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Are there free resources for truly learning how to use and manage a mainframe? I would love to add "mainframe" to my resume, but I just don't have the understan

Are there free resources for truly learning how to use and manage a mainframe? I would love to add "mainframe" to my resume, but I just don't have the understanding of where to start with it. Let's say I were to get an emulator running, or somehow install a mainframe in my basement. Then what? What could an average person like myself do on a mainframe that would be useful and benefit me in terms of the job market? I can download a Linux ISO and run anything I want to on a distributed system (x86 or ARM PC.) That type of tinkering is how I got my start/interest in technology to begin with. But it's not as though I'm about to process financial transactions in my basement for fun. How do you get started "tinkering" with mainframes?

theideaofcoffee 4y ago
There are open-source projects that attempt to do emulation of some of the larger mainframe systems (S/370, ESA/390, z) like [0] but you have a number of things working against you in that. You are more than likely not to find any newer version of, say, z/OS to run. Couple that with the fact that most mainframe programs deployed at FIs like core banking are so heavily customized commercial packages to fit an individual institution's needs, Hogan and similar [1], that they might as well be bespoke, internally developed systems. You may be able to get away with learning the basics of CICS [2] but it would be a struggle, not near as easy as fetching a linux distro ISO. That said, I personally think that the Z architecture is completely bonkers and I would love the opportunity, like you, to learn it more in depth. My info above comes second-hand from what I've been able to piece together in my own searches. [0] http://www.hercules-390.eu/ http://www.hercules-390.eu/ [1] https://www.luxoft.com/banking/core-banking/ https://www.luxoft.com/banking/core-banking/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CICS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CICS , https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247952.html?Open https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247952.html?Open
- ksaj 4y ago
  This is a pretty reasonable synopsis. Read my other comment in this thread for related info. "Z architecture" isn't all that different from the Linux for MVS integration, so it's not all that bonkers. Trying to understand mainframes in terms of Unix/Linux is totally bonkers, though.
ksaj 4y ago
I can't say for today, but back in the 90's I spent some time in California (I'm from Toronto) on a mainframe course. The reason was that I had to basically rent time on a mainframe in order to do any of the exercises, and understandably nobody was willing to open a terminal to their mainframe across the Internet "for educational purposes only". I then worked a bit with IBM (in Poughkeepsie, NY) getting Linux on MVS working securely before it was released as a product, and I haven't touched a mainframe since. </background> The Unix world and mainframe world are so different that you couldn't really just throw an emulator on a Linux box and be able to get anywhere professionally with it. Even the lingo is not compatible. There is next to nothing from the Unix world that you could apply to mainframes. You will have insurmountable gaps in your knowledge without full immersion. Talk to a mainframer about buffer overflows, and you'll realize right away that you are on completely different planets. AFAIK there are still no full MVS emulators for Linux because of the sheer mountain of "stuff" that would need to go into it. You can certainly learn the scripting languages with emulators, though. So there is that. But your lingo and even understanding of how things connect would still suffer greatly if you think of the concepts from a Unix/Linux point of view. They are not compatible. Having said all that, because there is Linux on MVS, in theory you should be able to use it as a familiar terminal. But then your only access is through getmvs which still keeps you much too distant from the iron to call it mainframe experience. And it is unlikely anyone's going to open up a terminal to the Internet, as it was for me back then, too. There is way too high a financial risk involved. Things may have changed since then, but mainframes really don't change very much even across decades. I think getting Linux running in a VM was probably shocking to the entire mainframe world when it was first released. Banks gobbled it up though, so it was quite a smart move. I believe cloud computing has totally taken over and removed any benefit there was in that particular area now, though. My expectation is that you'd still need to rent mainframe time slices, and go full immersion if you want to get "Mainframe" on your resume. Otherwise you might have to lower your bar a little, and stick to some of the batch processing languages instead.
- lboc 4y ago
  z/PDT and zD&T will run current z/OS under emulation on Linux. The ADCD for use with those products includes almost all the IBM software you'd come across in a mainframe environment: http://dtsc.dfw.ibm.com/adcd/adcd.shtml http://dtsc.dfw.ibm.com/adcd/adcd.shtml https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI5jk-1OI-g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI5jk-1OI-g https://ibm.github.io/zdt-learners-edition-about/ https://ibm.github.io/zdt-learners-edition-about/
lboc 4y ago
zxplore is a free z/OS course (what used to be called 'Master the Mainframe'): https://ibmzxplore.influitive.com/users/sign_in https://ibmzxplore.influitive.com/users/sign_in Also a bunch of free courses here: https://learn.ibm.com/ https://learn.ibm.com/ (free registration required) (EDIT) If you're in the US and meet the requirements (take free courses) you might also be interested in this for (I believe) $120/year: https://ibm.github.io/zdt-learners-edition-about/ https://ibm.github.io/zdt-learners-edition-about/ Email in profile if you want to know more.
- treesknees 4y ago
  Thank you, I will take a look at those.

