Enterprise (Mainframe) Services
The Office of Information Technology provides centralized computing on an IBM Z800 enterprise server to serve the needs of the learning and research environments as well as administrative centralized database services. The Z800’s Z/OS operating system can handle large amounts of data on disk and tape, parallel processing, and continuous processing for as much as 165 hours per week. It offers a faster CPU speed, provides easy management during peak times, has a small footprint, requires less energy, and operates on an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). The Z800 processor also has a new Linux capability, which gives us the potential to add Web and database services in addition to running current mainframe applications.
Services
Academic and research customers use the TSO full-screen user interface. They may take advantage of the powerful computational engine that is suitable for intensive numerical and statistical processing and programming using SAS. Faculty and graduate students can arrange for an account by visiting the IT Service Desk in 025 Central Classroom Building. Undergraduates are entitled to accounts through credit courses that require use of the mainframe.
Administrative customers access centralized databases for the Student Information System, Admissions, Student Financial Aid, Billing and Accounts Receivable (BARS), Residence and Dining Halls, Equipment Inventory, University Development, Purchasing, and other aspects of university business. Administrative staff who need access must set up a system ID by sending a request to access@osu.edu. Be sure to include your name and phone number in the note so that we can contact you.
Subscribe to the Mailing List
To subscribe to the mvsbnotify mailing list for notification of upcoming mainframe system changes and scheduled downtimes, send an e-mail request to: listproc@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu. In the body of the message say only: subscribe listname firstname lastname, substituting the mailing list name and your own first and last names; for example, subscribe mvsbnotify jane doe.
Technical Details
The Z800 server runs IBM's Z/OS 1.4 (64-bit) operating system, has three gigabytes of memory, three logical partitions (LPAR; one for production, one for testing, and one for VM - Linux applications), and more than 660 gigabytes of RAID-5 (redundant array of independent disk) storage. RAID disk technology enables real time data recovery if a disk hardware error occurs. The CPU has a processor that can work at a speed of 114 Mips (million instructions per second). An additional CPU supports IFL (integrated facility) for Linux and DB2 (database services) in a VM (virtual machine) environment.
The maximum capacity range of the IBM Z800 family of servers is roughly 636 Mips, which is well above our current utilization peak levels. The Z800 class of server has an expansion box to accommodate added communication and device I/O expansion, making it upgradeable to a Z900 class machine. The capabilities of the new platform provide the university with expansion possibilities well into the future for mainframe applications in the student environment and many opportunities to reduce support costs by migrating existing applications supported on open systems to a combined platform.
Current Record: 2366
Create Date: 03-21-2005
Last Reviewed: 03-21-2005
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