June , Enterprise Computing Community - ECC 2010 The Changing Role of the System Programmer Jon L. Veilleux

June , Enterprise Computing Community - ECC 2010 Agenda A brief historical view of the evolution of MVS Virtual Addressing The future direction of operating systems What did System Programmers do in the past? What do they do now? What will they do in the future? How skills have changed and will change even more in the future.

June , Enterprise Computing Community - ECC 2010 Disclaimer All opinions expressed in this presentation are my own and not necessarily those of my employer or anyone else.

June , Enterprise Computing Community - ECC 2010 Evolution 101 MFT – Fixed number of tasks MVT – Variable number of tasks MVS – Virtual Storage (24 bit) – 16Mb Address Spaces MVS/XA – Extended Architecture (31 bit) – 2Gb Address Spaces MVS/ESA – Data Spaces OS/390 – UNIX System Services z/OS – (64 bit) – 16Exabyte Address Spaces z/VM and zLINUX

June , Enterprise Computing Community - ECC 2010 Virtual Addressing Dynamic Address Translation (DAT) is the single most important development in the evolution of Computing (in my opinion) making Virtual Storage and Address Spaces possible. Virtual storage concepts have greatly expanded the power and flexibility of computers and enabled large online applications by freeing them from the constraints of real memory size.

June , Enterprise Computing Community - ECC 2010 The future direction of operating systems Memory – Processors with more, faster memory Speed – Starting to reach technological limits so growth will be horizontal – parallel processing Virtualization – I/O (virtual tape, DS8000) – System Images Integration – Bring different platforms closer together to take advantage of each one’s strengths Simplification – Make the System Programmer’s job easier Diagnostics – Use heuristic computer learning algorithms to make machines self-healing Cloud – Computing ‘Services’ on the web Who knows – Did anyone imagine what the internet would turn into years ago? Self-aware computers?

June , Enterprise Computing Community - ECC 2010 What did System Programmers do in the past? 30 years ago –Card decks –Run jobs to build the Operating System from (round) product distribution tapes –Read microfiche listings of the Operating System source code –Write in-stream assembler modifications to the Operating System –Monitor systems using printed reports –Print System dumps for debugging –Send tapes or hard-copy dumps to vendor

June , Enterprise Computing Community - ECC 2010 Skills needed by System Programmers in the past 30 years ago –JCL –Assembler language –SYSGEN (SMP) –How to create batch performance reports –System Utilities –Debugging SLIPs Traces Service aids –Dump reading –Detailed knowledge of MVS Operating System Internal Structure

June , Enterprise Computing Community - ECC 2010 What did System Programmers do in the past? 20 years ago –‘Dumb’ terminals – TSO/ISPF –Run jobs to build the Operating System from (rectangular) product distribution tapes –No more listings of the Operating System (OCO) –Write assembler user exits to modify the Operating System –Change control – increased governance –Monitor systems using 3270 based systems (RMFIII, OMEGAMON) –Use IPCS for debugging system dumps –Ftp dumps to IBM or use RSVSF to allow IBM to look at dumps

June , Enterprise Computing Community - ECC 2010 Skills needed by System Programmers in the past 20 years ago –JCL –Assembler –SMP –System Utilities –How to generate on-line performance reports –Debugging SLIPs, Traces, Service aids –Dump reading –Not quite as detailed knowledge of MVS Operating System Internal Structure

June , Enterprise Computing Community - ECC 2010 What did System Programmers do in the past? 10 years ago –‘Smart’ terminals with 3270 interfaces – TSO/ISPF –Run jobs to build the Operating System from downloaded files –Monitor systems using 3270 based applications (RMFIII, OMEGAMON, etc) –Automation –Remove all assembler user exits and use vendor-written applications –Use IPCS for debugging system dumps –Ftp dumps to IBM or use RSVSF to allow IBM to look at dumps

June , Enterprise Computing Community - ECC 2010 Skills needed by System Programmers in the past 10 years ago –JCL –UNIX –SMP –System Utilities –Online performance tools –Automation product REXX coding –IBMLINK –Debugging SLIPs, Traces, Service aids –How to use ftp to ship dumps –General knowledge of MVS Operating System features and UNIX System Services

June , Enterprise Computing Community - ECC 2010 What do System Programmers do now? Today –‘Smart’ terminals - TSO/ISPF – Web applications –Run jobs to build the Operating System from automatic downloads –Use pre-written vendor code for any modifications to the Operating System –Privacy and security – regulatory compliance –Monitor systems using ‘smart’ tools (Tivoli, PFA, etc) –Use IPCS for debugging system dumps (rarely) –Send dumps to IBM via ftp and/or use AOS on the web to allow IBM to look at dumps

June , Enterprise Computing Community - ECC 2010 Skills needed by System Programmers Now Today –JCL –SMP –System Utilities –Web based performance tools –Encryption and privacy regulations –IBMLINK –How to use ftp to ship dumps –General knowledge of Operating System features, UNIX System Services, zVM, and zLINUX

June , Enterprise Computing Community - ECC 2010 What will System Programmers do Tomorrow? Use GUI interfaces to download pre-configured Operating Systems from vendors Use pre-written self-installing vendor code for any modifications to the Operating System Privacy and security – Monitor and comply with regulatory requirements Be a technology enabler/advocate to educate application areas about new functions in the OS Use GUI interfaces to performance and monitoring applications Monitor problems that have been automatically sent to IBM when they occur

June , Enterprise Computing Community - ECC 2010 Skills needed by System Programmers Tomorrow Understand different Operating Systems and the interactions between them How to integrate applications to take advantage of the unique properties of the different OSes Implement procedures to meet encryption and privacy regulations Virtualization concepts Use computer learning performance tools Flexibility Curiosity

June , Enterprise Computing Community - ECC 2010 How skills have changed and will change even more in the future. Less emphasis on detailed OS knowledge Less hands-on tweaking of the OS –Changes will come too fast to handle using traditional tools –Hardware and OSes will self-monitor and self-heal More emphasis on integration between platforms –Problem determination will require cross-platform tools and skills –Systems Programmers will need to be Generalists able to see and understand the ‘big picture’ –How do to debug problems in ‘the cloud’ Someone will have to have all of the detailed knowledge that the ‘dinosaurs’ have now (COBOL, assembler, dump reading, etc)

June , Enterprise Computing Community - ECC 2010 Questions?