Mainframes are high-performance computers used for large-scale intensive processing not possible using normal machines. They have traditionally been used by banks, government agencies and corporations requiring a dependable and secure computer for carrying out vital transactions and storing vast amounts of data. Mainframes differ in their operating systems, manufacturers and data code sets.

The first mainframe appeared in 1944 as an acronym for electronic numerical integrator and calculator, the computer possessed 30 separate units and weighed over 30 tons. Although the early mainframes marginally differed in how they stored and processed information, they all shared the aim of carrying it out from a central location.

The three important Features of mainframe Computers:

* Mainframes provide for maximum I/O connectivity as they accommodate huge disc farms.

* Mainframes excel in providing maximum I/O band width. Interestingly in spite of all the connected drives connected to the mainframe system, no data blocking ever happens to mar its efficiency.

* Mainframe systems also provide for very good single thread operations.

Modern Mainframes

Modern mainframes exist in two forms. The first are the newly built multi-purpose machines no longer solely restricted to centralized computing. They are able to serve distributed users and the smaller servers of a computing network. The other type is the old mainframes that have been overhauled to deal with modern requirements, such as running Internet-based programs.

Operating Systems

The majority of modern mainframes are manufactured by IBM, Hitachi and Amdahl. IBM-made machines use the MVS operating system. MVS systems feature a time-sharing option environment similar to the DOS prompt familiar to PC users. This allows users to query the type of mainframe being used and the system’s general health. Other mainframes use the Unix, Linux, z/OS, OS/390, VM and VSE operating systems.

Mainframe Data Types

Mainframes store data in one of two ways. Most use the EBCDIC code set, though some may use the ASCII code set. The code set relates to the way mainframes code the alphabet internally. For example, those using the ASCII code set store the letter “A” as the hexadecimal value 45 (65 decimal). In the EBCDIC code set, the same letter is represented by the hex value C1 (193 decimal). Data cannot be transferred between machines using different code sets without first being converted.

The term “mainframe computer” is typically used to refer to that group of high-end self-contained computers. A single mainframe may execute the equivalent of 10 to 100 or even more distributed processors’ worth of business activity. The vast majority of mainframe computers have provided continual service measured in years and in many instances decades of non-stop functionality.

The following are the characteristics of modern mainframe computers :

Redundant Engineering

The major engineering feature of the modern mainframe computer that delivers is their considerable amount of redundant internal engineering. This is what gives mainframe computers their high reliability, tight security, extensive input/output facilities, strict backwards compatibility for older software, and high utilization rates (very little processing idle time) to support their characteristic massive throughput capabilities.

Hardware Servicing and Upgrades

In order for a mainframe computer to operate non-stop (run) for many years without interruption all repairs and hardware upgrades can and do take place during the normal operation of the mainframe computer. Once again this is another benefit that the inclusion of internal redundant hardware engineering makes possible.

Performance

Supercomputers; such as those at NASA’s Columbia Advanced Computing Facility have their performance measured in terms of the number of floating point operations per second (flops) of which it is capable.

The standard yardstick by which the computational performance of a mainframe computer is measured and subsequently compared with itself at other times or against other mainframes is the number of sustained Millions of Instructions per Second (MIPS) that it is capable of.

Processing Tasks

Mainframe computer processing has always tended to focus on problems which are limited by input/output and reliability (”throughput computing”) as well as solving multiple business problems concurrently.

The mainframe computer generally makes use of its parallel processing capacity to simultaneously run multiple different less complex concurrent tasks.

Hence, time has not changed much as the types of tasks that mainframe computers usually perform today still revolve around the so called “mission critical” operations that require much repetitive or parallel processing such as correlation of data collected during a census or a survey, statistical processing and analysis, financial transaction processing (banks) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).

Everyone has used a mainframe computer at one point or another. If you ever used an automated teller machine (ATM) to interact with your bank account, you used a mainframe.

The mainframe occupies an important place in today’s e-business environment. In banking, finance, health care, insurance, utilities, government, and a multitude of other public and private enterprises, the mainframe computer continues to be the foundation of modern business.

Until the mid-1990s, mainframes provided the only acceptable means of handling the data processing requirements of a large business. These requirements were then (and are often now) based on running large and complex programs, such as payroll and general ledger processing.

