Tandemworld eNewsletter for November 2011

Keeping it REAL with Real People, Real Engineers, and Real-time Support

It’s Friday afternoon at 3pm. A storm moves in and some of your ATM’s start to go offline. The EMS log starts to fill up with warning messages. Operations raise the red flag. All of a sudden the comm link between the primary and backup datacenter goes offline. You need some immediate help. Maybe just a friendly calming voice to guide you thru the mess, but you need to hear that voice. What do you do?

Does your Data Replication vendor have real people, who understand what a Tandem is, to answer the phone?

If you are a DRNet customer then you pick up the phone and call our Real Engineer number for instant help. At NTI we have a unique business model. In a time where everyone is offshoring support, and dumping you into a front end frustration system, NTI continues to place the highest importance on connecting our Customers with Expert Engineering assistance on the FIRST CALL.

We call it our Real Engineer model. Our Expert Engineering staff is involved in design, development, implementation, and long term support of all of our worldwide customers. If you have a critical problem you call our Real Engineer number. Someone from our expert staff answers the phone (7x24). In an instant you will be talking with a smart person, who understands the intricacies of Data Replication, and who can instantly reach out to other engineering experts for instant solutions.

Refreshingly Real-Time Support from Real Engineers. Nobody else in our industry does this. Nobody else in our industry offers the level of support that NTI does.

Our business is pretty simple. We protect your valuable data with world class software and Real Engineers.

DRNet/APS gives you Active/Active Tandem data protection.

DRNet/OPEN keeps data warehouses refreshed.

Who you gonna call? NTI

Jim McFadden

Jim.McFadden@Network-Tech.com

WebSphere MQ Series and its NonStop Implementation

It is easy to find generic WebSphere MQ Series resource, but resources that know how MQ Series is implemented on the NonStop platform is a different matter. BrightStrand has those skilled, specialist consultants and can deliver training and consultancy. These consultants have also undertaken major MQ Series upgrades to Version 5.3.

Course Overview

This course, in-depth training for HP NonStop System Administrators, is delivered by BrightStrand specialists. On successful completion of this course System Administrators will be able to understand the installation and configuration of the WebSphere MQ V5.3 (WMQ) environment. The training is designed to give System Administrators basic knowledge about WebSphere MQ Series daily operation and error handling. The course consists of lectures and labs to better understand and practice the WebSphere MQ Series environment.

This course can be tailored to particular customer requirements and conducted on customer premises.

WebSphere MQ Series Consultancy

BrightStrand delivers WebSphere MQ Consultancy through its experienced, specialised consultants who harness their NonStop skills with knowledge of the WebSphere MQ Series software and its implementation in the NonStop environment. The same people deliver the training so that customers can be assured that the presenter is talking from experience in the field.

For further details of WebSphere MQ Series Training and Consultancy please contact Dave Stewart today on +44 (0)7831 775115 or email him on dstewart@brightstrand.com.

India Challenge

Linda, from the BrightStrand Glasgow, UK office, is off on a Charity Challenge to India.

For more information on Linda's Charity Challenge or to make a donation, follow

www.justgiving.com/Linda-Sutters

Good Luck Linda.

Please click this YouTube video, Gravic Reduces System Outages with Bi-Directional Replication, to view blogger Jake Ludington’s interview with Bill Holenstein of Gravic, shortly after he accepted the HP 2011 Mission-Critical Innovation Award at HP Discover Vienna. The award, announced by HP and Intel, named the Gravic Shadowbase submission as the best in the Mission-Critical Data category. To read Jake’s LockerGnome blog please click here.

Ban Bottlenecks® - Anticipate Performance Problems

Reactive versus Proactive.

Are you having trouble getting ahead of the curve in heading off problems? Do you find yourself always chasing after issues, instead of anticipating them and heading them off? You’re not alone. Most shops find themselves short-handed and responsible for hundreds of systems across multiple architectures. The current state of the art of system management tools is great for real-time management, but not so great when it comes to forecasting.

Business Integration.

