Mainframe System

Introduction

Large businesses usually use mainframe computers, also called big irons or mainframes, for mission-critical applications. Processing enormous volumes of data is required for tasks like business resource planning, consumer and industrial analytics, huge transaction processing, and censuses. Compared to the massive "Big Iron" computers of the past, modern mainframes are much smaller. Using a 19-inch rack, the most current mainframe may share space in the data centre with other systems.

Although servers are not the same as mainframes, modern mainframes are also called data servers. This is because they are designed to carry out up to 1 trillion daily transactions online while maintaining the greatest levels of reliability and safety. Because mainframes are often employed for applications where downtime would be costly and sometimes difficult for an organization, in reality, mainframes have a high degree of availability.

A mainframe computer's RAS, or reliability, availability, and serviceability, sets it apart.

Additional salient characteristics comprise:

• Mainframes can change or increase system capacity at a time without affecting system functionality. Among server solutions, its precision and granularity provide a level of experience and sophistication that is unmatched.
• Logical partitions and virtual machines are the two virtualization layers offered by contemporary mainframes, including the IBM zSeries. Many mainframe users have two machines: one at their backup data centre, which can be kept partially or fully operational in case a disaster hits the primary data centre, and one at their primary data centre.
• Database and application testing, development, training, and production workloads can all be completed on the same system, barring extremely high demand that exceeds the machine's capacity. This topology's two mainframes might provide uninterrupted corporate services, avoiding both scheduled and unforeseen disruptions.
• The primary purpose of mainframes is to prioritize throughput while managing extremely high input and output (I/O) volumes. Mainframe architectures have had auxiliary hardware to manage I/O devices since the 1950s, which frees up the CPU to concentrate only on high-speed memory.
• Mainframes often manage large databases and files. Records of capacities ranging from gigabytes to terabytes are widely used. Mainframes can access vast amounts of internet data repositories more quickly than a standard PC. Regular PC and can also be accessed rapidly.

Features of a Mainframe Computer

Among the benefits of a mainframe computer are the following:

Presence of two processors

Mainframe computers have two different types of processors: SAPs, or system assistance processors, and primary processors. The latter moves data as fast as feasible between locations without processing it. Up to seven or ten specially designed and constructed cores may be present in each CPU to enhance throughput.

Multiple input/output (I/O) cards

Because mainframes are built for redundancy, they can have up to 160 I/O cards per mainframe. This implies that if one card stops working, the remaining cards will take over until the card is changed.

High storage capacity

Because of their enormous storage capacity, these systems can process enormous amounts of data on demand. It has the capacity to store enormous amounts of data and interpret it in accordance with user preferences. Following data processing, the system may deliver precise results with no missing data.

RAS-based performance

Mainframes differ from other systems in that all applications are created with reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS) in mind. These computers make data processing easy, and companies may work with different storage sizes thanks to the system's scalability feature. The system's CPUs maintain all of these programs' computational capabilities.

No interruptions in the functioning

Workloads are split among the processors when updating software on a mainframe to prevent productivity loss. In other situations, stopping the system could cost the company too much. If the organization is a financial institution, its incapacity to handle applications may jeopardize national security. Enabling continuous access to critical systems is the major purpose of mainframes.

Multiple operating systems on the same machine

A single mainframe may host several operating systems. For example, it is common to run Linux and z/OS on the same mainframe. Together with z/OS, the four most popular mainframe operating systems are z/VM, z/VSE, Linux for System z, and z/TPF.

Throughput-driven fault-tolerant computing

The system receives a considerable amount of input and output data. This implies that mainframes must easily manage all this data, applications, and processes. Mainframes don't care how much data is transferred to or from a system. Furthermore, the mainframe makes no mistakes when transferring enormous amounts of data within its database. We call this feature fault-tolerant computing.

Clustering technology

Mainframe systems support close coupling clustering technologies; this is called Parallel Sysplex in an IBM setting. With this feature, up to 32 machines can function as a single, cohesive system configuration. Work will continue uninterrupted and without performance loss on the next live system, even in a system crash.

Centralization of computing processes

The management of computer tasks is centralized in the mainframe system. This suggests that all operations occur in the mainframe's processing area, with the output displayed on a client's desktop monitor. While the mainframe runs in the background, users can interact with a desktop application or utility.

A move towards flexibility

But these distinctions between distributed and centralized computing is blurring quickly. As a result, mainframes are frequently integrated with clusters of less complex servers in various topologies. Processors, storage, and device interfaces are examples of modern mainframe hardware and software assets that may be dynamically altered while programs run. This demonstrates how flexible and dynamic current mainframes are.

Performance advantages over servers

It is important to understand the characteristics of mainframes compared to servers and their inherent distinctions. Despite the frequent confusion between the terms, mainframes and servers differ in the following ways:

• Size: A typical commodity server is physically smaller than a mainframe. The size of mainframe computers is not the cause of this. Mainframe computers are comparable to refrigerators these days. Still, a similar-sized server tray might hold about 12 inexpensive servers. Because mainframes include more computer hardware than ordinary servers, they will undoubtedly be larger.
• Throughput: A typical server would process 26 million transactions a day if it could process 300 transactions per second. While this is a significant amount, it is nothing compared to the billions a mainframe can process. Z13 mainframes, according to IBM, can handle 2.5 billion daily transactions.
• Versatility: Workloads from mainframes cannot be transferred to commodity servers. But you could move jobs usually done on a commodity server to a mainframe. In other words, mainframes provide the best of both worlds. Users can manage server workloads on commodity hardware and access mission-critical apps unavailable elsewhere.