No other computer architecture can claim as much continuous, evolutionary improvement, while maintaining compatibility with previous releases. Because of these design strengths, the mainframe is often used by IT organizations to host the most important, mission-critical applications. The mainframe applications typically include customer order processing, financial transactions, production and inventory control, payroll, as well as many other types of work.

When a business application is accessed through a Web browser, there is often a mainframe computer performing crucial functions behind the scenes.

Many of today’s busiest Web sites store their production databases on a mainframe host. New mainframe hardware and software products are ideal for Web transactions because they are designed to allow huge numbers of users and applications to rapidly and simultaneously access the same data without interfering with each other. This security, scalability, and reliability is critical to the efficient and secure operation of contemporary information processing.

Corporations use mainframes for applications that depend on scalability and reliability. For example, a banking institution could use a mainframe to host the database of its customer accounts, for which transactions can be submitted from any of thousands of ATM locations worldwide.

Businesses today rely on the mainframe to:

* Perform large-scale transaction processing (thousands of transactions per second)

* Support thousands of users and application programs concurrently accessing numerous resources

* Manage terabytes of information in databases

* Handle large-bandwidth communication

Hence, today mainframe computers play prominent role in the daily operations of most of the world’s largest corporations. While other forms of computing are used extensively in business in various capacities.

A mainframe is simply a very large computer. And totally different from what you have on your desk. The ranking of a mainframe is as you can see almost at the top. Mainframe is an industry term for a large computer. Their main purpose is to run commercial applications of Fortune 1000 businesses and other large-scale computing purposes. Large organizations continue to make extensive use of mainframes. IBM regularly sets records for its mainframe sales in terms of the capacity.

Mainframes are used with Java, Perl, C, C++, Apache, HTML, and many other web tools. IBM has started both educational and industry initiatives to convince more people to study and use mainframe technologies. Over the course of the last decade there has been considerable discussion about the future development and use of the revered Mainframe platform.

The mainframe continues to grow both in terms of its capabilities, the community around it and, indeed, in the scale of its deployment. It is clear that the mainframe platform has the capacity to deliver an expanding range of IT services cost effectively and the challenge for IBM and the wider mainframe ecosystem is to ensure that organisations understand where its capabilities can be most effectively deployed.

The development of the mainframe as a platform over the last few years is now matched by changes in the wider economic environment to make now a very good time for IBM and its partners to make a serious effort to communicate widely on what the modern mainframe is all about and to help replace any out of date perceptions that may still be out there.

Mainframes are solid and secure. Mainframes are also designed in such a way that they are optimized for multiple transactions which is increasingly what blade servers and clusters are being built for.

Mainframes are somewhat less popular now than they were at one time, but they still serve a useful purpose in some applications. Mainframes have now changed dramatically in size and form, and are not always in the big cabinet-sized boxes we used to associate with the term “mainframe”. Indeed, many mainframes have been shrunk down to the size of a large PCI card, and are plugged into a variety of other systems, with special software which allows the mainframe applications to be run on the add-in card, in parallel with the “normal” OS.

Mainframes have shown the ability, given the proper R&D investments, to keep evolving. The mainframe has long been established as a secure, scalable and reliable platform for high-value data and high-volume transactions such as enterprise resource planning, online order-taking and financial transaction processing. Today, IT teams continue to rely on the unmatched stability and consistency of mainframe data stores to support business-critical applications.

Because of the silo-centric nature of a typical IT organization, there’s a tendency to overlook the mainframe when it comes to optimizing application performance, or the speed, reliability, security and integrity as experienced by end users

Mainframe applications have changed substantially in the past couple of decades, as they leverage other technology improvements such as the Internet and high-speed global communications. Today’s mainframe application paths are increasingly extending beyond the firewall and out to the Web, where they become customer-facing. Banking at home, buying a retailers’ product, paying your credit card provider online and making travel reservations due to modern applications by expanding the use of mainframe applications.

The evolution of the mainframe as an engine for both customer-facing and corporate productivity applications, and how even subtle mainframe optimizations can drive end-user application performance improvements that bolster business performance and the bottom line.

The term mainframe has gradually moved from a physical description of IBM’s larger computers to the categorization of a style of computing. One defining characteristic of the mainframe has been a continuing compatibility that spans decades.

Throughout the years, mainframe systems have maintained their unique position in supporting some of the most throughput-intensive and business-critical enterprise applications. Mainframes today continue to touch the majority of transactions worldwide, with 72 percent of the world’s financial transactions being processed on mainframes.

