IBM Semeru Runtimes on z17 delivers up to 14% better average throughput on z/OS ³

Java application benchmarks on z/OS can achieve an average throughput improvement of up to 14% when running with IBM Semeru Runtime 17.0.15 on IBM z17 as compared to IBM Semeru Runtime 11.0.15 on similarly configured IBM z16.³  With the Java Virtual Machine’s (JVM) ability to detect and optimize for the host hardware, Java workloads can take advantage of the performance capabilities of IBM z17 without any application changes. This accelerates time-to-value of your hardware investments, while minimizing development and testing efforts.

IBM z17 support is planned to be released under the upcoming IBM Semeru Runtimes and IBM SDK for Java releases* for both z/OS and Linux on IBM Z:

• IBM Semeru Runtimes 21.0.7
• IBM Semeru Runtimes 17.0.15
• IBM Semeru Runtimes 11.0.27
• IBM SDK, Java Technology Edition, 8 SR8 FP45

Key enhancements and capabilities delivered in IBM Semeru Runtimes SDK include:

General Performance Improvements:

IBM Semeru Runtimes will transparently leverage 22 new IBM z17 hardware instructions to deliver better performance for your Java workloads. These instructions allow us to reduce pathlength for common code patterns found in applications like array accesses, bit manipulation (blend / extract), vector operations and more. In conjunction with Java Virtual Machine (JVM) optimization enhancements, we have observed the following improvements for WebSphere Liberty. The Daytrader 8 benchmark, running on WebSphere Liberty with SSL communication, can achieve up to 45% throughput improvement without Session Caching, and up to 12% throughput improvement with Session Caching, when running on z/OS with IBM Semeru Runtime 17.0.15 on IBM z17 as compared to Semeru Runtime 11.0.15 on similarly configured IBM z16.⁴

COBOL to Java Performance Enhancements:

Java is an important target for COBOL modernization efforts.

The overhead to access and operate against COBOL copybook data and its Binary Coded Decimal datatypes (e.g. Packed Decimals or Zoned Decimals) efficiently in Java is key to performance. A key technology to improve Binary Coded Decimal (BCD) operation is the Data Access Accelerator library shipped with IBM Semeru Runtimes SDKs, which provides Java APIs to operate against BCD datatypes. When running on the IBM Z platform, the JVM will utilize the hardware instructions to accelerate such operations, like in COBOL compiled code.

In IBM Semeru Runtimes 21.0.8, 17.0.15 and 11.0.27, a new class and API com/ibm/dataaccess/ExternalDecimal.checkExternalDecimal(..) was added to enable Java developers to validate the correctness of External Decimals, a.k.a. Zoned Decimals. This API will map to the new IBM z17 VECTOR TEST ZONED instruction to provide an low overhead validation of your External Decimals input.

JZOS Medicare Record benchmark can achieve up to a 44% improvement in throughput processing 250 million records when running on z/OS with IBM Semeru Runtime 17.0.15 on IBM z17 as compared to Semeru Runtime 11.0.15 on similarly configured IBM z16.⁵ This application models COBOL copybooks using the JZOS Fields API.

Spring Boot Performance Enhancements:

Spring Boot is very popular among Java developers, due to the improved productivity that is a consequence of the opinionated approach to various common tasks. Spring Petclinic, a Spring Boot application, can achieve up to 19% throughput improvement and up to 25% faster startup time when running on z/OS with IBM Semeru Runtime 17.0.15 with IBM WebSphere Liberty 24.0.0.12 on IBM z17 compared with IBM Semeru Runtime 17.0.7 with IBM WebSphere Liberty 23.0.0.9 on similarly configured IBM z16.⁶

Throughput Improvements:

Startup Improvements:

InstantOn:

With Java application styles spanning traditional monoliths to microservices and even serverless applications being provisioned in containers on-demand, fast application startup is a key factor in achieving high elasticity, responsiveness, and cost efficiency. Built upon Linux’s CRIU technology, Semeru InstantOn technology on Linux on IBM Z aims to reduce start-up time for Java applications by providing a seamless checkpoint / restore solution for developers. By baking a snapshot of your JVM processes into your containerized application image, the JVM processes can be quickly restored from the checkpoint upon deployment. On Linux® on IBM z17, enabling the InstantOn feature in OpenLiberty 24.0.0.12 with IBM Semeru Runtime 21.0.7 provides an average of up to 6.9 times faster startup time compared to without it.⁷  Besides startup time improvements, the InstantOn feature still allows for full Java language support, high throughput, low memory footprint, along with the use of existing developer tooling. The following chart compares the start-up times using default Java options vs InstantOn technology, for a variety of Open Liberty applications measured with IBM Semeru Runtimes 21.0.7 and Open Liberty 24.0.0.12 on IBM z17:

For more information on InstantOn, please visit: https://eclipse.dev/openj9/docs/criusupport/. For more information of using InstantOn with Open Liberty, please visit: https://openliberty.io/docs/latest/instanton.html. InstantOn technology is not currently available on z/OS.

Cryptography Enhancements:

Cryptography is a cornerstone to building secure Java applications. The security providers implemented in IBM Semeru Runtimes SDKs are optimized to support the latest cryptographic algorithms, and use the latest IBM Z hardware acceleration for performance. IBM Semeru Runtimes leverages new hardware acceleration in IBM z17 for the HMAC algorithm, used to verify the integrity and authenticity of encrypted messages. With IBM z17 acceleration, perform up to 3.4x more HMAC operations per second on z/OS with IBM Semeru Runtime 17.0.15 on IBM z17 as compared to a similarly configured IBM z16.⁸

Beyond standard algorithms, IBM Semeru Runtime Certified Edition for z/OS, version 17.0.15, and 21.0.7, also introduces post-quantum cryptography support on IBM z17 for Java applications through the NIST standardized algorithms: Module Lattice – Key Encapsulation Mechanism (ML-KEM) and Module Lattice – Digital Signature Algorithm (ML-DSA). ML-KEM algorithm can be used in key exchange and key establishment protocols. ML-DSA keys can be used for digital signature generation and verification. This support requires CEX8S coprocessor as minimum cryptographic hardware and is available through IBMJCECCA security provider in IBM Semeru Runtime Certified Edition for z/OS, Version 17, and 21.