Differences between Supercomputers and Mainframes

• Supercomputers, those enormous computers that process vast amounts of data, come to mind when we hear the term mainframes.
• Despite their numerous similarities, there are a few key differences between them that you should be aware of in order to choose the best one for your business.
• Everything about processing large volumes of data transactions, such as those in banking, that call for full operations free from security issues is made possible by mainframes.
• This is because high levels of reliability were intended for mainframes, something that modern computer equipment cannot supply.
• However, even though they must access external databases on several occasions, they will always ensure that the values they manage are never compromised because, for the most part, they are essential to the operation of banking and commerce.

Supercomputers, on the other hand, are superior in the military, science, and engineering fields. How do they accomplish that? Utilizing the idea of huge parallelism and setting up hundreds of processors running at full speed.

Nevertheless, there is still a close relationship between mainframes and supercomputers despite this distinction.

Benefits of Mainframes

These days, mainframe computers are integral to the daily operations of most of the world's leading businesses, including Fortune 1000 companies. Mainframes play an important role in finance, banking, healthcare, insurance, utilities, administration, and many other private and governmental sectors, even in the face of advancements in other computer technologies.

Enable cloud-ready and scalable infrastructure

Mainframes provide a variety of highly secure virtualized environments for cloud deployment. This includes blade servers, hypervisors, logical partitions (LPARs), and the z/VM operating system. Besides providing faster support to millions of users, mainframes are the ideal platform for web applications, data management, and big data analytics. As a result, the technique has a great scalability.

Maintain compliance and security

With measures such as data encryption, role segregation, privileged user monitoring, secure communication systems, audit reporting, and others, mainframes facilitate industry standards, compliance requirements, and best practices. Better control is made possible by its high level of security transparency and enterprise-wide visibility. Additionally, private clouds constructed on mainframes may mitigate the inherent security issues associated with public cloud services with open networks.

Simplify the migration and consolidation of workloads

It is easy to move distributed workloads to the mainframe configuration. As a result, fewer distributed systems need to be managed. It's easy to combine different jobs on the mainframe while keeping the essential isolation between systems when your virtual environment is optimized. Additionally, this reduces the licence costs distributed systems would have to pay.

Reduce the total cost of ownership

The unmatched lifetime of mainframe computers is their greatest advantage. The typical lifespan of these PCs is more than ten years. Mainframe computers are frequently trouble-free up until that time. After the device reaches its average lifespan, buyers have the option to either upgrade or replace it.

Furthermore, there comes a point at which running the workload on a mainframe becomes less cost-effective than adding extra servers. According to research on security management opens a new window; a private cloud built on IBM enterprise systems had a 76% cheaper total cost of ownership (TCO) over three years than a public cloud provided by a third-party service provider.

Ensure compatibility across generations

The mainframe operating system supports a wide range of hardware and applications. Regardless of the OS version, a mainframe will support most software. The system can continue to run legacy programs even after an upgrade. The quantity of operating systems that can run simultaneously on mainframe machines is also unrestricted. It is possible to establish multiple operating systems, which will improve the system's overall performance.

Compatible with Blockchain technology

Blockchain is one of the most exciting new applications for which mainframes are perfect. Regarding response time, transaction volume, scalability, or security, mainframes outperform x86 servers as blockchain hosts.

Its security advantage is also a very important one. The foundation of the blockchain approach is transaction data stored in a network of unchangeable data blocks that are assembled and cannot be changed. Because mainframes have more computer power than other systems, they can provide 100% encryption without compromising performance.

Mainframes have certain disadvantages, even if necessary for the above-listed reasons.

Prior to configuring a mainframe computer system, the following should be checked:

• Difficult implementation: Setting up a mainframe computer is more difficult than installing a regular computer because of its physical components.
• High initial outlay: A mainframe requires a significantly larger initial outlay than a normal server or the cloud.
• Complex maintenance: Regular IT staffs are not equipped to handle mainframe computer operations. Operations management is necessary, especially for system debugging.
• Environmental constraints: Mainframes are subject to extra environmental restrictions, such as those about humidity and temperature control.

Examples of Mainframes

Except for IBM models, real mainframe computers are not very prevalent in circulation, despite the widespread use of mainframe-like computing techniques. In light of this, the following are some noteworthy mainframe examples:

IBMZ

All of IBM's z/Architecture mainframes are referred to as IBM Z. IBM rebranded IBM Z Systems as IBM Z in July 2017 in anticipation of a new product line. The IBM Z mainframe lineup currently includes the newest model, IBM z16, as well as models z15, z14, and z13, as well as IBM zEnterprise, IBM System z10, IBM System z9, and IBM eServer zSeries.

There is complete backward compatibility within the IBM Z family. Modern systems are, in actuality, directly descended from the 1964-introduced System/360. Most software developed for earlier IBM Z systems is still compatible with the newest IBM Z system, even after 50 years.

FUJITSU Server GS21

For mission-critical corporate and social infrastructure systems that need to run around the clock, FUJITSU Server GS21 is perfect. For the past 50 years, Fujitsu has been steadily improving mainframe processing standards, functionality, and performance to satisfy changing customer needs.

At a lower total cost of ownership, the FUJITSU Server GS21 can manage enormous volumes of data and provide high availability. Fujitsu, however, announced that it would stop selling mainframes in 2030 and that maintenance and support would stop in 2035.

UNIVAC 9400

The 9400 was designed several decades ago for mid-sized businesses looking to expand their systems. An industrial complex in Cologne employed a UNIVAC 9400 mainframe in its computer centre throughout the 1960s. The system was donated to a Cologne school after being replaced by fresh hardware and technologies. After that, in 2005, it was relocated to the technikum29, a German computer museum, where it is still in operational order.