ISSUES IN

BALANCING THE WORKLOAD,PART 1

VM SORWARE, INC.

First of a two-part series

Gary R. McClainManager, Marketing Publications

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Balancing the WorkloadGary R. McClain

Managing CADAM Under VMDonna Vaswani

VMMONITOR VM/XA SPSupport Planned

1989 User Conference Planned

Call for Papers

VMCENTER II Release 2.0Now AvailableDonna Vaswani

VMCENTER II Training Offered

Announcing VMSPOOLRelease 2.0

Jack Barry AppointedVM Software President

WINTER 1988VOL 6, NO.3

Continued on page 2

zation. There is a peak at 10a.m., when users are hittingtheir morning stride, and thenanother peak at 2 p.m. afterlunch. From 8 p.m. until 8 a.m.the next morning, there is verylittle use.

To meet the demands of peakperformance periods, at 10 a.m.and again at 2 p.m., an organi­zation may seek to purchase aCPU that is more powerful thanthe one currently in use. This,however, is a realistic optiononly if the CPU is in peak usearound the clock. Most likely, anupgrade is not needed. Theorganization already has addi­tional computing resourcesavailable, namely the resourcesthat are untapped during non­peak hours.

Computing power is verymuch like electricity in that itcannot be "stored up." If it is notused when it is available, it isgone. An organization whosecomputing resources areuntapped during non-peak peri­ods is wasting these resourcesand, hence, wasting money.When a CPU upgrade is madesolely on the basis of currentpeak demand, what is pur­chased in addition to this capa­bility is potentially, additional

The major issue in workloadbalancing is trying to get themost out of the informationresources, twenty-four hoursper day. It is not uncommon foran organization to utilize itsinformation resources onlywhen employees are on site. Thework of a twenty-four hourperiod is "scrunched" into aneight-hour shift, and the com­puter sits idle during the othersixteen hours of the day.

This is often referred to as a"double hump" level of CPU utili-

THE OVERLOADED CPU

During peak hours of systemactivity, when multiple onlineusers simultaneously makedemands on the limited re­sources of the system, the resultcan be excessive paging by CP,and poor system response time.In non-peak hours, on the otherhand, the same system may beunderutilized. Through work­load balancing, CPU resourcescan be better managed throughscheduling and batch opera­tions, and peaks and valleys inthe system load can be leveled.This article examines the work­load balancing issues, and dis­cusses scheduling and batchoptions for better workloadcontrol.

BALANCING THE WORKLOADContinuedfram page 1

capacity that will remain largelyunused. Thus, even more moneyis wasted. If a large organizationalready has the CPU with themost capacity then users willhave to be divided among multi­ple machines. This creates awhole new set of problems.

A better solution is to levelout the double humps over thetwenty-four hours of the day, tosupplement the computingpower of the peak periods withthe underutilized computingpower of the non-peak periods.This is the job of workload bal­ancing. At the departmental lev­els, workload balancing mayalso be a means of spreadingwork out among departmentalmachines for even more effec­tive utilization. By optimizingthe current use of the machine,effective workload balancingcan delay a hardware upgradeor even reduce the hardwarerequirements of an organi­zation.

Obstacles to WorkloadBalancingLack of excessive controls overusers is both the beauty andcurse of VM, the negative sidebeing that one user has thepotential of "taking over" thesystem. Native VM does notreally offer much in the way ofworkload balancing because,again, VM was not originallydesigned for a heavy productionenvironment. In fact, VM is notreally very fail safe in terms ofpreventing a user from "nailing"the system.

There are many subtle waysin which a single user can domi­nate the system. A user with amemory-intensive applicationcan cause the system to pageheavily. This paging canincreuse to the point that otherltsers on the system will not beable to run their tasks. And sothe other users sit. A heavilylooped program, depending onthe scheduling algorithm gener-

ated for the machine, has thepotential of taking over themachine.

One user's need to complete atask may very well be at theexpense of another user. Thus,the freedom from control avail­able to users in the VM environ­ment, coupled with the poten­tially excessive demandsgenerated during times of peakusage, can result in VM being"brought to its knees." Theneverybody loses.

