Government and Infrastructure Customers are Looking to Modernize Their Crucial Mainframe Data on Highly Available, Scalable, and Secure Cloud Databases

by Joseph Brady, Director of Business Development / Cloud Alliance Leader at Treehouse Software, Inc.

Everyone has seen the recent headlines about how aging and outdated technology nearly crippled the airline industry. As a result, modernizing and securing information systems has taken center stage and top priority again. Even before the airline IT disaster, the COVID-19 crisis was a critical event that forced modernization to become a strategic imperative for government, supply chain, healthcare, utilities/energy, financial, and defense industries. All of these sectors have critical data residing on a variety of long-standing mainframe databases (often still updated by COBOL applications), including Db2, VSAM, IMS/DB, Adabas, IDMS, Datacom, and sequential files. Unlocking the value of this important data can be difficult, because the data is often utilized by numerous interlinked and dependent programs that have been in place for decades.

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“The Federal Aviation Administration’s 30-year-old hazard-notification system recently had its first crash ever to cause a nationwide grounding of flights. The incident is focusing a bright light on the outdated federal computer systems that, IT experts say, are increasingly vulnerable to failure and cyberattack.” – Source: Christian Science Monitor Daily

Read the entire article here: Bringing US up to code: How outdated software has become a safety issue

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As a result of this renewed push to modernize IT systems, Treehouse Software has been seeing a significant increase in requests from Cloud platform partners, government agencies, and other infrastructure customers to evaluate modernization solutions that replicate data, in real time, on highly available and secure Cloud-based databases, data warehouses, etc.. Fortunately, Treehouse has the deep mainframe expertise and software tools to help. 

Since 1983, Treehouse Software has been working with many of these enterprises with mainframes in the areas of data migration, security, control, auditing, performance enhancement, etc.. Treehouse has also expanded its capabilities to focus on new requirements for modernizing legacy mainframe databases on various Cloud and open systems platforms with the tcVISION mainframe data replication product.  tcVISION is the primary tool  in Treehouse Software’s “data-first” approach, whereby immediate data replication to the Cloud helps customers get on the fast track to meeting spikes in demand for vital information, especially in times of crisis.

Some examples of popular Cloud databases supported by tcVISION are Amazon RDS PostgreSQL, Google Cloud SQL for SQL Server, and Azure SQL-Database. A complete list of data sources and targets that are supported by tcVISION can be found here.

Replicating mainframe data on the Cloud can happen within days during a tcVISION Proof of Concept (POC)…

After setup and installation, a tcVISION POC is approximately 10 business days, with the customer providing a small subset of data and use case for the POC. A Treehouse Software technician will assist in downloading and installing tcVISION and conducting a limited-scope implementation of a tcVISION application. This application uses a small subset of customer data and executes on customer facilities, usually in a non-production environment. A document is provided beforehand for the customer to fill out their requirements, use cases, and agenda for the POC.

By the end of the 10-day POC, customers can replicate and test mainframe data on their Cloud target database.  It can happen that fast!

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Further Reading…

Treehouse Software and AWS published a blog about tcVISION’s Mainframe-to-AWS data replication capabilities:

https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/apn/real-time-mainframe-data-replication-to-aws-with-tcvision-from-treehouse-software/

Treehouse Software and Confluent recently co-authored a blog on modernizing on Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Environments:

https://www.confluent.io/blog/modern-data-management-for-hybrid-and-multi-cloud-architectures/

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Contact Treehouse Software for a tcVISION Demo Today…

Simply fill out our tcVISION Demonstration Request Form and a Treehouse representative will be contacting you to set up a time for your requested demonstration.

Some are calling mainframes “dinosaurs”, but many of us see that as a good comparison!

by Joseph Brady, Director of Business Development and Cloud Alliance Leader at Treehouse Software, Inc.

Since the dinosaur analogy has been used so much to describe mainframe computer systems in recent years, I would like to use this blog to take a look at the parallels of dinosaurs and mainframes as it relates to the current buzz about modernization on the Cloud.

Of course, dinosaurs and mainframes have been around for a long time and are extremely resilient and successful. I especially say “are” in relation to dinosaurs, because many are not extinct at all, and the fossil record shows that several types have adapted to the changing world by evolving into birds. Additionally, during the age of dinosaurs, they branched off into countless varieties during a span of about 165 million years – hardly a failed species. Also, like the dinosaurs, the mainframe has thrived and survived for over six decades and is continuing to adapt – albeit not nearly as long as the reign of the dinosaurs, but an impressive run, nonetheless.

