PHASED START AND STOP OF RESOURCES IN A MAINFRAME ENVIRONMENT

• US 20180285150A1
• Filed: 03/31/2017
• Published: 10/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BMC Software Incorporated (KKR & Co., Inc.)
• Original Assignee: BMC Software Incorporated (KKR & Co., Inc.)
• Inventors: CICARDO, Jay, KALLMAN, Roxanne
• Granted Patent: US 10,802,878 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5011 the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals

Abstract

A method on mainframe computing system includes determining a current phase of an ordered list of phases, the current phase being one of a plurality of phases in the ordered list of phases and setting a target phase based on the current phase, the ordered list of phases, and a parameter phase when the parameter phase is provided. The method also includes using the target phase and a resource assignment structure to start and stop a plurality of resources that run on the mainframe computing system. At least some of the plurality of resources have an assigned phase in the resource assignment structure. The method also includes repeating the determining, setting, and using, responsive to receiving a phase command.

Claims

1. A mainframe computing system comprising:

at least one processor;

a state manager configured to manage a plurality of resources that run on the mainframe computing system; and

a phase manager that operates with the state manager to automatically start and stop the plurality of resources in phases according to an ordered list of phases, wherein at least some of the plurality of resources are assigned to one of a plurality of phases in the ordered list of phases.

2. The mainframe computing system of claim 1, wherein the phase manager is configured to:

assign an ordinal number to each phase in the ordered list of phases responsive to an initial program load; and

use the ordinal numbers to start and stop the plurality of resources during each phase.

3. The mainframe computing system of claim 1, wherein resources not assigned to a phase in the ordered list of phases are associated with a NULL phase.

4. The mainframe computing system of claim 1, further comprising:

a phase queue,

wherein the phase manager is configured to;

read a current phase from memory;

determine a target phase based on the current phase;

use the target phase and resource phase assignments to start and stop the plurality of resources; and

responsive to determining that the phase queue has a start phase command, start another phase with the start phase command.

5. The mainframe computing system of claim 1, further comprising:

a phase queue,

wherein the phase manager is configured to;

read a current phase from memory;

determine a target phase based on the current phase;

use the target phase and resource phase assignments to start and stop the plurality of resources; and

responsive to determining that the phase queue is empty, wait for operator input before starting another phase.

6. The mainframe computing system of claim 1, wherein the phase manager is configured to:

read a current phase from memory, responsive to receipt of an operator start phase command;

determine that the start phase command includes a parameter phase;

set a target phase to the parameter phase responsive to determining the parameter phase is less than or equal to a next phase, the next phase succeeding the current phase in the ordered list of phases; and

use the target phase and resource phase assignments to start and stop the plurality of resources.

7. The mainframe computing system of claim 1, wherein the phase manager is configured to:

read a current phase from memory, responsive to receipt of an operator start phase command;

determine that the start phase command includes a parameter phase;

add the phase start command to a phase queue responsive to determining the parameter phase is greater than a next phase, the next phase succeeding the current phase in the ordered list of phases;

set a target phase to the next phase; and

use the target phase and resource phase assignments to start and stop the plurality of resources.

8. The mainframe computing system of claim 1, wherein the phase manager is configured to:

read a current phase from memory, responsive to receipt of an operator stop phase command;

determine that the stop phase command includes a parameter phase;

set a target phase to the parameter phase responsive to determining the parameter phase is greater than or equal to a previous phase, the previous phase appearing before the current phase in the ordered list of phases; and

use the target phase and resource phase assignments to start and stop the plurality of resources.

9. A method for starting and stopping mainframe resources in phases comprising:

determining a current phase of an ordered list of phases, the current phase being one of a plurality of phases in the ordered list of phases;

setting a target phase based on the current phase, the ordered list of phases, and a parameter phase when the parameter phase is provided;

using the target phase and a resource assignment structure to start and stop a plurality of resources that run on a mainframe computing system, at least some of the plurality of resources having an assigned phase in the resource assignment structure; and

repeating the determining, setting, and using, responsive to receiving a phase command.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein setting the target phase includes:

determining that the parameter phase is provided;

determining whether the parameter phase is less than or equal to a next phase, the next phase succeeding the current phase in the ordered list of phases;

setting the target phase to the parameter phase responsive to determining the parameter phase is less than or equal to the next phase; and

responsive to determining the parameter phase is less than or equal to the next phase;

adding a start phase command identifying the parameter phase to a phase queue, and

setting the target phase to the next phase.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining, after writing the target phase to memory as the current phase, that the phase queue is not empty; and

accepting the phase command in the phase queue as the received phase command.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein setting the target phase further includes:

determining that a parameter phase is not provided;

determining that the current phase is not a NULL phase; and

setting the target phase to a next phase in the ordered list, the next phase succeeding the current phase in the ordered list of phases.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein using the target phase and the resource assignment structure to start and stop the plurality of resources includes, for each of the plurality of resources:

determining, using the resource assignment structure, a phase assigned to the resource;

determining whether the phase assigned to the resource is greater than the target phase;

responsive to determining that the phase assigned to the resource is greater than the target phase, stopping the resource responsive to determining that the resource is currently active; and

responsive to determining that the phase assigned to the resource is not greater than the target phase, starting the resource responsive to determining that the resource is currently not active.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein resources in the plurality of resources not assigned to a phase in the resource assignment structure are assigned to a NULL phase, which is a default phase that is considered the last phase of the ordered list of phases.

15. A method comprising:

receiving, at a mainframe computing system, an initial program load command;

starting a state manager responsive to the initial program load command, the state manager managing a plurality of resources running on the mainframe computing system;

setting a target phase to a first phase identified in an ordered list of phases;

starting resources assigned to the target phase in a resource phase assignment structure in accordance with a policy for the state manager, the resource phase assignment structure identifying at least some of the plurality of resources; and

waiting for a phase command before starting resources not assigned to the target phase.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving a start phase command that identifies a parameter phase, the parameter phase being a penultimate phase in the ordered list of phases;

adding the start phase command to a phase queue;

setting the target phase to a next phase in the ordered list of phases, the next phase being subsequent to the first phase;

starting resources assigned to the target phase and to phases occurring earlier in the ordered list than the target phase in accordance with a policy for the state manager;

reading the start phase command from the phase queue; and

starting a next phase based on the start phase command, wherein the start phase command in the phase queue is processed as a phase command.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving, during the processing of the next phase, a stop phase command identifying a second parameter phase;

placing the stop phase command in the phase queue;

reading the stop phase command from the phase queue after the next phase;

removing any remaining start phase commands from the phase queue;

determining that the second parameter phase occurs earlier in the ordered list than the next phase; and

stopping resources assigned to phases occurring later in the ordered list than the second parameter phase in accordance with a policy for the state manager.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one of the resources assigned to the target phase has a dependency in the state manager policy on a resource assigned to a first phase occurring later in the ordered list than the target phase, wherein the at least one of the resources is not started until the target phase is equal to the first phase.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one of the resources assigned to a phase occurring later in the ordered list than the target phase is upgraded during the waiting.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving a start phase command during the starting;

adding the start phase command to a phase queue; and

using the start phase command in the phase queue as the phase command.