Mainframe, Performance, Topics Podcast

Episode 19 "You've lost that syncing feeling"

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Here are the show notes for Episode 19 "You've lost that syncing feeling". The show is called this because our Topic topic is about losing the Xmarks URL synchronization tool. 

Mainframe

Our "Mainframe" topic discusses moving from V4 to V5 zFS, prompted by a user comment that had a very positive experience.

  • The old version for zFS was V4.  V5 gives you a directory using a tree structure for faster searching.  This should be faster than a naive linear search approach.  
  • To take advantage of this, you need to convert from old V4 format to V5.  
  • You can convert:  offline with _IOEFSUTL_, online with _zfsadm convert_ , _IOEFSPRM CONVERTTOV5=ON_ , and on _MOUNT_ - you choose.
  • Steps are: ensure fully at V2.1, set _IOEPRMxx format_aggrversion=5_ for new file systems, set _IOEPRMxx change_aggrversion_on_mount=on_ for fast safe file system switch to V5, determine if you want _IOEPRMxx CONVERTTOV5=ON_ for one-time switch on directory access.  Delay is expected!  
  • If cannot tolerate one-time delay, use _MOUNT CONVERTTOV5_ to selectively determine most benefit, on large directories and those highest used (_F ZFS,QUERY,FILESETS_)  
  • Use _zfsadm fileinfo_ to see a directory version, use _zfsadm aggrinfo -long_ to look at all the file systems.  

    • Performance

    Our Performance topic is a survey of Licence-Related Instrumentation.  Most shops are very conscious of software costs.   Martin discusses the instrumentation portion.

    • SMF can help you: System-Level SMF 70 give you the rolling 4 hour averages, defined capacity and group capacity information, and high-level CPU . System-Level SMF 89 gives you more detailed information on licencing:  product usage names, and CPU. Service Class Level SMF 72-3 gives you Service Units (SUs) consumed on zIIP, on general purpose CP, and zIIP-Eligible on general purpose CP.
      • Mobile SUs one category and total SUs another 
      • Resource consumption in general . Address Space Level SMF 30 gives you a usage data section for topology and for CPU in a product sometimes.
      • Container-Based Pricing introduces new metrics: 70-1, 89, 72-3, and Tenant Classes and Tenant Resource Groups explicitly documented.
        • Topics

        Our podcast "Topics" topic is about Marna losing a handy and simple URL sync tool, XMarks. Xmarks used to let you save bookmarks between browsers with other cool capabilities. It was discontinued on May 1, 2018.  XMarks was a plug-in to browser, logon, sync, and they were there! With multiple profiles.

        Here are some  https://techwiser.com/xmarks-alternatives/ ? :

        • NetVibes: better for rss feeds and dashboard seem to be its strength.
        • Google Bookmarks syncs URLs; But still only for Firefox and Chrome. Gmarks will connect to google servers.
        • Modern browsers can fake the User Agent to look like IE
        • Diigo  (at https://www.diigo.com/toolsw) ith a toolbar: not used it. Pricing plans, sharing URLs. A bit too heavyweight/
        • The promising one is called Raindrop (at https://raindrop.io/) for Chrome, FF, and Safari. Just started trying it out. Works between Windows and Android!
        • Safari / Mobile Safari use iCloud syncing and work out of the box. But if you share an Apple ID, watch out!
          • Contacting Us

          You can reach Marna on Twitter as mwalle and by email.

          You can reach Martin on Twitter as martinpacker and by email and blogs at blog.

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          Mainframe, Performance, Topics PodcastBy Marna Walle