Industry-Standard Monitoring and Observability:

IBM Semeru Runtime Certified Edition for z/OS introduces JDK Flight Recorder (JFR) support to provide low-overhead and high-resolution telemetry for Java on z/OS applications. This support provides data in an industry accepted format consumable by popular Java community monitoring libraries.⁹ Across a variety of Java workloads, the overhead of enabling recording of JFR data with the default JFR profile was measured to be less than 2%.

Additionally, the JFR data can be analyzed with the JDK Mission Control (JMC) visualization tools to provide deep insights for continuous monitoring, performance tuning, troubleshooting of Java workloads. For example, the following JDK Mission Control screenshot is a view of the Method Profiling information collected with IBM Semeru Runtime 17.0.15 on z/OS running on IBM z17. The method profiling data, along with the flame graph, allow users to identify the frequently executed Java methods, along with the code paths involved.

Besides method profiling, the initial JFR support in IBM Semeru Runtimes includes telemetry on Java threads, class loading activity, CPU and memory usage, system properties, environment variables and JVM internals. Please refer to the IBM Semeru Runtimes documentation for the complete set of supported features.

How to get IBM Semeru Runtimes?

Take advantage of the upcoming releases of IBM Semeru Runtimes to get the maximum out of IBM z17 for your Java workloads. For z/OS, IBM Semeru Runtime Certified Edition for z/OS releases are available for zero license charge through Shopz, or you can download the non-SMP/E Pax versions. The subscription and service number is 5655-I48. For Linux on IBM Z, IBM Semeru Runtime Open Edition and Certified Edition are available from here.

(*) Disclaimers:

1. All statements regarding IBM's future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice, and represent goals and objectives only.

2. Performance results shared are based on measurements using standard IBM benchmarks in a controlled environment. Results may vary.

3. Performance results based on IBM internal tests comparing the latest IBM Semeru Runtimes 17.0.15.0 on IBM z17 vs then current Semeru Runtimes 11.0.15.0 on IBM z16 when originally released. The geometric mean was calculated based on tests running multiple Java Store Inventory Point-of-Sale configurations, GZIP based compression benchmarks, benchmark based on JZOS Medicare Record, DaCapo benchmark suite and Liberty Daytrader running both SSL and No SSL Scenarios. Liberty Daytrader used IBM Liberty 24.0.0.12, Db2v13 as a data store, and JMETER to drive the workload with both SSL Session Reuse and SSL Session No Reuse scenarios. For all measurements, z/OS 3.1 was used.

4. Performance results based on Liberty DayTrader 8 scenarios with and without SSL. For DayTrader measurements, IBM WebSphere Liberty v24.0.0.12 and Db2 v13 on z/OS were used and Apache JMeter was used to drive the workload. Improvements are derived from a combination of hardware and general JVM optimizations. For all measurements, z/OS 3.1 was used. Measurements were run on a similarly configured IBM z17 ME1 and IBM z16 A01. Results may vary.

5. Performance results derived from a benchmark based on JZOS Medicare Record, which models a COBOL copybook using the JZOS Fields APIs. Improvements are derived from a combination of hardware and general JVM optimizations. For all measurements, z/OS 3.1 was used. Measurements were run on IBM z17 ME1 and IBM z16 A01. Results may vary.

6.Performance results collected using Springboot-3.4.0 based Spring Petclinic application. Startup time is measured from the time the Liberty server startup is initiated to the time the server is ready to accept requests, as denoted by the message "The <server name> server is ready to run a smarter planet." For the Start-up time measurements, in both configurations, JVM Options -Xmx1024m -Xms1024m -Xshareclasses -Xscmx128m were used. For throughput measurement, JMeter was used to drive the workload and JVM Options -Xmx1024m -Xms1024m -Xshareclasses were used for Liberty Server. Measurements were run on similarly configured IBM z17 ME1 and IBM z16 A01. Results may vary. 

7. For all runs, UBI 9 based container images were built using were using Open Liberty 24.0.0.12 and IBM Semeru Runtime 21.0.7. All measurements were conducted using unprivileged containers. All measurements were done on the system Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.5 running on IBM z17 ME1 with 4 IFL processors (SMT Enabled) with 250 GB Central Storage. Results may vary.

8. Performance results derived from the Geomean of 5 iterations of IBM internal microbenchmark scenarios that drives HmacSHA256 operations of various payloads and thread sizes using the OpenJCEPlus security provider. For this set of measurements, we ran with 16 byte and 512 byte payload sizes, with 1 thread and 8 threads. For all measurements, z/OS 3.1 was used. Measurements were run on a similarly configured IBM z17 ME1 and IBM z16 A01. Results may vary.

9. The initial JFR support in IBM Semeru Runtime Certified Edition for z/OS includes telemetry on Java threads, method profiling, class loading activity, CPU and memory usage, system properties, environment variables and JVM internals. Please refer to the IBM Semeru Runtime Certified Edition for z/OS documentation for the complete set of supported features. Across various workloads, the overhead of enabling JFR recording was measured to have less than 2% overhead using IBM Semeru Runtime Certified Edition for z/OS 17.0.15 running on IBM z17 ME1 with z/OS 3.1. Results may vary.