OPTIONS FOR WORKLOADBALANCINGRather than going into the sys­tem and making complexadjustments in algorithms, bal­ancing workloads through jobscheduling is basically a func­tion of system software. Batchoperations can be performedeither through VM system soft­ware or a guest operatingsystem.

SchedulingVM does not offer much in thearea of scheduling for multipleonline users. Once users arelogged on, VM has excellentfacilities for handling the shar­ing of the CPU among theseusers. What native VM does notoffer is a user-friendly facilityfor doing work on a user'sbehalf while that user is stilllogged on, or for doing repetitivework. For example, a user can­not initiate a lengthy databasesearch, send it off to be com­pleted and then continue onwith another task. His virtualmachine is "tied up" until thedatabase search is completed.

It is for this reason thatnative VM is considered ratherlimited when it comes to being aproduction environment. Anexample of standard produc­tion environment tasks might bea financial report that must beproduced weekly, or the bi­weekly running of the corporatepayroll. These tasks can beaccomplished under native VM,but only if an individual physi­cally logs on to the system, and

initiates the job on a virtualmachine. These tasks will notrun automatically on a contin­ual basis unless manuallyinitiated each time they areneeded.

Currently, repetitive worksuch as that described abovemust be handled manually.Even if standard tasks are builtinto a CMS EXEC, which is aseries of commands groupedtogether and used like a macro(a group of command state­ments grouped together andidentified by a name), the userstill must logon and invoke theEXEC in order to perform thetask. This is a workable solutionuntil the person responsible forthis task misses a day of work,or forgets to invoke the EXECthat initates the task. The resultis that the job does not getdone.

In addition to these standardrepetitive tasks there is a largeamount of work that is doneduring standard working hoursthat does not necessarily haveto be completed during thattime, the large database searchbeing an example. Work that isnot needed until the next daycan be put off, through a sched­uling capability, to the secondor third shifts when in mostcases the machines are sittingidle. The work can be completedduring this time and will bewaiting for the users when theyarrive at work the nextmorning.

Once an installation has thejob stream up and running,scheduling is generally an areathat is often ignored. The rea­sons for ignoring the potentialof scheduling can be summar­ized as a desire to leave wellenough alone:• The applications are running

adequately.• There is a lack of expertise on

how to redesign the systemflow.

• Users are comfortable withthe flow, even with poorresponse time.

Continued on page 4

2 . .,. .

MANAGING CADAM UNDER VMDonna VaswaniMarketing Writer

Select Files Backed Up Since 9/30/88

Figure 1. VMCENTER Ii's full screens simplify the restore process.

Type R next to each file you want to restore. After specifying all your requests,press ENTER.

Last Backup Date/Req Filename Filetype Vaddr Revised Records Time

GROUP 1 D880731 0191 08/23/88 38 09/30/88 23:05GROUP 2 D880423 0191 03/08/88 46 09/30/88 23:05GROUP 3 D880304 0191 04/22/88 13 10/04/88 22:30GROUP 4 D880716 0191 09/19/88 54 10/04/88 22:30GROUP 5 D881013 0191 10/01/88 21 10/04/88 22:30

PF1 =Help 2= 3 =End 4 =Stype 5 =Sdate 6 =Sname7 =Backward 8 =Forward 9 =Submit 10= 11 =Print 12 =Cursor

===>

CADAM® - an innovativecomputer-aided design andmanufacturing system devel­oped by Cadam, Inc. in Bur­bank, California - is beingimplemented by an increasingnumber of organizations.CADAM is one of manycomputer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturingproducts ideally suited to rununder VM. Why VM? Because theobjective of implementingCADAM is consistent with thatof running VM: to increaseproductivity.

CADAM shortens the designcycle while improving accuracy.The result is less wait timebetween customer demand anddelivery of the product, fewererrors, reduced developmentcosts, and improved productquality. However, potentialproblems do exist. For example,backing up and restoringCADAM mes is difficult andlabor intensive. The area of tapemanagement presents somechallenges, with a frequentnecessity to span tapes.Requirements that CADAMdrawings be retained for as longas 10 years result in massiveDASD consumption.

Successful implementation ofCADAM under VM requires sys­tems software that addressesthese issues while making theentire system run more effi­ciently. VM Software, Inc. offerstools that specifically addressCADAM needs.

