Technology Insight Paper
EMC DLm and ISV Applications:
Improving Efficiency in Mainframe
Environments
By Randy Kerns
May 2013
Enabling you to make the best technology decisions
EMC DLm and ISV Applications
© 2013 Evaluator Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this publication in any form
without prior written permission is prohibited.
1
EMC DLm and ISV Applications
2
Introduction
EMC’s Disk Library for mainframe (DLm) is used for batch processing, data protection, and archive with
applications that traditionally target tape systems. Presenting multiple tape images as a virtual tape
system, EMC DLm consists of protected disk storage with advanced capabilities such as data reduction,
remote replication, and scalable performance and capacity. By emulating IBM mainframe tape devices,
mainframe tape usage cases can be improved with the speed of disk access, eliminating the need for
mounts, robot operations, rewinds, and serialization of access to a tape drive.
Mainframes continue to be used for critical application processing with continued investments by IT
operations to improve processing and deliver even more value from systems and applications.
Increasing application performance relies heavily on more effective utilization of resources. Resources
to be optimized include CPU processing time and I/O channels for data transfer to storage devices.
Affecting these resources are time spent waiting on electro-mechanical devices, the number of
simultaneous operations to storage devices that are possible, and replication for data protection. All of
these can be positively affected by use of EMC DLm instead of traditional tape devices. The advanced
capabilities of data reduction available with EMC DLm give mainframe IT operations the ability to greatly
reduce the demand for resources to store or transfer data to a remote site.
Software on mainframes that use EMC Disk Library for mainframe includes both system-level utilities
and high-value independent software vendor (ISV) applications that would otherwise target physical
tape devices. The ISV applications benefit from EMC DLm performance and advanced capabilities that
allow customers to get more value from their investment. The efficiency improvements yield more
value from the investment in ISV applications and allow customers to obtain more from their mainframe
system.
Three examples of ISV applications that cover different usage areas of batch processing and data
protection and recovery can illustrate how IT operations can benefit with EMC DLm.
•
•
•
Syncsort MFX is used for sort/merge/join in batch applications.
Rocket Software Mainstar Backup and Recovery protects and restarts DB2 and IMS databases.
Innovation FDR is a primary backup application used in mainframe environments.
Each of the ISV solutions that follow shows the benefits of combining the ISV application with EMC DLm.
© 2013 Evaluator Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this publication in any form
without prior written permission is prohibited.
EMC DLm and ISV Applications
3
Syncsort MFX with EMC DLm for Sorting Tasks
Sorting information is a basic batch operation in mainframe systems and Syncsort MFX for z/OS
representing a premier independent application in mainframe environments. Syncsort MFX is a high
performance sort/merge/join/copy utility optimized for IBM System z and over time has continued to
incorporate improvements to capitalize on hardware and operating systems technology progression.
Syncsort MFX uses proprietary sorting algorithms, advanced access methods, and dynamic optimization
techniques to increase performance and system efficiency. The net effect is reduced CPU time and a
reduction in elapsed time for improved throughput.
Using Syncsort MFX with EMC DLm increases the value from advanced sorting capabilities by exploiting
features of DLm’s virtual tape implementation. EMC DLm allows multiple virtual tapes to be used in
parallel during sorting and merging processes and eliminates delays waiting for positioning of tape
media in Syncsort MFX execution.
Syncsort MFX Operation with EMC DLm
Performance tests were run with Syncsort MFX using EMC DLm to show the compounding effect of
DLm’s tape virtualization and operational characteristics. The performance report is available at
http://www.syncsort.com/ResourceCenter/WhitePapers/EMCMFX.aspx. The combination of the
© 2013 Evaluator Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this publication in any form
without prior written permission is prohibited.
EMC DLm and ISV Applications
4
sorting technology of Syncsort MFX and DLm yielded efficiency improvement in critical areas for
mainframe environments.
•
•
Elapsed sorting time reduced – 56% referring to performance test
Reduced CPU time overall – 14% referring to performance test
The efficiency gains increased the value from the deployment of EMC DLm and Syncsort MFX together.
