System Studies

Our Mainframe Capacity Planning Health Check will take a snapshot of your mainframe systems and describe all the elements of utilization.

Mainframe Performance Analysis and Capacity Planning Health Check

Our Mainframe Capacity Planning Health Check will take a snapshot of your mainframe systems and describe all the elements of utilization. This includes utilization of your general purpose CPs, ZIIP CPs, and IFL CPs. Utilization is first shown at the LPAR level, then for your z/OS systems, utilization is broken out by workload and by Reporting Class. Performance problems are highlighted, and where appropriate, recommendations are made to improve performance.

If the customer provides estimates for workload growth, these changes are projected into the future and they are modeled against the current and recommended processor upgrades. Where appropriate, workload performance can be modeled using a discreet simulation modeling tool. At the conclusion of this study, the customer will have a better understanding of their systems including the following:

  • Where and when do peak utilizations occur.
  • Which LPARs and which workloads (z/OS systems) are having performance problems.
  • Recommendations to improve performance.
  • Future growth (or other changes) modeled against current and recommended processors.

SURF/SCON Consolidation Study

The SURF/SCON Consolidation Study will size the appropriate IFL or Linux One processor required to consolidate multiple distributed servers. This study is unique in that it is based on actual utilization reports over multiple days. VI will help the customer to collect utilization reports for all the servers that are candidates for consolidation. Using IBM internal tools, SCON (Server Consolidation Tool) and SURF (Server Utilization Reduction Facility), the utilization reports are combined so that peak capacity usage is determined. This kind of analysis enables us to clearly identify the correct IFL or Linux One model required to support these servers.

Another feature of this study is the ability to analyze the impact of deleting or adding specific servers. Experience has shown that some highly utilized servers are better left out of the consolidation analysis. The SURF and SCON tools can identify these servers and show the impact of removing individual servers.

Once the appropriate IFL or Linux One model has been sized, these results can be used to calculate a complete cost of implementation and cost of running analysis. This analysis can include a comparison of alternative solutions, such as continuing with current operations or replacement with an IFL consolidation solution.