And the mainframe isn’t finished yet! Mainframe systems are still very much in use, running major banking processes, healthcare systems, government IT services, and critical business operations of many Global 2000 companies. As a matter of fact, IBM has been reporting growth year after year, as the IBM Z platform continues to see important innovations, such as with Cloud-native development capabilities, as well as impressive improvements in processing power.

Looking up and moving forward…

As with the dinosaurs who did not fear looking to the clouds and taking wing to ensure survival, the new breed of mainframers envision bold and exciting possibilities in Cloud computing. Many see remarkable opportunities for business advantage by modernizing their mainframe environments. This modernization includes replicating mainframe data on Cloud platforms in order to quickly capitalize on the latest Cloud services, such as analytics, auto scaling, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), high availability, advanced security, etc., or to move data to a variety of newer Cloud databases, streaming services, container services, and much more. With the proper data replication technology and planning, all of this modernization can occur while keeping the legacy mainframe environment active as long as it is needed!

The IBM Z mainframe isn’t going anywhere, and with visionary and daring leadership, it can continue to evolve and adapt to whatever develops in the Cloud… and beyond.

Ready to move forward, adapt, and evolve? Treehouse Software is here to help!

Treehouse Software is your partner on your journey into future mainframe modernization plans. With our “data first” approach, we can help accelerate digital transformation and successfully leverage Cloud and Hybrid Cloud initiatives on the IBM Z platform, storing sensitive data on a private Cloud or local data center, and simultaneously leveraging leading technologies on a managed public Cloud.

Through an innovative changed data capture (CDC) technology, our tcVISION product tracks and captures changes occurring in any mainframe application data, and then publishes them to a variety of Cloud targets. The customer moves only the right data to the right place at the right time – as much, or as little as they want.

The tcVISION data replication solution has a modular design, which enables it to support mass data load from one source to one or more targets, as well as continuous data exchange processes in real-time via CDC. This modular architecture and the provided APIs gives customers unlimited future potential for continued evolution, and use of new and emerging technologies.

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Want to see tcVISION in action?

You can schedule a live, online demonstration that shows tcVISION replicating data from the mainframe to a Cloud target database. Just fill out the Treehouse Software tcVISION Demonstration Request Form and a Treehouse representative will contact you to set up a time for your tcVISION Mainframe-to-Cloud data replication demonstration.

Should You Stay, or Should You Go? You Can Do Both by Incrementally Replicating Your Mainframe Data on the Cloud While Keeping Both Sides Synchronized

by Joseph Brady, Director of Business Development and Cloud Alliance Leader at Treehouse Software, Inc.

Many of Treehouse Software’s enterprise customers are not close to considering the retirement of their mainframe systems, but instead have long-term data replication projects, or want to indefinitely have their legacy systems co-exist with a new Cloud platform. These organizations are looking for solutions that allow their legacy mainframe environment to continue while replicating data – in real time and bi-directionally – to take advantage of the latest Cloud services, such as analytics, auto scaling, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), high availability, advanced security, etc., or move data to a variety of newer Cloud databases, streaming services, container services, and more.

The Transition Doesn’t Have to be a Sudden Big Bang

Much of an enterprise’s mission critical mainframe data is stored in legacy mainframe databases, and the cost to maintain these databases is high.  An added complication is that the data is utilized by many interlinked and dependent programs that have been in place for many years, and sometimes decades. Unlocking the value of this legacy data is also difficult due to many very different types of mainframe databases (e.g., Db2, Adabas, CA Datacom, CA IDMS, etc.).

Immediate data replication on the Cloud is enabling government, healthcare, supply chain, financial, and a variety of public service organizations to meet spikes in demand for vital information, especially in times of crisis. The globalization of markets, increase of data volumes, 24×7 operations, changing business conditions, and high demand for up-to-date information also requires new data transfer and exchange solutions for heterogeneous IT architectures.

The Data-First Solution

Treehouse Software is here to help enterprise mainframe customers accelerate digital transformation and successfully leverage Hybrid Cloud initiatives on the IBM Z platform, storing sensitive data on a private Cloud or local data center and simultaneously leveraging leading technologies on a managed public Cloud. Our tcVISION replication solution focuses on changed data capture (CDC) when transferring information between mainframe data sources and modern databases and applications. Through an innovative technology, changes occurring in any mainframe application data are tracked and captured, and then published to a variety of targets. The customer moves only the right data to the right place at the right time – as much, or as little as they want.

