Helmut H. Weber

A microprogrammed implementation of EULER on IBM system/360 model 30

An experimental processing system for the algorithmic ~anguage EULER has been implemented in microprogramming on an IBM System/360 Model 30 using a second Read-Only Storage unit. The system consists of a mlcroprogrammed compiler and a microprogrammed String Language Interpreter, and of an I/O control program written in 360 machine language. The system is described and results are given in terms of microprogram and main storage space required and compiler and interpreter performance obtained. The role of microprogramming is stressed, which opens a new dimension in the processing of interpretive code. The structure and content of a higher level language can be matched by an appropriate interpretive language which can be executed efficiently by microprograms on existing computer hardware.

Hardware configuration framework for the IBM eServer z900

This paper describes the concept, architecture, and implementation of the hardware configuration module within the support element of the IBM eServer z900. For the z900 project, this base system firmware component has been redesigned to obtain a software structure with a clear, simple, and scalable architecture that is suitable for future extensions to the z900. To achieve the desired flexibility, an object-oriented framework has been developed which supports the autosensing and configuration of hardware components as well as their status representation and management. The new configuration concept is based on a rule approach in which, for each sensed physical part in the system, a configuration rule specifies the object hierarchy to be instantiated upon it, including attributes and interconnections to other system parts. Furthermore, the concept and architecture of the framework are built upon a hardware object model (HOM) that has been designed to allow for further integration of key business logic of the z900 service subsystem and hardware support code.

FPGA-Based Dynamically Reconfigurable SQL Query Processing

In this article, we propose an FPGA-based SQL query processing approach exploiting the capabilities of partial dynamic reconfiguration of modern FPGAs. After the analysis of an incoming query, a query-specific hardware processing unit is generated on the fly and loaded on the FPGA for immediate query execution. For each query, a specialized hardware accelerator pipeline is composed and configured on the FPGA from a set of presynthesized hardware modules. These partially reconfigurable hardware modules are gathered in a library covering all major SQL operations like restrictions and aggregations, as well as more complex operations such as joins and sorts. Moreover, this holistic query processing approach in hardware supports different data processing strategies including row- as column-wise data processing in order to optimize data communication and processing. This article gives an overview of the proposed query processing methodology and the corresponding library of modules. Additionally, a performance analysis is introduced that is able to estimate the processing time of a query for different processing strategies and different communication and processing architecture configurations. With the help of this performance analysis, architectural bottlenecks may be exposed and future optimized architectures, besides the two prototypes presented here, may be determined.

The alternate support element, a high-availability service console for the IBM eServer z900

The alternate support element feature provides a redundant service console attachment for the IBM eServer z900 that improves the availability and serviceability characteristics of the z900 for manual operations and service/maintenance tasks. All of the tasks relying on the zSeries™ support element implementation (such as activation, configuration, and repair functions) are gaining inherently high availability characteristics with the provision of an alternate support element. The functional concept is physically based on two standard IBM ThinkPad® computers which are packaged with a z900 server and act as service consoles and system controllers for a zSeries system. The logical relation between the two consoles is based on a master/slave concept, together with a failover design that provides the capability for manual and automatic (i.e., under program control) switchover from the primary support element to the alternate support element. Also included in the concept are automatic role determination for primary and alternate roles, a synchronization mechanism between the two support elements based on mirroring, and a design which will allow the alternate support element in the future to act as a staging area for updates and pre-loads of Licensed Internal Code (microcode).