IT operations are not limited by the number of physical tape drives installed to increase parallel
operations possible with Syncsoft MFX and the PARASORT feature. Without EMC DLm, the efficiency
increase would require purchasing additional tape drives, creating an expensive solution for needed
performance increases.
The efficiency increase resulted in reduction of the time spent for sorting and reduced the batch window
problems enabling more work to be done. Overall, use of EMC DLm with Syncsort MFX delivers more
customer value from the investment made in the software and in the overall system. Reduced CPU time
reduces the cost of performing the sort – every time it is executed.
EMC DLm and Syncsort MFX Customer Example
A commercial bank that was a long-time Syncsort customer used the sorting
software in daily business operations for credit card processing. The credit
card processing had a defined window of time to complete, otherwise, there
was a charge associated with exceeding the time window. In addition to the
hard deadline for completion, time that was available if the processing
finished before the deadline could be used for additional fraud detection. The
added fraud detection had a measurable relationship with the amount of time
spent versus the savings generated.
The bank continued to introduce the latest versions of Syncsort MFX to
benefit from the advances added to the software. To address growing
demand and increase fraud detection, the bank introduced EMC DLm. The
reduction in elapsed sorting times from the disk-based technology of EMC
DLm were in the range of 50% (see the performance test report referenced
earlier) and proved to deliver significant financial gains from both the
assurance of completion of the sorting operation and the fraud detection that
could be performed.
The efficiency improvements with Syncsoft MFX and EMC DLm made for a
compelling case for this commercial bank.
© 2013 Evaluator Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this publication in any form
without prior written permission is prohibited.
EMC DLm and ISV Applications
5
The customer value extends to savings in CPU time with the reduction in the time required to perform
sorts with EMC DLm. In the customer example from the performance report referenced earlier, the
time spent on the weekly sort process was reduced from 27 hours to 3 hours. Using a government rate
charged per CPU hour of $453.0655 1, the savings was $10,874. This savings was every week, resulting
in over a half million dollars per year from the installation of EMC DLm.
1
DISA Computing Services Division FY2012 rates for IBM Mainframe usage.
© 2013 Evaluator Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this publication in any form
without prior written permission is prohibited.
EMC DLm and ISV Applications
6
Rocket Software Mainstar with EMC DLm for Database Recovery
In mainframe environments, many business critical applications are built upon DB2 or IMS databases.
This brings the data protection requirements for DB2 and IMS databases to prominence. Rocket
Mainstar Backup and Recovery for DB2 and IMS addresses the protection and recovery of databases to
allow applications and business to continue operations.
Data protection using Rocket Mainstar is improved with use of EMC DLm disk storage systems that
emulate traditional tape systems for offloading protected copies of system level backups. Improving the
performance for protection and recovery with EMC DLm improves both the recovery point with the
ability to do more frequent backups and the recovery time. While backups can be impacting to regular
operations, the recovery of databases is the most critical event when required. Fast recovery can mean
the difference in lost business, customers, or reputation. The recovery and restart capabilities with
Rocket Mainstar, coupled with EMC DLm prove to be highly valuable in critical situations.
Rocket Mainstar Database Backup and Recovery with EMC DLm
The remote replication capability of EMC DLm allows the restartable images and archive logs created by
Rocket Mainstar to be replicated quickly to remote sites without using mainframe CPU and I/O
© 2013 Evaluator Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this publication in any form
without prior written permission is prohibited.
EMC DLm and ISV Applications
7
resources or more expensive primary storage-based replication. With restartable images on EMC DLm
disks, restarts can be done much faster and more reliably than when using tape media to retrieve the
images. Given the criticality for when a restart is required, DLm addresses the needs with an economical
solution.
The amount of time to accomplish offload of the Rocket Mainstar system level backup is shortened with
use of EMC DLm and elimination of tape media movement delays. With less time required for backup
protection, the option to increase the frequency of backups and narrow the Recovery Point Objective is
possible.
EMC DLm allows Rocket Mainstar backup and recovery software to execute more threads to multiple
virtual tapes to offload backups faster than would be possible with a limited number of physical tape
drives. With the offload process to EMC DLm, replication is an automated, efficient operation.
