Validating new releases in the mainframe SDLC isn’t just a technical step—it’s a critical risk management process. But without the right data, testing can become a major bottleneck. From regulatory requirements like ISO 27701 to the real-world challenges of building secure, production-like test data, our latest blog explores why effective test data management is essential—and how automation and data masking can modernize and accelerate the process.
If the label Big Iron fairly reflects the mainframe’s resilience and strength as a production engine, it also implies an unbending, inflexible environment. Is that fair? And if so, how can we flex the iron?
Gary Thornhill, PopUp founder and CEO, had the privilege of presenting a fully featured PopUp demo to a group of mainframe and tech enthusiasts at Tech Field Day at SHARE Kansas City, 2024.
The delegates came from a wide range of backgrounds including appdev, mainframe education, security, DevOps, mainframe services, and Open Mainframe Project.
“What is PopUp? Well, we can popup a full mainframe platform in under 10 minutes, in the cloud or on prem.
We are proud that PopUp runs on IBM zD&T under the covers – tried and true industry-leading z/OS virtualisation software.”
Welcome to the Wonderful World of PopUp Mainframe!
PopUp was born out of a direct need to provide customers with mainframe environments so they can action the mainframe transformations they desire.
PopUp is pipeline-ready, and can be fully administered in a distributed way, using APIs to spawn, clone, and tear down a PopUp just like other virtual machines.
Using PopUp to deploy and test code quickly, test the latest security features, meet regulatory requirements, and test upgrades of Z can liberate your teams to achieve their goals more quickly than before.
Modern mainframes are incredibly efficient, cost effective, and provide better per-core performance than the alternatives.* Migrating workloads away from the mainframe requires careful consideration.
Using PopUp to augment your physical mainframe by enabling faster, cheaper testing on ephemeral environments is a fast track to modernising your mainframe processes and continuing to reap the benefits of the physical mainframe.
Gary discussed the key features of PopUp. Some of the call out points are:
PopUp provides system and helper utilities. For example, to help automate archiving, and CPU utilisation monitoring to assist in capacity management.
We have extended the Delphix Continuous Compliance engine to enable masking of ANY mainframe data sourcein a consistent, robust fashion across the entire organisational data estate, maintaining referential integrity across all systems, whether they be mainframe or distributed.
Using PopUp & Delphix for Data masking
PopUp Integrates fully with Delphix to utilise the industry-leading data masking capabilities against mainframe data.
Data can be masked on the physical mainframe, or on the PopUp, depending on your needs. Then we use Delphix Continuous Data self-service portal to provision compliant copies.
“Being able to rewind a full production-like mainframe environment at the touch of a button is absolutely massive for productivity and cutting time-to-market.
Marty McFly would be right at home with the 4D mainframe. Think of it as the ‘undo’ button for a mainframe.”
PopUp is a great way to train people new to the mainframe, as PopUp is a disposable, completely isolated environment with zero risk to the physical mainframe – perfect for training.
“With PopUp everyone is welcome and able to be productive with tools of their choice.”
Use cases on the PopUp are only limited to your imagination
Just some use cases for a dedicated mainframe environment:
Development
Use with a desktop IDE
All aspects of Testing including Regression testing against mainframe
Software evaluation
R&D
Proof of concept development
Offshore or 3rd party environment
Training environment
Use of a mainframe data “gold copy” on demand across the enterprise
Checkpoint, forward and rewind data
What we’ve all been waiting for… the demo!
