Units of work that run on the mainframe, at least those running on z/OS, are dispatched using two different types of control blocks: TCBs (Task Control Blocks) and SRBs (Service Request Blocks). It can be beneficial to understand these two types of control blocks, including how they are used, the differences between the two, and the implications of using each. There are significant nuances to understanding how z/OS work is dispatched, but we will not
Regular readers of my posts here know that zIIPs are a type of mainframe specialty processor that augments the general-purpose CPUs. Instead of running all workloads on the general-purpose CPUs, specific workloads are shuttled to the specialty processors for execution. The zIIP, or Integrated Information Processor, was initially created to process certain types of Db2 […]
Units of work that run on the mainframe, at least those running on z/OS, are dispatched using two different types of control blocks: TCBs (Task Control Blocks) and SRBs (Service Request Blocks). It can be beneficial to understand these two types of control blocks, including how they are used, the differences between the two, and […]
Cost is the primary driver for shifting COBOL compute to less expensive platforms. But once organizations decide that they are going to use shifting COBOL compute they discover there are other benefits to this modernization method. These benefits are realized in three areas: impact, risk, and momentum. Financial Impact The immediate benefit of shifting COBOL […]