DSXchange

Our client is a big Mainframe shop with 5-10 physical mainframes and many many LPARS . Our datastage intsllation V 8.7 Fix pack 2 has Mainframe jobs enabled. Given that support for 8.7 will expire between 2017 and 2018, im wonderingif we still have support for mainframe jobs in Datastage Version 9.12 or 11.3.1.

Lest it not confuse anyone trying to answer this thread:
This is the datastage edition that was formerlyu packaged as datastage XE/390 and allows COBOL developers to generate runtime JCL and cobol programs to be uploaded to the z/OS server and has stages with names like 'Business Rules', (Cobol) Routine stage, a 'Transformer with a differnt kind of expression editor UI , and job icons are in pale blue , and provides 2 types of lookup stage optiosn : Singleton & Cursor. Another unique feature is the provision of IMS connectivity stage and a way to read hierarchical files using Multi-Format Flat file stage. I havent yet received a response from our IBM liaison .

There are no mainframe jobs in version 11.3. There are mainframe jobs in version 9.1.

It is documented in the IBM Knowledge Center.

New features and changes for IBM InfoSphere Information Server, Version 11.3
...
Deprecated features
...
InfoSphere DataStage mainframe jobsMainframe jobs are not supported in this version of InfoSphere Information Server.

Maybe your shop was the only DataStage Mainframe Edition left?

In distributed editions of DataStage, there are various ways to process IMS data and the Complex Flat File stage is commonly used to process multi-format flat files. You can import COBOL copybooks for file layouts, etc.

You could upgrade your edition as far as 9.1.2 and apply all available Fix Packs until that version goes unsupported. That date has not yet been announced. And there is usually an option to pay extra on down the road if you need "extended support."

Still a few sites left using mainframe jobs here and there around the world.

It must be a sign that the mainframes are going away...

Going away, huh? We have six top-of-line boxes, and at least 20 million lines of Cobol code.



We never used DS for Cobol, thankfully.

That claim was also made in 1999, so that COBOL programmers commanded huge prices preparing for the Year 2K squib.

Had to look your dang Aussie slang up... so squib - a "firecracker that does not go off" seems to be the appropriate translation here, yes? This rather than the word I know - a device used in movies to simulate a gunshot wound. :D

Mainframes have been 'going away' and COBOL has been a 'dead language' since I started my career, more years ago than I care to mention. Programming in COBOL.

Same here. I think it's funny.

Actually "squib" originates in the UK.

Thanks everyone. Our shop installed the Mainframe edition back in 2006 when they started off with V 7.0 or 7.51 A , and when we went to 8.7 we did not think twice to install or not install it, also majority of the developers who worked and managed datastage at the shop were from a Mainframe background with COBOL or PL/1 or DB/2Z experience, the only complaint they had with the mainframe edition was debugging the code - thanks to crazy generated identifiers , but we do have some 100+ mainframe jobs that originated on the datastage Mainframe edition GUI . Our Mainframes are still rock solid , and our parent company has a Mainframe with z/Linux VM running Datastage EE for small volume integration projects. So no we are not retiring mainframes anytime soon, and the anti mainframe crowd has mostly left the org.

That's good. At least you have options. I also remember in the 80s and 90s when the trade magazines all said mainframes were going away. That didn't happen, not across the board anyway. Many companies did bite the bullet though. The 'deprecated' status however suggests you have a limited timeline for future support.