Gary’s demo covered:
Spinning up a PopUp Mainframe in the cloud through the Azure MarketPlace. The PopUp can be ready to go in 6-8 minutes
Deploying and configuring an application using a GitHub Actions pipeline (covering tasks which would usually be done by a sysprog, automated testing of the UI through Selenium)
Masking the sensitive data through Delphix Continuous Compliance
Creating the baseline ‘Gold copy’ PopUp containing the masked data and full application
Enabling easy creation of on-demand virtualized PopUp instances with fast, efficient checkpointing
Provisioning compliant dev environment through the Delphix self-service portal
Developer commits code change into Git, pipeline is kicked off to generate, test and deploy the change onto a PopUp, then do UI testing
Failure of automated UI testing
Rewinding the entire PopUp environment back to the previous version (not just the data, the entire app) through the self-service Delphix portal
How a developer can understand what went wrong and fix it without any environment overheads
Some great questions from the audience…
Cameron asked if we need to install DB2. Answer: No, DB2, CICS, MQ, IMS and other apps come out of the box with PopUp and are available in 10 minutes.
Mark asked if there is an option for customers who can’t move unmasked data off the mainframe. Answer: Yes, masking can be done on the physical mainframe, and only the masked data ported onto the PopUp.
“Using PopUp allows organisations to easily start doing DevOps and automation on the mainframe in exactly the same way they do for their distributed applications today.”
Thanks to all the fabulous delegates who attended and joined in the conversation with energy and insight.
What a great experience! Thanks to the Tech Field Day team, in particular Stephen Foskett, for running such a great session.
We are very proud to announce that PopUp Mainframe has been awarded Highly Commended in the category ‘DevOps Tool/Product of the Year’ at the DevOps Excellence Awards 2024.
Gary Thornhill, PopUp founder, at the awards ceremony
We are thrilled to be recognised alongside some well-established players in the DevOps space.
For many organisations, mainframe is often the last piece to achieve automation. Most businesses have established automation and DevOps ways of working for the distributed teams, but haven’t managed to apply these to the mainframe areas yet.
Adopting DevOps for the mainframe poses some unique challenges. These include a lack of dev and test environments in which to trial automation, new ways of working and new tools, as well as lack of innovation opportunity. Compounding this, there is a skills shortage in mainframe and sometimes resistance to change.
At PopUp, mainframe modernisation and mainframe DevOps is at the heart of everything we do.
Our mission is to empower mainframe businesses to deliver changes faster, cheaper and better with on-demand environments for dev and test. We see this as a necessary pre-requisite for organisations to move into this final ‘Automation & DevOps frontier’ (where ALL teams, including mainframe, can embrace automation and DevOps practices), and truly achieve their agility aspirations at all levels.
PopUp enables customers to take mainframe on their DevOps journey by creating fully functioning z/OS instances on-demand, on-prem or in the cloud, and controlling them through pipelines. This overcomes dev and test mainframe unavailability – the number one blocker to mainframe DevOps.
PopUp liberates mainframe teams, enabling automation, DevOps innovation and continuous improvement with no risk to the physical mainframe.
PopUp helps fast track DevOps initiatives in the following ways:
Aiding the implementation of automation and pipelines (e.g. with BMC tooling pre-installed on a PopUp)
Continuously improving ways of working and increasing collaboration
Helping to create real, lasting cultural change
Increasing productivity by reducing wait times
Modern tools boost the productivity of all team members
A catalyst for mainframe innovation and fast feedback
PopUp also provides additional features to boost your DevOps journey which are not available on the physical mainframe. For example, PopUp can be replicated to create multiple z/OS clones including applications and data, and mainframe instances can be deployed and torn down using APIs or pipelines. In conjunction with Delphix, mainframe instances can be bookmarked at any stage, then they can be rewound or fast forwarded to the snapshot using a self-service portal.
Curious to know more about DevOps for the mainframe, how ephemeral mainframe instances can accelerate your projects, or automating your mainframe processes? Contact us.
At PopUp, we believe mainframe can and should be for everyone.
Let’s start this post with a definition.
‘Old School’ Mainframe Engineers: People who may have been working on the mainframe for many years who are comfortable with green screen and traditional ways of working.
‘New School’ Mainframe Engineers: The next generation of people who want to utilise modern tooling and work in collaborative agile ways.
Of course the situation is not black and white, and there are many mainframe engineers who fall somewhere between these two groups. But these phrases will be helpful for discussion.
