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Status Not under consideration
Categories General System
Created by Guest
Created on Feb 14, 2020

IMS V15 WADS support zHyperLink

IMS v15 WADS logging should use zHyperlink (ZHL) protocol supported by the DFSMS Media Manager I/O driver and ZHL for both reads and writes to boost performance.

Background

The IMS system software has exploited/relied upon the DFSMS Media Manager I/O driver for IMS Fast Path (4K CISZ) since IMS v2 in the late 1980s.

The IMS logging of read/write I/O to IMS WADS datasets is a response-time critical stage of transaction processing that is important to IMS thruput---even a thruput-limiting factor for an IMS subsystem.

Recognizing this reality the IBM designers of IMS v15 improved IMS v15 logging to make VSAM Linear Datasets (LDS, CISZ=4K) format the compulsory format for WADS datasets. Henceforth IMS v15 would broaden its exploitation of the DFSMS Media Manager I/O driver for IMS logging I/O to WADS datasets and thus leverage underlying features such as the ZHPF transport mode I/O protocol for improved logging performance and channel efficiency.

Problem Description

Need IMS v15 system software to leverage the subsequent evolutionary performance gains from DFSMS Media Manager support for zHyperLink (ZHL) I/O protocol: DB2 can do it. Shouldn't IMS?

At the time when IMS v15 designers adopted the DFSMS Media Manager I/O driver for WADS I/O the zHyperLink protocol may have been limited to Read I/O---and not yet able to support Write I/O. The IMS WADS is write-intensive so to IMS designers in 2017 the zHyperLink protocol may not have seemed beneficial.

But DFSMS Media Manager ZHL protocol support of qualifying Write I/O was available by mid-2019. Accordingly it is an IMS v15 deficit—a problem—that IMS v15 development has not yet followed through with exploitation of ZHL protocol for IMS v15 WADS I/O.

DB2 supports an I/O performance feature called zHyperWrite for Metro Mirror configurations even when the secondary is within 150 meters. So does IMS v15.

DB2 supports zHyperLink for read I/O and for write I/O. But IMS v15 does not.

Some transactions update both DB2 and IMS resources and so if IMS logging can not keep pace with DB2 logging that is exploiting zHyperLink then IMS could be the limiting factor in thruput.

Idea priority High
  • Guest
    Reply
    |
    Jul 1, 2021

    Hi,

    Thank you for your interest in keeping IMS a vital and successful product. Software development has continuously evolved during IMS’s lifetime, and so has IMS itself. We have kept pace with, adopted, and implemented many industry standard best practices within our organization, including Continuous Delivery, Design Thinking, and Agile.

    When choosing new features to add from the list of requirements in our backlog, we assess which will bring the most value to as many clients as possible and prioritize those.

    At this time, after reviewing this request for enhancement and assessing its potential value, we have decided to reject it. The reason we are rejecting this RFE is the following: We are certainly evaluating this item as part of our scalability futures roadmap, however, we don’t feel we can deliver it within the next 18-24 months which is the goal we have set for RFE deliverables as part of our IMS Gold program. You are welcome to resubmit this RFE at a later date and we will reconsider.

    We appreciate your input to IMS, and we hope that you will continue to submit ideas for improvements as customer feedback is a key component to shaping the future direction of IMS.

    Thank you.

  • Guest
    Reply
    |
    Apr 1, 2020

    Hi,

    Thank you for your interest in keeping IMS a vital and successful product. Software development has continuously evolved during IMS’s lifetime, and so has IMS itself. We have kept pace with, adopted, and implemented many industry standard best practices within our organization, including Continuous Delivery, Design Thinking, and Agile.

    When choosing new features to add from the list of requirements in our backlog, we assess which will bring the most value to as many clients as possible and prioritize those.

    After reviewing this request for enhancement and assessing its potential value, our decision is to add this item to our backlog. Items in our backlog are expected to be delivered within the next 18 months. We reserve the right to re-prioritize our backlog items as new requests come in. This helps ensure that we are constantly focused on providing the best value to all of our clients.

    Have a great day!

  • Guest
    Reply
    |
    Feb 14, 2020

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