Please join us at our webcasts. Many of these sessions were presented at the SHARE, Computer Measurement Group, or National Systems Programmer Association (NASPA) conferences. Each session will be approximately 40 minutes long. Following the webcast, we will provide an open forum for participants to discuss the topic for 10 minutes. To register, please click on Register and the link for the webcast will be sent to you. You will receive a new link for each webcast. Please check back often, more webcasts for 2008 will be announced soon.

The sessions will be presented by the CEO and Founder of Inside Products, Nalini Elkins. She is a frequent speaker and invited guest speaker at many technical conferences. To view her biography, please click on: Nalini's Biography.

May 13, 2008: 11:00AM PST, 1:00PM Central, 2:00pm EST.
Inside the Stack - Monitoring TCP/IP

This webcast will be a little different from the webcasts we usually do. We have had a number of people ask us to tell them about how our products work, so once a quarter, we will do a webcast on one of our products. The other webcasts will be technology webcasts as we usually do.

The first webcast will be on our flagship product: Inside the Stack. We will discuss:

• Connection monitoring
• Trending application usage
• Monitoring activity of business partners
• Finding tuning opportunities

Inside the Stack is the fundamental base for your TCP/IP monitoring needs. We will end with a live demo of many of the product features.

June 11, 2008: 11:00AM PST, 1:00PM Central, 2:00pm EST.
IPv6 Address Management

One of the new challenges with IPv6 is structuring addresses will be allocated in your enterprise. In IPv4, the variable length subnet masks (VLSM) is often used to allocate addresses to routers and links between routers. In IPv6, there is no such concept. Or is there? In IPv6, the prefix (/48, /56, etc) is often used. We need to learn to become quite familiar with the usage of the prefix and see how that may help us to manage our addresses.

This webcast will discuss:

• IPv6 prefixes
• How to get an IPv6 address from ARIN
• A simple addressing scheme
• Possible "gotchas" in address allocation

You may be interested in some of the webcasts we have given in the past. If you are interested in the foils and / or audio from these sessions, please email us and let us know what you would like. Audio is available for the November, December, and January webcasts.

September 12, 2006: 11:00AM PST, 1:00PM Central, 2:00pm EST, 7:00PM London.
Ten Commandments of TCP/IP Performance

The Ten Commandments of TCP/IP Performance are a distillation of hard-won experience. Monitoring and tuning TCP networks on the mainframe is complex for the basic reason that each network is a mixture of many applications and pieces of hardware. Each connection contains layers of protocols and subprotocols which must be decoded to make sense of the traffic patterns. Making sense of it all is the first step to tuning and improving performance.

This paper is available from the IBM website under z/OS Best Practices. To view the link, please go to: z/OS Best Practices . Of course, you may download the paper from our site by signing our guestbook at Guestbook

October 10, 2006: 11:00AM PST, 1:00PM Central, 2:00pm EST.
Hands on with IPv6

You know the world is moving to IPv6, but what is really involved? We will look at how to enable the z/OS implementation. As always, there is nothing like hands-on experience! We will look at trace packets on the IPv6 networks, both public and z/OS based.

We will look at:

• How has addressing changed?
• Categories of addresses, address states, address model
• Implementation of IPv6 on z/OS (dual mode stacks, migration)
• Problem determination in an IPv6 network (ICMPv6, SNMP, Netstat, SMF)
• Path MTU Discovery and Multicast Listener Discovery
• DNS and Resolver changes
• Troubleshooting IPv6
• Taking and reading an IPv6 packet trace
• Using new IPv6 Netstat commands

November 14, 2006: 11:00AM PST, 1:00PM Central, 2:00pm EST.
TCP/IP Response Time Monitoring for z/OS

Do you want to know how to get end-to-end response time for your TCP applications for z/OS AND the wide-area network? Wouldn't it be nice to break it out into CPU vs. network time?

In the first part of this session, we will show how you can get response time for various TCP applications on z/OS such as TN3270, CICS, FTP, and web server. We will show sample statistics gathered by the TCP Response Time Monitor product.

We will also discuss how to think about response time monitoring for Enterprise Extender. How do we define, match and break out a transaction into its components when so many headers are involved? We will again see if we can break out the time into host and network time, this time for packets flowing over HPR over UDP.

December 12, 2006: 11:00AM PST, 1:00PM Central, 2:00pm EST.
How Do TCP/IP Profile Parameters Impact Performance?

Do you know how to properly set the TCP profile parameters? These can impact the throughput and security of your TCP network. In this session, the speaker will discuss:

• Parameters which affect TCP, UDP, and IP
• How they impact performance
• What can go wrong?
• Case studies to illustrate settings
• Setting TCP parameters in other platforms such as Windows or Linux

We will end by discussing VTAM parameters specific to Enterprise Extender and how they may affect performance and overhead.