If you’re going to do system capacity planning properly, you have to have two sets of data: Utilization of every applicable system factor, and knowledge of the business traffic. The understanding of how the business traffic drives the system, and the understanding of what changes are anticipated for the business traffic must be integrated into a comprehensive plan for the system(s). That plan must cover all components of the transaction path, from front-end servers running web services, to the application servers, to the database servers, and all their respective component parts.

A service and a discipline

Ban Bottlenecks predicts the future by analyzing the past. In addition to daily reports, each month we create a detailed performance/capacity audit of your systems and discuss it with you. Our expert assistance will help you to find and fix current problems, and prepare you for the future. Our monthly web conference becomes the basis for an ITIL-style system of dialogue and feedback benefitting all team members

For more thoughts on these topics, please review Jon’s Performance Musings articles in The Connection and Connect/Converge magazines, either on the Connect website or on www.banbottlenecks.com.

Call for a free evaluation!

Early on, when I first encountered replication solutions, the requirements were pretty simple. There was a management mandate to add an additional data center as a backup that can be used in case there is a disaster. Simple copying or replicating data from the primary site to the backup was about as adventurous as most companies were prepared to go at first. Testing the data center actually taking over the processing load in a disaster situation and validating that the data was current (and usable) was rarely done without an actual disaster – too many opportunities of accidently bringing down the operation. And yet, there were companies quite prepared to integrate the back-up site with the rest of operations’ responsibilities and make both systems an active part of the overall IT environment.

Once a degree of comfort was reached that the plug could be pulled on one site with the backup taking over in a matter of minutes, companies realized that there was a lot more that they could achieve with these dual-site installations. First there was talk about splitting workloads with half the traffic routed to one site with the rest to the second site. There were file and database segmenting options to be sorted out, but these usually were mechanical by nature and pretty easy to address for most companies – all with the names starting between A and L got to site one and everyone else was routed to site two was pretty much how early implementations treated the split.

However, to improve efficiency, this led to the development of active-active solutions, or for the more adventurous, rethinking the logic within the application and having the application ensure both sites were in synch – something the team at Germany’s Bank Verlag did quite successfully, eliminating the need for any third party products. But for the rest of the NonStop community, selecting a workable solution from their favorite middleware vendor seemed the appropriate course of action to follow.

Then came the prospect of “zero-downtime migrations” as a tangential requirement. With two sites synched the way they were required to be in order to successfully transition any workload from one to the other in true disaster scenarios, it made possible to decide to deliberately take down one site, upgrade it (and run a few tests, etc.) and then reinstate it. When it comes to maintaining levels of availability much sought after in situations where the applications are mission-critical, and usually customer facing, this became a much requested benefit from running replication products.

Dual-site, active-active, and with networks configured with secondary paths and connections, we have come a long way in a very short time to having almost magical control over where and when we process transactions. And environments are no longer the simple data centers that I first came across only a few years ago. Even more intricate are the three or more data center complexes that some companies have had to consider, given legislation now in place, to ensure that at all times sensitive information has a backup up and is accessible at all times, even in outage or disaster situations. Replication has become an integral part of the fabric we deploy in support of real time data integration as we take the last steps and begin replicating between disparate database implementations.

And of course, let’s not forget the opportunities this opens up to all the other middleware vendors providing solutions in the monitoring and system / networking management space – after all, this is one area where operators will not want to be performing routines in the dark, blind to what’s actually happening. Better yet, with automation the involvement of the human operator can be nearly eliminated, reducing the risk of errors.

As vital as is the establishment of these types of operations, there’s a lot of value that comes with having choice. HP continues to offer great solutions and their TMF product provides an important contribution in support of their own product offerings as well as those from the many vendors within the NonStop community – including Attunity. There’s always new ways to look at solving problems, just as there is shifts in allegiances and partnerships. CIOs often want to take a fresh look at how they are solving problems and at the capabilities of the tools and utilities they have in place. And having much wider choice is a great thing from their perspective!