The tcVISION replication solution has a modular design, which enables it to support mass data load from one source to one or more targets, as well as continuous data exchange processes in realtime via CDC. This modular architecture and the provided APIs gives customers unlimited potential for growth and use of new technologies.

tcVISION allows bi-directional, real-time data synchronization of changes on either platform to be reflected on the other platform (e.g., a change to a PostgreSQL table is reflected back on mainframe). The customer can then modernize their application on the cloud, open systems, etc. without disrupting the existing critical work on the legacy system.

In the following example high level architecture diagram, bi-directional data replication between Db2 z/OS and AWS using tcVISION is shown:

tcVISION utilizes a Windows-based GUI Control Board, which is ideal for non-mainframe programmers.  While mainframe experts are required in the design/architecture phase and occasionally during implementation, the requirement for their involvement is limited. The tcVISION Control Board acts as a single point of administration, data modeling and mapping, script generation, and monitoring. Comprehensive monitoring and logging of all data movements ensure transparency across all data exchange processes. In the following example, the mainframe can be seen communicating to an Amazon EC2-based tcVISION replication manager. The tcVISION Control Board shows the user a graphical representation of this replication:

Additionally, tcVISION supports complex data replication scenarios between multiple data sources and targets, as seen here:

With tcVISION, data replication projects can be implemented within a few of months, depending on the complexity of the project.  This includes the proof of concept and design/architecture stages.  After these stages are complete, the customer can start the first production implementation sprint, immediately providing business value.  We suggest successive agile sprints to allow for incremental deployment of additional file replication, sprint by sprint.

Supported Sources and Targets

tcVISION supports a vast array of integration scenarios throughout the enterprise, providing easy and fast data replication for Mainframe-to-Cloud and Open Systems application modernization projects.

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Contact Treehouse Software for a tcVISION Demo Today…

Just fill out the Treehouse Software tcVISION Demonstration Request Form and a Treehouse representative will contact you to set up a time for your tcVISION demonstration. This will be a live, on-line demonstration that shows tcVISION replicating data from the mainframe to a Cloud target database.

Why is High Availability so Important for Mainframe Data Modernization on the Cloud?

by Joseph Brady, Director of Business Development and Cloud Alliance Leader at Treehouse Software, Inc.

Many customers embarking on Mainframe-to-Cloud data replication projects with Treehouse Software are looking at high availability (HA) as a key consideration in the planning process. All of the major Cloud platforms have robust HA infrastructures that keep businesses running without downtime or human intervention when a zone or instance becomes unavailable. HA basic principles are essentially the same across all Cloud platforms.

In this blog, our example shows how the AWS Global Infrastructure and HA is architected with Treehouse Software’s tcVISION real-time mainframe data replication product. A well planned HA architecture ensures that systems are always functioning and accessible, with deployments located in various Availability Zones (AZs) worldwide.

The following example describes tcVISION‘s HA Architecture on AWS. During tcVISION ’s Change Data Capture (CDC) processing for mainframe data replication on the Cloud, HA must be maintained. The Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2), which contains the tcVISION Agent, is part of an Auto Scaling Group that is spread across AZs with Amazon EC2 instance(s).

tcVISION and AWS overall architecture…

Upon failure, the replacement Amazon EC2 instance tcVISION Agent is launched and communicates its IP address to the mainframe tcVISION Agent. The mainframe tcVISION Agent then starts communication with the replacement Amazon EC2 tcVISION Agent.

Once the Amazon EC2 tcVISION Agent is restarted, it continues processing at its next logical restart point, using a combination of the LUW and Restart files. LUW files contain committed data transactions not yet applied to the target database. Restart files contain a pointer to the last captured and committed transaction and queued uncommitted CDC data. Both file types are stored on a highly available data store, such as Amazon Elastic File System (EFS).

tcVISION and AWS HA architecture…

For production workloads, Treehouse Software recommends turning on Multi-AZ target and metadata databases.

To keep all the dynamic data in an HA architecture, tcVISION uses EFS, which provides a simple, scalable, fully managed elastic file system for use with AWS Cloud services and on-premises resources. It is built to scale on-demand to petabytes without disrupting applications, growing and shrinking automatically as you add and remove files, eliminating the need to provision and manage capacity to accommodate growth.

