This section explains how CA OPS/MVS has developed with respect to the history of data center operations.
Towards the beginning of computer system history, when programs were run using card decks and each line of program code had its own card, programs (jobs) were run one at time. Output, usually in the form of a printout, was produced at the time a job ran. If a job had errors or problems occurred when it ran, error messages were generally indicated on its printout. In other words, computer operations were sequentially oriented. One job ran at a time, and no complicated interfaces existed. At that time, there were no operations to automate.
Later, computer systems shed the bulky card stack technology and had advanced to the point that more than one job could run at the same time. Also, jobs themselves had advanced. As examples, they could read different types of magnetic media for input and print to more than one printer for output. To accomplish these things, operations personnel needed a means of communicating with the operating system of the computer, the programmers who were running jobs, and other operations-type personnel. This communication was accomplished with the implementation of the system console, the master terminal. Through this console, an operator could do things like start all jobs in a data center or be notified about system errors.
As time went on, computer systems became more powerful and data centers became more complex. Data centers were able to keep track of the information needs of an entire business. To do this, some data centers ran more than one computer or operating system 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And their operators began using multiple system consoles to communicate efficiently with this complex of computer activity.
Today, computers and their operating systems have become so powerful that many thousands of jobs can run every day in one data center. The z/OS operating system for instance, the operating system of choice for many large data centers, can run multiple versions of itself and each can run many jobs at the same time. In these complex data centers, human operators cannot keep up with all system events. No person or persons can.
That is why a system automation product such as CA OPS/MVS has become critical. It can respond automatically to any or all events that occur in a z/OS system such as the following:
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