I will have a lot more to say on this subject in the coming months and the message gels well with the bigger topic of NonStop today and its improved availability. It’s still very early in the New Year, but already I am seeing some small, early shifts in the tectonic plates underpinning the NonStop community and from where I sit, the benefits for NonStop users will be hard to miss …
Richard Buckle

It’s about time we provide some well-deserved exposure for the Distinguished Technologists of HP’s NonStop Enterprise Division (NED). “NED’s Distinguished Technologists – They’re Not Old, Just Really Experienced,” was recently published in the January/February issue of The Connection, a NonStop-specific publication distributed six times a year by Connect.

XYPRO to exclusively distribute the IdentityForge Advanced Adapter for HP NonStop servers

Availability Digest Investigates Oracle’s Ticking Time Bomb

A potentially calamitous software flaw has been discovered in the Oracle database by the journalists at InfoWorld. As described in the February 2012 issue of the Availability Digest, “Oracle’s Ticking Time Bomb” involves an internal clock designed to last centuries. However, the clock can run out in just a few years due to a bug in an unrelated Oracle utility. When and if it does, databases will be unusable, applications will crash, and data centers will be brought to their knees. There is no easy recovery. This defect has existed for years despite extensive Oracle product testing and millions of hours of field experience. Fortunately, the flaw now has a patch that works on newer versions of the Oracle database.

The February Digest also includes:

• Help! My Data Center is Down! Part 5: Upgrades – a disturbing number of major data-center failures are caused by upgrades that go wrong. Read how an IRS goof cost U.S. taxpayers $300 million, how PayPal upgraded with no backup plan, and how Amazon and Research in Motion are competing for “most outages caused by failed upgrades over a short period of time.”

• HP CloudSystem introduces the HP hardware, software, and consulting services that allow companies to convert their current IT assets into private, public, or hybrid clouds.

The Availability Digest offers one-day and multi-day seminars on High Availability: Concepts and Practices. Seminars are given both onsite and online and are tailored to an organization’s specific needs. http://www.availabilitydigest.com/seminars.htm.

Published monthly, the Digest is free and lives at www.availabilitydigest.com. Please visit our Continuous Availability Forum on LinkedIn. We’re at 381 members and counting. Our most recent thread is entitled, “How is your company addressing the Oracle ticking time bomb?

Malware as a Service

XYPRO Technology Corporation

The cloud has spawned many types of services – Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and others. Now add a new one. According to the 2011 Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR), recently published by Verizon, it’s Malware as a Service (MaaS).

Verizon’s 2011 DBIR sends a clear message – small companies, watch out. The Internet has become a source of free or low-cost malware that is easily customizable to meet every hacker’s needs. Malware as a Service significantly reduces the skill set needed by a cybercriminal to launch automated attacks. The result is a shift in the demographics of information-asset attacks from large corporations to smaller companies.

The DBIR suggests two reasons for this change in attack demographics – the success of law enforcement and the emergence of Malware as a Service. Law-enforcement successes are motivating cybercriminals to look for softer, less risky targets. Malware as a Service is making the effort of attacking smaller companies more attractive.

In this article, we look at the DBIR’s path to these conclusions. (Read the complete article at www.xypro.com/Malware)

Andrew Price

Global Product Management

XYPRO Technology Corporation

www.xypro.com

New TANDsoft Customer Uses OPTA2000 for DR System Supporting Applications across Multiple Time Zones

A leading provider of electronic payments services has joined the ranks of TANDsoft customers with its purchase of an OPTA2000 license. The company will use OPTA2000 to support a NonStop-hosted disaster-recovery system that backs up EFT applications running in two different time zones. With OPTA2000, the backup of a failed application can be given an operating environment that has the same time zone as the failed application. For this company, only one DR system is therefore needed to protect multiple systems deployed thousands of miles apart.

OPTA2000 is a virtual clock and time-zone simulator that uses intercept technology to allow multiple applications operating in a consolidated environment to each have its own virtual system clock or to function in its own virtual time zone with date/time specifications that are different than that of the system clock. For time-zone simulation, the libraries create virtual times that are offset from a system’s actual time by an amount expressed as a deviation from GMT time (Greenwich Mean Time). For clock simulation, the virtual times can be offset to whatever time is required for the testing, maintenance, etc., of an application. No application modifications are required, and a single system can host thousands of applications.

