IBM zEnterprise System: A Technical Introduction

This course is designed to provide a technical introduction to the new IBM zEnterprise System (zEnterprise).The zEnterprise now makes it possible to deploy an integrated hardware platform that brings mainframe and distributed technologies together. This course will discuss the main components that make up this platform: the IBM zEnterprise 196 (z196), IBM zEnterprise BladeCenter Extension (zBX), and the IBM zEnterprise Unified Resource Manager. It will describe and explain new functions, terminology and concepts such as nodes, ensembles, intranode management network, OSX, OSM, zDAC, IBM Smart Analytics Optimizer, and more. It will describe why the typical enterprise data center consists of multiple hardware platforms with multiple architectures and varying infrastructure. Today multitier application architectures and their deployment on heterogeneous infrastructures are common. What is uncommon is the infrastructure needed to provide the high qualities of service required by mission critical applications. This course will describe how the resources of the zEnterprise provides the necessary infrastructure and can be managed and virtualized as a single pool of resources, integrating system and workload management across the multisystem, multitier, multi architecture environment. This course will provide detailed technical information on the new z196 server. It will describe the new functions, features and models available. Processor, book, and CSS enhancements will be detailed with comparisons to previous System z servers. HMC enhancements and configuration options will be described along with the new role the HMC will play in the zEnterprise System. It will include information relating to the zBX such as: configuration and content of the zBX, data and management networks, maintenance firmware strategy, connectivity requirements to the z196, and the zBX components.