The foundation of a trusted digital transformation
The effects of today’s digital transformation cannot be ignored by any business, regardless of the size. Demand is growing for new services and individualized client experiences across all industries.
The need to efficiently build and deploy highly secure cloud-based services as part of a delivery strategy is essential. More than ever, deriving real-time insights and increasing value through data and complex analytics is the mechanism by which businesses gain competitive advantage.
Today, IT must provide an infrastructure in which reliable data and transactions are always protected, available, and delivered with speed. At a minimum, the infrastructure should meet the following needs:
•Provide consistently high performance to ensure integrity of service while operating at high volumes
•Allow for rapid application development and delivery by using open and industry standard technologies
•Deliver real-time insights within the current business transaction
•Encrypt all data to protect against insider and external threats
The latest member of the IBM Z family, the z14 Model ZR1, features a tried-and-true architecture to support your digital transformation, create a strong and reliable cloud infrastructure, and expose back-end services through secure APIs. The z14 ZR1 can also streamline your ability to integrate disparate data center systems and create a single, cohesive IT infrastructure.
The z14 ZR1 can help your business make consistently optimal decisions, gain operational data insights so you get the most value from your IT investment, and fully protect your data with encryption, while facilitating regulatory compliance.
A trusted digital transformation can be built on the z14 ZR1. It is a premier system for enabling a secure infrastructure and is designed for data that is serving in a cognitive era. The z14 ZR1 offers a high-value architecture that supports an open and connected world.
This chapter includes the following topics:
1.1 The z14 ZR1: A secure and agile platform
The z14 ZR1 offers a fast, scalable, securable, and adaptable system. Compared to its predecessor platforms, the z14 ZR1 provides more of what you need to satisfy the following growing IT demands of today:
•Compute power for increased throughput
•Large-scale memory to process data faster
•Industry-unique cache design to optimize performance
•Accelerated I/O bandwidth to process massive amounts of data
•Data compression to economically store and process information
•High-speed cryptographic operations to help secure transactions and data
From the hundreds of microprocessors to the software stack, the z14 ZR1 (as shown in Figure 1-1) is built to quickly respond to change. This evolution of the Z platform embodies a proven infrastructure that is designed from the ground up for data and transactions.
Figure 1-1 The IBM z14 ZR1
The z14 ZR1 meets the needs of the digital era by using the following techniques:
1.1.1 Building and deploying highly secure cloud-based services
The z14 Model ZR1 provides a new industry-standard infrastructure to meet the demands of entry-level businesses. It allows for easier and quicker delivery of secure cloud-based1 services.
The z14 ZR1 excels with integrated security features that are built into the hardware, firmware, and operating systems. The built-in features range from storage protection keys and workload isolation to encryption co-processors, and more. The z14 ZR1 is also highly virtualized, with the goal of maximizing the utilization of computing resources, while lowering the total number of resources and costs that are needed to run cloud-base services.
With up to 30 configurable cores, the z14 ZR1 features performance and scaling advantages over older generations, and double the memory capacity (8 TB) than the IBM z13s™. In addition, the new 16U Reserved rack space feature allows you to populate available 19-inch standard rack space with your choice of network and storage switches, and storage devices to create all-in-one secure solutions for building and deploying cloud-based services within a single rack.
1.1.2 Securing data with pervasive encryption
IBM Z pervasive encryption provides the comprehensive data protection that your business and customers demand. By placing the security controls on the data, the solution creates an envelope of protection around the data on Z. For example, Z pervasive encryption helps protect the at-rest and in-flight data that is on your Z infrastructure. Also, centralized, policy-based data encryption controls significantly reduce the costs that are associated with data security and regulatory compliance, including the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).2
IBM Z pervasive encryption implements this comprehensive security with your ongoing operations in mind. Therefore, it does not require you to make any application changes. It also can be implemented by using policy-based controls with low overhead. These capabilities can slash the costs that are associated with data security and compliance.
