Mainframe DB2 Data Serving: Vision Becomes Reality

One of the things I really like about attending DB2 conferences is the face-to-face time I get with people who otherwise would be on the other side of e-mail exchanges. I get a whole lot more out of in-person communication versus the electronic variety. Case in point: at IBM's recent Information on Demand event in Las Vegas, I ran into a friend who is a DB2 for z/OS database engineering leader at a large financial services firm. He talked up a new mainframe DB2 data serving reference architecture recently implemented for one of his company's mission-critical applications, and did so with an enthusiasm that could not have been fully conveyed through a text message. I got pretty fired up listening to the story this DBA had to tell, in part because of the infectious excitement with which it was recounted, but also because the system described so closely matches a vision of a DB2 for z/OS data-serving architecture that I've had in mind -- and have advocated -- for years. To see that vision validated in the form of a real-world system that is delivering high performance and high availability in a demanding production environment really made my day. I am convinced that what the aforementioned financial services firm (hereinafter referred to as Company XYZ) is doing represents the future of mainframe DB2 as a world-class enterprise data-serving platform. Read on if you want to know more.

Three characteristics of the reference DB2 for z/OS data architecture (so called because it is seen as the go-forward model by the folks at Company XYZ) really stand out in my mind and make it an example to be emulated:

1. It is built on a DB2 data sharing / parallel sysplex foundation, for maximum availability and scalability (not only that -- these folks have done data sharing Really Right, as I'll explain).
2. It leverages Big Memory (aka 64-bit addressing) for enhanced performance.
3. The software stack on the mainframe servers is pretty short -- these are database machines, plain and simple.

A little elaboration now on these three key aspects of Company XYZ's DB2 for z/OS reference architecture:

The robust foundation: a DB2 data sharing group on a parallel sysplex mainframe cluster. It's well known that a standalone System z server running z/OS and DB2 can be counted on to provide very high levels of availability and scalability for a data-serving workload. These core strengths of the mainframe platform are further magnified when concurrent read/write access to the database is shared by multiple DB2 members of a data sharing group, running in the multiple z/OS LPARs (logical partitions) and multiple System z servers of a parallel sysplex. You're not going to beat the uptime delivered by that configuration: formerly planned outages for maintenance purposes are virtually eliminated (service levels of of DB2, z/OS, and other software components can be updated, and server hardware can be upgraded, with no -- I mean zero -- interruption of application access to the database), and the impact of an unplanned failure of a DB2 member or a z/OS LPAR or a server is greatly diminished (only data pages and/or rows that were in the process of being changed by programs running on a failed DB2 subsystem are temporarily unavailable following the failure, and those retained locks will be usually be freed up within a couple of minutes via automatic restart of the failed member). And scalability? Up to 32 DB2 subsystems (which could be running on 32 different mainframe servers) can be configured in one data sharing group.

Now, you can set up a DB2 data sharing group the right way, or the Really Right way. Company XYZ did it Really Right. Here's what I mean:

• More z/OS LPARs and DB2 members than mainframes in the sysplex. I like having more than one z/OS LPAR (and DB2 subsystem) per mainframe in a parallel sysplex, because 1) you can route work away from one of the LPARs for DB2 or z/OS maintenance purposes and still have access to that server's processing capacity, and 2) more DB2 members means fewer retained locks and quicker restart in the event of a DB2 subsystem failure.
• Dynamic VIPA network addressing. Availability and operational flexibility are optimized when remote DRDA clients use a dynamic VIPA (virtual IP address) to connect to the DB2 data sharing group (as long as at least one member of the data sharing group is up, a connection request specifying the group's VIPA can be successfully processed). A sysplex software component called the Sysplex Distributor handles load balancing across DB2 members for initial connection requests from remote systems (these will often be application servers), while load balancing for subsequent requests is managed at the DB2 member level.
  