Ultimately, the value to IT operations comes in several areas with the use of EMC DLm with Rocket
Mainstar Backup and Recovery for DB2 and IMS:
•
•
•
There can be very significant improvements in RPO (the Recovery Point Objective) and RTO
(Recovery Time Objective) due to faster protection of system level backups and replication of
images for restart requirements in the case of disaster recovery.
No host CPU and I/O resources are required for delivering a restartable image copy at a remote
site.
With DLm, the replication costs for system level database backups at a remote site are much less
expensive than using primary storage system replication
EMC DLm and Rocket Software Mainstar Customer Usage
A customer example usage for EMC Disk Library for mainframe and Rocket
Software Mainstar Database Backup and Recovery for DB2 and IMS involves
making minor operational changes for increased protection, faster recovery,
and monetary savings. In this example, the customer is using Rocket Mainstar
software storage-aware features to create a point-in-time copy for database
protection. The storage-aware capability of Rocket Mainstar minimizes
database usage interruption and creates an application consistent copy of the
database. The copy is moved to EMC DLm using standard backup software, in
this case Innovation FDR. With the improvement in the time required to
automatically offload the system level backup of the database, more
protected copies were able to be made, improving on the recovery point
objective.
© 2013 Evaluator Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this publication in any form
without prior written permission is prohibited.
EMC DLm and ISV Applications
Instead of using the primary storage system features to replicate the system
level backup to a remote site for disaster protection and remote restart
capability, the remote replication of EMC DLm was utilized. Time-critical
requirements for the remote copy were met and overall protection cost
reduced compared to using primary storage replication. Additionally,
overhead on the primary storage systems for the replication of the protected
copy of the system level backup was eliminated.
When a recovery of the DB2 (or IMS) database is required, the recovery time
(Recovery Time Objective) is the most important process in IT. The EMC DLm
system improves the RTO compared to using physical tape media. The speed
of recovery is a major economic benefit – when it matters most.
© 2013 Evaluator Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this publication in any form
without prior written permission is prohibited.
8
EMC DLm and ISV Applications
9
Innovation FDR with EMC DLm for Data Protection
The most persistent task performed in mainframe environments has been to backup data. The backups
include system and application information and may be in full volume or incremental forms. Innovation
FDR has served mainframe customers for the long span of requirements with effective backup solutions.
FDR has a set of features for different data protection and data movement usages. The performance of
the backup operation and the amount of resources utilized has been an area with continuous
improvement for FDR.
EMC DLm virtual tape system can add to the improvements made with Innovation FDR for data
protection. The performance of backups can be increased with use of disk-based technology and
elimination of tape media movement. Additionally, performance gains with EMC DLm allow
enhancements to operations to reduce overall time for backups by using parallel operations. Data
reduction by EMC DLm with deduplication and compression multiplies the amount of data that can be
stored.
Data Protection with Innovation FDR and EMC DLm
Mainframe environments benefit from the increased efficiency of using Innovation FDR with EMC DLm.
The efficiency improvements include data reduction with a customer average 20:1 ratio reported in a
© 2013 Evaluator Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this publication in any form
without prior written permission is prohibited.
EMC DLm and ISV Applications
10
SHARE presentation in 2012 by Thomas Meehan of Innovation
(http://www.fdr.com/cfguides/presentations.cfm). The data reduction translates directly to economic
value with the ability to store more data in a given storage system. The characteristic of using EMC DLm
disk-based systems increases the performance thereby reducing time spent for backups and ever
important restores.
Operationally, processes that may have been altered to backup data to mainframe DASD and offload to
tape because of performance issues can now backup directly to the EMC DLm system, reducing the
additional workload on mainframe DASD and mainframe CPU and I/O system. With the EMC DLm ability
to virtualize tape volumes on disk, the complexity and performance impacting tape volume stacking
employed by many to better utilize tape media resources is no longer required.
Other values from using Innovation FDR and EMC DLm together include:
•
•
•
More simultaneous backups may be performed with virtualized tapes drives. Operations are not
limited to the number of physical drives installed or the economics of purchasing new generation
tape drives.
With performance and parallel operations enabled with EMC DLm, less time is spent protecting
data, which reduces the data protection window and operations staff workload.