The ‘New School’ perspective on the mainframe
For some ‘new schoolers’, mainframe is seen as an old, outdated technology which is not required in the modern world. They may also think that a career in mainframe is not a wise choice due to the perception of mainframe usage reducing, therefore providing less opportunity to grow and develop new skills. However this is far from the truth of the situation.
The results from the recent 2023 BMC Mainframe Survey Report tell us that year on year, more and more people working in mainframe, and particularly at the executive level, believe in the mainframe’s ability to grow and attract new workloads. This perception is growing, and reflects a steady rise in data volumes and workloads on the mainframe in recent years.
Mind the Skills Gap
Unfortunately, we are in a situation where many (‘old school’) mainframe developers are retiring from the workforce leaving behind a workforce skills gap, and in many cases, extensive and difficult-to-support code libraries.
Trusty ISPF!
To address this skills shortage, companies need to attract the next generation of mainframers (‘new schoolers’) to their teams. To be attractive, organisations must provide modern mainframe development tools and embrace modern ways of working (which are usually appealing to ‘new schoolers’). Although many people love trusty ISPF, it’s just not sexy!
‘New schoolers’ need to see that mainframe is a dynamic, relevant platform which is here to stay for the long term, with a wide enough scope to sustain a long career.
For new hires to be effective, ‘old schoolers’ and ‘new schoolers’ need to work side by side collaboratively and productively on the same projects. Due to the different working styles and expectations, some organisations are struggling to get these groups of people to work effectively together.
It doesn’t matter if you’re ‘old school’, ‘new school’ or somewhere in between, PopUp can help!
PopUp Mainframe is a z/OS virtual instance running real z/OS code for Dev and Test, identical to a physical mainframe. PopUp comes packaged as a fully featured, optimized virtual machine image. It runs on any enterprise x86 hardware you choose – on prem or in the cloud.
PopUp helps attract ‘new schoolers’ to your organisation, while supporting ‘new schoolers’ and ‘old schoolers’ to work together and improving team productivity. It does this in many ways:
Modern IDE: BMC AMI DevX Workbench
With PopUp, ‘new schoolers’ can easily use automated pipelines and APIs. PopUp also makes it easy for teams to adopt modern ways of working introduce automation pipelines and start using git. This is very attractive for ‘new schoolers’ and may aid recruitment.
‘New schoolers’ will be at home using a PopUp, as PopUp ships with modern tools already installed set up and ready to go (meaning nothing needs to be installed on the physical mainframe). ‘New schoolers’ can use IDEs which provide remote debug and editing, code assist and more.
Using PopUp, ‘old schoolers’ are free to use green screen and traditional mainframe tools, which look exactly the same on a PopUp as they do on a mainframe (since ZD&T is a hardware emulator and emulates the Z hardware).
PopUp levels the playing field for ‘old schoolers’ and ‘new schoolers’ by offering a range of tools with which to perform development activities and enabling each team member to choose which tools they are most comfortable with (while working side-by-side on the same projects).
This strategy of providing a range of tools to team members and letting them choose which ones they are most comfortable with also brings other benefits. It supports ‘old schoolers’ to adopt new ways of working and new tools at their own pace. It is likely to improve job satisfaction as team members have some autonomy about their tool usage.
Organisations can recruit new team members who prefer ‘old school’ ways of working, ‘new school’, and anything in between. New hires will be quickly productive either way.
Together we all can (let’s be confident!) … will… change the perception of mainframe as a legacy technology.
An Example
One of our customers, a pensions company, supported their team members (which consisted of ‘old schoolers’, ‘new schoolers’ and some people in between) to transition from green screen to modern mainframe tools in a phased approach. They did this in small groups, by giving each person a PopUp and supporting them to use modern mainframe tools when each person was ready – at their own pace and comfort level. This approach was driven by empathy and resulted in a very successful project and productive team.
As this customer said,
“From going from a green screen, to having an IDE…that’s just a complete game changer.”
If you are curious to know more about how PopUp can support your mainframe modernisation goals, contact us today.