theideaofcoffee 4y ago

There are open-source projects that attempt to do emulation of some of the larger mainframe systems (S/370, ESA/390, z) like [0] but you have a number of things working against you in that. You are more than likely not to find any newer version of, say, z/OS to run. Couple that with the fact that most mainframe programs deployed at FIs like core banking are so heavily customized commercial packages to fit an individual institution's needs, Hogan and similar [1], that they might as well be bespoke, internally developed systems. You may be able to get away with learning the basics of CICS [2] but it would be a struggle, not near as easy as fetching a linux distro ISO. That said, I personally think that the Z architecture is completely bonkers and I would love the opportunity, like you, to learn it more in depth. My info above comes second-hand from what I've been able to piece together in my own searches. [0] http://www.hercules-390.eu/ http://www.hercules-390.eu/ [1] https://www.luxoft.com/banking/core-banking/ https://www.luxoft.com/banking/core-banking/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CICS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CICS , https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247952.html?Open https://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247952.html?Open

ksaj 4y ago
This is a pretty reasonable synopsis. Read my other comment in this thread for related info. "Z architecture" isn't all that different from the Linux for MVS integration, so it's not all that bonkers. Trying to understand mainframes in terms of Unix/Linux is totally bonkers, though.

ksaj 4y ago

I can't say for today, but back in the 90's I spent some time in California (I'm from Toronto) on a mainframe course. The reason was that I had to basically rent time on a mainframe in order to do any of the exercises, and understandably nobody was willing to open a terminal to their mainframe across the Internet "for educational purposes only". I then worked a bit with IBM (in Poughkeepsie, NY) getting Linux on MVS working securely before it was released as a product, and I haven't touched a mainframe since. </background> The Unix world and mainframe world are so different that you couldn't really just throw an emulator on a Linux box and be able to get anywhere professionally with it. Even the lingo is not compatible. There is next to nothing from the Unix world that you could apply to mainframes. You will have insurmountable gaps in your knowledge without full immersion. Talk to a mainframer about buffer overflows, and you'll realize right away that you are on completely different planets. AFAIK there are still no full MVS emulators for Linux because of the sheer mountain of "stuff" that would need to go into it. You can certainly learn the scripting languages with emulators, though. So there is that. But your lingo and even understanding of how things connect would still suffer greatly if you think of the concepts from a Unix/Linux point of view. They are not compatible. Having said all that, because there is Linux on MVS, in theory you should be able to use it as a familiar terminal. But then your only access is through getmvs which still keeps you much too distant from the iron to call it mainframe experience. And it is unlikely anyone's going to open up a terminal to the Internet, as it was for me back then, too. There is way too high a financial risk involved. Things may have changed since then, but mainframes really don't change very much even across decades. I think getting Linux running in a VM was probably shocking to the entire mainframe world when it was first released. Banks gobbled it up though, so it was quite a smart move. I believe cloud computing has totally taken over and removed any benefit there was in that particular area now, though. My expectation is that you'd still need to rent mainframe time slices, and go full immersion if you want to get "Mainframe" on your resume. Otherwise you might have to lower your bar a little, and stick to some of the batch processing languages instead.

lboc 4y ago
z/PDT and zD&T will run current z/OS under emulation on Linux. The ADCD for use with those products includes almost all the IBM software you'd come across in a mainframe environment: http://dtsc.dfw.ibm.com/adcd/adcd.shtml http://dtsc.dfw.ibm.com/adcd/adcd.shtml https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI5jk-1OI-g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI5jk-1OI-g https://ibm.github.io/zdt-learners-edition-about/ https://ibm.github.io/zdt-learners-edition-about/

lboc 4y ago

zxplore is a free z/OS course (what used to be called 'Master the Mainframe'): https://ibmzxplore.influitive.com/users/sign_in https://ibmzxplore.influitive.com/users/sign_in Also a bunch of free courses here: https://learn.ibm.com/ https://learn.ibm.com/ (free registration required) (EDIT) If you're in the US and meet the requirements (take free courses) you might also be interested in this for (I believe) $120/year: https://ibm.github.io/zdt-learners-edition-about/ https://ibm.github.io/zdt-learners-edition-about/ Email in profile if you want to know more.

treesknees 4y ago
Thank you, I will take a look at those.