERC01.EMP.DETAILS’
 Copy the data set ‘HERC01.EMP.DETAILS’ to ‘HERC01.EMP.DETAILS.BKUP’
 Create a sequential data set named ‘HERC01.VBFILE.TEST1’ with variable record length of 120
 Add some records to the data set ‘HERC01.VBFILE.TEST1’
Hands On Exercises
 Create a partitioned data set named ‘HERC01.SAMPLE.PDS’
 Create a member name TEST001 to the above PDS
 Browse the above PDS
 Create three more members named TEST002, TEST010 and TEST015 to the above PDS
 Add some data to the member named TEST002
 Browse the member TEST002 in the above PDS
 Edit the details of the member TEST002 in the above PDS
 Delete the member TEST010 from the above PDS
 Rename the member TEST015 to TEST002 in the above PDS
 Create a PDS named ‘HERC01.SAMPLE.BKUP’
 Copy the members of the PDS ‘HERC01.SAMPLE.PDS’ to ‘HERC01.SAMPLE.BKUP’
 Create a member named ‘BKUPDTLS’ in the PDS ‘HERC01.SAMPLE.PDS’
 Move the member named ‘BKUPDTLS’ from the PDS ‘HERC01.SAMPLE.PDS’ to ‘HERC01.SAMPLE.BKUP’