Parallel Sysplex Cluster Technology - IBM System z10 EC Reference Manual

Parallel Sysplex Cluster Technology

Parallel Sysplex clustering is designed to bring the power
of parallel processing to business-critical System z10 EC,
System z9 and z990 applications. A Parallel Sysplex clus-
ter consists of up to 32 z/OS images coupled to one or
more Coupling Facilities (CFs or ICFs) using high-speed
specialized links for communication. The Coupling Facili-
ties, at the heart of the Parallel Sysplex cluster, enable
high speed, read/ write data sharing and resource sharing
among all the z/OS images in a cluster. All images are also
connected to a Sysplex Timer
Server Time Protocol (STP), so that all events can be prop-
erly sequenced in time.
CF
Parallel Sysplex Resource Sharing enables multiple
system resources to be managed as a single logical
resource shared among all of the images. Some examples
of resource sharing include JES2 Checkpoint, GRS "star,"
and Enhanced Catalog Sharing; all of which provide sim-
plified systems management, increased performance and/
or scalability.
Although there is significant value in a single footprint and
multi-footprint environment with resource sharing, those
customers looking for high availability must move on to
a database data sharing configuration. With the Parallel
Sysplex environment, combined with the Workload Man-
ager and CICS TS, DB2 or IMS
dynamically routed to the z/OS image most capable of
or by implementing the
®
, incoming work can be
™
handling the work. This dynamic workload balancing,
along with the capability to have read/write access data
from anywhere in the Parallel Sysplex cluster, provides
scalability and availability. When configured properly, a
Parallel Sysplex cluster is designed with no single point
of failure and can provide customers with near continu-
ous application availability over planned and unplanned
outages.
Coupling Facility Control Code (CFCC) Level 15 is avail-
able on System z10 EC, System z9 EC and z9 BC.
With the introduction of the z10 EC, we have the concept
of n-2 on the hardware as well as the software. The z10 EC
participates in a Sysplex with System z9, z990 and z890
only and currently supports z/OS 1.7 and higher.
For detailed information on IBM's Parallel Sysplex technol-
ogy, visit our Parallel Sysplex home page at http://www-
03.ibm.com/systems/z/pso/.
Coupling Facility Configuration Alternatives
IBM offers multiple options for configuring a functioning
Coupling Facility:
• Standalone Coupling Facility: The standalone CF
provides the most "robust" CF capability, as the CPC is
wholly dedicated to running the CFCC microcode — all
of the processors, links and memory are for CF use
only. A natural benefit of this characteristic is that the
standalone CF is always failure-isolated from exploiting
z/OS software and the server that z/OS is running on for
environments without System-Managed CF Structure
Duplexing. While there is no unique standalone cou-
pling facility model offered with the z10 EC, customers
can achieve the same physically isolated environment
as on prior mainframe families by ordering a z10 EC,
z9 EC, z9 BC, and z990 with PUs characterized as
Internal Coupling Facilities (ICFs). There are no software
charges associated with such a configuration.
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