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z/Guard: Software for Automated z/OS Resource Control

Intelligent and Automated z/OS Resource Control

Automate your mainframe resource control

Mainframes are mission‑critical for many companies, yet managing them is becoming increasingly complex. Rising licensing costs, new pricing models, and dynamic workloads present major challenges for IT teams. Manual interventions are time‑consuming, error‑prone, and the risk of bottlenecks can drive costs even higher. This is exactly where z/Guard comes in.

z/Guard is an innovative software solution for intelligent and automated z/OS resource control. It ensures that optimal mainframe performance is available at all times. Using real‑time system data within LPARs, z/Guard continuously analyzes your environment and automatically distributes daily workloads. Instead of manually adjusting resources, z/Guard fully automates this task. The result: more efficient resource utilization, fewer bottlenecks, and sustainably reduced costs. This makes z/Guard the ideal solution for organizations looking to manage their mainframe resources intelligently and automatically.

Optimized and reliable performance for your mission‑critical applications

As an on‑premises solution, z/Guard ensures that your z/OS systems operate at optimal performance. It achieves this through the automated control of workloads managed by z/Guard. The solution continuously monitors all connected LPARs and analyzes key metrics every minute, including workload management data, processor utilization, and consumption values. For optimal resource management, this data is automatically evaluated and resources are dynamically adjusted via the HMC or directly within z/OS. Throughout this process, z/Guard ensures that your critical applications remain fully protected at all times, while less time‑sensitive workloads are automatically throttled when necessary.

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Reduce and optimize mainframe costs

In addition to automating the control and optimization of your z/OS workloads, z/Guard also helps you actively control and reduce your mainframe costs. The solution provides flexible cost management options for both MLC and TFP customers — without compromising the performance of your critical applications. This includes the following scenarios:

Dynamic capping of individual systems or groups
Workload balancing
zIIP-on-CP detection and prevention
HiperDispatch optimization
Alerting on irregular consumption
High-Water-Mark monitoring

Wide range of interfaces for maximum control

z/Guard provides a wide range of interfaces for automated resource control. In addition to direct access to the hardware console, key components such as the complete Operlog, SMF, the security system (e.g., RACF), and the Workload Manager (WLM) are also available. WLM plays a critical role when processor resources are adjusted. For example, when a z/OS is limited, it’s essential that WLM slows down only the non time critical workload. Otherwise, you risk unexpected business impacts — and the benefits you gain from WLM may be significantly reduced. z/Guard uses these functions intelligently to keep your systems stable and ensure that workloads are prioritized optimally.

Always up to date — down to the minute

With z/Guard, you always have full visibility into your mainframe performance. Every service class of the Workload Manager provides minute by minute consumption data and wait times. You also gain transparency into ‘zIIP on CP’ usage, enabling you to take action before additional costs arise. In addition, processor topology data delivers valuable insights. The available metrics allow you to perform an interactive HiperDispatch ranking of your LPARs, so you can unlock the full potential of your platform.

Automatic control through algorithms

The automatic z/OS resource control is based on algorithms. These algorithms can be divided into two categories:

Standard algorithms

The first category consists of standard algorithms. It includes a comprehensive collection of different algorithm variants. These go far beyond simply adjusting capping limits: all key z/OS resources are continuously taken into account to ensure maximum efficiency, stability, and security.

Custom algorithms

The second category consists of creating your own custom algorithms within z/Guard. Through the open interface, you gain access to all consumption and performance data — including z/OS data and extended HMC information. This allows you to analyze data according to your requirements and build custom algorithms tailored to your specific use cases. In doing so, you extend your resource control with the functions your operations needs. These custom algorithms can be used alongside the standard algorithms.

Why z/Guard is the right choice for you

Because your mainframe infrastructure deserves more than standard solutions. With z/Guard, you transform complex, time consuming control processes into a simple, fully automated solution. This helps you reduce costs, prevent bottlenecks, and free up valuable time to focus on your core business. Choose z/Guard and prepare your z/OS environment for the challenges of tomorrow.