©2010 SoftwareOnZ Using AutoSoftCapping (ASC) to Manage Your z/OS Software Bill

©2010 SoftwareOnZ Agenda General Terminology Quick Review of VWLC R4H Defined Capacity IMSU SubCapacity Report Tool (SCRT) VWLC with IBM SoftCapping VWLC with Auto Soft Capping Q&A

©2010 SoftwareOnZ General Terminology Technical terms and abbreviations used in today’s presentation. – MSU: (Million Service Units) : reference unit for Software billing. – IMSU (or ACTMSU): instantaneous MSU consumption – R4H: Rolling 4 Hours – CPC Capacity: z/Server full capacity – Soft-Capping / WLM WLM, PR/SM and enforcement the Soft-Capping limit – DC: Defined Capacity – Hardware Management Console (HMC) – Givers/Takers/Crunchable

©2010 SoftwareOnZ The 4 Parts of vWLC !

©2010 SoftwareOnZ Part 1 R4H The R4H represents the average consumption (in MSU) of the LPAR during the last 4 hours Part 2 DC Artificial number for each LPAR used to control costs by capping usage when exceeded; set on the HMC Part 3 IMSU The instantaneous consumption of MSU for each LPAR Part 4 SCRT a no-charge IBM tool that reports required license capacity for sub- capacity eligible products; used to calculate your monthly MLC bill The 4 Parts of VWLC

©2010 SoftwareOnZ IBM Soft-Capping Feature I’ve got vWLC ! But where are the savings ? But I hear that impacts performance !

©2010 SoftwareOnZ IBM Soft-Capping Feature IBM Soft-Capping is a feature which allows the control of z/OS bill. – This limit is called Defined Capacity (DC) The Soft-Capping rule: When Rolling 4 Hours (R4H) becomes greater than or equal to DC then the LPAR is capped. That means that the IMSU consumption will not be able to exceed DC anymore until the R4H becomes lower than the DC. The Enforcer WLM & PR/SM --> WLM Soft Capping Support

©2010 SoftwareOnZ IBM Soft-Capping Feature – LPAR activity: varying MSU consumption over time

©2010 SoftwareOnZ IBM Soft-Capping Feature – LPAR activity with R4H added:

©2010 SoftwareOnZ IBM Soft-Capping feature – Adding a DC causes the LPAR to be capped:

©2010 SoftwareOnZ An example of how you control your costs with Soft-Capping Defined Capacity = 0

©2010 SoftwareOnZ You don’t !

©2010 SoftwareOnZ An example of how you control your costs with Soft-Capping Defined Capacity = x

©2010 SoftwareOnZ IBM Soft-Capping Feature – Adding a DC can cause an LPAR to be capped:

©2010 SoftwareOnZ What About GCL? GCL allows you to set a capacity limit on a group of LPARs – More flexibility and can reduce capping But problems can occur when you hit the group cap – Does the appropriate LPAR get capped? Can negatively impact online workloads. – How quick before reverting back to HMC weights?

©2010 SoftwareOnZ So How Can You Take Advantage of VWLC and Set Defined Capacity Without Causing a Lot of Administrative Pain and Effort?

©2010 SoftwareOnZ The Answer is Auto SoftCapping (ASC)

©2010 SoftwareOnZ AutoSoftCapping - Agenda Just a few more new definitions vWLC strategy ASC – Prerequisites AutoSoftCapping – General Principles – zCost ASC - Key points – ASC – Reporting tools Next Steps

©2010 SoftwareOnZ AutoSoftCapping - Strategy What is your vWLC strategy? – Set Defined Capacity to 0 and forget it? – Set it to Avoid Capping? Cap the Test, QA environments only? – How do you modify it? What kind of approval is required? – Follow what the experts say? Set it low and adjust as required? Reset at the beginning of the month?

©2010 SoftwareOnZ How ASC Works: High Level ASC optimizes the performance of your system while controlling your Workload License Charge… – ASC uses metrics collected for each LPAR at regular intervals: Examples include DC, IMSU, R4H, capacity, capping, etc. The interval can be set by the user (usually 5 minutes) – ASC analyzes the collected metrics for each CEC and LPAR involved: Can control how this is done using various parameters Can protect specific LPARs from participating Can dictate activities by timeframe – ASC applies a sophisticated algorithm to determine for the next time interval the partition defined capacity that best fits its performance objective and avoids constraints.

©2010 SoftwareOnZ General Principle ASC Optimizes the performance of your system while controlling your Workload License Charge. – It does so by setting the Defined Capacity line using parameters such as those shown here to control DC setting: CPC: CPCMAX, CPCMIN LPAR: MSUMAX, MSUMIN PERIOD statements The general guiding principle of ASC: If IMSU < R4H Decrease DC to just above the R4H to optimize the SCRT and avoid capping, releasing DC MSUs to the pool. If IMSU > R4H Increase DC to just above the R4H to avoid capping, taking from the pool or enforce capping as you have defined

©2010 SoftwareOnZ What Does ASC Modify? The only setting that ASC modifies is Defined Capacity (DC) What about WLM? ASC adjusts the DC line, WLM handles z/OS resources With or without ASC: the SoftCapping activation needs attention on a well-managed WLM policy. ASC does not interfere with or change your WLM policies