Although CADAM itself hasutilities for backing up and res­toring drawings, they can betedious and time consuming ­and they require knowledge ofCADAM itself. CADAM backupsmust be done separately fromstandard VM system backups,which means special trainingfor the operations staff. There isoften a lack of multi-volumetape support, so if the backupspans more than one tape, the

operator must split the job intoseveral smaller jobs. In addition,because CADAM data is so criti­cal, many organizations requireoffsite storage of backups, so atleast two copies of each backuptape must be made: one foronsite and one for offsite. Thismeans running each backup jobtwice, which consumes moretime and more tapes.

VMCENTER II's backup sys­tem solves these problems andoffers additional benefits.VMCENTER II can be used forCADAM backups as well as sys­tem backups, so the operationsstaff isn't required to learn anew procedure. Sites withlimited systems personnel bene­fit from VMCENTER II's simplic­ity, while those running manyapplications have one consis­tent method for all their back­ups. With VMCENTER II's abilityto span tapes, there's norequirement to split largebackup jobs into several smallerones. And VMCENTER II saveseven more time byautomati­cally creating as many as fourduplicate tapes of each backup- providing for offsite storagein case of a data center disaster.

Of course, an 'efficient backupprocedure means nothing with­out an easy way to restore

backed up drawings. But in adesign environment, it can bedifficult to restore individualdrawings. Because CADAMcreates one large CMS me con­taining numerous drawings, res­toring one drawing would meanrestoring all the drawings resid­ing in that me - so a user couldspend hours waiting for onedrawing to be restored.

VMCENTER II offers the abil­ity to restore individual draw­ings. Once CADAM utilities havehelped to convert drawings toCMS me format for backup,indiviudal drawings can easilybe restored (see Figure 1).

Continued on page 7

ISSUES IN VM

I'MSOfTWARlIIIC.

1800 Alexander Bell Dr.Reston, VA 22091(703) 264-8000

Gary R. McClain, Editor

Reprints of Issues in VM are avail­able by contacting the Editor.

. . 3

VMCENTER n TRAINING OFFERED

VMCENTER IT RELEASE 2.0 NOWAVAILABLEDonna VaswaniMarketing Writer

VMCENTER II, VM Software,Inc.'s flagship product, has beenenhanced with many new fea­tures that customers have beenenjoying since late September.VMCENTER II Release 2.0includes enhancements to eachVMCENTER II component, aswell as to the installation/main­tenance procedure and DASDutilities. In addition, all compo­nents, except VMMONITOR,offer support for VM/XA SPRelease 1.0. This support allowscustomers to upgrade their sys­tems to IBM's strategic operat­ing system while continuing touse VM Software products toenhance system productivity.

The benefits provided byVMCENTER II's Release 2.0enhancements include thosedescribed below.

decreases training costs. Newfunctions on the AdministratorScreen - including an on-linefacility providing tips on VMSIproducts - simplify installa­tion, maintenance, and adminis­tration even more. In addition, acentralized CPUID file allows allcomponent CPUIDs to beupgraded simultaneously. Thissaves system programmer timeand simplifies CPUID mainte­nance, reducing the level ofexpertise required.

VMCENTER II increasessystem security while savingCPU and people resources. Byexamining the CP nucleus tobuild component minidisks,VMCENTER II no longerrequires access to the currentCP source directory and CP tail-

oring fIles. This means less timeis spent setting up access to CPresources and less CPU utiliza­tion is required duringinstallation.

DASD UTILITIESCustomers receive more timelyinformation on DASD becauseVMCENTER II's data gatheringutility reads the CP on-linedirectory instead of the sourcedirectory. Also, CPU utilizationis decreased when DASDreports are run because the Sys­tem DASD Analysis Utility usesthe CP nucleus and data areasinstead of the DMK source fIlesto gather information.

Enhancements have also beenadded to each of theVMCENTER II components withRelease 2.0. For additional infor­mation, contact a VM Softwaresales representative at (703)264-8000.•

INSTALLATION/MAINTENANCEPROCEDUREInstallation and upgrade ismuch easier now, with allVMCENTER II administratorfunctions consolidated onto onescreen. This saves valuable sys­tem programmer time and

VM Assist, Inc., a San Francisco company specializing in trainingand consulting for the VM environment, is offering AcceleratedLearning Courses in VMCENTER II and individual components.Currently, VM Assist is offering a 25% discount to all sites whoregister within three months of licensing a VM Software product.For more information, contact Paul Davis at VM Assist at (415)362-3310.•

BALANCING THE WORKLOADContinuedfrom page 2

The result of this avoidance isthe type of CPU utilization illus­trated on page 6 with variationsof extremes between over-utili­zation and under-utilization.