Therefore mainframes are now extracting even more value by “re-incarnating” their mainframes – directly integrating them as part of modern architectures.

1. What is JCL?

ANS: It is an interface between operating system (MVS) & the application program. When two related programs are combined together on control statements, it is called job control language

2. What are the basic JCL Statements for a Job?

ANS: The basic JCL statements for any job are:

JOB: Identifies a job and supplies accounting info
EXEC: Identifies a job step by indicating the name of the program to be executed.
DD: Identifies a data set to be allocated for the job step Delimiter
(/*): Marks the end of an in-stream dataset Null
(//): Marks the end of a job Comments
(//*): Provides Comments PROC: Marks the beginning of a procedure PEND: Marks the end of a procedure
OUTPUT: Supplies options for SYSOUT processing.

3. What do you mean by INCLUDE statement in JCL?

ANS .An INCLUDE statement identifies a member of a PDS that contains this set of JCL statements is called an INCLUDE group. The system replaces the INCLUDE statement with the statements in the INCLUDE group.

4. Why do you use a CONTROL CARD?

ANS: A CONTROL CARD can be a member of a PDS or a sequential dataset and is used for storing the date fields, definitions of VSAM files etc., We use CONTROL CARD because we cannot use an in-stream procedure in a procedure. Generally you will be calling a PROC from your JCL and you cannot code in stream procedure in the PROC and so you will point to the dataset, which is called control card.

5. How do you submit JCL via a Cobol program?

ANS: In your JCL define as: //JOBA JOB 1111,JOB1 //STEP01 EXEC PGM=PROG1 //ddname DD SYSOUT=(*,INTRDR)….and your COBOL (PROG1) should look like this: SELECT JCL-FILE ASSIGN TO ddname. Open this file and write the JCL statements into this file. Example: MOVE ‘//TESTJOB JOB 1111,VISVEISH’ TO JCL-REC.MOVE ‘//STEP01 EXEC PGM=IEFBR14′ TO JCL-REC.and close this file. Then TESTJOB will be submitted.

6. How to pass the temp dataset form one JOB step to another?

ANS: By specifying the DISP as PASS for the temp dataset.

7. How many types of libraries are there in JCL?

ANS: Libraries are of three types: System Libraries:- such as SYS1.LINKLIB Private Libraries:- Specified in a JOBLIB or STEPLIB DD STATEMENTS. Temporary Libraries:- Created in a previous step of the Job.

8. What you mean by skeleton JCL?

ANS: JCL, which changes during run time, that is the values for the JCL such as program name, dd name will change. The same JCL can be used for various jobs, equivalent to dynamic SQL;

9. Which type of override parameter requires that one know the parameters that can be overridden?

ANS: Regular parameters require that one know the parameters that can be overridden, such as step names within the procedure, the DDnames of the statements overridden, and the order of the DD statements.

10. What is the difference between an in-stream procedure and a catalogued procedure?

ANS: An In-stream procedure is basically same as a catalogued procedure. The difference is that to execute an in-stream procedure one places it after the JOB statement and before the EXEC statement and must end it with a PEND statement. A catalogued procedure is catalogued on a procedure library and is called by specifying the procedure name on the EXEC statement. An in-stream procedure is useful to test the procedure before making it a catalogued procedure.

11. What is a data exception?

ANS:  A data exception error indicates an attempt to perform an arithmetic operation on non-numeric data. It can also occur from incorrect input data to a program that is not performing sufficient numeric testing on it before attempting arithmetic. The system completion code is 0C7.

12. How are different generations specified?

ANS: Different generations are specified by providing the dataset name and generation number for each GDG desired.

13. Why do you want to specify the REGION parameter in a JCL step?

ANS: To override the REGION defined at the JOB card level REGION specifies the max region size REGION=0K or 0M or omitting REGION means no limit will be applied.

14. What is STEPLIB, JOBLIB? What is it used for?

ANS: Specifies that the private library (or libraries) specified should be searched before the default system libraries in order to locate a program to be executed STEPLIB applies only to the particular step, JOBLIB to all steps in the job.

15. What is order of searching of the libraries in a JCL?

ANS: First any private libraries as specified in the STEPLIB or JOBLIB, then the system libraries such as SYS1LINKLIB The system libraries are specified in the link list.