The Central Processor Assist for Cryptographic Function (CPACF), which is standard on every core, supports pervasive encryption and provides hardware acceleration for encryption operations. CPACF encryption rates for similar modes and data sizes on z14 ZR1 are up to 6x faster than z13s.
The new Crypto Express6S also receives a performance boost on the z14 ZR1. Combined, these enhancements perform encryption more efficiently than on earlier Z platforms. Also, SSL handshake throughput on the z14 ZR1 with Crypto Express6S is up to 2X higher than SSL handshake throughput on the z13s with Crypto Express5S.
1.1.3 Transforming a transactional platform into a data powerhouse
Currently, data is one of the most valuable resources an organization possesses. Deriving insights from that data to drive optimal business decisions becomes one of the biggest challenges. To maximize the value of that resource, your enterprise might need to integrate more external data sources to extract hidden insights.
For decades, clients typically copied business-critical data from their mainframe transactional systems to other platforms, or even data lakes, to perform sophisticated analytics. This process was inefficient, expensive, time-consuming, and introduced risk on lower-security platforms and data latency.
By accessing your enterprise data in-place with minimal data duplication or movement, you can minimize the cost and complexity of analytics. You can also make enterprise data highly accessible to analytics applications and tools by integrating transactional and analytics processing, and protect sensitive data by keeping it within the secure Z platform.
Because of the advanced infrastructure, with double the cache density on each chip and up to 8 TB memory, the z14 ZR1 can support the following state-of-the-art cognitive solutions:
•Open Data Analytics for z/OS
This open source, in-place analytics solution for z/OS simplifies big data analysis. Open Data Analytics for z/OS gives developers and data scientists the ability to analyze business-critical z/OS data in place, with no data movement. Open Data Analytics for z/OS can also provide a federated view by accessing and analyzing distributed and local data.
•IBM Machine Learning for z/OS
This comprehensive solution manages the entire machine learning workflow, beginning with quick ingestion and transformation of Z data where it is stored. The solution then securely creates, deploys, and manages high-quality, self-learning behavior models to help you extract hidden insights that more accurately anticipate organizational needs.
•The IBM DB2® Analytics Accelerator for z/OS
This high-performance appliance transforms your mainframe into a highly efficient transactional and analytics-processing environment. It supports the full lifecycle of a real-time analytics solution on a single system that integrates transactional data, historical data, and predictive analytics.
1.1.4 Getting more out of the platform with IT Operational Analytics
Today, demands for 24 x 7 high-performance operations continue to rise. At the same time, allowed service windows shrink and are much less frequent. Increasing system complexity makes planning, maintaining, and troubleshooting more difficult and time-consuming. IT operations analytics represent a possible solution to this challenge.
The z14 ZR1 provides the infrastructure to host real-time analytics tools so you can clearly see your operating environment and then, maximize operational efficiencies to help reduce costs.
IBM designed IBM Operations Analytics for z (IOAz), IBM Common Data Provider for z, and IBM z Operational Insights to ensure that your Z operates at peak performance. To get the most out of your system, Operations Analytics for z provides deep insights that are based on IBM’s industry-leading expertise into your Z operational data.
 
Note: IBM z Advanced Workload Analysis Reporter (IBM zAware), which was delivered as a firmware appliance that was running on a dedicated LPAR, is now part of IOAz.
1.1.5 Providing resilience towards zero downtime
Every second of downtime (planned or unplanned) can mean lost revenue. It is crucial to keep critical systems running 24 x 7, and to rapidly recover from an outage and resume critical business operations.
The Z in IBM Z stands for zero downtime, and the z14 ZR1 features the same proven reliability for which all IBM Z platforms are known. As with previous generations, the z14 ZR1 provides technology and services to help identify and remove any sources of outages.
Also, with platform-level redundancy, the z14 ZR1 is designed to handle failures while maintaining user access. Components can be repaired, maintenance performed, and products migrated with minimal affect on business. Some capabilities, such as capacity-on-demand, automatically turn components on and off based on current needs.
