Managing and Processing z/OS Data Flashcards by Myles Maskovich

Name that acronym

I/O

Input/Output

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Input/Output

Any communication between a computer and external devices

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Name that acronym

CSS

Channel Subsystem

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True or False, the channel subsystem is used by all mainframe-based operating systems?

True - This is used by all mainframe-based operating systems, including z/OS, Linux on IBM Z, and z/VSE.

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Channel subsystem

The Channel Subsystem is separate from normal mainframe processing; with separate processors - CPUs called Special Assist Processors (SAPs) - and memory.

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True or False

The channel subsystem can be seen by normal z/OS programs?

False - The Channel Subsystem cannot be seen by normal z/OS programs

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True or False

The channel subsystem can be used by non-IO processes

False - It cannot be used for anything except I/O.

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When would a channel subsystem be used?

If a z/OS task or process needs to perform I/O

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How do channel subsystems connect to external systems?

Using channel cables

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What type of channel cables to modern mainframes use?

FICON and IBM zHyperLink Express

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Name that acronym

FICON

Fibre channel connection

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IBM zHyperLink Express

Short distance connections

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IBM zHyperLink Express - Max distance

492 feet, or 150 meters

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IBM zHyperLink Express - Data rate

8GB/s

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How many types of FICON channels are there?

Two

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What are the FICON channel types?

CCW and Coupling Channels

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What are coupling channels for?

To connect z/OS systems together or with a coupling facility

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Name that acronym

CPC

Central processor complex

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central processor complex

The mainframe ‘box’ that includes the physical collection of hardware

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What is a CPC also known as?

Central electronics complex (CEC)

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What must be done before an external device can be used with z/OS

It must be defined to both the channel subsystem and /zOS

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What tool is used for adding an external device to z/OS

The hardware configuration dialogue (HCD)

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Name that acronym

HCD

Hardware configuration dialogue

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In what application can the HCD be found?

ISPF

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True or false Channel subsystems have dedicated memory?

True

True or False All I/O processing is performed in control units, or controller, that are separate from the mainframe.

False

True or False The channel subsystem uses the same CPU processors and memory as normal processing.

False

True or False Once the channel subsystem has completed an I/O request, it interrupts normal processing so that the task requesting the I/O can continue.

True

True or False All I/O processing is performed by the channel subsystem.

False

True or False Today, control units and controllers are no longer separate equipment; they are included in the disk, tape, printer, and network subsystems.

True

Used to connect to an external tape subsystem

CCW

Used to connect to an external DASD subsystem

CCW

Used by z/OS to connect to another z/OS system on another CPC

Coupling

Used by z/OS to connect to another z/OS system on the same CPC

Internal coupling

Used to connect to a coupling facility executing in the same CPC

Internal coupling

Used to connect to an external coupling facility

Coupling

True or False External devices must be defined to the operation system before they can be used.

True

True or False The HCD must be used by any user before they can write files or datasets to disk devices.

False

True or False External devices must be defined to the channel subsystem before they can be used.

True

True or False Device definitions are performed using the Hardware Configuration Dialog (HCD).

True

True or False The HCD is an ISPF application.

True

Name that acronym OSA

Open Systems Adapter

A hardware card for IBM Z mainframes that is used to connect mainframes to standard Ethernet network infrastructure for TCP/IP network connections.

What is the modern Open Systems Adapter

OSA Express

True or False OSA bypasses the channel subsystem?

True

True or false OSA Express supports all internet wiring standards?

False - it only accepts Ethernet, including gigabit and 1000Base-T

What can be used to create and manage a configuration source file for the Open Systems Adapter - Integrated Console Controller?

Hardware Management Console (HMC)

What is needed to provide operating systems with z/OS consoles?

Open Systems Adapter - Integrated Console Controller (OSA-ICC)

Name that acronym OSA-ICC

Open Systems Adapter - Integrated Console Controller

Name that acronym SMC

Shared Memory Communication

A protocol that can improve throughput by accessing data faster, with less latency

How does SMC improve throughput and latency in data access?

By allowing two peers to transfer data using system memory buffers that each peer allocates for its partner to use.

Name that acronym SMC-D

SMC-Direct Memory Access

Name that acronym SMC-R

SMC-Remote Direct Access

Which protocol would you use for data access when systems are located in the same central processor complex (CPC)?

SMC-Direct Memory Access SMC-D

How is SMC-D able to facilitate data transfer?

Through Internal Shared Memory (ISM) technology via virtual adapters through TCP socket endpoints.

How would you share data between central processor complex (CPC)?