16. What is S322 abend?

ANS: Indicates a time out abend Your program has taken more CPU time than the default limit for the job class Could indicate an infinite loop.

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Job Control Language used to describe the steps of a batch job. JCL (job control language) is a language for describing jobs (units of work) to the MVS, OS/390, and VSE operating systems, which run on IBM’s S/390 large server (mainframe) computers. These operating systems allocate their time and space resources among the total number of jobs that have been started in the computer. Jobs in turn break down into job steps. All the statements required to run a particular program constitute a job step.

One IBM manual compares a set of JCL statements to a menu order in a restaurant. The whole order is comparable to the job. Back in the kitchen, the chefs divide the order up and work on individual dishes (job steps). As the job steps complete, the meal is served (but it has to be served in the order prescribed just as some job steps depend on other job steps being performed first).

JCL statements mainly specify the input data sets (files) that must be accessed, the output data set to be created or updated, what resources must be allocated for the job, and the programs that are to run, using these input and output data sets. A set of JCL statements for a job is itself stored as a data set and can be started interactively. MVS and OS/390 provide an interactive menu-like interface, ISPF, for initiating and managing jobs.

In MVS and OS/390, the part of the operating system that handles JCL is called the Job Entry Subsystem (JES). There are two versions, JES2 and a later version with additional capabilities, JES3.

JCL uses a number of IBM utility programs to assist in the processing of data. Utilities are most useful in batch processing. The utilities can be grouped into three sets: (1) Data Set Utilities – to create print, copy, move and delete data sets; (2) System Utilities – to maintain and manage catalogs; (3) Access Method Services – to process VSAM (Virtual storage access method) and non-VSAM data sets.

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CICS stands for Customer Information Control System. It is a general-purpose transaction processing subsystem for the z/OS operating system. CICS provides services for running an application online, by request, at the same time as many other users are submitting requests to run the same applications, using the same files and programs.

CICS Software can be used to run COBOL Programs in an Online Interactive manner, on a Mainframe Computer. CICS is a Software that handles all the activities on behalf of the COBOL Program.

The entire Data Processing Logic(Business Rules) is written in the COBOL Program. CICS Server is just an intermediary, which delegates and passes on requests of folks to the COBOL Program for Processing. The actual data-processing is done by the COBOL Program.

It is CICS Software that handles, manages these requests, passes them on, and gets them processed using the correct COBOL Program, immediately, on-the-fly, and sends the Output Response back to the Client. CICS Software is robust server that can humungous volumes, huge loads of Transactions at a time. IMS-DC and TPF are examples of some other Transaction Monitors on IBM Mainframes.

Using the application programming interface (API) provided by CICS, a programmer can write programs that communicate with online users and read from or write to customer and other records (orders, inventory figures, customer data, and so forth) in a database (usually referred to as “data sets”) using CICS facilities rather than IBM’s access methods directly. Like other transaction managers, CICS can ensure that transactions are completed and, if not, undo partly completed transactions so that the integrity of data records is maintained.

IBM markets or supports a CICS product for OS/390, UNIX, and Intel PC operating systems. Some of IBM’s customers use IBM’s Transaction Server to handle e-business transactions from Internet users and forward these to a mainframe server that accesses an existing CICS order and inventory database.

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1. Name the divisions in a COBOL program?

ANS: Identification division, Environment division, data division, Procedure division.

2. What are the different data types available in COBOL?

ANS: Alpha-numeric (X), alphabetic (A) and numeric (9).

3. What does the INITIALIZE verb do?

ANS: Alphabetic, Alphanumeric fields & alphanumeric edited items are set to SPACES.
Numeric, Numeric edited items set to ZERO.
Filter occurs depending on items left untouched

4. What is 77 level used for?

Elementary level item. Cannot be subdivisions of other items (cannot be qualified), nor can they be subdivided themselves.

5. What does the IS NUMERIC clause establish?

ANs: IS NUMERIC can be used on alphanumeric items, signed numeric & packed decimal items and unsigned numeric & packed decimal items. IS NUMERIC returns TRUE if the item only consists of 0-9. However, if the item being tested is a signed item, then it may contain 0-9, + and – .

6. How do you define a table/array in COBOL?

ANS: 01 ARRAYS.