Although the z14 ZR1 platform is highly robust and even more so in a sysplex3 environment, implementing the IBM Geographically Dispersed Parallel Sysplex™ (IBM GDPS®) family of solutions improves resilience in cases of unplanned failures, power outages, fire, or human error. The GDPS family of solutions provides more tools to ensure Z availability, and mask or significantly reduce the effects of critical component outages or failures.
By using IBM HyperSwap® technology, I/O traffic can be seamlessly routed from disk subsystems that cannot service the I/O request to a second disk subsystem that can. Also, the GDPS/Active-Active solution can route workload from a server location that is experiencing problems to a second location that is operating well.
1.1.6 Accelerating digital transformation with agile service delivery
An effective DevOps solution breaks down development silos, unifies infrastructure platforms, and enables ongoing deliveries. z14 ZR1 provides the scalable and secure infrastructure for enterprises that must rapidly create and deliver critical applications, while meeting agreed-on levels for quality, availability, regulatory compliance, and end-use expectations.
IBM DevOps for Z solutions operate from application understanding through deployment and management. In addition, DevOps for Z solutions gives you a single, cost-effective toolset to maintain and modernize valuable applications on Z and distributed platforms.
For example, Application Discovery and Delivery Intelligence helps development teams understand application interdependencies, complexity, and quality across platforms, environments, and languages. This ability gives your teams an edge in identifying potential API candidates, and provides insight about maintainability and complexity. As a result, the candidate API quality rises, and the user experience also improves.
In addition, the z14 ZR1 provides the infrastructure to support the mission-critical workloads of cloud services. The new high-performance processors, large memory, and enhanced access to data enable the z14 ZR1 to integrate business transactions, operational data, and analytics into a single workflow.
The IBM z14 ZR1 is designed as a strategic asset to power the API economy.4 The use of the API economy demands fortified clouds, which can be open, private, public, and hybrid. The z14 ZR1 gives you the hardware platform that is necessary to support those cloud environments.
For Linux assets, Z platforms are optimized for open source software, enhanced scalability, and sharing, while focusing on business continuity to support cloud. For traditional z/OS-based assets, Z offerings provide intuitive tools to help developers speed Representational State Transfer (RESTful) API development.
No matter which asset class you choose, the z14 ZR1 allows developers to incorporate z/OS business-critical data and transactions into their mobile and cloud services without needing to understand z/OS subsystems.
1.1.7 Revolutionizing business processes
Blockchain is poised to revolutionize how industries do business. It is a technology for a new generation of transactional applications that establishes trust, accountability, and transparency while streamlining business processes.
In a blockchain network, members can access a distributed, shared ledger that is cryptographically secure, updated by consensus, and becomes an immutable, indelible record of all transactions. The ledger functions as a single source of “truth”. Considering that blockchain is all about increasing trust in business transactions, it makes perfect sense to run blockchain for business on Z.
Depending on your business or regulatory policies, you can choose an on-premises installation that is supported by IBM-certified Docker images that are running on Linux on IBM Z, or the IBM Blockchain Platform service plan. IBM Blockchain Platform is a fully managed blockchain service that is running in the IBM Cloud. It delivers a secure, isolated compute environment that is ideally suited for workloads with sensitive data.
1.1.8 Mixing open source and Z technologies
The correct blend and balance of open source technologies, ISV tools, and IT platform is key to enable businesses and organizations to deliver change at a much quicker pace. To this end, IBM created a system of clients, Business Partners, and ISVs who are engaging in an open source development community to bring the most important and sought-after foundational open source technologies to its IT platforms. In addition, IBM is a member of many open-standard organizations and software governance consortia that help to shape the future of open source software.
The combination of a robust and securable hardware platform with the power of a Linux distribution can optimize the building, testing, and deploying of modern applications. It also can accommodate scale-out clusters and scalable cloud environments.
The z14 ZR1 provides a secure, massive capacity Linux platform that can be deployed as stand-alone, or side-by-side with other Z operating systems on a single physical platform. Therefore, you can easily integrate Linux workloads on the z14 ZR1 with solutions that benefit from data and applications being tightly collocated with fast internal communication and improved availability.