January 9, 2007: 11:00AM PST, 1:00PM Central, 2:00pm EST.
Enterprise Extender Trace Analysis for Dummies

Many companies are implementing Enterprise Extender. Diagnosing problems and reading a trace with EE packets is a challenge! There are now multiple headers involved - both the SNA, HPR, UDP, and IP. In this session, the speaker will discuss:

• EE trace headers
• How they impact performance
• Adaptive rate-based (ARB) headers and flow control
• ARB slowdown
• EE keep alive

February 6, 2007: 11:00AM PST, 1:00PM Central, 2:00pm EST.
TCP/IP Analysis for Dummies

This session is for the systems programmer who is beginning to dive into TCP/IP. When you understand what the TCP/IP packets and flow in a trace are, then you are really a diagnostician. With TCP/IP, there are protocols within protocols - IP, UDP, HTTP, LDAP, and many others. In this session, the speaker will discuss:

• TCP/IP headers
• Congestion control
• Connection startup / shutdown

We will conclude by reading a trace from Enterprise Extender with embedded HPR/UDP packets.

March 13, 2007: 11:00AM PST, 1:00PM Central, 2:00pm EST.
TCP/IP Network Health Check

Many companies are not optimizing their TCP/IP networks. This is a critical task and can save hard dollars in both CPU time taken by the stack and in the bytes transferred over the network. In our work, we have seen from 20% - 80% overhead at many companies which can be eliminated fairly easily.

• Unneeded traffic - where is it generated?
• Unnecessary TCP sessions - why?
• TCP errors which can be eliminated

We will conclude by looking at productivity on Enterprise Extender networks.

April 3, 2007: 11:00AM PST, 1:00PM Central, 2:00pm EST.
Network Cryptography for Dummies

Many companies are starting to use IPSec, SSL and other types of encryption and security protocols. To truly understand these protocols, fundamental concepts of cryptography such as public / private key encryption, cipher strengths, asymmetric and symmetric encryption are important.

• DES, 3DES, AES
• Asymmetric encryption / symmetric encryption
• Certificate authority
• Diffie-Hellman key exchange / groups
• Message authentication code (MAC)
• Message digest algorithm 5 (MD5)
• Rivest Shamir Adleman (RSA)
• Secure hash algorithm 1 (SHA1)
• Hashed message authentication codes (HMAC, HMAC MD5, HMAC_SHA)
• X.500 distinguished name
• X.509 digital certificate

We will also discuss key strengths and which encryption algorithms can be broken and how easily.

May 8, 2007: 11:00AM PST, 1:00PM Central, 2:00pm EST.
Inside the RU: Advanced Enterprise Extender Trace Analysis

Many companies are implementing Enterprise Extender. Diagnosing problems and reading a trace with EE packets is a challenge! Many of the important fields for directory search and topology updates are inside the SNA RU. In this session, the speaker will discuss:

• FM headers used in EE
• GDS variables used in EE
• Control vectors used in EE
• Sample Locates
• Types of directory search: broadcast, directed, one-hop

June 5, 2007: 11:00AM PST, 1:00PM Central, 2:00pm EST.
IPSec Implementation

IPSec is becoming the protocol of choice for end-to-end security. How does it really work? The implementation of IPSec on z/OS after version 1.7 requires implementation of Policy Agent, the Traffic Regulator Daemon, and the IKE daemon. We will look at how these tasks work together. We will do some problem diagnostics and tracing of IPSec sessions. The session will cover:

• Security associations (setup: manual, dynamic, modes)
• IP Authentication Header
• Internet Key Exchange (ISAKMP)
• Main and Quick modes
• Implementation of IPSec on z/OS

July 10, 2007: 11:00AM PST, 1:00PM Central, 2:00pm EST.
Introduction to ICMPv6

The American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) announced in May that applications which require 'large' blocks of contiguous numbers should use IPv6. ARIN is also considering a policy to encourage use of IPv6 where ever possible. It would seem wise to begin to understand this new protocol.

One of the major changes within IPv6 is for ICMP. ICMPv6 contains messages not just for error recovery but for informational exchange. In fact, the new Neighbor Discovery Protocol uses ICMPv6. The session will cover:

• New ICMPv6 message structure
• Neighbor Discovery Protocol
• Path MTU in IPv4 and IPv6

Aug 7, 2007: 11:00AM PST, 1:00PM Central, 2:00pm EST.
Topology Updates: Advanced Enterprise Extender Trace Analysis

Many companies are implementing Enterprise Extender. Diagnosing problems and reading a trace with EE packets is a challenge! One of the important functions to understand is topology updates. In this session, the speaker will discuss:

• Topology services
• Local and network topology databases
• When TDU's are sent
• TDU packet structure
• Control vectors and fields in a TDU

We will then spend time breaking out a TDU packet and the control vectors (TG characteristics, node characteristics, etc.) At the end of this session, you should feel quite comfortable with the important TDU packet!