SMC-Remote Direct Access (SMC-R)

True or False z/OS and other systems in the same CPC require an OSA adapter for TCP/IP Communication.

False

What mainframe feature uses the OSA protocol for inner CPC communication?

Hipersockets

True or False Open System Adapter (OSA) is how the mainframe connects to external networks for TCP/IP connections?

True

True or False Open System Adapter (OSA) cannot be used to connect to z/OS and the Hardware Management Console (HMC)

False

Protocols for internal systems in the same CPC

SMC-D and HiperSockets

Protocol for communication between LPARs in different systems.

SMC-R

True or False The OSA has always been used by mainframes to connect to networks.

True

True or False The OSA is a hardware device that connects to the mainframe over a FICON fiber cable.

False

True or False OSA today supports Ethernet, FDDI, ATM, and Token Ring network connections.

False

True or False The OSA today connects via the normal channel subsystem.

False

True or False The OSA can be used to provide operating systems with z/OS consoles.

True

True or False The OSA is used for TCP/IP network connections.

True

True or False The channel subsystem only uses Special Assist Processors (SAPs), which are separate from normal mainframe processing.

True

True or False While the channel subsystem performs I/O for one task, other tasks can perform processing.

True

True or False The channel subsystem performs all the I/O processing.

False

True or False Once the channel subsystem has completed I/O, it interrupts the normal processors, so that the task requesting I/O can continue.

True

True or False The channel subsystem is only used by z/OS.

False

True or False The channel subsystem uses memory that is separate from that used by normal mainframe processing.

True

Which two items are channel communication technologies? SCSI zHyperLink OSA ATM FICON

zHyperLink FICON

True or False OSA today can connect to Fast Ethernet and 1000-Base-T networks.

True

True or False IBM Mainframes may run more than one instance of a coupling facility?

True

Name that acronym PR/SM

Processor Resource / System Manager

Allow multiple operating systems to share the CPC resources

True or False PR/SM preloaded on mainframe?

True

How does PR/SM allocate memory to LPARs?

By dividing it between LPARs, giving each LPAR an area of memory

How does PR/SM allocate CPU to LPARs?

PR/SM shares CPU so that if one LPAR does not need it, another could use it.

True or False PR/SM can set it up so one LPAR has more CPU than another?

True

True or False PR/SM works for all different types of processors on the mainframe?

True General purpose (GP) processors, sometimes referred to as a central processor or (CP) zIIP - offloading work from GPs IFL - Linux on IBM Z ICF - for coupling facilities

What feature was added as an optional feature to allow temporary zIIP capacity to be utilized during a shutdown period or IP to speed up recovery times and minimize downtimes?

System Recovery Boost

Name that acronym MIF

Multiple Image Facility

What advantage does Multiple Image Facility (MIF) bring?

This reduces the number of physical channels attached to external devices.

What technology allows an LPAR to operate as if it has exclusive access to each channel subsystem?

PR/SM

True or False Open System Adapters can be shared amongst LPARs?

True - and each LPAR believes its access to the OSA is exclusive

True or False z/VM and PR/SM are the same?

False - PR/SM and z/VM have similar functionality in that they can configure resource sharing across OS instances

True or false PR/SM can be used to share channels and OSA connections

True

True or False PR/SM divides a CPC into logical partitions (LPARs)

True

True or False PR/SM is a product that runs under z/OS

False

True or False PR/SM can be used to share CPUs amongst LPARs

True

Is the following statement true for PR/SM, z/VM or both? Provided with IBM Z mainframes

PR/SM

Is the following statement true for PR/SM, z/VM or both? One or more operating systems can run under it

Both

Is the following statement true for PR/SM, z/VM or both? Can run under PR/SM

z/VM

Is the following statement true for PR/SM, z/VM or both? Runs as an operating system

z/VM

Is the following statement true for PR/SM, z/VM or both? Can share CPU

Both

Is the following statement true for PR/SM, z/VM or both? Can share channels and OSA connections

Both

Sysplex

A group of z/OS operating systems that communicate using channels and share resources such as datasets

Up to how many z/OS images can sysplex support?

32 as of z16

Name that acronym XCF

Cross-system facility

Cross-system facility (XCF)

This provides services to allow tasks in a z/OS system to communicate with other tasks, either in the same z/OS system, or a different z/OS system in the same sysplex.

What technology allows tasks in z/OS to communicate with other tasks in the same z/OS system or a different one in the same sysplex?

Cross-system facility (XCF)

What protocol allows z/OS to sync time?

Server Time Protocol (STP)

Name that acronym STP

Server Time Protocol (STP)

What is it referred to as when a sysplex has one or more coupling facilities for common memory for resource sharing?