With the z14 ZR1, Linux on IBM Z gives you the performance and vertical scale that you need to meet the demands of your digital enterprise while controlling server sprawl costs. Combined with the integration benefits, Linux on IBM Z on the z14 ZR1 allows you to deploy innovative new services or cognitive analytics and consolidate x86 workloads.
In addition, deploying Linux on the z14 ZR1 can benefit your bottom line. Compared to virtualized x86 alternatives and public cloud solutions, the lower costs for administration and management, software licensing, business continuity, floor space, and new power technology can reduce your total cost of ownership.
1.2 z14 ZR1 technical description
When compared to its predecessor (IBM z13s™), the IBM z14 ZR1 offers several improvements, such as faster, more efficient, and redesigned high-frequency chips, more granularity options, better availability, faster encryption, and enhanced on-demand options.
1.2.1 Technical highlights
The z14 ZR1 is a highly scalable symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) system. The architecture ensures continuity and upgradeability from the previous z13s. It features one model with four features: Max4, Max12, Max24, and Max30. The z14 ZR1 is housed in an industry-standard 19-inch rack that can be easily installed in any data center.
The main technical enhancements in the z14 ZR1 over its predecessor platforms are listed in Table 1-1.
Table 1-1 Technical highlights in the z14 ZR1
Improved single processor performance and greater total system capacity. The IBM z/Architecture® ensures continuity and upgradeability from previous models.
Up to 6 CPs and 156 subcapacity settings.
Up to 30 characterizable processor units. A 10% uni-processor performance improvement over z13s.
Multi-core, single-chip modules that help improve the execution of processor-intensive workloads.
4.5 GHz (14 nm FINFET Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI))
More real memory per system, which ensures high availability in the memory subsystem through use of proven redundant array of independent memory (RAIM) technology.
Up to 8 TB of addressable real memory per system.
A large, fixed hardware system area (HSA) that is managed separately from client-purchased memory.
Fixed HSA is 64 GB.
Proven technology (fifth-generation high frequency and fourth-generation out-of-order design) with a single-instruction, multiple-data (SIMD) processor that increases parallelism to accelerate analytics processing. In addition, simultaneous multithreading (SMT) increases processing efficiency and throughput and raises the number of instructions in flight.
Processor cache structure improvements and larger cache sizes to help with more of today’s demanding production workloads. The z14 ZR1 offers the following levels of cache:
•First-level cache (L1 private): 128 KB for instructions, 128 KB for data
•Second-level cache (L2): 2 MB for instructions and 4 MB for data
•Third-level cache (L3): 128 MB
•Fourth-level cache (L4): 672 MB
Improved cryptographic functions and performance, which is achieved by having one dedicated cryptographic co-processor per processor unit.
IBM zHyperLink Express is a new, short distance, I/O adapter that is designed for up to 5x lower latency than High Performance FICON for read requests.
The channel subsystem is built for I/O resilience. The number of logical channel subsystems (LCSS), subchannel sets, and I/O devices are consistent with its predecessor platform, as is the number of logical partitions (LPARs).
•Three LCSS
•40 LPARs
•Three subchannel sets
•32,000 I/O devices per channel
You can compare the z14 ZR1 to the previous two IBM Z generations by using the Compare IBM Z mainframes tool.
To ensure a balanced and highly available system, the z14 ZR1 includes the following other features and functions:
•Enhanced LPAR resource allocation algorithms for processor units and memory (8 TB per LPAR).
•IBM Virtual Flash Memory (VFM) can be used to handle paging workload spikes and can improve system availability. The VFM feature (0614) is the replacement for the Flash Express features (0402 and 0403), which were available on the zBC12 and z13s.
•Next generation Crypto Express6S feature supports up to 40 domains.
•New CMPSC with Huffman Coding compression for faster expansion algorithms and reduced overhead.
