Connecticut Computer Measurement Group
Summer CCMG Conference and Membership Meeting
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Cromwell - Friday, June 20, 2008

The Connecticut Computer Measurement Group announces its Summer Conference. We have a diverse group of presentations for our combined audience. George Handera will present his user experience on the latest generation of IBM processors, the z10. George is a dynamic presenter and wants this session to be interactive, so bring your questions. Jim Vincent has implemented Linux on zSeries. This is a hot topic of interest to mid-range and mainframe folks alike. Greg Messer has his real world techniques for analyzing performance and improving the End User’s Experience for multi-tier Web Applications. Mike McDowell’s presentation on Web Performance monitoring and delivering software as a service is a great follow on. We round out the day with Gail Reynolds whose Information Security Overview last year was well received. She returns to give a more in depth look at Identity Access Management and performance considerations. Tell your friends. All are welcome!

We wish to thank Coradiant for sponsoring the Continental Breakfast and Refreshment Breaks for the June meeting. Their sponsorship helps keep down the price of admission to our CMG events.

AGENDA

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Connecticut Computer Measurement Group
Summer CCMG Conference and Membership Meeting
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Cromwell - Friday, June 20, 2008

About the Speakers

George Handera has over 25 years of data processing experience that ranges across application development, DB2/MQ Subsystem support, performance management, systems architecture and capacity roles at Aetna. He has also worked independently creating and selling the copyrights to several mainframe products. George has presented at Connecticut CMG on Coupling Facility Options and their impact on MQ & DB2 Services as well as Implementing zAAP Processors ~ A Customer's Experience.

Jim Vincent has been with Nationwide Insurance since 1985 as a Sr. z/VM Systems Programmer and is part of the team that builds/supports their Linux on System z environments. He is currently the Program Manager of the Linux and VM Program at SHARE and in his spare time, the caretaker for the free "TRACK for VM" tool. Jim presents numerous sessions for SHARE and other user conferences around the country, has published many technical articles and contributed to the "Sharing and maintaining Linux under z/VM" IBM Redpaper. He enjoys learning about wine, reading, action/sci-fi movies and woodworking when his three boys, wife and work allow him the time.

Greg Messer has spent the last 25 years working to improve systems performance by establishing innovative techniques, methods and tools.  As the Executive Director of Systems Planning for Pacific Bell in the early 1990’s, Messer developed modeling and simulation software and techniques that were instrumental in the right-sizing and integration of the company’s systems.  These techniques were shared at CMG at that time in Orlando and San Diego.  In 1993, Messer started a consulting Firm; Gregory Messer & Associates.  Albeit small in size, the firm expanded the notion that end-to-end simulation techniques were a viable approach for designing and enhancing enterprise systems. In 1994, the firm was acquired by KPMG Peat Marwick.  While at KPMG, Messer expanded the techniques and tools to include a data collection framework in order to improve the accuracy and validation of simulations. From 1994 – present, Messer has held senior management positions while managing a Performance Engineering and Management Practice at a number of consulting firms and fortune 500 Companies in the US, United Kingdom and Europe. Currently, Messer is the Managing partner of ExperShare, LLC; a systems development firm headquartered in Mount Shasta, California.

Gail Reynolds is currently a Senior Information Security Architect at Aetna.  She has held several positions within Aetna’s Information Systems organization. Gail has presented at CA-World and has run Aetna’s Technology Impact Briefing series. She holds the CISSP, ISSMP, ISSAP, and CISM industry security designations.  In addition, Gail has two degrees from Yale University:  a B.S. in Biology from Yale College and a M.F.S. (Master of Forest Science) from Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Mike McDowell is Director of Services for Coradiant, where he has been since participating in the launch of their TrueSight End-User Monitoring Solution in 2004. In 4 years, he has helped drive their install base from single digits to hundreds of clients. In that role, he provides advice on the design and monitoring of applications that do everything from service internal agents to run ecommerce to manage internet campaigns. His expertise and understanding of multi-tiered web-delivered applications has grown over 20 years in the field, gaining expertise at Precise Software, BGS Systems/BMC Software, and Digital Equipment.

