virtual mainframe

Rehosting Testing

While mainframe environments have been the natural choice to run mission-critical business applications, the processing power of the mainframe is primarily allocated to the production and test environments. Often the test environment receives as much processing power as production and, in some instances, can receive a greater MIPs allocation. Testing can represent a significant proportion of the cost of maintaining a mainframe platform.

Alternatives have typically been to either host the application on the mainframe, rewrite it, replace it with a package or migrate it onto Windows, Unix or Linux. Another option exists in the Micro Focus Virtual Mainframe which offers the option for pre-production testing to be completed on Windows, while the production system stays on the mainframe. As businesses look to deliver new or improved products and services to stay competitive, gain market share

and drive growth, budget for innovation and to improve software lifecycle timescales is required. Migrating the entire application off the mainframe is often a viable option, but when an organization is not yet ready for application migration, rehosting of testing is a strategy that should be considered.

Rehosting testing is a core element of the Micro Focus Virtual Mainframe.

What role do you see the mainframe playing in your organisation’s future?

Reducing mainfRame opeRaTing cosTsTesting can demand 50% or more of mainframe processing power and keeps mainframe costs high. Rehosting pre-production testing from the mainframe onto lower cost platforms reduces the operating cost of running key applications on mainframes. In addition, rehosting testing enables the test environment to scale up as required for much lower cost than on the mainframe. Savings are made both now and into the future. This also enables:

Avoidance of impending mainframe hardware and software upgrade fees by redeploying pre-production testing and reducing processing requirements

Budget to be reinvested into areas providing greater innovation, increasing competitive advantage and opening up new market opportunities

Full application migration at a later date, if desired, as Micro Focus’ Virtual Mainframe capabilities use the same replicated mainframe environment to rehost testing and migrate applications completely

Business drivers and benefitsMany enterprise organizations face challenges in maintaining and expanding business while managing costs. A part of Micro Focus’ Virtual Mainframe capabilities, Rehosting Testing delivers the following benefits:

Significantly reduces mainframe operating costs

Improves product quality and reduced re-work

Improves time-to-market

Completing testing off the mainframe environment makes far greater test capacity available, which reduces mainframe MIPS consumption and therefore application operating costs. The testing environment can also be scaled up on lower cost commodity platforms without substantial further investment.

By improving the performance of testing, issues can be identified sooner in the development lifecycle. This reduces costly rework and immediately enhances product quality, which is improved further by being able to complete tests in shorter time-frames and therefore running more extensive test cases.

Rehosting testing onto distributed environments removes resource constraints caused by scarce mainframe processing power. New environments can be more easily scaled up, and at far lower cost than on the mainframe. This directly improves time-to-market for new capabilities and products.

impRoving qualiTyMoving pre-production testing from the mainframe to Windows increases the processing power available for testing cycles, so test phases can be completed faster as previous constraints, in particular mainframe testing bottlenecks, are removed. This enables organizations to:

Find issues earlier in the test cycle

Increase test coverage achievable in the same timeframes, improving product quality

Implement test automation capabilities to further improve testing efficiency

Benchmark performance against future product releases to identify performance degradation

Provide a test harness for testing non-mainframe applications that access mainframe resources

fasTeR Time To maRkeTAs competition increases across all industries, every piece of business won against competition is vital. Accelerating the speed to deliver new features, products and solutions is key to improving market position. Rehosting pre-production testing enables organizations to improve time-to-market through:

Improved testing productivity and cycle times through distributed processing power

Faster testing cycles via contemporary automated testing capabilities

Rehost TestingMicro Focus Rehost Testing provides a mainframe COBOL application execution environment on Windows. Applications run on Windows just as they would on the mainframe, so a variety of pre-production testing activities can be performed on the lower cost commodity hardware.

Micro Focus Rehost Testing capabilities support IBM COBOL, IBM Assembler, IBM CICS, IBM IMS-TM, IBM JCL, IBM DB2, IBM IMS-DB, IBM z/OS file formats and standard mainframe utilities and copies source code from the mainframe to be compiled on Windows. The applications can then access data on the mainframe or appropriate subsets of data are moved to the Windows server. Test teams, QA engineers, end users, or Java and C programmers developing composite applications using mainframe COBOL applications, can conduct testing by accessing the application running within the Micro Focus Rehost Testing environment.Key capabilities within Micro Focus Rehost Testing capabilities include:

Support for a wide variety of mainframe applications through a comprehensive set of tools and capabilities to enable almost any mainframe COBOL application to run on Windows, including batch applications with JCL, online CICS or IMS TM applications, mainframe assembler applications or sub-routines and composite applications where .NET or Java applications invoke mainframe COBOL programs

Support for many types of testing once application code has been recompiled on Windows. .NET and Java programmers can conduct unit testing against applications and data on Windows rather than the mainframe and significant portions of QA can be conducted in the distributed environment

Seamless and secure access to mainframe application source code and data resources create the ability to easily download source code and test data from the mainframe or to access mainframe data remotely

Close integration into mainframe resources and sub-systems

Rehost Testing: a proven approachAs part of Micro Focus Virtual Mainframe, Rehost Testing offers a compelling option for organizations currently undertaking all development and test phases on mainframe environments. Rehosting testing enables significant reductions in application operating costs, which can then be reinvested into application modernization or other strategic initiatives. By removing bottlenecks associated with testing on the mainframe, greater numbers of test cycles can be run and quality is improved. This can also lead to improved time-to-market for new features and capabilities.

Micro Focus’ Rehost Testing is achieved through replicating the mainframe infrastructure on Microsoft Windows, providing a Virtual Mainframe. This powerful technology also provides the foundation for further modernization initiatives, including the consideration of full application migration at a later time.

Testing against a traditional mainframe

Testing against studio enterprise edition Test server

about micro focusMicro Focus, a member of the FTSE 250, provides innovative software that allows companies to dramatically improve the business value of their enterprise applications. Micro Focus Enterprise Application Modernization, Testing and Management software enables customers’ business applications to respond rapidly to market changes and embrace modern architectures with reduced cost and risk.

for additional information please visit: www.microfocus.com© 2011 Micro Focus IP Development Limited. All rights reserved. MICRO FOCUS, the Micro Focus logo, among others, are trademarks or registered trademarks of

Micro Focus IP Development Limited or its subsidiaries or affiliated companies in the United Kingdom, United States and other countries. All other marks are the

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virtual mainframe