TCP/IP for z/OS HA. Sysplex Distributor vs External Balancer

Name: TCP/IP for z/OS HA. Sysplex Distributor vs External Balancer
Rating: 4.1 (46 reviews)

Load Balancing solutions

Created byFran Rubi

Last updated 9/2017

English

What you'll learn

At the end of the course students will be able to design and implement a Load Balancing solution for Parallel Sysplex, using Sysplex Distributor or an external Load Balancer.

Course content

1 section • 7 lectures • 51m total length

Introduction3:28
This course focuses on TCP/IP for z/OS High Availability. Connections arriving to Sysplex should be redirected to the application instances that are in better conditions in terms of performance. Two solutions, internal and external to Sysplex, will be covered in this course.
Sysplex Distributor7:25
Sysplex Distributor is the internal solution of Sysplex for providing a Load Balancing solution. In this Unit you will learn how to customize a z/OS TCP/IP in order to be able to redirect TCP connections to application instances running on Sysplex. Connection Distribution is performed according to different criteria that balance the workload.
Using Sysplex Distributor. Demo 1 Part 1.8:47
This demo uses a Parallel Sysplex to demonstrate how to implement the Syplex Distributor feature in a z/OS TCP/IP stack. You will see, in a practical way, how arriving TCP connections to TN3270 are distributed to TN3270 instances running on different nodes of the Sysplex according with the information provided by WLM.
Using Sysplex Distributor. Demo 1 Part 26:13
This demo uses a Parallel Sysplex to demonstrate how to implement the Syplex Distributor feature in a z/OS TCP/IP stack. You will see, in a practical way, how arriving TCP connections to TN3270 are distributed to TN3270 instances running on different nodes of the Sysplex according with the information provided by WLM.
External Load Balancing solution7:29
External Load Balancing Solution. Demo 2 Part 19:33
The student will learn how to implement z/OS Load Balancing Advisor (LBA) and Agents in z/OS TCP/IP stacks of a Parallel Sysplex. Doing so, LBA will provide information to an external load balancer about the status and weights of application instances (TN3270, FTP, …). We will use an external load balancer that runs under Linux, easy to use. With this option, student could download a copy of this external balancer and create a similar scenario as the one we are going to use in this demo.
External Load Balancing Solution. Demo 2 Part 28:44
The student will learn how to implement z/OS Load Balancing Advisor (LBA) and Agents in z/OS TCP/IP stacks of a Parallel Sysplex. Doing so, LBA will provide information to an external load balancer about the status and weights of application instances (TN3270, FTP, …). We will use an external load balancer that runs under Linux, easy to use. With this option, student could download a copy of this external balancer and create a similar scenario as the one we are going to use in this demo.

Requirements

Students should be familiar with z/OS operating system and TCP/IP for z/OS implementation.

Description

Load balancing based on TCP connections distribution is one of the best solutions that we can find for improving response time and application availability. A set of application instances, running on different operating systems, can respond to client requests previously redirected by a load balancer element in accordance with a specific criteria.
Application instances can run on operating systems without any relation between them, or can run in a specific environment where the relative performance of theoperating system, with regard to other operating systems, is known, or even in a specific environment where the performance of the instances with regard to the restof the instances is also known.

Working with Sysplex, internal and external balancers can be used. Sysplex Distributor is the internal balancer included in IBM Communications Server for z/OS, it isimplemented in z/OS TCP/IP stack and it distributes connections to whatever target node of the Sysplex. Sysplex outdoors, several load balancing solutions can be found, some of them work with Sysplex in a coordinated way, receiving updated information about the workload state of the application instances, so load balancing decision will be taken under the most accurate criteria: the performance state of the instance with regard to the rest of the same application instances.

Who this course is for:

System programmers, network designers, network technicians, system analysts, and IT architects responsible for high availability solutions regarding z/OS and TCP/IP.