Sense and Respond with Workload Manager

BCP includes the I/O conﬁ guration program (IOCP), the workload manager (WLM), systems management facilities (SMF), the z/OS UNIX Systems Services kernel, and sup- port for Unicode.

Sense and Respond with Workload Manager

Workload Manager (WLM) addresses the need for manag- ing mixed workload distribution, load balancing and the distribution of computing resources to competing work- loads. It does this while providing fewer, simpler system externals. Performance management goals are expressed in Service Level Agreement terms. All this is done with a single policy that can be used across the sysplex to pro- vide a single control point, eliminating the need to manage each individual image.

Dynamic balancing of JES2 batch initiators across a sys- plex has been enhanced in z/OS 1.4 to provide better utili- zation of processor resources. WLM is designed to check every 10 seconds to see if re-balancing is required. WLM is more aggressive in reducing initiators on constrained systems and starting new ones on less utilized systems helping to ensure that processors are more evenly utilized.

WLM Improvements for WebSphere

z/OS 1.5 can simplify WLM control for WebSphere. Customers now have the choice to manually deﬁ ne WebSphere application environments for WLM or have WebSphere deﬁ ne them as and when required.

Performance block reporting for enclaves and multi-period classes are designed to provide improved workload bal- ancing for middleware applications such as WebSphere. WLM Enqueue Management establishes a new interface to allow reporting of resource contention. The priority of the task holding the enqueue can be increased to allow the resource to be released more quickly.

Data Management with DFSMS

DFSMS comprises a suite of related data and storage management functions for the z/OS system. DFSMSdfp is a base element of z/OS which performs the essential data, storage and device management functions of z/OS. One function of DFSMSdfp is the Storage Management Subsys- tem (SMS). SMS helps automate and centralize the man- agement of storage based on the customer’s policies for availability, performance, space, and security. Using SMS, the storage administrator deﬁ nes policies that can auto- mate the management of storage and hardware devices. These policies describe data allocation characteristics, performance and availability goals, backup and retention requirements, and storage requirements for the system.

The other elements of DFSMS – DFSMSdss, DFSMShsm, DFSMSrmm, and DFSMStvs, complement DFSMSdfp to provide a comprehensive approach to data and storage management. In a system-managed storage environment, DFSMS can automate and centralize storage manage- ment based on the policies that your installation deﬁ nes for availability, performance, space, and security. With these optional features enabled, you can take full advantage of all the functions that DFSMS offers.

DFSMShsm can perform space management functions along with disaster recovery functions such as Advanced Copy Services and aggregate backup and recovery sup- port (ABARS). DFSMSdss can provide backup, restore and copy services. DFSMSrmm provides tape manage- ment services. Finally, DFSMStvs can provide coordinated updates to multiple VSAM data sets at a transaction level, providing high availability for CICS/VSAM by allowing con- current access by batch applications.