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.NET on the mainframe |
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Article by William Hoffman, mainframe-upgrade.com
Published April 2006, Copyright © 2006 mainframe-upgrade.com
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Microsoft .NET Framework on the mainframe |
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Here we go - we're now entering the era of .NET on the mainframe thanks to the Mono Project and zLinux (and Unix Specialist Services on z/OS - USS). If you have Integrated Facility for Linux (IFL) and are itching to break new ground then .NET on the mainframe could be just the ticket.
Some people may be asking why you would want .NET on the mainframe, especially given Microsoft's poor record on portability, but the migration of existing applications and especially the leverage of available .NET skills (both C# and Visual Basic are currently in the top 10 most used development languages worldwide) may make it both compelling and profitable for many companies.
So what is the Mono Project?
Key fact 1 - Mono provides a .NET development and execution environment on Linux and therefore also zLinux (as well as Windows, Unix, Solaris and Mac OS X).
Key fact 2 - Mono is open source and has a skilled, keen user group of coders and designers who are pushing it relentlessly up to the top strata of Linux development platforms.
The main Mono Project site is at www.mono-project.com/Main_Page and has a good FAQ section to get into the basics at www.mono-project.com/FAQ:_General.
Novell is a sponsor of the Mono Project and hosts the Novell Mono community forum.
Also worth a look is Mainsoft a company that specialises in .NET conversion onto Linux and similar services. Take a look at their Visual MainWin for J2EE product which is a Visual Studio .NET® plug-in, that enables you to develop J2EE™ applications using the .NET Framework and the .NET languages, C# and Visual Basic.NET®.
Grasshopper is their free version and comes with no support.
Mainsoft Visual MainWin for J2EE and Mono:
The Visual MainWin for J2EE .NET Framework sources are shared with Mono. The C# Mono sources are compiled to Java bytecode, using Mainsoft's binary compiler.
Visual MainWin for J2EE packages the Mono sources as Visual Studio projects. You can download the source code, modify it, compile, debug and test the code, all from the Visual Studio IDE.
Conclusion? - yet another good reason to get into zLinux.
And if you are still debating whether to get into IFLs and go with Linux on the mainframe then consider the mainframe I/O arguments:
1. No mainframe CPU is used for I/O, it has its own channel processors. CPU concentrates on pure work - not I/O.
2. I/O on the mainframe is completely unique, with up to 65536 devices on one mainframe (and of course that becomes exponentially more mind boggling on a sysplex!).
3. Even though they compare well with mainframe CPUs nowadays, remember! PC based server main CPUs get bogged down doing I/O as well as the logic processing.
These three points make a convincing case for at least considering moving high I/O processes (like data warehouses and other database intensive applications) to the mainframe.
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