Parallel sysplex

Name that acronym ENQ

Enqueue

A technique used by programs to limit access (through serialization) to a reusable resource.

True or False An ENQ can be seen by all z/OS systems in a sysplex?

True

What is the advantage of serialized access to a dataset?

It ensures only one task can write to a dataset at a time, ensuring data integrity

What technology allows multiple writes to a dataset at a time?

VSAM record-level sharing

How does RSL allow for multiple writes on the same dataset?

By serializing at the record level rather than the dataset level

True or False Security software such as RACF can be shared amongst multiple z/OS instances?

True - And they see changes

True or False Websphere applications can write to the same log?

True - and the logs can be shared with tasks

How are tape drives shared? Serialized, or parallel?

Serialized. When one is finished, then next OS can use it

What technology allows the sharing of resources across z/OS instances?

sysplex

CICS can also share resources, what's the arrangement called?

CICSPlex

Db2 can be shared using what mechanism?

Db2 data sharing group

Name that acronym IMS TM

IMS Transaction Manager

True or False IBM MQ queues can be shared among z/OS instances?

True, allowing multiple tasks to put, or pull from the same queue

True or False, z/OS applications can share TCP/IP ports?

True, similar to VTAM generic resources

True or False z/OS tasks can share network resources?

True, for example VTAM Logical Units

Name that acronym VTAM

Virtual Telecommunication Access Method

a program that facilitates communication between applications and terminals (or other applications) in an SNA network.

When a user logs into an application, what are they logging on to?

The applications' VTAM Logical Unit

What is a VTAM LU also referred to as?

An Application ID, or APPLID for short

When two applications share an APPLID, what is this called?

a VTAM generic resource

Does a user need to know the application they are logging into?

No, this is determined by VTAM

For resource sharing to occur outside of a sysplex, what must happen

Setup of a network communication

This can communicate with an external time server.

STP

This allows z/OS tasks to communicate with tasks in another z/OS system in the same sysplex.

Coupling Facility

This allows z/OS tasks to communicate with tasks in the same z/OS system.

XCF

This is required for a Parallel Sysplex.

Coupling Facility

This is used to synchronize time between mainframes.

STP

An IBM Z Mainframe CPC can run which four operating system images at the same time?

z/VM KVM z/OS Linux on IBM Z

PR/SM can be configured so that LPARs share IBM Z mainframe resources. Which three of the following resources can be shared using PR/SM? Disks Channels Open Systems Adapters (OSAs) Special Assist Processors (SAPs) Central processors (CPs)

Channels Open Systems Adapters (OSAs) Central processors (CPs) PR/SM cannot share Special Assist Processors (SAPs) or disks. Disks can be shared by z/OS systems in the same sysplex, but PR/SM is not required to do this.

z/OS uses some sysplex features to allow it to share resources. Which three of the following are such features? RACF JES2 Coupling Facility DFSMSdfp Server Time Protocol (STP) XCF

Coupling Facility Server Time Protocol (STP) XCF z/OS systems use basic sysplex features, including STP, XCF, and coupling facilities. z/OS builds on these features to share resources.

Many z/OS tasks use enqueues (ENQs) for serialization. Which four of the following statements about enqueues are true? Enqueues cannot be used for tasks running in different z/OS systems in different sysplexes If another task owns an enqueue, a requesting task cannot obtain it. It must wait, or do something else Some z/OS components use enqueues for serialization Enqueues have two names - a major name (QName) and minor name (RName) Enqueues are attached to actual resources, therefore a dataset enqueue is stored in a physical dataset Enqueues cannot be used for tasks running in different z/OS systems in the same sysplex

Enqueues have two names - a major name (QName) and minor name (RName) Enqueues cannot be used for tasks running in different z/OS systems in a different sysplex If another task owns an enqueue, a requesting task cannot obtain it. It must wait, or do something else Some z/OS components use enqueues for serialization

z/OS tasks can share many types of resources, including datasets and JES spool. Suppose you have two tasks that want to write to a shared log. Which three of the following statements about this situation are true? To share using normal z/OS features, these tasks must be in the same sysplex These tasks could write the log to a dataset, and share the dataset These tasks could share a logstream, a z/OS resource used to store logs To share using normal z/OS features, these tasks must be in the same z/OS system These tasks could write the log to an enqueue, and share the enqueue

These tasks could write the log to a dataset, and share the dataset These tasks could share a logstream, a z/OS resource used to store logs To share using normal z/OS features, these tasks must be in the same sysplex