Knowledge base
Master classes, practice assessments, interview questions, study materials and training videos — organised by topic.
Prepare for your first Mainframe interview with this free PDF featuring 150 questions and ready-to-speak answers covering JCL, COBOL, VSAM, DB2, and CICS. Designed for freshers and aspiring Mainframe professionals, this guide covers basic, intermediate, and scenario-based questions to strengthen your technical knowledge and boost interview confidence.
Open PDFLearn practical CICS administration through a workbook covering CICS region management, transaction and task monitoring, program and map availability, file and VSAM management, connections, security, and daily operational health checks. Understand transaction abends, high response times, file and connection failures, dependency troubleshooting, and controlled change management. Includes a practical incident scenario, operational checklists, incident worksheet, and knowledge check with answers.
Open PDFLearn practical CICS transaction design using COBOL through a customer account inquiry case study. Explore transaction flow, input validation, business logic, VSAM and DB2 data access, pseudocode development, error handling, and test planning. Includes practical test scenarios, AI-generated code validation techniques, a knowledge check, and a review checklist to strengthen transaction design and troubleshooting skills.
Open PDFExplore DB2 for z/OS system programming through a practical workbook covering subsystem architecture, MSTR and DBM1 address spaces, IRLM, DDF, BSDS, logs, catalog and directory. Learn operational readiness, startup and shutdown checks, production troubleshooting, active log utilisation, archive processing, distributed connectivity, lock contention, buffer pool pressure, and controlled change management. Includes a practical scenario, decision worksheet, knowledge check, and answer key.
Open PDFDevelop practical IBM MQ troubleshooting skills through a scenario-based workbook covering message flow, queue depth analysis, consumer status, channel connectivity, transmission queues, and incident diagnosis. Learn to use MQSC commands, investigate connection and authentication errors, assess safe recovery options, and preserve evidence before taking action. Includes practical exercises, a knowledge check, suggested answers, and an incident handover template
Open PDFLearn practical IMS Database Administration covering IMS DB architecture, hierarchical databases, DBD and PSB definitions, ACB/runtime resources, database data sets, RECON, IMS logs, image copies, and recovery assets. Understand database availability issues, application access failures, maintenance-related incidents, recovery readiness, and performance troubleshooting. Includes a practical case study, routine DBA health checks, controlled change and recovery checklist, incident worksheet, and knowledge check with answers.
Open PDFLearn IMS DB fundamentals with this comprehensive training resource covering database management concepts, hierarchical database structures, IMS terminology, physical and logical databases, IMS environments, access methods, control blocks, DL/I commands, database loading, retrieval and updates, COBOL programs with JCL, batch message processing, checkpoint and restart, variable-length segments, secondary indexes, and logical relationships.
Open PDFExplore practical mainframe modernization through a case study covering a legacy order processing system built with COBOL, DB2, CICS and JCL. Learn about incremental API-led modernization, evaluating trade-offs, using AI to understand legacy code, validating AI-generated insights, application discovery, risk assessment and modernization planning through practical checklists and a decision worksheet.
Open PDFLearn the fundamentals of SMP/E software maintenance and RACF security administration in z/OS environments. Explore CSI, SMP/E zones, SYSMOD, HOLDDATA, APPLY and ACCEPT workflows, RACF user and group profiles, resource protection, access authorities, privileged access, and auditing. Understand maintenance failures, dataset access issues, started-task security problems, and controlled change management. Includes a practical troubleshooting scenario, change-control checklist, operational worksheet, and knowledge check with answers.
Open PDFLearn practical z/OS storage administration covering DASD volumes, datasets, SMS concepts, storage groups, storage classes, management classes, and data classes. Understand daily storage health checks, dataset allocation failures, volume availability, capacity management, slow I/O troubleshooting, and ACS routine analysis. Includes a practical allocation failure scenario, controlled storage change checklist, incident worksheet, and knowledge check with answers.
Open PDFBuild practical z/OS batch troubleshooting skills with this workbook covering JCL and SDSF output investigation, job status and return codes, abends, JCL and security errors, identifying the first failing step, checking dependencies and partial data updates, and making safe rerun or escalation decisions. Includes a troubleshooting checklist, worked scenario, knowledge check, and incident handover template.
Open PDFCareer guidance, modernization strategy and hands-on tech tips.
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