TANDsoft’s “best of breed, best in price” philosophy offers highly competitive value for all TANDsoft solutions. In addition to OPTA2000, they include FileSync for automatic file synchronization and replication; AutoLib, which automatically loads a user library or a DLL for executing processes; Command Stream Replicator, which automatically replicates FUP, SQL/MP and SQL/MX DDL structure, and other environment changes to target systems – changes and settings that normally are not replicated because they sit outside the TMF Audit Trail; and the Enscribe-2-SQL and TMF-Audit Toolkits, which reduce the pressures of modernization by offering flexible, affordable alternatives to more expensive conversion products or manual conversion techniques. The Enscribe-2-SQL Toolkit supports both SQL/MP and SQL/MX and permits file-by-file incremental migration. The TMF-Audit Toolkit easily converts non-audited TMF files to audited TMF files. Its embedded Tookit Trace captures and analyzes Enscribe activity to construct TMF transaction boundaries for custom applications.

TANDsoft products require minimal or no application modifications and are available for all HP NonStop servers. Free trials are available.

For more information about TANDsoft’s product suite, contact Jack Di Giacomo at +1 (514) 695-2234. The company is headquartered in Beaconsfield, Quebec, Canada. UTC/GMT -5 (Eastern Standard Time) www.tandsoft.com. Our Enscribe to SQL Migration Forum on LinkedIn is at 98 members and counting.

XYPRO in Your Neck of the Woods

We’re traveling the globe, spreading the word about all the exciting product plans and features we have in store.

Come visit XYPRO at:

Suntug

Florida

March 2-3, 2012

www.suntug.org

GTUG

Dresden

September 25-27, 2012

http://www.gtug.de/

SATUG

South Africa

March 12-14, 2012

www.satug.org

PCI Security Standards Council
North American Meeting

Orlando, FL

September 13, 2012

www.pcisecuritystandards.org

HP Discover

Las Vegas

June, 2012

www.hpdiscover.com

PCI Security Standards Council

European Meeting

Location TBA

October, 2012

www.pcisecuritystandards.org

Giveaways, Golf, and a Customer Presentation

Ernie Guerrera, NuWave's president, and Tom Grecco, director of sales, are excited to attend this year's SunTUG Summit. Tom will get a chance to meet some of NuWave Technologies' loyal partners and customers, including JP Morgan Chase, who will play alongside the pair in the golf tournament on March 3rd. The duo will also give away a 1TB external hard drive that fits in the palm of your hand, as well as two of the company's new generation of polo shirts.

Another exciting aspect of this event is that one of NuWave's software users will give a presentation from their point of view. Javid Quadri of RBC will explain how he created Web Service methods using NuWave's SOAP/AM Server to expose RIMMS (a NonStop application) to multiple front end portals. This senior technical analyst will also describe how he selected and efficiently installed SOAP/AM^® at Royal Bank of Canada. Javid will explain the design, development and implementation of the resulting solution, and he will shed some light on the benefits of the product and the post-implementation experience.

Javid has worked in the HP NonStop space for over 20 years, primarily in the financial services sector. In that time, he has led several high-profile projects relating to data replication, performance analysis, IMN/IP conversion, continuous linked settlements (CLS) and payment processing automation, among others. Working at RBC Capital Markets, Javid has been a key contributor to many initiatives, including the creation of an internet Web portal used by clients to view account information, review account balances and create FX and payment transactions in any major currency.

www.nuwave-tech.com

XYPRO Welcomed as HP Enterprise Security Platinum Partner

XYPRO is proud to be welcomed into the HP Enterprise Security Partner Program at the Platinum Level.

In addition to XYPRO’s strategic integration partnership with HP via the XYGATE Merged Audit product being part of the security bundle for the NonStop operating system, we have also achieved certification for the XYGATE Merged Audit integration with the HP ArcSight SIEM Platform, enabling HP NonStop audit to be seamlessly incorporated into the Enterprise-wide view of audit, compliance & analysis activities.