More information on AWS HA

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Treehouse Software helps enterprises immediately start synchronizing their mainframe data on the Cloud, Hybrid Cloud, and Open Systems to take advantage of the most advanced, scalable, secure, and highly available technologies in the world with tcVISION…

tcVISION supports a vast array of integration scenarios throughout the enterprise, providing easy and fast data replication for mainframe application modernization projects and enabling bi-directional data replication between mainframe, Cloud, Open Systems, Linux, Unix, and Windows platforms.

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Contact Treehouse Software for a Demo Today…

Just fill out the tcVISION Product Demonstration Request Form and a Treehouse representative will contact you to set up a time for your tcVISION demonstration. This will be a live, on-line demonstration that shows tcVISION replicating data from the mainframe to a Cloud target database.

What are the Benefits of Replicating Mainframe Data on Cloud or Hybrid Cloud Systems?

by Joseph Brady, Director of Business Development and Cloud Alliance Leader at Treehouse Software

Enterprise customers with mainframe systems have begun their movement of data to the Cloud or hybrid Cloud (a mixed computing, storage, and services environment made up of on-premises infrastructure, private Cloud services, and public Cloud) to benefit from new and powerful technologies that deliver significant business benefits and competitive advantage. Compared to the number of mainframe shops that are in the planning stages of their Cloud projects, existing adopters’ numbers are still relatively small.

Today, it is easier than ever for customers to take advantage of cutting edge, Cloud-based technologies, changing the way they manage, deploy, and distribute mission-critical data currently residing on mainframe systems. During the planning phase of a Cloud or hybrid Cloud modernization strategy, some benefits that are quickly discovered include:

Trade Capital Expense for Variable Expense – Instead of having to invest heavily in data centers and servers before customers know how they are going to use them, they pay only when they consume computing resources, and pay only for how much they consume.

Global Deployments – Cloud platforms span many geographic regions globally. Enterprises can easily deploy applications in multiple regions around the world with just a few clicks. This means there can be lower latency and a better experience for customers at minimal cost.

Economies to Scale – By using Cloud computing, customers can achieve a lower variable cost than they can get on their own, because usage from hundreds of thousands of customers is aggregated in the Cloud. Providers such as AWS, Google Cloud, etc. can achieve higher economies of scale, which translates into lower pay as-you-go prices.

Scale of Services – Cloud-based products offer a broad set of global services including compute, storage, databases, analytics, machine learning and AI, networking, mobile, developer tools, management tools, IoT, security, and enterprise applications. These services help organizations move faster, lower IT costs, and scale.

World Class Security – All major Cloud platforms offer advanced and strict security that complies with the most stringent government and private sector requirements.

Extreme High Availability (HA) – Major Cloud platforms span many geographic regions around the world.  By designing services and applications to be redundant across regions, HA is enhanced far beyond a single on-premises data center.

Testing at Scale – Cloud servers and services can be created and charged on demand for a specific amount of time.  This allows customers to create temporary large-scale test environments prior to deployment that are not practical for on-premises environments.  Large scale testing reduces deployment risks and helps to provide a better customer experience.

Auto Scaling and Serverless Deployments – Major Cloud platforms have many serverless and autoscaling options available, allowing for scalable computing capacity as required.  Customers pay only for the compute time they consume – there is no charge when the code is not running. Another example is the ability for a Cloud database to automatically start up, shut down, and scale capacity up or down based on the application’s needs.

Customer Agility and Innovation – In a Cloud computing environment, new IT resources are only a click away, which means that customers reduce the time to make those resources available to developers from weeks to just minutes. This results in a dramatic increase in agility for the organization, since the cost and time it takes to experiment and develop is significantly lower.

Many companies who haven’t started their modernization journeys yet are looking for tools that allow their legacy mainframe environments to continue, while replicating data – in real time – on a variety of Cloud and open systems platforms. Treehouse Software is the worldwide distributor of tcVISION, a software tool that provides an easy and fast approach for Cloud and hybrid Cloud projects, enabling bi-directional data replication between the hardware source and many targets, including (mainframe): Db2 z/OS, Db2 z/VSE, Adabas, VSAM, IMS/DB, CA IDMS, CA DATACOM, etc. and (Cloud and open systems): AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Kafka, PostgreSQL, etc..

If your enterprise is planning on a Mainframe-to-Cloud data modernization project, we would welcome the opportunity to help get you moving immediately with an online demonstration of tcVISION. Contact Treehouse Software for a tcVISION demonstration today!

