On this blog I will take you with me thru the adventures on a
mainframe, how to operate it and do some programming. This will of
course be a bumpy ride, but don't be afraid. At this writing I already
found a lot of pitfalls, and guide you around them.
What can you expect here ?
KICKS,
meaning a free CICS. This was the maingoal to learn about IBM
mainframes. In my quest to find a secure (no php and mysql shit)
multiuser, classic, retro, terminal looking system, I stumbled upon
MUSIC/SP, and used it for a few years. However, the emulator ran on
Windows, and I wanted to get to a Linux remote server. Music/sp on
Linux/Hercules emulator didnt allow ftp anymore, so it was litteraly
disconnected from the outside world. MVS, the turnkey version, didn't,
and I dived in the deep and almost drowned. More on this later, much
more.
We will also take a look to the storage side of
KICKS, namely VSAM. How to define them, use them, and copy those to
tape. Yes, mainframes uses tapes.
A bit of JCL, system programming, and all what come by on our path and worthy of a post you will be able to find here.
Why
'emulated' in the title you ask ? Well, besides its emulated on often
x86 hardware, the system doesnt know it, and all actions you do, are
like at the real system. We can just forget after starting the system
its emulated.
If you miss anything, let me know.