05 ARRAY1 PIC X (9) OCCURS 10 TIMES.

05 ARRAY2 PIC X (6) OCCURS 20 TIMES INDEXED BY WS-INDEX.

7. What is the difference between index and subscript?

ANS: Subscript refers to the array occurrence while index is the displacement (in no of bytes) from the beginning of the array. An index can only be modified using PERFORM, SEARCH & SET.

Need to have index for a table in order to use SEARCH, SEARCH ALL.

What is the difference between SEARCH and SEARCH ALL?

SEARCH – is a serial search.

SEARCH ALL – is a binary search & the table must be sorted (ASCENDING/DESCENDING KEY clause to be used & data loaded in this order) before using SEARCH ALL.

8. What should be the sorting order for SEARCH ALL?

It can be either ASCENDING or DESCENDING. ASCENDING is default. If you want the search to be done on an array sorted in descending order, then while defining the array, you should give DESCENDING KEY clause. (You must load the table in the specified order).

9. How is sign stored in a COMP field?

ANS: In the most significant bit. Bit is on if -ve, off if +ve.

10. What are the different data types available in COBOL?

ANS: Alpha-numeric (X) , Alphabetic (A) and numeric (9).

11. Significance of the COMMON Attribute?

ANS: COMMON attribute is used with nested COBOL programs. If it is not specified, other nested programs will not be able to access the program. PROGRAM-ID. Program name is COMMON PROGRAM.

12. What is binary search?

ANS: Search on a sorted array. Compare the item to be searched with the item at the center. If it matches, fine else repeat the process with the left half or the right half depending on where the item lies.

My program has an array defined to have 10 items. Due to a bug, I find that even if the program access the 11th item in this array, the program does not abend. What is wrong with it?

Must use compiler option SSRANGE if you want array bounds checking. Default is NOSSRANGE.

13. How do you define a sort file in JCL that runs the COBOL program?

ANS: Use the SORTWK01, SORTWK02 … dd names in the step. Number of sort datasets depends on the volume of data being sorted, but a minimum of 3 is required.

14. What is the use of EVALUATE statement?

ANS: Evaluate is like a case statement and can be used to replace nested Ifs. The difference between EVALUATE and case is that no ‘break’ is required for EVALUATE i.e. control comes out of the EVALUATE as soon as one match is made.

15. What are different file OPEN modes available in COBOL?

ANS: Open for INPUT, OUTPUT, I-O, EXTEND.

16. What is the mode in which you will OPEN a file for writing?

ANS: OUTPUT, EXTEND.

17. What are the steps you go through while creating a COBOL program executable?

ANS: DB2 precompiler (if embedded sql used), CICS translator (if CICS pgm), Cobol compiler, Link editor.

If DB2 program, create plan by binding the DBRMs.

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For over a decade, mainframe applications have been criticized for spiraling maintenance costs, the result of a vicious circle of lack of documentation inability to upgrade, leading to higher costs for maintenance or upgrades right now.

Whether you’re developing new business solutions or maintaining current systems, you have to support rapidly changing business needs. Today, the kind of support that’s required frequently involves mainframe modernization.

The mainframe once held an unquestionable lead in reliability, availability, serviceability and security, therefore, it made sense as an investment. But these benefits are no longer unique to the mainframe, and other platforms have surpassed it in terms of flexibility, efficiency and innovation. More importantly, mainframe data center costs continue to rise beyond expectations while open-standard platforms are lowering their costs.

Two major external pressures are driving the need to modernize a mainframe application:

1. Market pressures: Businesses need to be able to rapidly respond to any changes in the business environment or risk losing customers. Older applications may need updating to support that need.

2. Regulatory pressures: A need to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), among other regulations, is causing companies to consider software changes.

The modernization problem usually is not about the core functionality. Where modernization is needed is in how users and other applications get to mainframe functionality and data and what they can do with it when they get it. That means integration and adding capabilities that extend the mainframe, like SOA or Web 2.0 or BI or cross-platform management.

The first big problem is that legacy code has typically evolved a great deal over the decades. Legacy applications often have been “fixed” whenever things have gone wrong or hardware has been replaced. Minor upgrades have been “bolted on” to the original code. The result is probably a poorly documented piece of code that makes maintenance quite difficult.

A second problem can be the use of older technology with a particular application. As technology has advanced, numerous devices and standards have come and gone. New devices don’t always easily support old technology (consider Microsoft’s difficulties with Vista, for example); it can become error-prone, or too expensive to continue using. There may be some ancient device used only by this single application.