September 11, 2007: 11:00AM PST, 1:00PM Central, 2:00pm EST.
Proactive Monitoring for TCP/IP

What should be monitored in real time to find if connections or applications are headed for trouble? This may be mainframe web applications, FTP or other critical applications which are currently experiencing problems, or be getting close to doing so.

In this session, we will discuss:

• Performance metrics to monitor
• Congestion window
• Round trip time
• Round trip variance
• Retransmissions
• Duplicate acknowledgments
• Bad status
• Hung connections
• Why each of these metrics is important
• How to set thresholds
• The complexities of baselining

October 2, 2007: 11:00AM PST, 1:00PM Central, 2:00pm EST.
VTAM / CSM Buffer Pools and TCP/IP

The VTAM buffer pools and Communication Storage Manager (CSM) pools are used by both VTAM and TCP/IP. How are they defined? Which buffer pools may impact TCP/IP performance? What happens when Enterprise Extender is used?

In this session, we will discuss:

• Function of VTAM and CSM buffer pools for TCP/IP
• Commands to monitor
• Some problem scenarios

November 6, 2007: 11:00AM PST, 1:00PM Central, 2:00pm EST.
Baselining and Security Alerting for TCP/IP

Earlier this year, we discussed what should be monitored in real time to find if connections or applications are headed for trouble. We also discussed the performance metrics to monitor:

• Congestion window
• Round trip time
• Round trip variance
• Retransmissions
• Duplicate acknowledgments
• Bad status
• Hung connections

In this session, we will discuss baselining for TCP/IP. Setting appropriate thresholds may be the most critical portion of this whole task. You may have 'Red letter days' in your industry. These are very high volume days. On such days, the thresholds should be different. In this session, we will discuss all the complexities of baselining and how to do this automatically.

We will end by discussing an interesting security requirement from the U.S. Federal Government's Office of Management and Budget. The memo OMB 06-16 states that mobile and remote access devices should be reauthenticated after 30 minutes of inactivity. We will discuss how this may be accomplished and some of the pitfalls. To view this memo, please go to: OMB 06-16.

January 15, 2008: 11:00AM PST, 1:00PM Central, 2:00pm EST.
Network Cryptography Implementations

More and more companies are wondering whether to implement IPsec for security. One of the most critical portions of IPsec is the initial negotiation - ISAKMP. As the migration to IPv6 begins, Cryptographically Generated Addresses (CGA) may be one of the ways to protect IPv6 addresses. Both IPsec negotiation and IPv6 rely on public / private key encryption. IPsec also uses Diffie-Hellman key exchange. How do these really work?

In this session, the speaker will explain:

• Asymmetric encryption / symmetric algorithms
• Public key / private key encryption
• Diffie-Hellman key exchange / groups
• ISAKMP phase 1 and phase 2 negotiation
• Packet flow for ISAKMP
• IPv6 Cryptographically Generated Addresses (CGA)

February 12, 2008: 11:00AM PST, 1:00PM Central, 2:00pm EST.
Transition to IPv6

The American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) announced in May, 2007 that ISPs should use IPv6. ARIN has also implemented a pricing policy to encourage use of IPv6 for ISPs. Microsoft Vista is enabled for IPv6 'out of the box'. The transition to IPv6 seems inevitable in the next few years. What transition techniques may be used for IPv6? What might the migration issues be?

In this session, the speaker will discuss:

• Dual stack mode (IPv6 / IPv4)
• Tunneling (Manual, GRE, GRE with IPSec, 6to4, Teredo)
• Translation (NAT-PT, SIIT)
• Application changes

March 11, 2008: 11:00AM PST, 1:00PM Central, 2:00pm EST.
Visual Diagnostic Language (VDL) for TCP/IP Trace Analysis

Reading and understanding a TCP/IP packet trace is difficult, even for diagnosticians with many years of experience. What if we could 'see' the trace flow in visual symbols? Finding a problem on the network is a matter of pattern analysis. Where does the good pattern fail? Is a bad pattern established? Humans are quite adept at pattern analysis. In particular, the part of the brain which does visual pattern analysis is far older than the part of the brain which analyzes written symbols such as numbers and text.

In this session, the speaker will show how to use the VDL for diagnosing and seeing the patterns for:

• Normal data flow
• TCP start up and shut down
• TCP errors (dup acks, out of sequence, fragments, retransmissions)
• Congestion window
• Timing problems

We expect that VDL will allow you to find the problem in a trace in far less time than the normal methods used today. We have applied for a patent for this technology.