Starting a Mainframe Data Replication Project? Consider Your Use Cases Carefully

by Joseph Brady, Director of Business Development and Cloud Alliance Leader at Treehouse Software

Planning for Real-time and Bi-directional Mainframe Data Replication with tcVISION

A customer’s mainframe data may be utilized by many interlinked and dependent programs that have been in place for several years, and sometimes, decades, so unlocking the value of this legacy data can be difficult. Therefore, careful planning must occur for a mainframe data modernization project, beginning with identifying uses cases for the project and a Proof of Concept (POC) of data replication software, such as tcVISION, the Mainframe-to-Hybrid Cloud and Open Systems data replication product from Treehouse Software.

This blog serves as a general guide for organizations planning to replicate their mainframe data on Cloud and/or Open Systems platforms using tcVISION.

Questions and Considerations for Your Use Cases

A general principle should be to prove out the data replication technology (tcVISION) by using identified use cases. Listed below are some examples of questions and use cases to assist customers in planning and experiencing successful Mainframe-to-Cloud and/or Open Systems data replication projects:

• What is/are the mainframe source database(s)? Obvious, yes, but the software solution vendor and outside consultants need this information.
• What are the critical issues you need to test? Are there any areas that you believe that would be challenging for the vendor? Examples would be specific transformations, data types (e.g., BLOB), required CDC SLAs, field/column changes, specific security requirements, data volume requirements, etc. Document all of the critical test items.
• Select the minimal set of files (generally 3-10) with representative conditions that will enable you to test all of your critical items. If there are multiple source databases, ensure specific test use cases are defined for each source.
• What are the target databases? Will you be replicating to a Cloud database manager, such as AWS RDS? Are there additional requirements to replicate to S3, Azure BLOB, GCP Cloud Storage, Kinesis, and Kafka? What needs to be tested?
• What are your bulk or initial load requirements? tcVISION can load data directly from mainframe databases, mainframe unloads, or image copies. What are the data volumes? Do you have sufficient bandwidth between your mainframe manager and on-premises or Cloud VM to handle your volume requirements?
• What are your Change Data Capture (CDC) requirements?
• Do you have plans for bi-directional replication in the future. What are your specific requirements? Since bi-directional replication can be complex and greatly lengthen a modernization project, the customer generally will perform one bi-directional use case for conceptual proof. Will this suffice for your organization?
• What are your specific high availability requirements? Can they be handled by a technical discussion, or is a specific use case required?
• What are your general security requirements for data at rest and data in transit? Do you have any specific security regulations to follow, such as HIPPA or FIPS? What are your PII / data masking requirements?
• What are your schema requirements? For example, tcVISION creates a default schema based on your input mainframe data. Major changes to the default schema usually require a staging database.
• Do you have staff available to perform the required tasks for the project? For example, for the length of a tcVISION POC you will need part-time staff, 2-4 hours per day. A part-time mainframe administrator will generally require 2-8 elapsed hours. Other staff will include Windows/Linux/Cloud administrators. 2-4 hours of project management may also be required.
• Are business data transformations required? tcVISION handles minor transformation via point and click (e.g., date format transformations). Major transformations can require C++ or product scripting.
• Are there any triggers or stored procedures? tcVISION performs CDC replication processing using a database that utilizes these database features.

Of course, each project will have unique environments, goals, and desired use cases. It is important that specific use cases are determined and documented prior to the start of a project and a tcVISION POC. This planning will allow the Treehouse Software team and the customer develop a more accurate project timeline, have the required resources available, and realize a successful project. 

More About tcVISION from Treehouse Software…

tcVISION supports a vast array of integration scenarios throughout the enterprise, providing easy and fast data migration for mainframe application modernization projects. This innovative technology offers comprehensive abilities to identify and capture changes occurring in mainframe and relational databases, then publish the required information to an impressive variety of targets, both Cloud and on-premises.

tcVISION acquires data in bulk or via CDC methods from virtually any IBM mainframe data source (Software AG Adabas, IBM Db2, IBM VSAM, IBM IMS/DB, CA IDMS, CA Datacom, and sequential files), and transform and deliver to a wide array of Cloud and Open Systems targets, including AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Confluent, Kafka, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, etc. In addition, tcVISION can extract and replicate data from a variety of non-mainframe sources, including Adabas LUW, Oracle Database, Microsoft SQL Server, IBM Db2 LUW and Db2 BLU, IBM Informix, and PostgreSQL.

