Yes, we have smartphone apps related to the mainframe. Don’t be surprised. Mainframes are not the old dusty computers that some folks go on about – you know; the ages-old dinosaurs that occupy entire rooms, use card punch input, and require bits and bytes programming. Mainframe technology has come a long way in terms of modernization. They are now the size of your typical refrigerator, super-fast , running top industries critical data day in and day out.

Today we will talk about some of the best mainframe apps that every mainframe professional should know about. Search for these apps in your App store or Google play store to install.

IBM Redbooks Redbooks app lets you access IBM-authored Redbook publications. Redbooks offer excellent information on various mainframe topics such as new Solution Guides, Product Guides, Point-of-View publications, blogs etc. Get more IBM resources at your fingertips!

Link: IBM Redbooks app IBM Doc Buddy If you ever wanted to quickly lookup information about a message, then Doc Buddy is your best buddy. It allows you to retrieve Z systems message documentation. The newest version, V2, adds some nice features – it aggregates IBM Z trends, updates, and other top news, and provides product overviews and product basic information that helps new IBM Z users understand the product quickly. It also supports online and offline message search for 119 releases of 59 products.

Link: DocBuddy app IBM myHMC myHMC is an app that lets you connect and monitor your Hardware Management Consoles (HMCs). The dashboard on this app lets you quickly review the health of your entire machine; you can monitor LPARs, Resource Groups etc.

Link: IBM myHMC app SHARE, inc SHARE is an independent volunteer-driven information technology association that provides education and professional networking, especially within the mainframe context. This app gives you all the details you need about SHARE including session information, etc. It is a must-have app if you frequent SHARE conferences.

Link: SHARE app IBM zEvent IBM zEvent is a notification and monitoring app for IBM z/OS systems that enables you to quickly react to critical system messages, failures and resources shortages.

Link: IBM zEvent app EventsXD Technically, EventsXD is not a mainframe app. As its name suggests, it is an Event management app. The reason I listed here is Computer Measurement Group (cmg.org) conferences are available on EventsXD (CMG conferences have a mainframe wing with excellent sessions). So if you are mainframe professional attending CMG conferences then you need to use this app. It saves lot of time in planning days while at a conference.

Link: EventsXD app IBM HMC Mobile IBM HMC Mobile for Z and LinuxONE allows you to manage your system through this app. You can receive system alerts and notifications as well.

Link: IBM HMC Mobile app IBM zServiceAdvisor This app is for Z sys admins to keep an eye on their Z systems. Z Service Advisor can reduce the amount of time needed to optimize DB2 and CICS.

Link: IBM zServiceAdvisor app

I personally use many of these apps – including Redbooks, Doc Buddy, SHARE and EventsXD – for my needs. There are also various terminal apps like TN3270 that I haven’t used, but are used by many.

Did I miss anything? What other mainframe apps do you use? Please leave a comment for everyone’s benefit.

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