System software that per­forms the scheduling functionaccomplishes this through auto­matically logging on the user'sv~rtuz.l machine through the CPAUTOLOG command, and thenexecuting the request that theuser scheduled. Thus, the work

is being done through the user'svirtual machine, but without theuser having to be present whilethis occurs.

The request is scheduledthrough the system softwareproduct, and sent to a servicevirtual machine. This is a virtualmachine that is under the con­trol of the system softwareproduct. The request is storedin a log fIle and executed at theappropriate time by a process inwhich the service machine auto­logs the user's virtual machineand initiates the request for theuser.

Scheduling capability, offeredthrough scheduling utilitiesfrom IBM, as well as systemsoftware through third partyvendors, offers various options.Some of these options includebeing able to indicate the dateand time at which the requestshould be initiated, and depend­ing on the product offering,options for the automaticrescheduling of the request, ona bi-weekly basis for example.

The monthly payroll runwould be an example of anapplication for a scheduling

Continued on page 6

ANNOUNCING VMSPOOLRELEASE 2.0

JACK BARRY APPOINTEDVM SOFTWARE, INC. PRESIDENT

Release 2.0 of VMSPOOL,VM Software's spool informationand management system,became available in November.

VMSPOOL Release 2.0includes several new features,most notably its full spoolbackup and restore facility.Using this flexible backup capa­bility, sites can defme, schedule,and execute the combination offull and incremental spool back­ups that best meets their needs.

Compatibility with SPTAPEmeans sites can implementVMSPOOL backups immediately,with no conversion. VMSPOOLcan catalog and restore fromSPTAPE backup tapes, andSPTAPE can restore fromVMSPOOL backup tapes.

With VMSPOOL, mes can berestored from a full-screen list­ing of all backed up spool mes- no more scanning throughnumerous tape volumes tryingto fmd the tape that containsthe needed me. VMSPOOL will

John (Jack) J. Barry has beenelected President and ChiefOperating Officer ofVM Software, Inc., effective Jan­uary 1, 1989. The departure atthat time of current Presidentand Chief Operating OfficerRichard L. Earnest will markthe culmination of his personalplans to relocate to the westcoast.

In making the announcement,VM Software Chairman andCEO Robert E. Cook noted that"during the five years that DickEarnest has been with the com­pany, both revenues and profitshave risen dramatically. He

even automatically issue therequired tape mount requests.And through support of stan­dard labels, VMSPOOL automat­ically verifies tape mountrequests. An optional interfaceto VMTAPE simplifies the pro­cess even more, with VMTAPEautomatically allocating tapedrives and managing tape pools.

The need for operator inter­vention is reduced throughVMSPOOL's ability to managemultiple volume backups. Theoperator simply mounts thenew tape when requested, andVMSPOOL automatically con­tinues the backup at the correctplace. The backup facility alsoincludes an option that allowssites to automatically purge allmes that are safely backed up,freeing even more disk space.

By allowing incremental back­ups, VMSPOOL saves taperesources and time. Only thosemes not already backed up arecopied to tape. This means sites

John (Ja£k) J. Barry RichardL. Earnest

leaves with a proud record ofleadership and continuingresults." Cook emphasized thatEarnest will assist with thetransition and continue actively

can back up the spooling systemas often as necessary withouthaving to run long, resource­consuming, full backups. Multi­ple tape drive support makesVMSPOOL's backup processeven more efficient.

Additional enhancementsavailable with VMSPOOLRelease 2.0 include a macrofacility that allows users towrite XEDIT-type macros inREXX. This powerful featuremeans users can use one com­mand to do virtually anythingdone from full screens. Forexample, a site may write amacro to generate daily reportson the status of the spoolingsystem. This information couldthen be used to better managespool space and for capacityplanning. VMSPOOL's macrofacility saves time and ensuresthat routine tasks are com­pleted as necessary.

