The increased popularity of Cisco routers has led to their ubiquitous presence within the network infrastructure of many enterprises. In such large corporations, it is also common for many applications to execute on the z/OS (formerly OS/390) platform. As a result, the interoperation of z/OS-based systems and Cisco network infrastructures is a crucial aspect of many enterprise internetworks.
This IBM Redbook provides a survey of the components necessary to achieve full interoperation between your z/OS-based servers and your Cisco IP routing environment. It may be used as a network design guide for understanding the considerations of the many aspects of interoperation. We divide this discussion into four major components:
- The options and configuration of channel-attached Cisco routers
- The design considerations for combining OSPF-based z/OS systems with Cisco-based EIGRP networks
- A methodology for deploying Quality of Service policies throughout the network
- The implementation of load balancing and high availability using Sysplex Distributor and MNLB (including new z/OS V1R2 support)
We highlight our discussion with a realistic implementation scenario and real configurations that will aid you in the deployment of these solutions. In addition, we provide in-depth discussions, traces, and traffic visualizations to show the technology at work.