Barry Forbes

VP of Sales & Marketing

XYPRO Technology Corporation

www.xypro.com

NSWi

www.nonstopworldinternational.com

Are you a European NonStop User?

Do you require a Full Time / Part Time Resource boost to Cover New Projects, Maternity / Paternity leave etc.?

Do you have NonStop Customers based in EMEA that require Local Support of Hardware and Software?

Nonstop World International (NSWi) can help.

We are currently providing Local Support to Vendors outside of the EMEA region for their NonStop Customers based in EMEA.

Contact us to see how we can assist you with highly skilled NonStop professionals, whether Long Term or Part Time on a 24*7 basis.

Marshall Resources – helping customers reduce the cost of NonStop Hardware Maintenance and extend S Series Support

I have spoken with several NonStop customers over the past few months who have asked me the same question about parts availability for the S Series. There seems to be some confusion about how Marshall Resources acquires and maintains parts and how HP’s end of production will affect S Series availability. Our exclusive source of Tandem hardware is from the End User who has decommissioned systems. We are not tied in any way to HP’s manufacturing, and in fact, have always acquired more parts than what could be consumed by a shrinking number of customers on that platform. I have been asked by many of you how long we could guarantee S Series parts availability. The reality is that there is no end date for how long we could provide storage, testing, and availability of quality parts. The demand for these services is the only factor that determines how long we offer these products. In fact, we no longer have demand for TNSII and TXP parts, but we do have some for our own sentimental reasons. Please allow me to explain further about Marshall Resources, and at the same time I will try and provide some helpful information as it relates to the general condition of the NonStop maintenance industry.

Yes indeed, Marshall Resources does maintain the world’s largest inventory of second hand Tandem / HP NonStop Computer hardware. We have our primary refurbishing, repair, and testing facility in North Carolina, USA. We also have a facility in Frankfurt, Germany with a large stock of parts and test systems. We also have storage locations in France, England, and Singapore. The purpose of these remote facilities is to support our global hardware maintenance business.

Besides a large number of systems in the US, we also have NonStop systems under support in several UK locations, much of Europe, several Eastern European locations, and South East Asia. We have hired many experienced Tandem engineers to cover these locations, and we have also established several key service provider relationships throughout the world. All of this enables us to be truly global in our service offering.

Another factor that has helped our service offerings is the availability of retired Tandem CEs. We provide a wonderful opportunity for experienced Tandem people to continue using their skills, part time, at a very attractive hourly pay rate. About 90% of our current Field Service Team has an average of 25 years Tandem experience. With recent hires, we can also boast that about 50% of our team has Integrity and NS-Blade training.. Please call us if you are interesting in employment, or please refer us to any of your Tandem friends who have been ’retired’ by HP.

Currently, the demand for S-Series maintenance is very high. In 2012, HP is approaching end of life on many S Series components. Even with some parts and CPUs extending EOL through 2013, all S-Series Users will have systems with some or a lot of components out of HP support sometime next year. Many customers are not in a position to upgrade these systems to Integrity systems or Blades, so interest in third party support is very high at this time. Marshall Resources continues to increase its resources and as it does so, this adds to our economies of scale and therefore response times improve and allow for better pricing and levels of service. This interest in third party solutions has also helped us with an increase in inquiries for NS-Integrity service, which we are also able to offer. We have already helped many customers make considerable savings in the NonStop hardware maintenance area. We would be delighted to work with you to demonstrate what saving we can make for you.

At Marshall Resources, we strive to provide the highest quality service with the highest quality equipment. Our repeat customers are our greatest compliment. Please visit our website at www.marshallresources.com for our company information, and find a sales representative in your area to assist you. We can always be reached at +1 800-443-0128, or by e-mail cm@marshallresources.com . We are looking forward to working with you.

GTUG & CONNECT Germany Go International - Mark Your Calendar !!

THE "HotSpot" in for everything NonStop in 2012! ... join the main NonStop Community event in Europe 2012!

This conference & exhibition is presented the second time by GTUG and Connect Germany.

It takes place every two years with a focus on NonStop. This is your chance to meet your fellow NonStop users and learn the latest on NonStop from users, HP, and vendors.