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Contact Treehouse Software for a tcVISION Demo Today…

Simply fill out our Product Demonstration Request Form and a Treehouse representative will be contacting you to set up a time for your requested demonstration.

What’s Your Mix?

Real-time and Bi-directional Data Replication Between Mainframes and Virtually Any Target

tcVISION from Treehouse Software — Enterprise ETL and Real-Time Data Replication Through Change Data Capture (CDC)

Planning a data replication project between Mainframe, Cloud, and Open Systems platforms? tcVISION supports a vast array of integration scenarios throughout the enterprise, providing easy and fast data migration for mainframe application modernization projects. This innovative technology offers comprehensive abilities to identify and capture changes occurring in mainframe and relational databases, then publish the required information to an impressive variety of targets, both Cloud and on-premises.

tcVISION acquires data in bulk or via CDC methods from virtually any IBM mainframe data source (Software AG Adabas, IBM Db2, IBM VSAM, IBM IMS/DB, CA IDMS, CA Datacom, and sequential files), and transform and deliver to a wide array of Cloud and Open Systems targets, including AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, Confluent, Kafka, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, etc. In addition, tcVISION can extract and replicate data from a variety of non-mainframe sources, including Adabas LUW, Oracle Database, Microsoft SQL Server, IBM Db2 LUW and Db2 BLU, IBM Informix and PostgreSQL.

Whatever your mix, Treehouse Software has got it covered with tcVISION.

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Moving the right data to the right place at the right time

Visit the Treehouse Software website for more information on tcVISION, or contact us to discuss your needs.

Quickly Begin Replicating Mainframe Data on Cloud and Open Systems During a tcVISION Proof of Concept.

by Joseph Brady, Director of Business Development / Cloud Alliance Leader at Treehouse Software, Inc.

Customers can start moving mainframe data within days during a tcVISION POC…

An online tcVISION Proof of Concept (POC) is approximately 10 business days, with the customer providing a representative subset of data, use cases, and goals for the POC. A Treehouse Software consultant will assist in downloading and installing tcVISION, and conduct a limited-scope implementation of a tcVISION application. This application uses customer data and executes on customer facilities, in a non-production environment. A document is provided beforehand that outlines the requirements and agenda for the POC.

By the end of the POC, customers can begin replicating mainframe data to their Cloud or Open Systems target database.  It can happen that fast!.

About tcVISION

More Cloud, Open Systems, and Systems Integration partners are recommending tcVISION, Treehouse Software’s Mainframe-to-Cloud data replication product for modernization projects. tcVISION focuses on changed data capture (CDC) when transferring information between mainframe data sources and Cloud and Open System databases and applications. Through an innovative technology, changes occurring in any mainframe application data are tracked and captured, and then published to a variety of RDBMS and other targets.

Further reading…

Treehouse Software is an AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Technology Partner, and the AWS Partner Network published a blog about tcVISION, which describes how tcVISION allows legacy mainframe environments to continue, while replicating data on highly available and secure Cloud platforms.

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Contact Treehouse Software for a tcVISION Demo Today…

Simply fill out our Product Demonstration Request Form and a Treehouse representative will be contacting you to set up a time for your requested demonstration.

Treehouse Software is Helping Government Agencies with Mainframe Adabas Data Take Advantage of Cutting Edge Cloud-based Technologies

by Joseph Brady, Director of Business Development / Cloud Alliance Lead at Treehouse Software, Inc.

Many government agencies have large volumes of mission critical and historical data stored in a variety of legacy mainframe databases (for this blog, we are focusing on Adabas). These government agencies combine a broad range human service programs, including employment assistance and job training, child and adult protection, child support enforcement, cash assistance, and services for the developmentally disabled, all of which constantly require accurate, up-to-date, and secure data.

To support the needs of clients, government agencies are generally broken into multiple divisions, including the division that Treehouse Software works with the most — Technology Services. The Technology Services divisions provide technical and systems services for the development, maintenance, and enhancement of automated business systems. They also ensure that the production and sub-production databases are running smoothly and efficiently by performing necessary maintenance of the databases.

Rapidly changing national health and economic conditions are making fast access to the most current information more important than ever for government agencies and the public.  As a result, a top priority for Technology Services divisions is modernizing critical data residing on long-standing mainframe databases. Unlocking the value of this important data can be difficult, because the data can be utilized by numerous interlinked and dependent programs that have been in place for many years, and sometimes decades.