Connecticut Computer Measurement Group
Summer CCMG Conference and Membership Meeting
Crowne Plaza Hotel, Cromwell - Friday, June 20, 2008

Agenda

08:00-08:15 Registration and Coffee

08:15-08:20 Introductory Remarks

08:20-9:30 z10 Processors ~ A Customer Experience

George Handera – Aetna, Inc.

This session provides a user experience perspective on IBM’s z10 processor. The discussion will focus on the new hardware and software features that were analyzed while participating in the hardware ESP. Hardware features are compared with the z9, focusing on improvements which provide enhanced Sysplex scalability. Software features (HIPERDISPATCH and Largepage) will be discussed with a preview of the test drivers and the challenges in determining the tests themselves. RMF report changes will also be highlighted.

9:30-9:40 Break – Refreshments Sponsored by Coradiant, Inc.

9:40-10:50 Linux for System Z at Nationwide ~ From Woe to Whoa

Jim Vincent – Nationwide Insurance

You've likely heard by now that Linux runs on the mainframe and is the same as anywhere else - from Intel to System z servers. The challenge is that there can be a lot of politics around choosing to run Linux on the mainframe, deciding on a distribution and methodology for installing and maintaining Linux and even who will be responsible for the virtual Linux environments. Many decisions and discussions need to be made around processes, tools and solutions to decide if they are 'right' for a virtual Linux farm. This session will give you a candid insight on how Nationwide dealt with those topics along with:

The key to opening the door for building a Linux environment

Why Linux? What did we expect it to do for our business?

What it may take to motivate server, mainframe and even management to work with virtual servers

Choice of distributions to use on zSeries and decision points

Who needs to learn what; the learning curve for both mainframe and server folks

The discussion will cover building a Linux Virtualization environment with z/VM on zSeries at Nationwide Insurance, where it is today, where we are going with it and some key issues and benefits.

10:50-11:00 Break - Refreshments Sponsored by Coradiant, Inc.

11:00-12:10 User Experience Management (UxM): A Quantitative Approach to Performance Engineering and Management that focuses on improving the End User’s Experience

Greg Messer – ExperShare, LLC

This presentation is an overview of a User Experience Management methodology and framework. From the position that “If it cannot be measured, it cannot be changed”, this approach to Systems Performance Engineering and Management quantifies and decomposes system resources, architectural components and events in order to understand system throughput and meet end user performance requirements.

In this presentation,

1. Five metric groups (Resources, Load/Usage, Performance, Stability and Quality) will be discussed as the targets for analysis.

2. How these metric groups are measured (Instrumentation Approaches), analyzed (Statistics/Mathematics) and reported (Data Model and Views) will be described.

3. Key Performance indicators and their derivations will be presented.

4. Case Study examples from Linux and zOS using C/C++ and Summer/Java architectures within Business and Manufacturing applications will be used.

In addition, and as time permits, the role of simulation and modeling as an integral part within the UxM will be discussed.

12:10-1:10 Lunch (Provided) 

1:10-2:20 Why Software as a Service (SaaS) and Web Applications Break IT

Mike McDowell - Coradiant

Delivering Software as a Service (SaaS), or any application over the web introduces performance monitoring challenges for the company hosting it. Once simple questions like “Why are our applications slow?” or “Can you look at the ‘server unavailable’ errors that users are reporting from Atlanta?” become harder to identify and harder still to isolate and resolve. The tools built into applications fall short of providing the end-user experience view that is required to effectively address these kinds of issues.

Adoption of server virtualization, rapid application deployments, portalized applications, and increasingly rich application designs break classic performance monitoring tools. Only with effective web end-user data can IT teams engage in successful incident management, operational response, and performance & capacity planning exercises. By investigating end-user visit behavior from a network focus, seeing end-users hit the application from an outside-in perspective, one can begin to understand the effects on performance to the end-users of infrastructure and application changes.

02:20 – 2:30 Break – Refreshments sponsored by Coradiant, Inc.

02:30 - 3:40  Identity Assurance: The 21st Century Conundrum

Gail Reynolds – Aetna, Inc.

