DWP moves “Job Seeker’s” Mainframe to X86 - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: MrMobodies
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2020, 12:24:50 am
content: https://www.cbronline.com/news/dwp-job-seekers-allowance-payment-systemQuoteInteresting, I was told many things like this was done in house decades ago but now they have outsourced it.

author: grumpydoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2020, 12:07:53 pm
content: Interesting that they seem to have chosen Linux as the platform though...

author: dr.diesel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2020, 12:15:16 pm
content: Quote from: grumpydoc on June 18, 2020, 12:07:53 pmDo you disagree?Linux is catching up to Unix's 9s count.

author: grumpydoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2020, 12:17:44 pm
content: Quote from: dr.diesel on June 18, 2020, 12:15:16 pmNot at all - I just thought UK government IT was still firmly welded to Redmond.

author: wilfred
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2020, 01:17:38 pm
content: I'd be assuming the mainframe is IBM Z-series server technology. Which can run Linux. If they are using IBM z-series servers then they are probably also using Z/OS with CICS as transaction server and DB2 for database and COBOL as the legacy code. But if they're not true blue IBM then there are a number of other options.The problem with Z/OS on Z-series that is the finite supply of IT skills. No-one fresh out of Uni is going to say I really want to work on Z/OS. It has probably been that way for 20 years. X86 skills are much more readily available. Software license costs are probably quite a bit less too.

author: dr.diesel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2020, 01:27:44 pm
content: Quote from: grumpydoc on June 18, 2020, 12:17:44 pmThankfully they didn't fall into the Oracle trap!

author: Syntax Error
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2020, 05:35:33 pm
content: Well it's nice to know with a huge influx of unemployed persons, the English Department for Work and Pensions is ready with a 'new system'.QuoteThus turning the existing documentation into another pile of waste paper. So NO-ONE knows how it all works!QuoteWow, Index Organized Tables. That's lifting the Dbms into the year... 1991QuoteData conversions often future proof with UTF8/16, but at least the DWP can now operate on an Arduino.QuoteThis quote is straight off the script of the British sitcomW1A. It's recommend viewing. Now go jump in yourswim streams.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2020, 06:27:28 pm
content: Wait, they spent £40 million on this move, and as a result the process still takes 2 hours and 11 minutes? And a mainframe, presumably commissioned in the 80's, is only half the speed?

author: duckduck
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 18, 2020, 09:11:04 pm
content: Well, if they kept the same code "translated" then they are dealing with the same locks on the DB and other non-hardware bottlenecks. Also mainframe CPUs weren't that powerful but the IO really kicked ass (for their day). I think that if this project was started from scratch today they would have done things very differently and it would have the opportunity to be much faster.EDIT:Also, perhaps the output of their "automated code translation" is not super optimized for the target system. The more they optimize it --> the more they change it --> the more opportunity there is for messing something up.