Many Treehouse government customers are now looking for modernization solutions that allow their legacy mainframe environments to continue, while replicating data in real time on highly available Cloud-based platforms, such as AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure. tcVISION from Treehouse Software allows a “data-first” approach, whereby immediate data replication to the Cloud helps government agencies begin strategies to meet spikes in demand for vital information, especially in times of crisis.

Just what is it about Adabas?

Adabas is a mainframe database that is still heavily used by government sites throughout the U.S. and the world. Having specialized in tools and services complementary to Adabas/Natural applications since 1982, Treehouse has successfully encountered and addressed many unique issues within the Adabas environment. This excerpt from a Treehouse technical document outlines three primary issues with Adabas/Natural that must be considered:

1. Adabas has no concept of “transaction isolation”, in that a program may read a record that another program has updated, in its updated state, even though the update has not been committed.  This means that programmatically reading a live Adabas database—one that is available to update users—will almost inevitably lead to erroneous extraction of data.  Record modifications (updates, inserts and deletes) that are extracted, and subsequently backed out, will be represented incorrectly—or not at all—in the target. Because of this, at Treehouse we say “the only safe data source is a static data source”—not the live database.
2. Many legacy Adabas applications make use of “record typing”, i.e., multiple logical tables stored in a single Adabas file.  Often, each must be extracted to a separate table in the target RDBMS.  The classic example is that of the “code-lookup file”.  Most shops have a single file containing state codes, employee codes, product-type codes, etc.  Records belonging to a given “code table” may be distinguished by the presence of a value in a particular index (descriptor or superdescriptor in ADABAS parlance), or by a range of specific values.  Thus, the extraction process must be able to dynamically assign data content from a given record to different target tables depending on the data content itself.
3. Adabas is most often used in conjunction with Software AG’s Natural 4GL, and “conveniently” provides for unique datatypes (“D” and “T”) that appear to be merely packed-decimal integers on the surface, but that represent date or date-time values when interpreted using Software AG’s proprietary Natural-oriented algorithm. The most appropriate way to migrate such datatypes is to recognize them and map them to the corresponding native RDBMS datatype (e.g., Oracle DATE) in conjunction with a transformation that decodes the Natural value and formats it to match the target datatype.

For discovery and analysis of legacy source data structures, tcVISION’s modeling and mapping facilities view and capture logical Adabas structures, as documented in Software AG’s PREDICT data dictionary, as well as physical structures as described in Adabas Field Definition Tables (FDTs).  Note that PREDICT is a “passive” data dictionary—there is no requirement that the logical and physical representations agree, so it is necessary to scrutinize both to ensure that the source structures are accurately modeled.

Furthermore, tcVISION generates specification and implementation of appropriate mappings and transformations for converting Adabas datatypes and structures to corresponding RDBMS datatypes and structures, including automatic handling of the proprietary “D” and “T” source datatypes.

There are three ways tcVISION can access Adabas data:

1. ETL – read the active database nucleus
2. ETL – read datasets containing unloaded Adabas files created by the ADAULD utility
3. CDC – read the active and archived PLOGs datasets

It is important to note that the schema, mappings and transformations that result from metadata import can be tailored to any specific requirements after the fact.  It is even possible to import an existing RDBMS schema and retrofit it, via drag-and-drop, to the source Adabas elements.

Using the tcVISION Control Board, a Windows GUI interface, the most complex transformations can be specified. Source fields can be combined into a single column, decomposed into separate columns, and be subject to calculations, database lookups, string operations and even programmatic manipulation. Furthermore, mapping rules can be implemented to specify that data content from a source Adabas record be mapped to one or more target RDBMS tables—each with its own different structure, as desired—based on the data content itself. Target tables can even be populated from more than one source file.

tcVISION supports complex replication scenarios…

tcVISION GUI Control Board functions as a central point of administration…

Automatically apply target schema within the Control Board…

It is impossible to discuss all the features and capabilities of tcVISION within a high-level overview.  Given the maturity, wealth of functionality and relative low cost of tcVISION, as compared to the effort, complexity and risk entailed in a “Do-It-Yourself”, solution there is no reason why a legacy renewal project should run aground on data migration.

tcVISION’s minimal footprint on the mainframe…

Customers are very happy with tcVISION‘s “staged processing” methodology, where the only processing occurring on the mainframe was the capture of changes from Adabas PLOGs. The bulk of the processing occurs on the target platform, minimizing tcVISION’s footprint on the mainframe as seen in this diagram…

The user defines on which platform stage their processing should be done. Do as little as possible on the mainframe: Stage 0 – capture data and send data (internal format) to target, and process data up to Stage 3 in receiving environment.

