The basic measurement unit for mainframe computing power is one million instructions per second (MIPS), and therefore it is used by many vendors as the pricing criteria for software license and maintenance. In the past, enterprises used to increase their MIPS every year in order to meet computing needs. This trend is no longer the norm, and now IT organizations are required to reduce cost and avoid MIPS increases.
MIPS Recapture - The Fastest Way to Tangible Savings While Improving Your Service Levels
BluePhoenix offers a service to reduce MIPS consumption or maintain MIPS at the same level while better utilizing them to enable additional workload without increasing the cost.
BluePhoenix MIPS service is based on four main areas:
1. Databases – I/O and data access (retrieval and manipulation) are the bottleneck for many computing processes. Optimizing the database is the first task that needs to be addressed. Database optimization is based on three parts:
-
Server settings optimization and analysis of the logical and physical data model for best usage.
-
SQL statement optimization – automated scan of all packages and embedded SQL to ensure the use of best-practice SQL syntax.
-
Database access path analysis – automated analysis of the SQL access paths that points to problematic areas.
Our tools can analyze RDBMS (DB2) alongside nonrelational databases (VSAM, IMS, and so on).
2. Runtime environment – During the execution of processes there is a massive use of utilities. BluePhoenix's tools scan and parse all of the JCL and the calls that are made to the different utilities, such as sorting, backup and restore procedures, unload and reload, and optimize their use.
3. Online environment (source code, CICS, LSR, VTAM, IMS DC, IDMS DC, etc.) – There are different ways to obtain identical functionality that result in a completely different levels of CPU usage. Our tools scan and parse the code, build a complete calling tree, and provide recommendations for the most economic utilization of the computing environment.
4. Batch environment (source code, JCL, PROCs, schedule and SMF data, etc.) – This information is analyzed against BluePhoenix's set of best-practice rules, thereby identifying areas that should be improved and optimized, and providing optimization recommendations.
The combination of the different types of scanning and the best-practice set of rules results in a dramatic decrease in the use of CPU, MIPS, I/O, and process elapsed time. Thus, the automated scanning, parsing, and application of best-practice rules result in fast and substantial savings!