There’s also the problem of complex interrelationships and cross-application dependencies between one application and perhaps many others, which may not be obvious or properly documented.

Another problem is that many older applications are batch jobs originally designed to run in their own time and eventually produce results when they finished. This is no longer possible in a situation where application users require near-real-time responses. Another problem occurs if the application can’t run continuously. Typically, it was never designed for that and must stop while, perhaps, another application runs against the database. Users expect to be able to work anytime.

Also problematic is finding talented COBOL or Assembler programmers to maintain legacy applications.

When it comes to modernizing mainframe applications, the GUI has emerged as the litmus test for the modernized z application. Sure, experienced users swear that command line interfaces are faster but the GUI makes it easier for less skilled people to re-use and re-purpose existing mainframe application code, especially in support of SOA implementations. Turns out that the lowly GUI is where you start mainframe modernization.

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Mainframe is a high performance multi user computer system which is most scalable, available, reliable and secured machine in the world capable of performing some Million Instructions per second.

Mainframe testing is a testing that includes black box testing. No need of JCR and all programming language necessary. Mainframe Testing is similar to client-server applications testing. For mainframe testing one has to know how to operate basic TSO and ISPF commands and menus, view mainframe files, look at and use SDSF or other output tool, log on CICS and transactions, use FTP or another transfer protocol, submit the batch job – it’s for QA testing of mainframe applications.

While Testing in Mainframe, we need to check how many online screen is getting affected, is there any batch job to be executed, time taken for completing one test case as it will help you to planning and scheduling, any external dependency etc.

Mainframe Test Tools:

Some of the tools that are used for mainframe testing are as follows:

1. Test Director

2. QTP (Quick Test Professional)

3. Claim Repository

4. Foundation Testing Tool (FTT)

5. TN3270 Plus

6. Hiperstation

7. Load Runner

Unlike the QA testing for another platform, like WEB and/or client-service, the mainframe is usually back-end. It can be learned quickly, but it needs an access to mainframe.

There are various kind of tests in Mainframes such as:

Integration tests
Performance tests
Volume tests
Regression tests
Stress tests etc.

You can test a all cluster of programs or a whole day or night of production. You need to know the expected results, discuss with business analysts, with system team, with Capacity team. And you will have to know a lot of tools or technics: Strobe, File Aid, Ecomp, CA7, report Excel, Word, DB2, CICS, zOS, Sort, backup, recovery, etc.

As part of mainframe testing you could be testing a COBOL application on a DB2 database, or a People soft application using an Oracle database, or the application could be a CICS application using QA Hyper station to automate the testing. The QA principles do not change, however the skill sets differ to some extent. You may be required to know JCL, ISPF and TSO and have a basic understanding of COBOL. You should know how to write SQL queries to test any databases.

There may also be networking issues to consider when testing large system environments.

Mainframe applications run on the mainframe and clients access the mainframe through a terminal emulator. The terminal emulator is the only software that needs to sit on the client machine. Changes to the software (COBOL, JCL, etc) are made on the mainframe and as a mainframe tester you don’t need to worry about migrating them to the client. If it works through one terminal emulator it should work on them all.

Mainframe testing skill is a quite niche skill. Though many organizations are trying to move from less user friendly mainframe applications to modern client/server applications but it will still exist for a while. Since the mainframe testing is difficult and trainings are not easily available so the demand of a mainframe tester is great in the market.

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Software vendors with experience in the Web services market are working to provide links to the mainframe, either in their products or through tie-ins with vendors that have mainframe experience; There is a lot of interest in Web service-enabling mainframe applications, particularly in Service-Oriented Architecture implementing Web service access to back-end applications on mainframes is not a simple task, the key is to first select the applications that can benefit from being given front-end Web services access and to then pick the most that are most effective.

They are effective for their large-scale computation power which is usually required for banking, insurance and web applications where millions of data to be processed every day. Most large-scale IT legacy systems in use today reside within mainframe. This facilitates efficient integration with WAS (Web Application Servers).

Just as everyone has used a mainframe computer at one point or another, new mainframe hardware and software products are ideal for Web transactions they are designed to allow huge numbers of users and applications to rapidly and perform large-scale transaction processing.