Also available with the newrelease of VMSPOOL is supportfor VM!XA SP Release 1.0.

For more information aboutVMSPOOL, contact aVM Software sales representa­tive at (703) 264-8000. _

in his current position throughthe end of the year. Earnest willthereafter continue to serve as adirector of the company.

Barry is currently President ofThe Systems Center, Inc. of Irv­ing, Texas, which merged withVM Software on October 21,1988. He has served in this rolesince 1984. Previously, he wasVice President of Marketing!Information Terminals Groupwith Harris Corporation, a pro­ducer of advanced communica­tions and information process­ing equipment. Prior to thattime, Barry served as Manager,Information Processing Strate­gic Business Unit with XeroxCorporation, and also spent 13years with IBM in sales, salesmanagement, and marketingmanagement. _

VMMONITOR VM/XA SP SUPPORTPLANNED

CPU UTILIZATION

VM Software is committed toproviding support for VM/XASP in the areas of performanceand monitoring. We intend todeliver Release 2.0 ofVMMONITOR, with support forVM/XA SP, during the fourthquarter of 1989. In response torequests from our current cus­tomers, major enhancementsincluded in Release 2.0 are sum­marized as follows:

Enhanced historical data col­lection, with more efficient andcomprehensive reporting.

Enhanced interface with

BALANCING THE WORKLOADCcmtinuedfrcnn page 4

product. Parameters areentered which specify therequest, the time that therequest is to be run, and whenthe request should be resched­uled for execution. This taskwould normally be scheduledfor a time during which therequesting user is notlogged on, 3 a.m. for example.

A drawback to scheduling isthat the task may not be per­formed if the user is currrentlylogged on, because it is the

VMARCHIVE, so that perfor­mance monitoring data may bearchived more efficiently forsubsequent analysis. Thisenhancement also features anefficient approach for storingarchived monitoring data.

More comprehensive data col­lection, building upon the avail­ability of additional sources ofperformance data.

Significantly more efficientuse of DASD for the storage ofcollected performance data.

More flexibility in establishinguser-dermed threshold condi-

user's virtual machine that isautologged for the performanceof the task. If the user in theabove example were to work alate night to complete an emer­gency job, causing him to still belogged on at 3 a.m. on the nightof the standard payroll run,then this task would not becompleted. The task would alsonot be completed if the user dis­connects instead of logging off.Also, if the user forgets to log offat the end of the day, the virtualmachine would still be techni­cally under his control and thetask would not be initiated.

tions in DASD monitoring,including the ability to assessseek patterns on a given volume.

Enhanced interface withVMSECURE, providing fastermovement of high use minidisks,in order to position them foroptimal performance.

When Release 2.0 ofVMMONITOR becomes available,it will be shipped to allVMCENTER II and VMMONITORcustomers who are eligible atthat time for Product Supportand Enhancement. For thosewho are eligible for receipt ofRelease 2.0 of VMMONITOR,there will be no additionalcharge for VMMONITOR VM/XASP support. _

Some software products solvethis problem by indicating tothe user that a request is aboutto be initiated, if the user islogged on (which the user maycancel), or continue attempts toinitiate the request until it isfeasible. Also, some installationscreate virtual machines that areused for one task only, with auserid called PAYROLL, forexample. This virtual machine isthen autologged by thescheduler.

With scheduling capabilitiesthese resource-consuming func­tions are offloaded to the timeswhen demand is lowest on theCPU. The double humps areleveled.

Part two of this series will dis­cuss options for batch process­ing under VM. This article wasexcerpted from VM and Depart­mental Computing, by Gary R.McClain (Published by McGraw­Hill, 1988). _

.'

BAM lOAM NOON 2PM 4PM 6PM BPM

The daily CPU utilization cycle

Figure 2. Descriptive comments enable a user to identify different versions of the same me.