•Guarded Storage Facility for improved Java performance by reducing program pauses during Java Garbage Collection.
•Functionality in 10 GbE RoCE Express2, with the increased ability to share adapters between LPARs.
•Coupling Express Long Reach (LR) for coupling links that must extend up to 10 km (6.21 miles).
•Next generation FICON Express16S+.
•zHyperLink Express with IBM DS8880 for extremely low latency.
•OSA-Express6S supports Inbound Workload Queuing, which allows separate inbound IPSec packets.
•Secure Service Container5 to build and host secure virtual appliances.
•Support for ASHRAE Class A3 data center operating environments.
For more information about the z14 ZR1, see Chapter 2, “IBM z14 ZR1 hardware overview” on page 17.
For more information about IBM z14 ZR1 functions and features, see IBM z14 ZR1 Model ZR1 Technical Guide, SG24-8651.
1.2.2 Storage connectivity
Storage connectivity is provided on the z14 ZR1 by IBM Fibre Connection (FICON) and the IBM zHyperLink Express feature.
FICON
FICON features follow the established Fibre Channel (FC) standards to support data storage and access requirements, along with the latest FC technology in storage and access devices. FICON Express features support the following protocols:
•Native FICON
This enhanced protocol (over FC) provides for communication across channels, channel-to-channel (CTC) connectivity, and with FICON devices, such as disks, tapes, and printers. It is used in z/OS, IBM z/VM®, IBM z/VSE®, z/TPF, and Linux on IBM Z and the KVM hypervisor6 environments.
•Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP)
This protocol is a standard for communicating with disk and tape devices through FC switches and directors. The FCP channel can connect to FCP SAN fabrics and access FCP/SCSI devices. FCP is used by z/VM, KVM for IBM Z, z/VSE, and Linux on IBM Z and the KVM hypervisor environments.
FICON Express16S+ features provide significant improvements in throughput and response time for performance-critical middleware, and to shrink the batch window that is required to accommodate I/O-bound batch work. FICON Express16S+ features are implemented by using PCIe cards. They offer better port granularity and improved capabilities over the previous FICON Express features by using enhanced adapter technology. FICON Express16S+ features support a link data rate of 16 Gbps (4, 8, or 16 Gbps auto-negotiate), and is the preferred technology for new systems.
For more information about the available FICON Express features, see 3.1, “I/O features at a glance” on page 32.
zHyperLink Express
zHyperLink was created to provide fast access to data by way of extremely low latency connections between the Z platform and storage.
The zHyperLink Express feature uses a new adapter to allow you to make synchronous requests for data that is in the storage cache of the IBM DS8880. This process is done by directly connecting the zHyperLink Express port in the z14 ZR1 to an I/O Bay port of the DS8880. This short distance of up to 150 m (492.12 feet) direct connection is intended to speed up DB2 for z/OS blocking read requests.
zHyperLink can improve application response time by up to 50% without requiring application changes.
 
Important: The zHyperLink channels work with FICON channels; they do not replace them. Both adapters are required. zHyperLink is specifically designed for low latency reads and writes, such as with IBM Db2® logging.
1.2.3 Network connectivity
The z14 ZR1 is a fully virtualized platform that can support many system images at once. Therefore, network connectivity covers the connections between the platform and external networks with Open Systems Adapter-Express (OSA-Express) and 10 GbE RoCE Express features. It also supports specialized internal connections for intra-system communication through IBM HiperSockets™ and Shared Memory Communications–Direct Memory Access (SMC-D).
OSA-Express
The OSA-Express features provide local area network (LAN) connectivity and comply with IEEE standards. In addition, OSA-Express features assume several functions of the TCP/IP stack that normally are performed by the processor unit, which allows significant performance benefits by offloading processing from the operating system.
OSA-Express6S features that were introduced with the z14 ZR1 is a technology refresh. They continue to support 1000BASE-T Ethernet for copper environments and 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) and Gigabit Ethernet fiber optic (single-mode and multimode) environments.
