Introduction to Enterprise Computing

This course provides an overview of Enterprise Computing and in particular, the role of System z hardware and its primary operating system (z/OS) in an Enterprise Computing environment. The emphasis is on commercial computing.

The introductory topic provides an overview of Enterprise Computing in general. This is followed with an introduction to the System z enterprise server hardware and its operating system, z/OS. Enterprise computing involves many different types of workloads; for example, transaction processing, business intelligence, end user interactive computing, web serving, data serving, batch, and many others. This short course will provide an overview of two very important Enterprise Computing workloads: end user interactive computing (TSO/ISPF and USS) and batch processing and their related technologies.

Prerequisites:

1. Some familiarity with an existing operating system (e.g. UNIX, Windows, etc. ) and associated terminology and concepts.
2. A high speed internet connection for access to course materials.
3. A current version of Internet Explorer or another browser to view the web pages associated with the course materials. Adobe acrobat reader (current version).
4. Word processing software or the ability to read current word processing documents.

Course Learning Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to do the following:

1. List the characteristics of Enterprise Computing
2. Describe the role of Enterprise Server in an Enterprise Computing environment and list some of its characteristics.
3. List the distinguishing characteristics of the System z architecture and hardware.
4. List some of the characteristics of the z/OS operating system and why these characteristics are of value to an Enterprise Computing configuration.
5. Describe some commonly used z/OS data sets, their characteristics and use.
6. Be familiar with basic functions and usage of TSO, ISPF, and JCL
7. Describe the characteristics of batch workloads and their importance to Enterprise Computing.
8. Discuss, at a high level, the functions and processing of batch jobs by JES2
9. Explain the flow of a job
10. Be familiar with and able to use System z and z/OS terminology and acronyms.
11. Be familiar with the System z hardware and software history and evolution.

Required Reading

The IBM text, “Introduction to the New Mainframe: z/OS Basics” will be the base text for the course. The IBM publication number is: SG24-6366. A softcopy of this book is available for download at http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg246366.html as well as a means to order a hardcopy. In addition, topic lecture material and notes will be provided to complement/augment the reading. Additional supplementary reading will be noted and may be used in some of the assignments or discussions. Other relevant PDF extracts, papers, articles, etc. will also be provided as well as URLs to relevant web resources.

Course Grading

A passing grade for all the course quizzes is 70%. Students can re-take a quiz if they want to improve their grade. You do not have to pass a quiz in order to move on to the next topic. If a student passes all quizzes with a passing grade, the student has successfully completed the class.