Further Reading: Performance Tuning

Books

  • Ruey Lung Hsiao. IBM Mainframe Performance and Capacity Planning. MC Press, 2020. — Comprehensive guide to mainframe performance including batch tuning, VSAM optimization, and capacity planning.

  • Merrill, Clark, et al. DB2 for z/OS: Performance Tuning. IBM Redbooks, 2021. — The definitive resource for DB2 performance on z/OS, including SQL optimization and index design.

  • IBM. Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Performance Tuning. IBM Knowledge Center. — IBM's official guide to COBOL compiler options and their performance implications.

  • Knuth, D. The Art of Computer Programming, Volume 3: Sorting and Searching. 2nd ed. Addison-Wesley, 1998. — The theoretical foundation for search algorithms (SEARCH vs. SEARCH ALL) and sorting efficiency.

IBM Publications

  • SC14-7314: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Programming Guide. Chapter on performance tuning covers data type selection, compiler options, and coding techniques.

  • SC19-4047: DFSORT Application Programming Guide. Comprehensive reference for sort optimization, including MAINSIZE, FILSZ, and work dataset recommendations.

  • SC23-6820: DB2 for z/OS: Performance Monitoring and Tuning Guide. SQL tuning, EXPLAIN analysis, and index strategies.

  • SC34-7637: CICS Performance Guide. COMMAREA optimization, BMS tuning, and transaction design for performance.

Tools

  • IBM Strobe: The industry-standard mainframe application profiler. Provides paragraph-level CPU profiling with statistical sampling.

  • IBM OMEGAMON: Real-time performance monitoring for z/OS, CICS, DB2, and IMS.

  • IBM Workload Manager (WLM): System-level workload prioritization and resource management.

  • BMC MainView: Alternative performance monitoring suite for z/OS environments.

Articles

  • Standardized Block Size Recommendations: IBM's guidelines for optimal block sizes across different device types and access patterns. Available in the z/OS DFSMS documentation.

  • "VSAM Performance: Tips and Techniques": IBM DeveloperWorks. Covers CI/CA sizing, buffer allocation, and split management.

  • "The Cost of Decimal Arithmetic": Technical analysis of DISPLAY vs. COMP-3 vs. COMP performance on IBM z/Architecture processors.

Online Resources

  • IBM Z Performance Reference: ibm.com/z/performance — Performance benchmarks, best practices, and tuning guides for z/OS.

  • Share Inc.: share.org — User group with extensive performance-focused sessions and papers from mainframe practitioners.