Mainframe giants like IBM, Hitachi, Honeywell are regularly upgrading their mainframe models so that users can access and manage data more efficiently. They are being used constantly in many day-to-day transactions such as in the Automated-Teller-Machine (ATM), automatic bill payment or flight booking, online banking etc. With all its extensive uses in large-scale computing and web applications mainframes are irreplaceable even today in the age of desktops, laptops and smart phones.

Mainframe is the industrial term popularly used to represent a very large computer. The name comes from its structure comprising of processors, memory chips, communication units etc which are all stacked inside a frame and therefore it is called the Mainframe.

The mainframe system has several processors which can work in tandem and thus give rise to the concept of centralized computing where all the operations of the mainframe work inside the processor section and the output is displayed by another utility program running in background, which is opposite of the distributed computing concept.

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Mainframe Programmers perform all or part of the software development life cycle. Develop and supports applications, modifies/enhances applications to support changing business/user needs and develops software enhancements to packaged software products. The job of Mainframe Systems Programmer is categorized under the broader career of Software Developers and Systems Software.

Some mainframe systems programmers work directly for one company and work with its mainframe, while others work for services that perform work on many different companies’ computers.

To become a Mainframe system programmer one must possess a bachelor’s degree in computer science, programming or information technology along with analytical and problem-solving skills. understanding of the languages that computers use to read their directions or programs.

1. Mainframes Systems Programmers evaluate software, installs system software updates and maintains core operating system components, communications software, database management software, compilers and utility programs typically associated with mainframe systems.

2. The Mainframe system programmers also conduct low-level system maintenance, such as socket programming in a UNIX/C environment and provide technical support to various IT groups including application developers, database management teams, system security groups and network support teams.

3. They also perform hardware/software evaluations and participate in planning for system expansions. Creates and modifies utility programs and ensures systems efficiency and integrity.

4. The Mainframe system programmer is responsible for modifying existing software to correct errors, upgrade interfaces and improve performance, analyzing information to determine the installation of a new system or modification, and manipulate the data for analysis of system capabilities that are stored or retrieved.

5. They consult clients or other departments on project status, on technical issues, such as software system design or maintenance
and prepare reports for concerning project specifications.

6. The mainframe’s multiple processing activities, a mainframe computer requires programming, troubleshooting and maintenance at the systems level. This involves the development of both programming for the computer’s individual operations as well as any networking protocols that interact with other computers.

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The term mainframe has gradually moved from a physical description of IBM’s larger computers to the categorization of a style of computing. Early mainframe systems were housed in enormous, room-sized metal boxes or frames, which is probably how the term mainframe originated. The early mainframe required large amounts of electrical power and air-conditioning, and the room was filled mainly with I/O devices.

The long-term success of mainframe computers is without precedent in the information technology (IT) field. A mainframe is the central data repository, or hub, in a corporation’s data processing center, linked to users through less powerful devices such as workstations or terminals. The presence of a mainframe often implies a centralized form of computing, as opposed to a distributed form of computing.

Centralizing the data in a single mainframe repository saves customers from having to manage updates to more than one copy of their business data, which increases the likelihood that the data is current mainframe computers and the mainframe style of computing dominate the landscape of large-scale business computing.

The mainframe owes much of its popularity and longevity to its inherent reliability and stability, a result of continuous technological advances, since no other computer architecture in existence can claim as much continuous, evolutionary improvement, while maintaining compatibility with existing applications.

Mainframe systems are designed to be used by large numbers of people. Most of those who interact with mainframes are end users— people who use the applications that are hosted on the system. However, because of the large number of end users, applications running on the system, and the sophistication and complexity of the system software that supports the users and applications, a variety of roles are needed to operate and support the system.

Mainframes have shown the ability, given the proper R&D investments, to keep evolving. By supporting TCP/IP and similar standards, mainframes were able to integrate seamlessly into the Internet and WWW infrastructure that was growing like wildfire.

Virtualization was first invented in the 1960s to support time-sharing, a revolutionary innovation that allowed many users to feel that each had their own personal, interactive computer, though in reality they were all sharing the same, rather expensive machine. This sharing enabled by virtualization was responsible for the huge success of S/370 in the 1970s, having by then been extended to the sharing of transaction applications by thousands of users.

Today virtualization is one of the newest technologies in computing.  While the efficiency gained from sharing expensive resources continues to be an important objective, even more important is the ability of users to share resources so they can collaborate with each other around the world, in designing cars, say, or discovering new medicines.