HiperSockets
IBM HiperSockets is an integrated function of the Z platforms that supplies attachments to up to 32 high-speed virtual LANs with minimal system and network overhead.
HiperSockets is a function of the Licensed Internal Code (LIC). It provides LAN connectivity across multiple system images on the same Z platform by performing memory-to-memory data transfers in a secure way. The HiperSockets function eliminates the use of I/O subsystem operations and having to traverse an external network connection to communicate between logical partitions in the same Z platform. In this way, HiperSockets can help with server consolidation by connecting virtual servers and simplifying the enterprise network.
10GbE RoCE Express2
The 10GbE RoCE Express2 features uses Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) to provide fast memory-to-memory communications between two Z platforms or within a Z platform.
The feature is designed to help reduce consumption of CPU resources for applications that use the TCP/IP stack (such as IBM WebSphere® that accesses an IBM Db2 database). It can also help reduce network latency with memory-to-memory transfers by using Shared Memory Communications over RDMA (SMC-R) in z/OS V2R1 or later.
With SMC-R, you can transfer huge amounts of data quickly, at low latency. SMC-R is completely transparent to the application and requires no code changes, which enables rapid time to value.
SMC-D
The z14 ZR1 also uses a communications protocol called Shared Memory Communications - Direct Memory Access (SMC-D). SMC-D is similar to SMC-R, but is used for communications within the same Z platform. SMC-D optimizes operating systems communications in a way that is transparent to socket applications. It also reduces the CPU cost of TCP/IP processing in the data path, which enables highly efficient and application-transparent communications.
SMC-D requires no extra physical resources (such as RoCE adapters, PCI bandwidth, ports, I/O slots, network resources, or 10GbE switches). Instead, SMC-D uses LPAR-to-LPAR communication through HiperSockets or an OSA-Express feature for establishing the initial connection.
For more information about the available network connectivity features, see 3.1, “I/O features at a glance” on page 32.
1.2.4 Cryptography
z14 ZR1 provides two major groups of cryptographic functions: CPACF and Crypto Express6S.
CPACF is a high-performance, low-latency co-processor that performs symmetric key encryption and calculates message digests (hashes) in hardware. Supported algorithms are AES, DES/TDES, SHA-1, SHA-2, and SHA-3. Latency of the CPACF in the z14 ZR1 is significantly less when compared to the CPACF in the z13s. The z14 ZR1 offers up to 6x better performance than the z13s.
The tamper-sensing and tamper-responding Crypto Express6S features provide acceleration for high-performance cryptographic operations and support up to 85 domains. This specialized hardware performs AES, DES/TDES, RSA, Elliptic Curve (ECC), SHA-1, and SHA-2, and other cryptographic operations. It also supports specialized high-level cryptographic APIs and functions, including those APIs and functions that are required in the banking industry. Crypto Express6S features are designed to meet the FIPS 140-2 Level 4 and PCI HSM security requirements for hardware security modules.
1.2.5 Clustering connectivity
A parallel sysplex is an IBM Z clustering technology that is used to make applications that are running on logical and physical servers highly reliable and always available. The servers in a parallel sysplex are interconnected by way of coupling links.
Coupling connectivity for parallel sysplex on z14 ZR1 use Coupling Express Long Reach (CE LR) feature and the Integrated Coupling Adapter Short Reach (ICA SR) in the CPC drawer. The ICA SR supports distances up to 150 m (492.12 feet). The CE LR supports longer unrepeated distances of up to 10 km (6.21 miles) between systems. As with previous Z platforms, the z14 ZR1 does not support InfiniBand coupling links.
1.2.6 Special-purpose features and functions
When it comes to Z development, IBM takes a total systems view. The Z stack is built around digital services, agile application development, connectivity, and systems management. This configuration creates an integrated, diverse platform with specialized hardware and dedicated computing capabilities.
The z14 ZR1 delivers a range of features and functions that allow processor units to concentrate on computational tasks, while distinct, specialized features take care of the rest. The following special-purpose features and functions are offered with the z14 ZR1:
•Data compression:
 – The Compression Coprocessor (CMPSC) is a high-performance coprocessor that uses compression algorithms (such as new Huffman encoding) to help reduce disk space and memory usage.
