VIP 8.0 provides full details for interfaces, applications, and connections at IPv6 addresses
Deb Hodson, 763-571-9000, sales@sdsusa.com.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – October 2, 2012 – VitalSigns for IP™ (VIP) version 8.0, available to customers on Sept. 27, fully supports the next generation of IP protocol. Preparing for the inevitable exhaustion of IPv4 addresses, VIP 8 has been enhanced to understand the multi-trillion address range of IPv6, and the power of z/OS to automatically define addresses for the IPv6 protocol.
VIP, part of the VitalSigns family of software tools from SDS, provides immediate, real-time monitoring of every resource on a z/OS TCP/IP network, including Sysplex Distributors, Enterprise Extender and HPR connections, file transfers, and MVS jobs and proprietary applications. Many of those resources are identified by their IP addresses, the common, four-number addresses – 50.78.229.209 – that are the internet equivalent of phone numbers.
But IPv4 addresses are nearly exhausted. There just aren’t enough of them for the world’s 7 billion people and all our desktops, laptops, tablets, ATMs, VOIPs, and miscellaneous twittery messages.
According to the Internet Society, the force behind World IPv6 Launch Day last June 8 (www.worldipv6launch.org), Asia ran out of IPv4 addresses a year ago last April. All of Europe’s addresses will be claimed by the end of this month. And North America has less than a year, till next June 13, before there are no old-style addresses to be had.
The answer is IP version 6, addresses built of as many as eight, four-digit, hexadecimal numbers—for about 340 trillion trillion trillion addresses (3.4 x 1038). IPv6 has been in the works since 1993. IBM’s z/OS Communication Server supported it in 2003, with version 1.5. On World IPv6 Launch Day, the organizations affirming that their systems now understand IPv6 included almost all the big names in networking: AOL, AT&T, Bing, Cisco, Comcast, Face book, Google, Mozilla, NASA, Netflix, Verizon, Wikipedia, Yahoo, YouTube…
z/OS networking has been quick to adopt the convenience of self-defining IPv6 addresses. A z/OS Communications Server can combine ID numbers from LANs, interfaces, and routers to automatically create a unique address for resources on z/OS systems.
And VIP can now show those unique, automatically generated addresses to z/OS system and network administrators, allowing them to get immediate, centralized understanding of network topology, along with providing historical reporting of network performance, and IPv6-aware tools for troubleshooting.
About Software Diversified Services
Founded in 1982, Software Diversified Services (SDS) is a Minnesota-based company that provides business software solutions to hundreds of customers worldwide, including many Global 500 companies. Current customers represent industries including banking, finance, insurance, retail and government. Rated No. 1 by the prestigious IBEX Bulletin, SDS is noted for its industry-leading software, documentation and technical support. For more information on Software Diversified Services and VitalSigns for IP, please visit our VIP product page.
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Phone: (763) 571-9000
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