In IT, mainframe is often the last piece to achieve automation. Many organisations have established automation and DevOps ways of working for the distributed teams, but haven’t managed to apply this to the mainframe areas yet.
As we see it, the main challenges in adopting DevOps for mainframe are:
Lack of dev and test environments in which to trial automation, new ways of working and new tools.
Culture, mindset, and ways of working changes (and ensuring those are sustained in the long term).
Inability to innovate due to locked down systems and timeboxed access to the physical mainframe.
Governance processes which are entrenched and inflexible.
Mainframe skills shortage and difficulty attracting new joiners.
Create a right-sized virtual z/OS instance with the right data and applications to suit the use case (not just a full copy of the LPAR).
We developed PopUp to help solve some of these pressing business problems.
At PopUp, our mission is to empower mainframe businesses to deliver changes faster, cheaper and better with on-demand environments for dev and test. We see this as a necessary pre-requisite for organisations to move into this final ‘DevOps frontier’ (where ALL teams, including mainframe, can embrace DevOps). This is necessary for businesses to truly achieve their agility aspirations at all levels of the business.
How does PopUp fast track mainframe DevOps initiatives?
PopUp enables an organisation’s mainframe DevOps initiatives to take off, in a number of ways. PopUp enables companies to eat the elephant of mainframe DevOps by starting small and making progress quickly.
A. Pipelines & Automation
Automation and pipelines are a must for any DevOps journey. PopUp aids the implementation of automation and pipelines by:
Enabling users to spin up and manage fully functioning z/OS instances through a pipeline via RESTful APIs.
Making it easy to align mainframe pipelines with pipelines for distributed systems.
Providing mainframe teams with automation tools pre-installed and pre-configured on the PopUp.
Using the built-in test automation tools, developers can write unit tests and run them through automation in a PopUp.
Providing test automation tools which can be used to build a full regression test pack.
Making it easy to include code validation in pipelines.
Integrating out of the box with Git.
B. Increase Productivity by Giving Developers Mainframe On-Demand
The main bottleneck in mainframe delivery is lack of mainframe environments. This causes a huge knock-on effect when teams have limited slots on the physical mainframe, and have to schedule those far in advance. PopUp delivers z/OS environment capacity to teams at the speed its needed. This newfound availability of mainframe instances in turn enables fundamental changes to the teams’ ways of working.
Team members no longer need to wait days or weeks for their slot on the mainframe, instead they can do their work as needed. Once the biggest blocker is removed, wait times and idle time are reduced through every stage in the delivery process. This has a massive impact on productivity, as well as team satisfaction.
C. Modern tools boost the productivity of all team members
There are more and more tools available which allow developers to interact with mainframe systems without ever logging into a mainframe green screen. Modern mainframe tools provide a host of benefits including intuitive, easy-to-use interfaces, automatic code completion and syntax checks, debug tools, automation, and instant feedback.
However, it’s not always easy to adopt modern tools on the physical mainframe. On PopUp you are free to install or use any modern mainframe tools you wish and experiment in an isolated, completely risk-free environment. Mainframe teams can then realise the benefits of modern mainframe tools with no risk to the physical mainframe. Modern tools not only improve productivity of new joiners (who can be very productive using intuitive tooling even without prior mainframe experience), but vastly increase the productivity of existing team members too, who experience the same benefits.
D. DevOps with Compliant Data
One challenging element of ephemeral environments is getting the right data. Using PopUp in combination with Delphix, production data can be masked and moved onto the PopUp. This gives developers and testers the ability to test against fully compliant production-like data. The benefit of using prod-like data for testing is hard to overstate – it facilitates better test scenario creation and increased test coverage.
Another powerful feature of Delphix & PopUp is creating a Gold Copy image which includes masked data. This Gold Copy can be cloned as needed to provide a full z/OS instance with compliant data, ready to go. The test data can also be refreshed easily, ensuring that dev teams always have recent, prod-like, compliant data.