CMS Files Previously Archived For: CDMMGR

Cmd Filename Filetype Cuu Date Time Refnm Recs Expdt Status

GROUP I DRAWING 191 05/08/88 11:54 23076 113 05/08/98 OFF...*C THIS IS GROUP I'S FINAL DESIGN FOR PROJECT A

GROUP I DRAWING 191 08/02/88 17:16 23981 120 08/02/98 OFF.. .*C THIS IS GROUP I'S PROJECT APRELIMINARY DESIGN

GROUP I DRAWING 191 11/04/88 14:30 27544 110 11/04/98 OFF.. .*C THIS IS GROUP I'S DESIGN FOR PROJECT B

PFI =Help 2=Refresh 3=Quit 4 =Stype 5=Sdate 6=Sname7=Backward 8 =Forward 9=QF/n 10 =Recall 11 =Sexpdt 12 =Cursor

===>

of the CADAM environment,and its full-screen operationsmanagement system provideswindows into tape drive status,spooling system status, andbatch worker machine status.This offers a complete, up-to­the-minute picture of all systemactivity.

VMCENTER II offers manyadditional capabilities andbenefits for the CADAM envi­ronment. For more information,call your VM Software sales rep­resentative at (703) 264-8000. •

time to recall a specific versionof a drawing - the commentsare displayed on VMCENTER II'sfull-screen list of archived mes(see Figure 2).

In addition to backup andarchival of CADAM drawings,there are several other issues toconsider, including productivity,resource tracking, and security.VMCENTER II offers tools tohelp in all these areas. Its com­prehensive batch processing,accounting, and security sys-tems ensure smooth operationCADAM is a registered trademark of CADAM Inc.

Auditing or legal proceduresat many organizations requirelong-term retention of CADAMdrawings - in some cases, aslong as 10 years. In addition,users may need access to thesemes after completion of a pro­ject. But if numerous CADAMdrawings are kept online for anextended period of time, DASDcosts will skyrocket.

VMCENTER II, working withCADAM utilities, offers a simplemethod for end users to archiveindividual CADAM drawings tooffline storage and still have aneasy way to recall them. AfterCADAM drawings are convertedinto CMS mes, users simplyspecify which ones they wouldlike to archive. These drawingsare then automatically copiedto alternate storage and, aftersuccessful completion of thearchive, erased from theCADAM database. VMCENTER II'sarchiving feature also allowsusers to add comment lines toarchived files and thus easilydistinguish between multipleversions of one drawing. Thismakes it easy when it comes

Continued from page 3

MANAGING CADAM UNDER VM

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the option of attendingVM Software and NetworkDataMover product sessions.

Optional training will beoffered after the conference,with classes held on Thursdayand Friday, June 8-9.

All users of VM Software pro­ducts are invited to attend. Forfurther information about theAnnual User Conference, writeor call Richard Smith, CorporateMeeting Planner, VM Software,Inc., 1800 Alexander BellDrive, Reston, Virginia 22091.The telephone number is(703) 264-8000. _

exchange ideas with other users,VM Software's technical staffand industry experts.

A highlight of the conferencewill be concurrent sessions forusers of the Network DataMoverproducts, recently added to VMSoftware's product familythrough a merger with TheSystems Center, Inc., of Irving,Texas. All attendees will have

"·5';:ANNUAL USERCONFERENCE PLANNEDThe 1989 VM Soft­

EXPANDING ware Annual UserTHE LIMITS Conference, "Ex-

panding the Limits,"is planned for June 4-7,1989.The site for the conference is theCrystal Gateway Marriott inWashington, D.C.

The program includes a fullcomplement of technical ses­sions, with opportunities to

CALL FOR PAPERS ...Presentations by users arean integral part of theVM Software Annual UserConference, serving as aplatform for the sharing ofideas, and a catalyst forfurther interaction.

Proposals for user presen­tations are currently beingsought for the 1989 confer­ence. Topics should relate tothe use of one or moreVM Software products, focus­ing on a unique application of

a product feature that wouldbe of general interest to otherusers.

The time frame for the pre­sentation is 20 minutes, to begiven once during the confer­ence. Presenters should planto illustrate their material withoverheads. Handouts are alsorecommended.

Interested presenters shouldwrite a brief proposal thatincludes the title of the presen­tation, a description of the

topic and a list of majorpoints to be discussed. Prop­osals, and questions, can bedirected to Gary R. McClain,Manager Marketing Publica­tions, at VM Software. He maybe reached at (703) 264­8000.

Proposals should be sub­mitted by March 31, 1988.Those selected will have theirconference registration feewaived. _

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