Mainframe Performance FAQs
The following is a listing of frequently asked questions regarding DataKinetics® tableBASE®:
What is tableBASE?
What can tableBASE do for my mainframe systems?
How can tableBASE save me money?
How much money can tableBASE save me?
Who uses tableBASE?
What levels of z/OS does tableBASE run on?
What versions of CICS does tableBASE run on?
What versions of IMS are supported?
What versions of ISPF are supported?
What versions of DB2 are supported?
Does tableBASE support shared data within a single MVS image?
Does tableBASE support Sysplex?
What is included in the tableBASE maintenance contract?
Does tableBASE support 64-bit applications?
What access methods are used to support tableBASE libraries?
How is tableBASE affected by CICSPLEX?
Does tableBASE require virtual storage below the line?
Does tableBASE support paged tables?
What is tableBASE?
tableBASE is an in-memory optimization solution for mainframes. It improves mainframe performance, makes mainframe data more accessible and available, reduces the need for upgrades, and greatly simplifies business rules processing. More about tableBASE.
What can tableBASE do for my mainframe systems?
tableBASE can improve the performance of your mainframe systems simply by replacing database I/O calls with API calls to in-memory tables. In-memory tables can be shared, meaning that many regions can access memory-speed tables, rather than all accessing the same database simultaneously. More about tableBASE for mainframe systems.
How can tableBASE save me money?
tableBASE helps you recover your MIPS. MIPS are money, and MIPS that are used for I/O are not available for transaction processsing. tableBASE lets you recover these MIPS, and allocate them to transaction processing. In short, you don't need a hardware upgrade to get more MIPS. Get tableBASE, and use your recovered MIPS instead.
How much money can tableBASE help me save?
Every customer is different, but if you have I/O-intensive applications, you can reduce their execution time significantly. Many of our customers have reduced application execution time by 95%. We reduce our customers' use of MIPS by at least 50% and often by 80% or more. For companies that use 2,500 MIPS/year, that means savings of at least $1.8-million. For more information, download the white paper.
Who uses tableBASE?
20% of the Fortune 50 are DataKinetics customers. Typically, more than one of the top five in any major industry vertical are DataKinetics customers; including Finance, Insurance, Retail, Telecommunications and more. More about tableBASE customers.
What levels of z/OS does tableBASE run on?
tableBASE operates on IBM mainframes using z/OS. It has no direct dependencies on operating system levels.
What versions of CICS does tableBASE run on?
tableBASE Release 6 runs on all levels of CICS Transaction Server (TS). Full support of threadsafe applications is available in the latest maintenance release. However, CICS TS V3.1 does not support OS/VS COBOL programs. tableBASE 5.0.2 (released in 1996, End of Service date June 2006) uses OS/VS COBOL (TBDRIVC program and TBOL/CICS programs) and therefore is not compatible with CICS TS V3.1 and later CICS TS releases.
What versions of IMS are supported?
tableBASE/IMS does not have any dependencies on the version of IMS used.
What versions of ISPF are supported?
tablesONLINE/ISPF has no dependencies on the version of ISPF used.
What versions of DB2 are supported?
tableBASE has no dependencies on the version of DB2-WLM. tableBASE Release 6 is designed to work in a DB2 stored procedure environment with multiple TCBs.
Does tableBASE support shared data within a single MVS image?
tableBASE Release 6 supports shared data using the Virtual Table Share (VTS) option. When regions (or address spaces), whether online or batch, need to share Read-Only or Read/Write tables, tables are opened into a VTS-TSR (Table Space Region) rather than a local TSR.
Does tableBASE support Sysplex?
tableBASE is fully capable of running in a Sysplex environment. Read Only tables are fully supported across LPARs-- updates to RO tables are managed using Linear Data Set mappings. R/W tables can be managed using DB2 stored procedures.
tableBASE libraries, as VSAM or BDAM datasets, are fully supported across all MVS images in a GRS configuration. Integrity is assured in a multi-CPU, shared DASD environment as long as enqueues with a scope of SYSTEMS are propagated around all the CPUs in the complex.
What is included in the tableBASE maintenance contract?
The annual tableBASE maintenance agreement includes new releases of purchased products, PDF manuals of purchased products, 24/7customer support, and access to the customer-only section of the DataKinetics Web site.
Does tableBASE support 64-bit applications?
tableBASE is a 31-bit application. It does not use virtual storage above the 2G ”bar“. IBM fully supports 31-bit applications when accessed by 64-bit applications on current levels of z/OS. Since IBM has implemented ”glue code“ to allow 64-bit applications to work with 31-bit applications, we expect no problems with applications that exploit virtual storage above the 2G ”bar“. If your tableBASE applications are to be modified to exploit 64-bit virtual, please contact DataKinetics to verify if any changes will be required.
What access methods are used to support tableBASE libraries?
tableBASE supports BDAM and QSAM datasets and VSAM relative-record datasets. (A QSAM dataset is accessed with BDAM). The datasets must be configured by the tableBASE ”Define Library“ command, which is supported in the batch interface and through the TBEXEC utility.
How is tableBASE affected by CICSPLEX?
tableBASE is CICSPLEX compliant, but applications using tableBASE often require transaction affinities. A CICSPLEX consists of multiple CICS regions across multiple MVS images. IBM’s CICSPLEX/SM makes administering such large numbers of CICS regions relatively simple by presenting a single image of the system.
A key component of CICSPLEX/SM is workload balancing which is achieved by routing transactions to CICS regions that are the least busy. The dynamic transaction routing (DTR) function of CICS is used to route transactions from a TOR (Terminal Owning Region) to any one of many AORs (Application Owning Regions). Transactions that cannot be routed to any AOR have affinities. While the goal of CICSPLEX/SM is to have no transaction affinities; in practice, there will always be transactions that require some degree of affinity.
In general, applications using tableBASE must be routed to the same AOR if they need to access a table that may have been updated or created in the TSR for that CICS region. The distribution of specific applications to AORs and the tableBASE tables they will update and create is a user decision. Any resulting transaction affinities are then implemented though the DTR exit.
With Release 6, transaction affinities within an MVS image could be eliminated by using a VTS-TSR. Virtual Table Share (VTS), an optional tableBASE component, provides support for multiple regions accessing a shared Read/Write VTS-TSR. A transaction running in any AOR can create, update and access any table in a common VTS-TSR if all applications using tableBASE use the same VTS-TSR.
Does tableBASE require virtual storage below the line?
tableBASE dynamically acquires storage below the line when needed for DCBs, etc. All load modules in tableBASE are AMODE(31) and RMODE(ANY), except the API load module. It is delivered as AMODE(ANY) RMODE(24) for compatibility with any customers’ RMODE(24) applications.
Current versions of COBOL are fully reentrant and fully support above-the-line (31-bit addresses) execution and data. tableBASE fully supports this mode of operation. To ensure that this is true, first ensure that your COBOL program and all subroutines are capable of executing in AMODE(31) RMODE(ANY). This may require recompilation and relinking with current versions of the tableBASE.
Does tableBASE support paged tables?
tableBASE does not support paged tables. Instead, tableBASE relies on the operating system to manage the virtual memory.
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