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IBM Master the Mainframe Contest
   
No experience necessary. Just a desire to win some great prizes.

OverviewDetailsEducatorsStudentsOfficial rules
Registration  |  Part 1: Breaking the ice  |  Part 2: Practical experience  |
Part 3: Real-world challenge  |  Contest FAQ  | 
Part 3: Real-world challenge

Approximate time to completion: Weeks to months

You must complete Part 1 and Part 2 of the contest before beginning Part 3.

After completing Parts 1 and 2 of the contest, send an email to zskills@us.ibm.com with the subject "Part 3 signup" to be registered as a Part 3 contestant. Please do not send this email before completing Parts 1 and 2. Once notified of your intent to compete in Part 3, IBM will send you an email with further instructions for accessing the Part 3 challenges within five business days.

The object of this part of the contest is to get you involved much deeper with the workings of the z/OS mainframe system. You will be tackling issues that occur in real-world IT shops.

Part 3 is set up as a series of increasingly difficult challenges. IBM does not necessarily expect contestants to complete every challenge — the winner of Part 3 will be the student who completes the most tasks (in sequence) correctly. Challenge 1 must be completed to receive credit for completing Challenge 2, and so forth. Each challenge must be done 100% correctly, so be careful. Part 3 of the contest ends at midnight on December 28, 2007. No extra points are awarded for finishing early, so take your time and make sure you complete the challenges correctly.

The contestant to 100% correctly progress the furthest through the Part 3 challenges wins a Nintendo Wii and an expenses-paid two-day trip to the IBM Mainframe Lab in Poughkeepsie, NY. Second place also wins a Nintendo Wii and an expenses-paid two-day trip to the IBM Mainframe Lab in Poughkeepsie, NY. Third, fourth and fifth place contestants each win a Nintendo Wii.

To give you a rough overview of what the Part 3 challenges entail, a very brief description of each is included below. Good luck!

Overview:

Part 3 contestants will learn to:

  1. Use FTP to transfer data and files
  2. Use FTP to interact with JES
  3. Run COBOL on the mainframe
    • Compile, link, execute COBOL programs
    • Locate and correct minor COBOL source errors
    • Create COBOL programs using source code from provided programs
    • Create JCL to compile, link and execute COBOL programs
    • Execute COBOL in the foreground from TSO session
  4. Navigate and explore a Parallel Sysplex
    • Define Coupling Facilities, memory structures, signaling paths and sysplex timers
    • Display and identify Parallel Sysplex elements
    • Identify participating z/OS system names
    • Route commands to a specific z/OS system in the sysplex
    • Direct batch jobs to run a specific z/OS system in the sysplex
  5. Interact with DB2 in a z/OS environment
    • Use ISPF DB2 Interactive interface to execute SQL
    • Create SQL query based on examples provided
    • Use JAVA JDBC Type 4 connection to extract data from DB2 on z/OS
    • Use JAVA JDBC Type 2 connection to extract data from DB2 on z/OS
    • Make minor modification to JAVA JDBC source code
    • Compile and execute JAVA source in unix system services environment
  6. Code using the REXX programming language
  7. Become a hot commodity with their mainframe skills!

Best of luck to all of the students who are brave enough to tackle Part 3!

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