What's New in z/OS?

By Jaikumar Vijayan

November 19, 2001 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - IBM's z/OS blends traditional mainframe strengths with new management and resource-sharing features that are targeted at Web-enabled application environments. Among the core features in this regard are the following:
• Intelligence Resource Director (IRD) technology. This gives the z/900 mainframe the ability to intelligently manage resources, such as memory or I/O, that are allocated to the partitions on a server.
Like previous-generation IBM mainframes, the zSeries lets users partition a single box into multiple smaller servers, each of which is capable of running a different application. Users are able to set priorities for each application. IRD then manages the partitions and is able to dynamically pull resources from a low-priority application and reassign them to a high-priority application as the need arises.
Such on-the-fly resource-sharing capabilities are made possible by functions such as workload management, physical resource balancing of processors, and dynamic channel path management capabilities that are built into IRD.

• HiperSockets. This technology, which IBM calls a "network in a box," is unique to the zSeries. It enables fast TCP/IP communication between z/OS Linux for zSeries and z/VM partitions on a z/900 server. By eliminating the need for external networks to achieve this connectivity, HiperSockets improves application response times and reduces cost and complexity, IBM says.

• Security. IBM is also making it safer to run Internet and intranet applications with new host-based intrusion-detection services and support for digital certificate and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) services. Also available are user-defined cryptography functions and technologies for managing digital certificates and SSL services.

• New file system and compilers. Applications that access very large sequential files will see improved performance with IBM's new zServer File System for z/OS Unix system services, IBM says. Meanwhile, a new C++ compiler is aimed at simplifying application porting to z/OS. Also built in is support for technologies such as Enterprise JavaBeans and XML.

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