 – The IBM zEnterprise® Data Compression (zEDC) Express feature delivers an integrated solution to help reduce CPU consumption, optimize performance of compression-related tasks, and enable more efficient use of storage resources.
•Secure Services Container
This special-purpose firmware partition is isolated from production and enables the secure deployment of software appliances.
•GDPS Virtual Appliance
The GDPS Virtual Appliance is a continuous availability and disaster recovery solution for enterprises that run only Linux on IBM Z on their Z platform. It can help improve availability and your recovery time objective (RTO) in planned and unplanned outage situations.
The GDPS Virtual Appliance is installed in its own LPAR by way of the Hardware Management Console.
•Dynamic Partition Manager (DPM)
DPM is a guided management interface that is used to define the Z hardware and virtual infrastructure, including integrated dynamic I/O management that runs Linux on IBM Z and the KVM hypervisor7 environments.
•Guarded Storage Facility (GSF)
Also known as pause-less garbage collection, GSF is available in the z14 ZR1 to enable enterprise scale Java applications to run with fewer and shorter pauses for garbage collection on larger heaps.
•Instruction Execution Protection Facility (IEPF)
Instruction Execution Protection is a new hardware function that was introduced with z14 ZR1. It enables software, such as IBM Language Environment®, to mark certain memory regions (for example, a heap or stack) as non-executable to improve the security of programs that are running on Z against stack-overflow or similar attacks.
•Simultaneous multithreading (SMT)
By using SMT, you can process up to two simultaneous threads in a single core to optimize throughput. An operating system with SMT support can be configured to dispatch work to a thread on a zIIP8 or an IFL9. SAP engines also support SMT.
•Single-instruction, multiple-data (SIMD)
SIMD is set of instructions that allows optimization of code to complex mathematical models and business analytics vector processing. The set of SIMD instructions are a type of data-parallel computing and vector processing that can decrease the amount of code and accelerate mathematical computations with integer, string, character, and floating point data types.
•Coupling and parallel sysplex
Data sharing and serialization functions are offloaded to the coupling facility by way of a special coupling link network, which provides the infrastructure to run a single production workload that accesses a common set of data across many z/OS system images.
1.2.7 Capacity on demand and performance
The z14 ZR1 enables just-in-time deployment of processor resources. The capacity on demand (CoD) function allows users to dynamically change available system capacity. This function helps companies respond to new business requirements with flexibility and precise granularity.
Also contributing to the extra capacity on the z14 ZR1 are numerous improvements in processor chip design, including new instructions, multithreading, and redesigned and larger caches.
The largest IBM z14 ZR1 configuration is expected to provide up to 13% (6-way versus 6-way) more capacity for z/OS and 60% (30-way to 20-way) for Linux than the largest z13s configuration. It also is expected to provide up to 62% (6-way versus 6-way) more capacity for z/OS and 240% (30-way to 13-way) for Linux than the largest zBC12 configuration.
1.2.8 Reliability, availability, and serviceability
The z14 ZR1 offers the same high quality of service and reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS) that is traditional in Z platforms. The RAS strategy uses a building-block approach that is designed to meet stringent client requirements for achieving continuous, reliable operation. The RAS features the following building blocks:
•Error prevention
•Error detection
•Recovery
•Problem determination
•Service structure
•Change management
•Measurement
•Analysis
The RAS design objective is to manage change by learning from previous product releases and investing in new RAS functionality to eliminate or minimize all sources of outages.