Thus the mainframe, due to its virtualization and sharing heritage, is emerging as a top platform for collaborative computing.

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Today, mainframe computers play a central role in the daily operations of most of the world’s largest corporations. Mainframes are large computers designed to handle great volumes of complex data and process bulk information at very high speeds. They have the ability to run multiple operating systems, hold hundreds of software applications and support dozens of attached terminals.

The mainframe occupies an important place in today’s e-business environment. Everyone has used a mainframe computer at one point or another. If you ever used an automated teller machine (ATM) to interact with your bank account, you used a mainframe.

The mainframes are often used by IT organizations to host the most important, mission-critical applications. These applications typically include customer order processing, financial transactions, production and inventory control, payroll, as well as many other types of work.

Today Businesses rely on the mainframe to the reasons to

1. Perform large-scale transaction processing (thousands of transactions per second).

2. Support thousands of users and application programs concurrently accessing numerous resources.

Mainframes are used in fields such as in banking, finance, health care, insurance, utilities, government, and a multitude of other public and private enterprises.

Usage in Banks and Financial Institutions:

Banking and financial institutions use mainframe computers to perform thousands of customer transactions per second, support thousands of applications that concurrently access multiple resources, manage and store terabytes of database information and handle large volumes of communication. Banks use mainframes to host large, extensive databases of customer accounts and records, which can be easily accessed by any ATM nationally or worldwide.

Usage in Health Care:

Mainframe computers are used in health care organizations to improve productivity, maximize revenues and streamline information. hospitals store patient information, process orders, clinical research, information on drugs and drug interactions, and critical life-saving information. Mainframe computers provide easy access to medical knowledge, enhance productivity, improve completeness and quality of data and provide links to expert systems and knowledge bases.

Usage in Insurance Companies :

Insurance companies store business data and other records on mainframe computers. The machines process large volumes of numerical data generated by insurance companies. They hold claims, financial and customer information and enable insurance personnel to strengthen relationships with customers. Mainframe computers process millions of policies in insurance companies.

Usage in Educational Institutions:

Many schools and other educational institutions use centralized mainframe computers to store information pertaining to students, school courses and teachers. Localized terminals linked with a centralized mainframe “repository” allow authorized users to access the stored information. Students access software programs and files stored on the mainframe computer simultaneously using individual terminals.

Thus the mainframe computer continues to be the foundation of modern business.

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Mainframe computers play a central role in the daily operations of most of the world’s largest corporations. The mainframe owes much of its popularity and longevity to its inherent reliability and stability, many of today’s busiest Web sites store their production databases on a mainframe host.

Mainframe Reliability, availability, and serviceability:

The reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS) is a central design feature of mainframe for all aspects of a computer system, including the applications that are important in data processing. Corporations use mainframes for applications that depend on scalability and reliability.

Mainframe greatest Processing Power:

The mainframe has greatest processing capacity and to support this there is large number of CPU’s with high processing power embedded within the frame.

Mainframe Security:

The mainframe computer has extensive capabilities to simultaneously share, but still protect, the firm’s data among multiple users. One of a firm’s most valuable resources is its data. Customer lists, accounting data, employee information, and so on. This critical data needs to be securely managed and controlled, and, simultaneously, made available to those users authorized to see it.

Mainframe Scalability:

The degree to which the IT organization can add capacity without disruption to normal business processes or without incurring excessive overhead is largely determined by the scalability of the particular computing platform. In business, positive results can often trigger a growth in IT infrastructure to cope with increased demand.

Mainframe Compatibility:

The ability of an application to work in the system or its ability to work with other devices or programs is called compatibility. Mainframe customers tend to have a very large financial investment in their applications and data. Some applications have been developed and refined over decades.

Increased Performance by Sharing workload:

Mainframes systems have the ability to share the workload among different processors and input and output devices. This makes its processing ability and power to be efficient and increases its performance.

Centralized Computing:

The mainframe system handles centralized computing by which all the operations takes place in the processor section of mainframe and the results are seen in the desktop monitor with the help of a utility or program running on the mainframe background.

Huge Memory Capacity:

the mainframe applications takes its presence in large scale operations and to support this facility the memory capacity embedded within mainframe is very huge.

Running in multiple OS:

Mainframes have the ability to run multiple operating systems and by this feature it is possible to function mainframe systems not as a single computer but as a number of virtual machines.

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