Moving forward with tcVISION…

Treehouse Software has been helping local, state, and federal government agencies with Adabas and Natural in the areas of data migration, security, control, auditing, performance enhancement, etc. for decades. Over the years, Treehouse has expanded its capabilities to address new requirements for modernizing legacy mainframe Adabas databases on various Cloud platforms. By using Treehouse Software’s tcVISION Mainframe-to-Cloud data replication product, our government customers are able to immediately utilize some of the most advanced Cloud tools and services in the world.

tcVISION enables government agencies to synchronize mainframe Adabas data with various highly available and secure Cloud databases, data warehouses. etc.. Additionally, bi-directional, real-time data synchronization will enable changes on either platform to be reflected on the other platform (e.g., a change to a PostgreSQL table is reflected back on the mainframe database). This allows governments to modernize  applications on Cloud platforms without disrupting the existing critical work on the legacy system, and modern tools can now be used in the new environment, greatly enhancing agility.

Replicating mainframe data on the Cloud can happen within days during a tcVISION Proof of Concept (POC)…

An online tcVISION POC is approximately 10 business days, with the customer providing use case and goals for the POC. A Treehouse Software consultant will assist in downloading and installing tcVISION and conducting a limited-scope implementation of a tcVISION application. This application uses customer data and executes on customer facilities, usually in a non-production environment. A document is provided beforehand that outlines the requirements, use cases, and agenda for the POC.

By the end of the 10-day POC, customers can begin replicating mainframe data to their Cloud target database.  It can happen that fast!

Further Reading…

Treehouse Software is an AWS Technology Partner, and the AWS Partner Network published a blog about tcVISION, our Mainframe-to-Cloud data replication product, which describes how tcVISION allows legacy mainframe environments to continue, while replicating data on highly available and secure Cloud platforms:

https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/apn/real-time-mainframe-data-replication-to-aws-with-tcvision-from-treehouse-software/

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Contact Treehouse Software for a tcVISION Demo Today…

Simply fill out our Product Demonstration Request Form and a Treehouse representative will be contacting you to set up a time for your requested demonstration.

Replicate Data Between Mainframes and Cloud APIs for MongoDB with Treehouse Software’s tcVISION

by Joseph Brady, Director of Business Development / Cloud Alliance Lead at Treehouse Software, Inc.

Treehouse Software is helping enterprises with mainframe data explore modernizing with various Cloud APIs for MongoDB using tcVISION, our Mainframe-to-Cloud data replication product.

The MongoDB Atlas Database as a Service (DBaaS) is present across all major Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, and Google). Automated infrastructure provisioning, setup, and deployment are fully automated with MongoDB Atlas.

Select a Cloud provider, region, instance size, memory, and additional configurations in the Cluster Builder or via the API and be on your way…

Video Demo: Moving Mainframe Data to MongoDB with tcVISION

Our video demonstrates integrating logically connected data to a document structure in MongoDB. This video shows how to transfer Db2 z/OS Mainframe Data To MongoDB using tcVISION…

Replicating mainframe data on the Cloud can happen within days during a tcVISION Proof of Concept (POC)…

An online tcVISION POC is approximately 5-10 business days, with the customer providing use cases, goals, and a representative sample of data for the POC. A Treehouse Software consultant will assist in downloading and installing tcVISION and conducting a limited-scope implementation of a tcVISION application. This application uses customer data and executes on customer facilities, usually in a non-production environment. A document is provided beforehand that outlines the requirements and agenda for the POC.

By the end of the 10-day POC, customers can begin replicating mainframe data to their Cloud target database.  It can happen that fast!

Further Reading…

Treehouse Software is an AWS technology partner, and the AWS Partner Network published a blog about tcVISION, our Mainframe-to-Cloud data replication product, which describes how tcVISION allows legacy mainframe environments to continue, while replicating data on highly available and secure Cloud platforms:

https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/apn/real-time-mainframe-data-replication-to-aws-with-tcvision-from-treehouse-software/

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Contact Treehouse Software for a tcVISION Demo Today…

Simply fill out our Product Demonstration Request Form and a Treehouse representative will be contacting you to set up a time for your requested demonstration.