E. PopUp is a catalyst for mainframe innovation and fast feedback!
PopUp brings increased opportunity for innovation to mainframe teams since they can work and experiment in 100% safe, disposable environments. In a risk-free mainframe sandbox, you can be confident in experimenting with new capabilities which cannot be risked on the physical mainframe. This gives the opportunity for fast feedback on new tools and capabilities without needing to install anything on the physical mainframe.
Using Delphix alongside PopUp allows users to provision copies/clones of a PopUp, snapshot the instance during testing, then just rewind / forward-wind to any of the snapshots as needed. There is no need to worry about breaking the PopUp. This gives app teams tremendous flexibility and independence to develop, test and deploy changes faster.
F. Ready-made cloud z/OS environments
PopUp is available to buy directly through Azure MarketPlace and can be up and running in less than an hour. This provides near-instant z/OS compute capability in the cloud to service DevOps initiatives.
PopUp is also compatible with other cloud environments.
G. Accelerate your DevOps journey with new talent
Skills shortage is a big challenge in the mainframe space and can derail DevOps initiatives. Mainframe businesses need to attract a new generation of mainframe engineers, who usually want to use cutting-edge mainframe tooling, like desktop IDEs and automation tools.
Modern mainframe tools come out of the box with PopUp. So PopUp simultaneously appeals to traditional mainframe engineers who may prefer green screen (and enjoy the ability to spin up their own mainframe environments on-demand), as well as new mainframe engineers who prefer modern tools. Using PopUp, you can hire people with no green screen experience and be confident that they will still be able to integrate with and develop mainframe systems.
H. PopUp – Git integration is a cinch
Most DevOps initiatives rely heavily on modern version control tools. Git is regarded by many as the best, easiest to use, and the most effective one available and it’s everywhere in the world of distributed applications – but not yet for mainframe. PopUp enables Git integration with mainframe source out of the box, giving yet another boost on your DevOps journey.
How does PopUp help to create real, lasting DevOps cultural change?
This is often one of the trickiest parts of a DevOps transformation journey. It can be particularly difficult in mainframe teams which may have been operating in similar ways for decades and have no appetite to change.
It’s easier to make incremental cultural changes than forcing a completely new way of working in one go. PopUp provides the vehicle for this as users can adopt PopUp at their own pace alongside their existing ways of working on the physical mainframe.
PopUp empowers users as they benefit from the self-service capability, and that results in appreciation and uptake from the mainframe teams.
PopUp gives extra features to boost you on your DevOps journey
One amazingly powerful thing about PopUp is that it provides capabilities which physical mainframes cannot. This opens the door for deeper innovation and new working practices:
Replicate PopUps to create multiple z/OS clones including applications and data
Deploy and tear down mainframe instances using APIs or pipelines
Baseline and version PopUp instances
Take snapshots of PopUp throughout projects using Delphix
Return to a baseline (rewind), and fast-forward to snapshots
Switch a PopUp off when it is no longer needed. When it is brought up again it is exactly as it was – there are no ongoing maintenance costs as you have for a physical mainframe.
Are you wondering how to expose your z/OS applications and data to the cloud, mobile, or the web?
Then z/OS Connect and Popup Mainframe might be the answer you are looking for.
PopUp Mainframe ships with IBM z/OS Connect out of the box, which enables you to create OpenAPI-compliant, consumable APIs in no time. You can develop and test the APIs on your PopUp with zero impact on your physical mainframe or Business-as-Usual applications.
IBM z/OS Connect can help with…
1. Integration with Modern Applications
Business Value: Allows organizations to integrate their mainframe applications with modern cloud and mobile applications.
Why It Matters: This integration enables a seamless user experience across various platforms, supporting digital transformation efforts and meeting the expectations of modern users.
2. API-Driven Development
Business Value: Enables organizations to adopt an API-driven development approach for mainframe services.
Why It Matters: APIs provide a standardized and flexible way to expose and consume services, fostering agility, collaboration, and innovation in application development.
