Mainframe Automation

Automation products like IBM Tivoli Systems Automation and Tivoli Workload Scheduler revolutionised z/OS operations in the 1990s. No longer did we need people manually submitting jobs, and managing job schedules. No longer did we need operators constantly monitoring the z/OS console for errors, or manually entering commands at certain times of the day. Automation did all of this for us, and more.

But the basic facilities of z/OS, JES and other systems haven't stood still. Today, there are many more automation features in the base products than there were. So do we still need this automation software? This is what our two technical articles look at this issue.

In doing this, we also take a fresh look at some old and new z/OS and JES features, which are of use even for sites with automation software. In our first article, we take systems automation products that provde message and command automation like CA Ops/MVS and BMC AutoOperator. Our second article covers automated job scheduling software like CA-ESP and BMC Control-M.

Finally, in our opinion article, we argue that many sites are not keeping their message automation up to date. And this could be bad.

We hope you enjoy this issue.

technical: Do We Really Need Systems Automation Software?

I recently looked at a z/OS site that was interesting: no automation software. No Tivoli Systems Automation, CA Ops/MVS or BMC AutoOperator. Which kind of begs the question: do we really need this automation software?

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technical: Do We Really Need Automated Job Scheduling Software?

Most sites will have some automated job scheduling software like IBM Tivoli Workload Scheduler, BMC Control-M or CA ESP. This software automates some of the complicated job schedules: starting jobs as required, and reporting on job failures. But do we really need this software?

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opinion: Is Your Message Automation Current? (Probably not)

Here's a question: how often do you update your message automation? At one site I know, the answer was 'almost never.' And this can be bad.

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