HPE XP8 Mainframe Performance Advanced Suite

HPE XP8 Mainframe Performance Suite consists of Compatible PAV, Compatible Hyper PAV, Compatible Super PAV, and High Performance FICON software. Compatible PAV enables high performance concurrent access of mainframe volumes by permitting a mainframe host system to issue multiple I/O requests in parallel to individual logical devices within the HPE XP8 Storage. Compatible PAV also enables the use of the multiple allegiance features in z/OS when using multiple physical mainframes to access the same volumes in a single array. Compatible PAV provides static or dynamic PAV functionality. Compatible Hyper PAV greatly reduces the number of PAV aliases needed per logical subsystem while maintaining response times. PAV aliases are only bound to PAV bases for the duration of a single I/O operation, thus reducing the number of aliases needed. Compatible SuperPAV is an extension of the compatible Hyper PAV architecture and implements multiple logical control units (LCUs) within an alias management group (AMG). With compatible Super PAV, when a new I/O request occurs and there are no alias PAV devices available in the alias pool for the base PAV device's LCU, z/OS attempts to use an alias PAV device from another LCU within the AMG subgroup. High Performance FICON software is an enhancement of the FICON channel architecture, which also means compatibility with certain standards such as Fiber Channel Physical and Signaling standard (FC-FS), Fiber Channel Switch Fabric and Switch Control Requirements (FC-SW), and Fiber Channel Single-Byte-4 (FC-SB-4) standards. Enhancements have been made to the z/Architecture and the FICON interface architecture to deliver improvements for online transaction processing (OLTP) workloads. When High Performance FICON is exploited by the FICON channel, the z/OS operating system, and the control unit; the FICON channel overhead will be reduced. This is achieved by simplification of the protocol, and by reducing the number of information units processed, resulting in more efficient use of the fiber link.