3. Access to Mainframe Assets
Business Value: Extends the reach of mainframe assets and data to a broader range of applications and users.
Why It Matters: Organizations can leverage their existing mainframe investments, data, and business logic to support new business initiatives, rather than undergoing costly and time-consuming migrations.
4. Enhanced Developer Productivity
Business Value: Provides developer-friendly tools and resources for creating, testing, and deploying APIs.
Why It Matters: Improves developer productivity and accelerates the development cycle, reducing time-to-market for new applications and features.
5. Security and Compliance
Business Value: Ensures secure communication and integrates with mainframe security features.
Why It Matters: Maintains the integrity and confidentiality of sensitive data, meeting regulatory compliance requirements and instilling confidence in customers and stakeholders.
6. Cost Efficiency
Business Value: Allows organizations to modernise existing applications without the need for a complete overhaul.
Why It Matters: Minimizes the cost and risk associated with migrating away from mainframe systems, while still enabling the use of mainframe assets in modern ways.
7. Operational Efficiency
Business Value: Streamlines the process of exposing and consuming mainframe services through RESTful APIs.
Why It Matters: Improves operational efficiency by simplifying integration tasks, reducing manual effort, and promoting consistency in the development process.
8. Analytics and Monitoring
Business Value: Provides insights into API usage and performance through monitoring and analytics features.
Why It Matters: Enables organizations to optimize resource allocation, identify bottlenecks, and ensure that APIs are meeting performance expectations.
9. Support for Digital Initiatives
Business Value: Facilitates the incorporation of mainframe assets into broader digital initiatives.
Why It Matters: Supports the organization’s ability to innovate, respond to market changes, and stay competitive in the digital landscape.
IBM z/OS Connect delivers business value by promoting integration, modernisation, efficiency, and security in the context of mainframe systems. It allows organizations to leverage their existing investments while embracing the opportunities presented by modern tools and development practices.
We are very proud to announce that PopUp Mainframe has been listed as a finalist in 2 categories at the DevOps Dozen Awards 2023!
This recognition is particularly special to us as we are a very small, very young company, competing against some established players in the mainframe space.
The UK PopUp team (or “PopStars” as we call ourselves) attended the GSE conference at Whittlebury Park from 30th Oct – 2nd Nov 2023. It was a very well-attended event, brimming with mainframe enthusiasts, and copious deep discussions on all aspects of mainframe.
Thank you to the organisers, it was well run and enjoyed by all.
Legal & General – PopUp Mainframe driving Pensions Application Transformation
There were many highs across the four day event – the best was probably our founder, Gary Thornhill, joining one of our customers on stage to present their story.
Vamsi Bhogireddy and Javeed Miyandad from L&G shared how they transformed their pensions application with the developer experience at the heart of the project.
Using PopUp Mainframe to provide ephemeral z/OS instances in Azure, they reduced development cycle times with purpose-built, pre-configured tooling, driving pipeline automation and agility… whilst increasing the quality of deliverables.
What else we got up to
The team were joined by a brand new addition to the PopUp team – ‘mini PopStars’ in the form of lego minifigures.
The ‘mini PopStars’ got to meet their idol – the human-sized lego z16.
The PopUp team got up close and personal with a Formula 1 car.
We even let the ‘mini PopStars’ have a go at driving!
Our PopUp pants were a big hit and were snapped up quickly. If you missed out on a pair this time, come along to a future event for some more unique merchandise.
GSE attendees were lucky to be the first people to get their hands on our brand new PopUp Handbook.
The Handbook is your guide to getting the most from PopUp on your mainframe modernisation journey. It covers the future of mainframe, how to eat the elephant of mainframe modernisation, shift left testing, increasing agility, accelerating batch testing and many more topics.
Read The PopUp Handbook here. If you want your own copy, join us at one of our upcoming events.
Git is everywhere in the world of distributed applications, but not yet for mainframe.
Should you consider Git for your mainframe? Why?
Git is excellent at facilitating and accelerating collaboration for software teams. People with a distributed background already know this, but some of us are resisting a bit in the mainframe world.
