MIPS based pricing.

How to do Performance analysis and Capacity Planning for a shop. We also talk about Software Cost here.
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Neeraj N
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MIPS based pricing.

Post by Neeraj N »

Hi,

Can you please tell me how is MIPS based pricing on IBM Z Series mainframes computed? Is there some IBM document which explains step by step? I could not really figure out a document while searching for it at all.
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Robert Sample
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Re: MIPS based pricing.

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MIPS-based pricing is called sub-capacity pricing by IBM. SCRT (sub-capacity reporting tool) is a program IBM makes available to customers to process the SMF data each month. It produces a CSV data set that is sent to IBM. The type 70 and type 89 are used in sub-capacity pricing, and often companies extract those records into a separate data set.

Sub-capacity pricing is based on the highest 4-hour MSU average for the month; IBM recognizes that occasional spikes in CPU can occur and won't usually penalize a company for such a spike. The CSV data includes the average and highest 4-hour MSU for each LPAR as well as for the CEC (the whole machine).

If you want more details, Google is your friend. Googling sub-capacity pricing returned about 96,000,000 hits for me and many on the first page relate to IBM's pricing model.
Neeraj N
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Re: MIPS based pricing.

Post by Neeraj N »

Thanks Robert.

Can SCRT be used by our own? I mean if I am not a system programmer and I want to use it for my own analysis, can I use it if I have the SMF file from the support team?
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Robert Sample
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Re: MIPS based pricing.

Post by Robert Sample »

I am having trouble imagining what you would want to do with the SCRT data. It is NOT something you could use in cost-reduction exercises, for example.

Some sites restrict access to the SMF data; some sites do not. If your site restricts access, you would have to contact your site support group to get access. The SCRT program uses data from the second day of the month to the first day of the next month, so you would need to get access to at least a month's worth of SMF data. If you have an IBM access id, you can download the SCRT program yourself -- if not, you would need to have your site support group download it. Once you have access to the data and to the program, there is some set up within the program to be done but it is pretty easy to execute it. The SCRT program now uses Java so you may have to consult your site support group about what is required to run it.
Neeraj N
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Re: MIPS based pricing.

Post by Neeraj N »

Robert Sample wrote: Thu Dec 28, 2017 7:32 pmI am having trouble imagining what you would want to do with the SCRT data. It is NOT something you could use in cost-reduction exercises, for example.

Some sites restrict access to the SMF data; some sites do not. If your site restricts access, you would have to contact your site support group to get access. The SCRT program uses data from the second day of the month to the first day of the next month, so you would need to get access to at least a month's worth of SMF data. If you have an IBM access id, you can download the SCRT program yourself -- if not, you would need to have your site support group download it. Once you have access to the data and to the program, there is some set up within the program to be done but it is pretty easy to execute it. The SCRT program now uses Java so you may have to consult your site support group about what is required to run it.
Thanks Robert.

I want to use it for two purpose - first for the cost reduction opportunities and second for learning to use SCRT. I can get SMF records mostly but let me ask the support group.
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Robert Sample
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Re: MIPS based pricing.

Post by Robert Sample »

I want to use it for two purpose - first for the cost reduction opportunities
Where do you expect the cost reduction to come from? It is not going to be from IBM -- if your site is already using SCRT, then it is running sub-capacity already and you are not going to reduce costs that way; if your site is not already using SCRT, someone must negotiate with IBM to start using sub-capacity but the specifics would depend upon your current contract for the mainframe being used as well as how much of the current mainframe's capacity is being used. Since sub-capacity only applies to an LPAR, no application will benefit from such cost reduction.
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vasanthz
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Re: MIPS based pricing.

Post by vasanthz »

It depends on the licensing agreement. SCRT would show you how much each product used for a particular month. But if the product(e.g. CICS/DB2) is purchased in full one time (I think VUE licensing) then there is no monthly charges for the product. You would not get an benefits reducing the usage of that product.

From applications perspective, the only slim opportunity to reduce cost would be to identify the peaks in 4 hr rolling average of the month, then if it is associated to one type of work, spread the work and reduce the peak. That's the the only possibility.
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Re: MIPS based pricing.

Post by Rashmi Bansal »

vasanthz wrote: Tue Jan 23, 2018 1:52 amFrom applications perspective, the only slim opportunity to reduce cost would be to identify the peaks in 4 hr rolling average of the month, then if it is associated to one type of work, spread the work and reduce the peak. That's the the only possibility.
Then what is the correct way of reducing the cost?
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Re: MIPS based pricing.

Post by nicc »

Then what is the correct way of reducing the cost?
Get rid of staff that do not perform.
Get clear, signed-off, specifications.
Get it right first time.
No changes between releases.
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Nic
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Robert Sample
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Re: MIPS based pricing.

Post by Robert Sample »

The correct way is to realize first that it may not be possible to reduce cost -- period. Mainframe costs consist of hardware purchase price, hardware monthly license charges, software purchase price, software monthly charges, personnel costs, and incidental costs (paper for printing, network charges, disaster recovery costs, tape media, etc). The purchase prices are generally fixed and not reducible. The monthly charges for hardware and software usually can only be reduced by changing the hardware or to stop using the software (neither of which is very viable to most companies). The easiest and best ways to reduce costs is to reduce personnel or to reduce incidental costs, neither or which are related to what is executing on the mainframe.

Note that some organizations lease their hardware and software, so rather than paying for it up front they pay more than just the monthly charges during the lease period. But since it is a lease, there is little to no possibility of cost reduction just as with purchased hardware and software.
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