©2010 SoftwareOnZ ASC Prerequisites Configuration prerequisites : – Being in vWLC mode – Using IBM Soft-Capping feature. – HMC: Must be accessible for the LPAR that support the ASC Started Task. HMC API must be configured and active (API SNMP) Data Gathering: one of two ways – RMF: – RMF III started on all LPARs. – RMFDDS (GPMSERVE): at least one active on each SYSPLEX (Multi-system or Monoplex) – CMF: – Mainview Explorer (BMC) started on each server (CPC) Which data will be used? – ASC retrieves data from RMFDDS or Mainview Explorer such as: CPC level: serial number, family, type, number of CPs... LPAR level: R4H, DC, IMSU, Weight, number of Logical Processors…

©2010 SoftwareOnZ zCost – AutoSoftCapping (ASC) How does ASC reduce costs? The LPARs’ DCs (Defined Capacity) are dynamically modified in real time by taking into account the behavior and needs of all the LPARs. Keeps the total DC (CPCMAX) constant and guarantees software cost optimization Consider the following:

©2010 SoftwareOnZ zCost – AutoSoftCapping (ASC) AutoSoftCapping: Web reporting which allows for control on your activity and your System z/resources. ASC adjusts the DC line, WLM handles z/OS resources ASC goes after your peaks 2 different sets of Parameters ASCGENxx – Manage ASC ASCLPAXX – Manage at the LPAR level. Flexibility

©2010 SoftwareOnZ Adjusting Factors – ASC Decisions ASC insure MSUs sharing among the different LPARs and the CPC free space. It takes into account: – The LPAR activity (current DC, R4H, IMSU) – LPAR’s claims and giving capabilities – The context (behavior of the LPARs in previous intervals…) – ASC parameters General - LPARGeneralLPAR PRIORITY LPAR priority level to receive MSUs DFCBASEValue under which the LPAR can never be forced to go down. MSUMIN LPAR DC Minimum value MSUMAX LPAR DC Maximum value PROTECTED In case of high risk of capping (R4H close to DC and IMSU very higher), the LPAR get a high priority level and cannot be forced to give MSUs CPCMAXMaximum value for the SUM of the LPAR’s DCs (for all LPARs running in the CPC) CPCMIN Minimum value for the SUM of the LPAR’s DCs (for all LPARs running in the CPC)

©2010 SoftwareOnZ ASC Setting ASC performs dynamic Settings: – Sends DC modification orders to the HMC, and the DCs are set according to the algorithm decisions. ASC performs period Settings: – Period Settings allow ASC to modify some settings at predefined date/time. It can: Modify the DC by setting a predefined value to the parameter DEFCAP Modify the weight by setting a predefined value to the parameter WEIGHT ASC Reset Profile: set the DEFCAP and WEIGHT parameters of all LPARs to the initial value (contained in DFCBASE and WBASE) Modify parameters by taking into account predefined parameters values or by reloading predefined parameters members.

©2010 SoftwareOnZ ASC – Product Flow Data Collection RMF or CMF - LPARs (DC, IMSU, R4H, WLM Capping, …) - CPCs (capacity, CPs,..) Data Collection RMF or CMF - LPARs (DC, IMSU, R4H, WLM Capping, …) - CPCs (capacity, CPs,..) LPAR settings (via HMC API) LPAR’s behavior analysis Make decisions to modify DCs LPAR’s behavior analysis Make decisions to modify DCs Web reporting (update HTML files) Writing SMF records ZCASCW ASC Web SERVER ZCASCW ASC Web SERVER ASC Parameters ooCOD LPAxx member Period Definitions Market Open and Close ASC Commands Grab ooCOD increase Rexx script ASC cmd f, ASC Parameters ooCOD LPAxx member Period Definitions Market Open and Close ASC Commands Grab ooCOD increase Rexx script ASC cmd f, Sending alarms (WTO, s) ZCASC Main ASC Started Task Operator

©2010 SoftwareOnZ ASC – Web Interface

©2010 SoftwareOnZ Web Interface – Zooming In

©2010 SoftwareOnZ Recall Our Earlier Pros & Cons Chart IBM Soft-Capping Low DCsAllows billing control Potential performance problems (capping) High DCsNo capping The bill is not controlled anymore vWLC with IBM Soft-Capping: Pros & Cons

©2010 SoftwareOnZ vWLC with AutoSoftCapping: Pros & Cons AutoSoftCapping Low DCsHigh DCs Allows billing control

©2010 SoftwareOnZ Putting ASC into Action You provide us with: – Mutual NDA – On-site technical discussion of AutoSoftCapping – SMF records 70 over a significant period – The SCRT of the last month for each CPC We process the data through our simulator. We schedule a meeting to present: – Review the results of the simulations – Review the Financials, Costs and ROI – Schedule a POC – Run in Simulation mode and validate results – Turn it on

©2010 SoftwareOnZ zCost ASC – In Summary…. ASC SAVES MONEY by controlling the z/OS license charge. – Very short ROI: All our current customers got an ROI between 3 and 12 months! – An average of saved MSU between 7 and 15%. ASC opens new opportunities in how you run your operations ASC is a simple tool: – Easy to set up on the machine. – Compatible with all existing System z servers. – A sophisticated Web Reporting interface allows more control of the system. ASC receives excellent customer feedback.

©2010 SoftwareOnZ Contact Info SoftwareOnZ Technical Support Craig S. Mullins Your US sales contact Brian Hoare

©2010 SoftwareOnZ Q&A