Identity and access management (IAM) includes all of the policies, processes, procedures, and mechanisms that help an organization manage access to information.  Valuable information (competitive value, consumer confidence, corporate reputation) necessitates the need for identity management.  Lack of information of value would preclude the need for IAM!

Identity management broadly covers administration within an enterprise that identifies individuals and maintains resource access.  Software often automates and simplifies these administrative tasks (for example, registration, self-service, request submission, entitlement distribution, and currency of access.)  Specific hardware may provide biometric or other strong authentication methods. Mutual trust among multiple enterprises signifies federated identity management.  Access management includes the preventive, detective, and corrective controls that enforce individual identity management rights and restrictions during transaction execution.  The pervasiveness of security controls dictates IAM relevance on an end-to-end basis.

3:40 Closing Remarks

Connecticut Computer Measurement Group

Old State House Square, P.O. Box 230453, Hartford, CT 06123-0453

Summer 2008 CCMG Conference and Membership Meeting, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Cromwell

Friday, June 20, 2008

REGISTRATION INSTRUCTIONS

The summer meeting will again utilize an e-mail registration, in addition to the regular mail registration. Pre-registration fee is $55.00, which includes lunch.

*** If you use the email pre-registration process, normal pre-payment is not required until Friday, June 20th *****

Simply e-mail your intention to attend, to ctcmg@yahoo.com no later than June 13, 2008, to qualify for the pre-registration fee. You should receive an acknowledgement within 24 hours. Remember payment is required at the door. On-site registration fee is $65.00. PLEASE NOTE: We will once again be at the Crowne Plaza Hotel & Conference Center in Cromwell, CT. Directions can be found on the attached Directions Sheet or on our web site http://regions.cmg.org/regions/ctcmg/ .

We must receive completed registration form and payment (if regular mail registration) by Friday, June 13, 2008. Make check or money order payable to Connecticut CMG.

Mail registration and payment to:

Connecticut CMG

Old State House Square

P.O. Box 230453

Hartford, CT 06123-0453

If you have any questions at all, please call Program Chair, Jane Shipman (860) 636-6492 or Chairperson, Pat Cyr (860) 547-4701.

______________________________________________________________________

Connecticut Computer Measurement Group

Old State House Square, P.O. Box 230453, Hartford, CT 06123-0453

Summer 2008 CCMG Conference and Membership Meeting, Crowne Plaza, Cromwell

Friday, June 20, 2008

REGISTRATION FORM

Name: ________________________________________________________________

Company: ________________________________________________________________

Address: ________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

Phone: ____________________________ E-mail address: ____________________________

• Occasionally, CCMG shares our mailing list with other organizations. Please check this box if you DO NOT wish to have your name released to other computer related groups.

Connecticut Computer Measurement Group

Old State House Square, P.O.Box 230453, Hartford, CT 06123-0453

Summer 2008 CCMG Conference and Membership Meeting

Crowne Plaza Hotel & Conference Center

Cromwell, Connecticut

Friday, June 20, 2008

MEETING PLACE

Crowne Plaza Hotel & Conference Center / Cromwell

100 Berlin Road

Cromwell, CT 06416

Phone: (860) 635-2000

Message Center: (860) 635-2000 specify CCMG meeting

DIRECTIONS

( FREE PARKING )

Traveling North: (From New York City)

Interstate 95 North to Interstate 91 North (junction in New Haven, CT).

Interstate 91 North to Exit 21 - Rte 372. Turn Left.

Traveling South: (e.g. from Boston)

Interstate 90 Massachusetts Turnpike to Interstate 84 West.

Follow I-84 West to Interstate 91 South (Junction in Hartford, CT).

Interstate 91 South to Exit 21 - Rte 372. Turn Left.

Traveling East:

Follow Interstate 84 East to Interstate 91 South (Junction in Hartford, CT).

Interstate 91 South to Exit 21 - Rte 372. Turn Left.

Traveling West:

Follow Interstate 84 West to Interstate 91 South (Junction in Hartford, CT).

Interstate 91 South to Exit 21 - Rte 372. Turn Left.

From the airport:

Follow signs to Hartford - Route 20 East to I-91 South.

Follow southbound directions above.

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http://regions.cmg.org/regions/ctcmg/