Enjoy the comfortable conference facilities at the luxury Westin Bellevue Hotel, located in the heart of Dresden and offering a spectacular "Canaletto View" of the old town historic monuments.

Discover Dresden’s impressive history and cultural heritage including Zwinger, Frauenkirche or Semper-Opera and get a glance of the modern Dresden while visiting the "Gläserne Manufaktur", the Volkswagen plant with its outstanding glass architecture.

Conference, Vendor and Hotel Registration will be open from March 15th, 2012.

More information, including the link to the event website, will follow in the next Tandemworld eNewsletter.

www.gtug.de

Platypus extends 6530 Java terminal emulator FIRE SALE!

Provide Tandem 6530 cloud connectivity and reduce cost with Platypus Partners 6530 java terminal emulator, JET 6530. JET 6530 annual license fee, ALF, half price fire sale is extended through March 31st.

IBM with its partner ATOS is evaluating JET 6530 to support customers from India. They requested an extended test period before making a purchase decision. This extension is now offered to you!

"JET 6530 allowed Karstadt to move Tandem NonStop 6530 access to the cloud for half the cost of any other emulator”, says Steffen Koenig of Karstadt, headquartered in Germany. “We support all internal and external users’ 6530 access in Europe and South America with JET 6530. We made a very good economical choice moving to Platypus JET 6530.”

CompuCredit Corporation purchased a JET 3270 Enterprise license.

“Wonderful product and wonderful people to work with. Thank you.”, Ambati, Sweta, IT Director CompuCredit.

Platypus Partners realize testing and implementation of a new emulator requires unplanned time so we have priced JET 6530 to make it worth your effort. Your budget is shrinking. What could be easier? Reduce your ongoing costs and strategically position your Tandem for decommission with internet access. Replace your existing emulator with an upgrade to cloud connectivity for half the price of your current emulator annual license fee, ALF. JET customers have replaced their existing emulator in a matter of weeks.

That’s right, there’s no upfront JET initial license fee, no ILF. Simply pay half what you currently pay for 6530 emulator annual maintenance, ALF. JET comes in 6530 and 3270 flavors. Special pricing applies to JET 3270 as well. Save even more money, replace your current 6530 and 3270 emulators with JET cloud access now. Kick the tires with a 30 day free trial. You’ve got nothing to lose but your high emulator ALF fees. Your budget will thank you. www.platypuspartners.com

Connect NonStop Conference Cruise

Connect is planning a NonStop Conference Cruise and Partner Roundhouse on the week of November 10, 2012 out of South Florida. To plan this, we would like your feedback as soon as possible so we can begin planning this very special event for Connect NonStop members. Based on the cruise fee and their conference support package, Connect is able to extend the savings to attendees and partners with lower fees than previous events.

There will be 2-days of 'deep-dive' technical sessions and 1-day of partner sessions including a partner roundhouse and reception during the 3 days at sea.

The cruise is meant to have the "look and feel” of a typical Itug show (on the "TUG-Boat”) as there will not be a San Jose event next fall.

Please share your thoughts/opinions!

http://www.connect-community.org/surveys/default.asp?id=NonStop_Conference_Cruise

User Groups

Information on User Group events can be found at http://www.connect-community.org

Where to Follow Tandemworld

Tandemworld have created a Group on LinkedIN through which you can view the latest Tandemworld eNewsletter.

We cuurently have a number of highly experienced NonStop Specialists seeking new roles within the EMEA region. Should you have a requirement for a short term specialist (Contract) or a more longer term resource (Permanent) please Contact Us to enable us to assist you swiftly.

Please view this at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2602432&trk=hb_side_g

And

Tandemworld within EMEA

+44 (0) 20 8304 7979

info@tandemworld.net

www.tandemworld.net

To place article(s) within our future eNewsletters please Email us.

For Future Sponsorship opportunities please Email us.

Ban Bottlenecks® - Anticipate Performance Problems

Reactive versus Proactive.

Business Integration.

A service and a discipline

Call for a free evaluation!

XYPRO Announces Global Distribution Agreement with IdentityForge