IBM mainframes are large computer systems produced by IBM since 1952. During the 1960s and 1970s, IBM dominated the computer market with the 7000 series and the later System/360, followed by the System/370. Current mainframe computers in IBM's line of business computers are developments of the basic design of the System/360.
Multiple Virtual Storage, more commonly called MVS, is the most commonly used operating system on the System/370, System/390 and IBM Z IBM mainframe computers. IBM developed MVS, along with OS/VS1 and SVS, as a successor to OS/360. It is unrelated to IBM's other mainframe operating system lines, e.g., VSE, VM, TPF.
Transaction Processing Facility (TPF) is an IBM real-time operating system for mainframe computers descended from the IBM System/360 family, including zSeries and System z9.
z/OS is a 64-bit operating system for IBM z/Architecture mainframes, introduced by IBM in October 2000. It derives from and is the successor to OS/390, which in turn was preceded by a string of MVS versions. Like OS/390, z/OS combines a number of formerly separate, related products, some of which are still optional. z/OS has the attributes of modern operating systems, but also retains much of the older functionality originated in the 1960s and still in regular use—z/OS is designed for backward compatibility.
The IBM Information Management System (IMS) is a joint hierarchical database and information management system that supports transaction processing.
IBM CICS is a family of mixed-language application servers that provide online transaction management and connectivity for applications on IBM mainframe systems under z/OS and z/VSE.
IBM MQ is a family of message-oriented middleware products that IBM launched in December 1993. It was originally called MQSeries, and was renamed WebSphere MQ in 2002 to join the suite of WebSphere products. In April 2014, it was renamed IBM MQ. The products that are included in the MQ family are IBM MQ, IBM MQ Advanced, IBM MQ Appliance, IBM MQ for z/OS, and IBM MQ on IBM Cloud. IBM MQ also has containerised deployment options.
WebSphere Application Server (WAS) is a software product that performs the role of a web application server. More specifically, it is a software framework and middleware that hosts Java-based web applications. It is the flagship product within IBM's WebSphere software suite. It was initially created by Donald F. Ferguson, who later became CTO of Software for Dell. The first version was launched in 1998. This project was an offshoot from IBM HTTP Server team starting with the Domino Go web server.
In computing, a Parallel Sysplex is a cluster of IBM mainframes acting together as a single system image with z/OS. Used for disaster recovery, Parallel Sysplex combines data sharing and parallel computing to allow a cluster of up to 32 systems to share a workload for high performance and high availability.
In IBM System/390 and IBM Z mainframe computers, a Coupling Facility or CF is a piece of computer hardware or virtual machine that coordinates multiple processors.
IBM System z9 is a line of IBM mainframe computers. The first models were available on September 16, 2005. The System z9 also marks the end of the previously used eServer zSeries naming convention. It was also the last mainframe computer that NASA ever used.
IBM Z is a family name used by IBM for all of its z/Architecture mainframe computers. In July 2017, with another generation of products, the official family was changed to IBM Z from IBM z Systems; the IBM Z family now includes the newest model, the IBM z16, as well as the z15, the z14, and the z13, the IBM zEnterprise models, the IBM System z10 models, the IBM System z9 models and IBM eServer zSeries models.
IBM System Management Facility (SMF) is a component of IBM's z/OS for mainframe computers, providing a standardised method for writing out records of activity to a file (or data set to use a z/OS term). SMF provides full "instrumentation" of all baseline activities running on that IBM mainframe operating system, including I/O, network activity, software usage, error conditions, processor utilization, etc.
Global Resource Serialization (GRS) is the component within the IBM z/OS operating system responsible for enabling fair access to serially reusable computing resources, such as datasets and tape drives or virtual resources, such as lists, queues, and control blocks. Programs can request exclusive access to a resource, usually requested when a program needs to update the resource or shared access, usually requested when a program only needs to query the state of the resource. GRS manages all requests in FIFO order.
On IBM mainframes running the z/OS operating system, Intelligent Resource Director (IRD) is software that automates the management of CPU resources and certain I/O resources.
In IBM mainframes, Workload Manager (WLM) is a base component of MVS/ESA mainframe operating system, and its successors up to and including z/OS. It controls the access to system resources for the work executing on z/OS based on administrator-defined goals. Workload Manager components also exist for other operating systems. For example, an IBM Workload Manager is also a software product for AIX operating system.
IBM System z10 is a line of IBM mainframes. The z10 Enterprise Class (EC) was announced on February 26, 2008. On October 21, 2008, IBM announced the z10 Business Class (BC), a scaled-down version of the z10 EC. The System z10 represents the first model family powered by the z10 quad core processing engine. Its successors are the zEnterprise System models introduced in 2010 and 2012.
IBM WebSphere Application Server for z/OS is one of the platform implementations of IBM's WebSphere Application Server family. The latest version is Version 9.0.
IBM WebSphere Optimized Local Adapters (OLA or WOLA) is a functional component of IBM's WebSphere Application Server for z/OS that provides an efficient cross-memory mechanism for calls both inbound to WAS z/OS and outbound from z/OS. Because it avoids the overhead of other communication mechanisms, it is capable of high volume exchange of messages. WOLA is an extension to the existing cross-memory exchange mechanism of WAS z/OS, with WOLA providing an external interface so z/OS address spaces outside the WAS z/OS server may participate in cross-memory exchanges. WOLA supports connectivity between a WAS z/OS server and one or more of the following: CICS, IMS, Batch, UNIX Systems Services and ALCS. WOLA was first made available in WAS z/OS Version 7, Fixpack 4 (7.0.0.4). Functional enhancements have appeared in subsequent fixpacks as documented in this article.
IBM Z System Automation is a policy-based automation solution to ensure the availability of applications and system resources. It runs within IBM Z NetView, and uses its capabilities to interact with z/OS.
