Developers that work with Mainframe teams often wait weeks for environments. PopUp Mainframe changes that in minutes!

Developers working with mainframe teams often face frustrating delays. At Tech Field Day Extra at the SHARE conference, PopUp Mainframe demonstrated how virtualizing the mainframe is the key to eliminating these bottlenecks.

The Mainframe Challenge: Bottlenecks Everywhere

The mainframe serves as the digital backbone for thousands of organizations worldwide, processing billions of transactions across financial services, insurance, retail, logistics, government, and transportation sectors. These systems are simply too critical to fail.

These challenges lead to delays, increased costs, and missed opportunities for innovation. However, recent research reveals some sobering statistics:

• 96% of organizations experience challenges in mainframe development and testing.

• 88% are concerned about mainframe environment availability.

• One-third require four or more teams to complete mainframe deliveries.

• 79% believe staffing and tooling limitations are hindering business growth.

Faced with these hurdles, organizations need a solution that accelerates development without compromising reliability. This is what PopUp Mainframe was made for.

Key Features That Set PopUp Mainframe Apart

PopUp Mainframe offers virtual mainframe environments that can be provisioned in minutes rather than weeks. Just as VMware ESXi revolutionized x86 server virtualization,  PopUp Mainframe is bringing virtualization to the IBM Mainframe.

Usually, standing up a new mainframe environment requires hardware procurement, configuration, and weeks of setup. PopUp Mainframe changes this completely. For example, installation takes approximately nine minutes in the Azure Cloud. On Linux Z, it’s just a couple of commands after license activation.

Efficiency and Recovery

Snapshot and Fast Track Technology

PopUp Mainframe was created to solve the problem of the last unconquered space in the DevOps frontier: the mainframe. PopUp’s mission is “to empower mainframe businesses to deliver changes faster, cheaper, and better with on-demand environments for dev and test.”

The Fast Track capability provides a way to take a snapshot of your PopUp at any time and then roll-back your environment to any of your snapshots. No matter how broken your environment is, this helps you get back to a working version.
Use cases for this feature:

• Testing new features. Snapshot before you start testing, roll back if something goes wrong.
• Clone an entire z/OS environment in seconds.

• Upgrading subsystems. Snapshot the current state before you begin to compare the old and new versions side by side.

• Great for developers. Snapshot a known good place before you begin so you can innovate without worrying you’ll break something important. If you do hit a snag, just roll back!

Imagine having a 12-hour testing window. Four hours in, something breaks. Instead of starting from the beginning, you can roll back to your last snapshot, make the fix, and continue in minutes rather than hours. 

90% Compression Efficiency

PopUp Mainframe uses advanced ZFS (Z File System) technology with read-write capabilities. The downstream copies achieve 90% compression, meaning a terabyte footprint gold copy results in approximately 100GB snapshot instances. This dramatic reduction in storage requirements results in significant cost savings.

Performance and Flexibility

Performance Advantages on IFL

When running on Integrated Linux Facilities (IFL), PopUp Mainframe delivers five to ten times faster performance compared to x86 implementations. Since CPU operations go directly to the chip (not emulated), while only disk I/O remains virtualized, you get near-native performance for development and testing workloads.

Deployment Options

You can deploy a PopUp Mainframe to the platform that makes the most sense for your organization. Supported platforms include:

• Linux on Z (IFL): Runs on Integrated Linux Facilities for maximum performance.

• LinuxONE: Dedicated hardware for specific use cases.

• x86 platforms: On-premises or cloud deployments.

• Any cloud environment: Azure, AWS, or your preferred provider.

You can deploy a PopUp mainframe on Z-hardware for security reasons or deploy it to cloud resources for development teams.

Security and Compliance Considerations for PopUp Mainframe

Security remains paramount in mainframe operations. Here’s how security is built-in to the PopUp Mainframe. 

• Data Masking: Pre-installed data masking solutions ensure compliance.

• Multi-layer Security: Cloud VM security, Linux security, and Z/OS security work together.

• Data Locality Options: Keep sensitive data on Z-hardware using IFL deployment

• Isolated Environments: Complete separation from production systems.
• IFL deployment: Ensures data never leaves the mainframe environment.

Improving Mainframe DevOps 

By integrating seamlessly with modern DevOps tools, PopUp Mainframe eliminates the bottlenecks that slow down traditional mainframe development. Running this entire pipeline on virtual mainframe environments means valuable production MIPS are preserved for actual business transactions.

The solution includes pre-built Ansible playbooks that enable self-service operations. This means not having to rely on specialized mainframe teams to handle basic operational tasks.

• Perform z/OS health checks: Check if expected started tasks are running, verify the version of the tools currently installed, check DASD volume status, etc.
• User management: RACF user creation and deletion
• FTP: validation and execution. 

By streamlining DevOps processes, PopUp Mainframe empowers teams to innovate faster and more efficiently.

Sustainability and Cost Management

A PopUp Mainframe can also address growing environmental concerns. Using virtual mainframes instead of physical resources will reduce hardware utilization and lower power consumption. PopUps can also be scheduled to automatically shut down after a period of inactivity. 

PopUp Mainframe Use Cases

Just like server virtualization, there are many uses cases for mainframe virtualization.

Accelerated Development Cycles: Instead of waiting a week for database changes from the mainframe team, developers can make modifications instantly and continue their work.

Enhanced Testing Capabilities: Teams can take advantage of the snapshot functionality to improve their testing capabilities. They can create a safe place to test production fixes, experiment with new DB2 features, conduct SQL performance tuning, and even validate application changes across multiple scenarios

Training and Skill Development: PopUp Mainframe serves as an excellent training environment for new mainframe professionals. Junior developers can experiment, make mistakes, and learn without impacting production systems or requiring extensive oversight.

Partner and Vendor Testing: PopUp Mainframe allows you to create secure, isolated environments in the cloud without exposing your production infrastructure for proof-of-concept work and vendor testing.

PopUp Mainframe is more than just a technical solution. It’s a bridge between traditional mainframe excellence and modern development practices. As organizations face the dual challenges of aging mainframe expertise and increasing business demands, PopUp Mainframe is an essential solution or maintaining competitive advantage.

Ready to Transform Your Mainframe Operations?

The mainframe isn’t going anywhere. It’s too valuable and reliable for the world’s most critical systems. But the way we develop, test, and deploy mainframe applications should evolve. PopUp Mainframe offers a path forward that respects the mainframe’s reliability requirements while embracing modern development practices. 

Interested in learning more about PopUp Mainframe? Be sure to check out videos of their Tech Field Day appearance here.