1.3 Software support
The z14 ZR1 supports a wide range of IBM and independent software vendor (ISV) software solutions. This range includes traditional batch and online transaction processing (OLTP) environments, such as IBM Customer Information Control System (IBM CICS®), IBM Information Management System (IBM IMS™), and IBM DB2. It also includes the following web services (in addition to other web services that are not listed):
•Java platform
•Linux and open standards applications
•WebSphere
•IBM MobileFirst™ Platform Foundation for mobile application development
•IBM z/OS Connect Enterprise Edition
The following operating systems are supported on the z14 ZR1:
•z/OS Version 2 Release 3
•z/OS Version 2 Release 2 with PTFs (exploitation)
•z/OS Version 2 Release 1 with PTFs (exploitation)
•z/OS Version 1 Release 13 with PTFs (limited exploitation, requires extended support)
•z/VM Version 6 Release 4 with PTFs (compatibility and exploitation support)
•z/VSE Version 6 Release 2 with PTFs
•z/VSE Version 6 Release 1 with PTFs
•z/VSE Version 5 Release 2 with PTFs
•z/TPF Version 1 Release 1 (compatibility support)
•Linux on IBM Z:
 – SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, SLES 12 SP2 with service, and SLES 11 SP4 with service
 – Red Hat Enterprise Linux; RHEL 7.3 with service and RHEL 6.9 with service
 – Canonical Ubuntu 16.04 LTS with service
•KVM hypervisor, which is offered by some Linux distributions. See your distribution’s documentation to ensure that KVM on Z is supported.
 
Note: KVM for IBM z Systems was withdrawn from marketing and is no longer serviced.
Detailed service levels are identified during toleration tests. For more information about recommended distribution levels, see the Linux on IBM Z page of the IBM Z website.
For more information about the z14 ZR1 software support, see Chapter 5, “Operating system support” on page 85.
1.3.1 IBM compilers
Compilers are built with specific knowledge of the system architecture, which is used during code generation. Therefore, the use of the latest compilers is essential to extract the maximum benefit of a platform’s capabilities. IBM compilers use the latest architecture enhancements and new instruction sets to deliver more value.
With IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS and IBM Enterprise PL/I for z/OS, decades of IBM experience in application development can be used to integrate COBOL and PL/I with web services, XML, and Java. Such interoperability makes it possible to capitalize on IT investments, while smoothly incorporating new, web-based applications into the infrastructure.
z/OS, XL C/C++, and XL C/C++ for Linux on IBM Z help with creating and maintaining critical business applications that are written in C or C++ to maximize application performance and improve developer productivity. These compilers transform C or C++ source code into executable code that fully uses the Z architecture. This transformation is possible thanks to hardware-tailored optimizations, built-in functions, performance-tuned libraries, and language constructs that simplify system programming and boost application runtime performance.
Compilers, such as COBOL, PL/I, and z/OS v2.3 XL C/C++, are inherently optimized on the IBM z14 ZR1 because they use floating point registers rather than memory or fast mathematical computations. The use of compilers that use hardware enhancements is key to improving application performance, reducing CPU usage, and lowering operating costs.
The IBM z14 ZR1 also offers release-to-release improvements for Java. Combined with cryptography acceleration, the z14 ZR1 can deliver improvements in throughput per core. The new z14 ZR1 pause-less garbage collection capability also provides improvements in throughput per core. Because of shorter, more consistent Java response times, the z14 ZR1 achieves both improvements without significantly affecting overall throughput. For Java applications that must remain highly responsive, enabling the new garbage collection mode is a good option.
1 For more information about cloud-based options, see 4.2.2, “IBM Z based clouds” on page 70.
2 For more information about GDPR, see the Clear the Path to the GPDR website.
3 Sysplex is a system clustering technique for high availability. For more information, see “High availability with parallel sysplex” on page 79.
4 For more information about the API economy, see the Reach new customers with the API economy website.
6 For more information, see 5.2.6, “KVM hypervisor” on page 91.
7 For more information, see 5.2.6, “KVM hypervisor” on page 91.
8 IBM z Integrated Information Processor (zIIP) is used under z/OS for designated workloads, which include IBM Java virtual machine (JVM) and various XML System Services.
9 An Integrated Facility for Linux (IFL) is exclusively used with Linux on IBM Z and for running the z/VM or KVM hypervisor in support of Linux.
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