In this issue, I’ll cover the following:

IBM Announcement

In the last TUNING Letter, I suggested that people look at WSC Flash W98044, which recommends that multi-system customers be on OS/390 R2.5 by January 1, 2000. At SHARE this week, most of the speakers at the IBM OS/390 sessions are stressing the point that multi-system shops (this can be simply multi-LPARs) currently running R2 or R3 be sure to have OS/390 R6 ordered by March 6, 1999. You don’t have to install it before 2000, just have it available to install before you migrate to a later release.

I’ve included the text of the announcement that IBM has sent to every OS/390 customer. But due to the short time frame, I think you should be aware of this now and make sure that it’s routed to the people who can make it happen!  

 
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – Letter from IBM – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – On February 23rd IBM announced upgrades to the OS/390 operating system, new channel and networking capabilities on the S/390 G5 Parallel Enterprise Server and new software pricing terms and conditions for S/390 customers growing their Parallel Sysplex technology clusters beyond 1,800 MIPs.

The press release and further details on this announcement can be found on the S/390 web site at:

http://www.s390.ibm.com/stories/1999/os390v2r7_pr.html

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Please be advised that IBM is extending the OS/390 release coexsistance support for OS/390 2.6 as descbired in the memo below which is being sent to all OS/390 customers.

TO:    Licenses of OS/390 Version 1 Release 1, 2, and 3
Program Number 5645-001
Feature Numbers 5801, 5802, 5700, 5500, 5734
SUBJECT: Special Support for OS/390 Coexistence; Ordering
Reminder for OS/390 R6 by March 6, 1999

Dear Customer,

This memo should be read by anyone responsible for ordering or planning for new OS/390 releases, whether it is for OS/390 Release 6 or subsequent OS/390 releases. In addition to letting you know of a special coexistence provision, there may be a need to order OS/390 Release 6 by March 6, 1999, if you have not already done so.

This memo is important if you have a multisystem configuration in which there is resource sharing. Multisystem configurations where resource sharing can occur include:

– A single processor running multiple LPARs
– A single processor which is time-sliced to run different levels
of the system (e.g. during different times of the day)
– Two or more systems running on separate processors
– Parallel Sysplex configurations (includes basic sysplex)

Since 1997, OS/390 has provided release migration flexibility by allowing up to four consecutive OS/390 releases to coexist in a multisystem configuration. This allows these systems to be upgraded to a new level of OS/390, one system at a time, using “rolling IPLs”.  This is provided that the OS/390 release you are migrating to is within three releases of the lowest OS/390 release running in that multisystem configuration (for a total of up to 4 consecutive releases). For customers with multisystem configurations, the least disruptive migration option to a new OS/390 release is to migrate from any OS/390 release within the supported coexistence period. For example, if you currently have a multisystem configuration that is running OS/390 Release 2, a rolling IPL can be used to upgrade to OS/390 Releases 3, 4, or 5. Using rolling IPLs to migrate to OS/390 Release 6 or higher would not be supported since these releases fall outside the four release coexistence period.

OS/390 is now providing a special provision to the OS/390 coexistence policy. This provision provides additional support to allow OS/390 Release 2 to coexist with OS/390 Release 6 in a multisystem configuration. To help customers to the extent possible, IBM has assessed its ability to support this specific environment. This assessment took into account unique considerations, including the element and feature mix supported from OS/390 Release 2 up through OS/390 Release 6.

It is important to understand that this special provision applies only to OS/390 Release 2 coexisting with OS/390 Release 6. This provision does not apply to, nor extend the coexistence period supported for earlier OS/390 releases (OS/390 Release 1) or subsequent OS/390 releases (OS/390 Release 3 or later). Support for up to four consecutive OS/390 releases running in a multisystem environment continues to be the general coexistence policy which applies to OS/390 Release 1, OS/390 Release 3, and all subsequentOS/390 releases.

For OS/390 Release 2 customers who want to take advantage of this provision, it is necessary to place your order for Release 6 while it is still available. To allow for adequate order processing time, it is recommended that all OS/390 Release 6 orders be submitted no later than March 6, 1999 to meet the process deadline of March 11, 1999.

For OS/390 Release 3 customers, it is also important to place your order for Release 6 while it is still available, as no additional changes to OS/390 coexistence policy are planned. OS/390 Release 3 is supported from a coexistence standpoint up to and including OS/390 Release 6.

Since OS/390 Release 8 is planned to be the release generally available on January 1, 2000, customers who want to be positioned for a non-disruptive migration to a current OS/390 release in early 2000 will need to position on at least OS/390 Release 5 prior to your migration to OS/390 Release 8. Customers with multisystem configurations who cannot be on OS/390 Release 5 or higher and want non-disruptive migrations, are strongly encouraged to develop a plan that enables them to migrate to an intermediate release and then OS/390 Release 8 after the year 2000.

For a full description of these considerations, see the paper “Planning Guide for Multisystem Customers: Coexistence and Planning Considerations Through the Year 2000” available on the Web at:

http://www.s390.ibm.com/stories/year2000/coexist.html

If you are in the process of migrating to an OS/390 Version 2 release, here is no need to order OS/390 Release 6.

Alan Shaffer
OS/390 Product Manager