Git is a distributed version control system which can store not just code, but nearly everything related to software development – including test packs, data, documentation, configuration and more. It is a common repository which can be shared across teams. This helps to break down silos between teams, as it means that everyone can access what they need and work together more effectively.
Why embrace Git?
Work with teams more easily as you can simply give them access to see the source code for your projects that they need to see. Collaboration is not shut down like it is when they don’t have a hope of getting access to your code.
When a change is made to part of your system which impacts another system, there is no need to send the edited code/new specifications across to other teams. Instead, you can inform them that there has been a change, share a link to where the new version is in Git, and they immediately have visibility. Pipelines can be shared between teams so when Team 1 edits an artefact e.g. copybook, Team 2’s API can be automatically rebuilt with the updated version.
Git liberates developers to work in a more agile way which results in changes being released faster. For example, using Feature Branches each person can perform their work at their own pace without affecting anyone else, and merge it to the Main Branch when its ready. This encourages small and frequent code check ins and ultimately a more agile way of working.
Git is the standard for version control across industries and systems. Even if your existing mainframe team members need upskilling to use Git, new joiners to your team will likely already have the skills and be productive quickly. Git (as well as the agile processes Git enables) can also be an attractive pull for people to join your company as Git skills will be key for most developers in future.
Git works extremely well with continuous integration (CI) and continuous delivery (CD) pipelines. Git integrates by default with all CI and CD tools, which enables you to build mature automation and streamline your entire SDLC. Pipelines provide consistency and traceability, ensuring that every piece of code goes through the same rigorous validation and quality checks. For example, your pipeline could include mandatory code scanning for security standards.
Automate testing for higher quality changes. Streamline processes by creating automated test packs for unit as well as system and integration testing, which are associated with the code and run in pipelines. Test packs can be stored in Git alongside the code so they are always available and its easy to keep them in sync. Once you have completed your development, you can kick off an automated pipeline to do testing and deploy to the next environment. No need for slow, error-prone, manual testing.
Reduce handovers. No need to create a ticket to another team since the automated pipeline does the build, testing and deployment. There is no information lost/misunderstood, and no time wasted on ticket systems/calls to discuss the work/waiting for another team to be ready.
Empower the dev team to make infrastructure changes. No need to raise a ticket and wait on another team. For example, if you need to make a database change, add the DDL scripts to your Git repo and it will be included in the pipeline, tested and deployed. Terraform patterns and other infrastructure definitions can be incorporated into a pipeline.
Since Git is standard across most platforms, third party products are increasingly providing Git integration out of the box. This reduces the overheads in setting up a new system for your team.
Git is by no means the only distributed version control system available, but Git is regarding by many as the best, easiest to use, and the most effective.
If you want to talk about how to migrate from your existing SCM to Git, how Git can boost your dev and test practices, and hear some client stories, contact us.
At PopUp, mainframe modernisation and mainframe DevOps is at the heart of everything we do.
A. Pipelines & Automation
C. Modern tools boost the productivity of all team members
D. DevOps with Compliant Data
E. PopUp is a catalyst for mainframe innovation and fast feedback!
F. Ready-made cloud z/OS environments
G. Accelerate your DevOps journey with new talent
H. PopUp – Git integration is a cinch
The UK PopUp team (or “PopStars” as we call ourselves) attended the GSE conference at Whittlebury Park from 30th Oct – 2nd Nov 2023. It was a very well-attended event, brimming with mainframe enthusiasts, and copious deep discussions on all aspects of mainframe.
Vamsi Bhogireddy and Javeed Miyandad from L&G shared how they transformed their pensions application with the developer experience at the heart of the project.
Using PopUp Mainframe to provide ephemeral z/OS instances in Azure, they reduced development cycle times with purpose-built, pre-configured tooling, driving pipeline automation and agility… whilst increasing the quality of deliverables.
GSE attendees were lucky to be the first people to get their hands on our brand new PopUp Handbook.
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