Both simplification of data protection processes and operational changes for performance
improvements can be made when EMC DLm is used. A change that both simplifies and improves
performance is the example of using synthetic full merges which is now possible without
impacting CPU usage.
EMC DLm and Innovation FDR Customer Usage
Using Innovation FDR with EMC Disk Library for mainframe, IT administrators
have an opportunity to simplify and accelerate backup operations. Combining
EMC DLm with FDR allows multiple backups to be done in parallel, directly to
virtual tapes on DLm. Previously, either backups were limited to the number
of physical tape drives or were done to mainframe DASD storage and then
copied to tape as a follow-on operation. With FDR backing up data directly to
EMC DLm, mainframe DASD space is not required and CPU cycles are not used
in making another copy.
Administratively, efforts to maximize the capacity utilization of tape media at
the expense of access time by stacking backup datasets onto tape volume are
not necessary because of the efficiency of EMC DLm in managing virtual tapes
on disk storage. Capacity utilization of the EMC DLm system is automatically
© 2013 Evaluator Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this publication in any form
without prior written permission is prohibited.
EMC DLm and ISV Applications
11
maximized with data reduction with average reduction across customer
environments noted earlier.
Restores of FDR created backups are also accelerated with the performance of
EMC DLm and virtual tapes allowing IT to meet Recovery Time Objectives.
In a customer example referenced in the performance report in the first ISV application usage, a
customer was able to retire 22 tape libraries with the installation of DLm with Data Domain storage and
reclaim 90% of the floor space. The 22 tape libraries required 104 square meters of space. At an
average charge for raised floor space of $3,225, the 90% of space saved yielded $302,034.
Summary
Independent software vendor products, when used with EMC Disk Library for mainframe, can provide
greater efficiency and increased benefits in mainframe environments. Improvements with use of EMC
DLm show reduction of time and resources required for data protection, sorting, and other historically
tape-based processing. The features of data reduction to increase the amount of data stored and
reduce the effective cost, eliminating tape media movement delays, and support for parallel operations
yield high payback to customers with their investment in EMC DLm. Benefits from DLm increase the
value of the applications capable of exploiting those characteristics.
In addition to direct benefits to the ISV applications with EMC DLm, there are other areas that also are
improved:
•
•
•
•
The replication capability of EMC DLm systems reduces the window of exposure for a secondary
copy.
Replication of data that has been reduced saves in bandwidth required for the second site
protected copy.
Operational expenses can be positively affected by reduced operator involvement and reduced
maintenance impacts from the mechanical nature of tape handling.
When workloads increase, EMC DLm can easily and non-disruptively scale to meet demand.
Scaling without having to make operational changes can be an overlooked benefit.
Mainframe operational environments benefit from use of EMC DLm as a virtual tape solution with
applications that can take advantage of the storage system capabilities. Customers are well advised to
look at the value and consider EMC DLm and those applications.
© 2013 Evaluator Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this publication in any form
without prior written permission is prohibited.
EMC DLm and ISV Applications
12
About Evaluator Group
Evaluator Group Inc. is dedicated to helping IT professionals and vendors create and implement strategies that make the most of the value
of their storage and digital information. Evaluator Group services deliver in-depth, unbiased analysis on storage architectures,
infrastructures and management for IT professionals. Since 1997 Evaluator Group has provided services for thousands of end users and
vendor professionals through product and market evaluations, competitive analysis and education. www.evaluatorgroup.com Follow us
on Twitter @evaluator_group
Copyright 2013 Evaluator Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording,
or stored in a database or retrieval system for any purpose without the express written consent of Evaluator Group Inc. The information contained in this
document is subject to change without notice. Evaluator Group assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Evaluator Group makes no expressed or
implied warranties in this document relating to the use or operation of the products described herein. In no event shall Evaluator Group be liable for any
indirect, special, inconsequential or incidental damages arising out of or associated with any aspect of this publication, even if advised of the possibility of
such damages. The Evaluator Series is a trademark of Evaluator Group, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective companies.
This document was developed with EMC funding. Although the document may utilize publicly available material from
various vendors, including EMC, it does not necessarily reflect the positions of such vendors on the issues addressed in this
document.
© 2013 Evaluator Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this publication in any form
without prior written permission is prohibited.