• Internal coupling facilities. ICFs (basically, coupling facility control code running in an LPAR on a mainframe server) are less expensive than external coupling facilities, not only with respect to acquisition cost, but also in terms of environmental expenses (floor space, power, cooling). [It's true that if the mainframe containing the ICF holding the lock structure and the shared communications area (SCA) should fail, and if on that mainframe there is also a member of the DB2 data sharing group, the result will be a group-wide outage unless the lock structure and SCA are duplexed in the second ICF. Company XYZ went with system-managed duplexing of the lock structure and SCA (DB2 manages group buffer pool duplexing in a very low-overhead way). Some other organizations using ICFs exclusively (i.e., no external coupling facilities) decide not to pay the overhead of system-managed lock structure and SCA duplexing, on the ground that a) a mainframe server failure is exceedingly unlikely, b) the group-wide outage would only occur if a particular mainframe (the one with the ICF in which the lock structure and SCA are located) were to fail, and c) the group-restart following a group-wide outage should complete within a few minutes. The right way to go regarding the use or non-use of system-managed lock structure and SCA duplexing will vary according to the needs of a given organization.]

Taking advantage of 64-bit addressing. Each of the LPARs in the parallel sysplex on which Company XYZ's model DB2 for z/OS data-serving system is built has more than 20 GB of central storage, and each DB2 subsystem (there is one per LPAR) has a buffer pool configuration that exceeds 10 GB in size. In these days of Big Memory (versus the paltry 2 GB to which we were limited not long ago), I don't think of a production-environment DB2 buffer pool configuration as being large unless the aggregate size of all pools in the subsystem is at least 10 GB. The reduced level of disk I/O activity that generally comes with a large buffer pool configuration can have a significant and positive impact on both the elapsed time and CPU efficiency of data access operations.

Lean, mean, data-serving machines. A production instance of DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows (LUW) usually runs on a machine that is a dedicated data server -- data access code executes there, and that's it. Business-logic programs? They run on application servers. Presentation-logic programs? They might run on yet another tier of servers. The DB2 for LUW server Just Does Data. When I started my IT career in the early 1980s, a mainframe-based application was almost always entirely mainframe-based, by which I mean that all application functionality -- data access logic, business logic, and presentation logic -- was implemented in programs that ran on a mainframe server. Nowadays, I believe that the unmatched availability, scalability, reliability, and security offered by the System z platform is put to most advantageous use in the servicing of data access requests. In other words, I feel that a DB2 for z/OS system should be thought of, in an architectural sense, as a dedicated data server, just as we tend to think of DB2 for LUW systems (and other database management systems that run on Linux, UNIX, and/or Windows platforms) as dedicated data servers.

That's how DB2 for z/OS functions in Company XYZ's reference architecture: it just does data. Consequently, the software stack on the data-serving mainframes is relatively short, consisting of z/OS, DB2, RACF (security management), a data replication tool, some system automation and management tools, some performance monitoring tools, and little else. Transaction management is handled on application servers. Database access requests come in via the DB2 Distributed Data Facility (DDF), and much of the access logic is packaged in stored procedures (the preference at Company XYZ is DB2 9 native SQL procedures, because they perform very well and -- when invoked through calls that come through DDF -- much of their processing can be handled by zIIP engines).

Does this system, which looks so good on paper, deliver the goods? Absolutely. Volume has been taken north of 1400 transactions per second with excellent response time, and my DBA friend is confident that crossing the 2000-trans-per-second threshold won't be a problem. On the availability side, Company XYZ is getting industry-leading uptime. The message: System z is more than just capable of functioning effectively as a dedicated data server -- it works exceptionally well when used in that way. This is a clean, modern architecture that leverages what mainframes do best -- scale, serve, protect, secure -- in a way that addresses a wide range of application design requirements.

Here's a good coda for you: still at IOD in Las Vegas, and shortly after my conversation with the DBA from Company XYZ, I encountered another friend -- a lead DB2 technical professional at another company. He told me about the new DB2 for z/OS reference architecture that had recently been approved by his organization's IT executive management. The pillars of that architecture are a DB2 data sharing / parallel sysplex mainframe cluster, z/OS systems functioning as dedicated data servers, data requests coming in via the DB2 DDF, and data access logic packaged in DB2 9 native SQL procedures. I told this friend that he and his colleagues are definitely on the right track. It's a track that more and more DB2 for z/OS-using companies are traveling, and it could well be the right one for your organization.