Boy how this brings up memories from long ago.
I spent two years in a S390 MVS hospital shop some 20 years ago(1989).
75 people in IT! IIRC, the pharmacy department (who hated IT AND IT
HATED) decided when a top mgt change occurred that they would find
themselves their own "drug" distribution system and if central IT could
not build an interface from that solution then "to heck with them". So,
they found a package that ran on a system/36 and bought it. I will never
forget the day the s36 showed up. The mainframers could not grasp the
fact that all that was needed was twinax cable run and the s/w installed
and someone to setup users and then monitor the backups and other
"mundane" system admin tasks. They could not grasp the fact that there
was not reason to have system programmers who had to write code to do
database functions like they did for the VSAM file system on the 390.
Since I had a midrange background I was tasked with getting it up and
going. Our CIO had been "demoted" as a result of the CEO change and he
was grasping at straws to make IT look like a team player. I SPENT WEEKS
explaining the architecture to the mainframers and only one (who was
earning a PhD in Computer Science) "got it". I laughed until I departed
that place. I only hope they finally saw the light and moved to an AS400
and were able to shrink the IT department by 75%.
Some years ago I had a "story" that explained how mainframes have to be
"worshipped" by groups of programmers. I wish I could find that today.
Still funny to think about it today.
Bentley Pearson
Vice President - Information Services
Southland National Insurance Corporation
1812 University Blvd
Tuscaloosa, Al
35403
205 345 7410
bpearson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of McKown, John
Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2008 8:57 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: RE: Question (pre-newbie) about DB2
-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Tommy.Holden@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2008 8:27 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: RE: Question (pre-newbie) about DB2
one good sys admin can handle managing the system (regardless of the
machine's specs/size)
Maybe. If he doesn't mind never having a guaranteed day off (no vacation
because we __might__ have a problem). And never gets sick. Sounds more
like the z people would be canned and the Windows/Linux people would be
trained on the i. That would only increase their work load by a
fraction, given how many are needed to support Windows. Which means that
I should really consider a job change (if such were possible as there
aren't many z jobs around anymore).
as far as DBAs even though the
programming staff
*can* double as a DBA i still recommend one just due to the
fact that i
know a lot of programmers who can't grasp (or can't implement) a good
database strategy. since the sysadmin staff could be reduced
by 3 then
yes the TCO would be at least half of the TCO for a z system (there's
other savings besides less sys admin but too many to list)
Well, the DBA staff here is separate from the programming staff and the
sysadmin staff. From what I understand, the DBAs write "stored
procedures" to do the actual SQL. There is supposedly no SQL embedded in
any application. The application calls/invokes the stored procedure to
do the database work.
the i is an
awesome system...now if only IBM would get to marketing the platform
better...(and yes Trevor that opened a door you're well known
for walking
through 8^) their marketing isn't non-existent but it is lacking...
Now, this sounds like the same lament that we have on the z. It is an
excellent, albeit expensive, platform which IBM seems to be determined
to milk until the cow dies.
Thanks,
Tommy Holden
--
John McKown
Systems Engineer IV
IT
Administrative Services Group
HealthMarkets(r)
Administrative Services Group
9151 Boulevard 26 * N. Richland Hills * TX 76010
(817) 255-3225 phone * (817)-961-6183 cell
john.mckown@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx * www.HealthMarkets.com
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