Werkstudent - Linux on IBM Z System Performance (m/f/x)

Job Description:

Introduction

The Linux on IBM Z and LinuxONE Systems Performance team is responsible for designing, implementing, conducting, and analyzing stress workloads/benchmarks on IBM Z and LinuxONE to ensure meeting customer expectations from performance aspects.

Your Role And Responsibilities

In the department, there are multiple projects, you can participate in . Dependent on your interests and skills you can work as a internship or a working student on one of the following topics:

# WebApplication UI implementation

Within the System Performance organization, a WebApplication called zPirate is used to simplify and coordinate the usage of resources and boot systems. Due to IBM guidelines and requirements, the UI of the application must be upgraded and enhanced with functionality. To achieve this, the current implementation, which is based on custom Jinjia templates with bootstrap for styling to generate HTML will be replaced with the modern UI framework React. Using the React framework will also provide the capabilities to introduce live updates without reloading. Updating the UI may also require changes in the backend, which is based on Flask. This work is coordinated within the global Team.

Required Skills: Web development, Python, Linux

Preferred Skills: React, Git, Flask, SQLAlchemy, SQL

# Jinsight Agent & GUI

Jinsight is a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) profiling agent plus an accompanying workstation client that allows for a very unique graphical representation of a Java application's program execution flow. This enables extremely fast processing times for debugging Java performance issues. Jinsight exploits the Java Virtual Machine Tool Interface (JVMTI) and makes heavy use of Java bytecode instrumentation. Jinsight was originally developed by IBM Research and its roots go back all the way to Java 1.1 days.

The unique strength of Jinsight is the graphical representation of a Java application program execution flow. There is no other tool on the market that offers both the same level of detail and the same level of abstraction / overview at the same time. Although parts of Jinsight's technology were incorporated into the Rational Application Developer suite of products, the standalone version of Jinsight still allows for a much higher amount of data to be visualized in a single analysis session.

While the agent is implemented in C, the GUI is written in Java. Therefore, potential candidates should have strong working knowledge in both programming languages. Since Jinsight has had many different maintainers over the years, the entire code base needs a complete overhaul. Ultimately, the goal is to open-source Jinsight, so that future development will follow a community-based approach.

Required skills: C (cross-platform) and Java, debugging skills, performance skills, software archaeology skills

Preferred skills: Java Virtual Machine Specification, experience with Java Native Interface (JNI) and Java Virtual Machine Tool Interface (JVMTI), Linux and z/OS compiling and linking processes

# AI based performance data analysis

In the System Performance organization, there is a lot of data captured day by day that is used for analysis of specific performance aspects. Each individual measurement has its own purpose and generates efforts to get the exact details from all the collected data. Invalid measurements or incomplete data collections lead to waste time figuring out that the analysis cannot be completed. Using AI capabilities, the goal is to detect invalid and incomplete measurements and provide a way to get all the information needed for an analysis in one place. Presenting that information in a clear and digestible way will help to reduce time spent on analyzing data.

Required Skills: Linux, Python, PyTorch, LLM inference setup

Preferred Skills: ML methods, data visualization, LLM RAG systems

Required Technical And Professional Expertise

* Matriculation at an university in Business Informatics, Computer Science, or a related area
* Passion for driving innovative ideas and solutions forward
* Strong problem-solving & multitasking skills
* Excellent communication & teamwork abilities
* Fluent in German & English (spoken and written)
* Hands on experience with Linux
* A general understanding of Computer performance

Preferred Technical And Professional Experience

* Experienced with Linux system administration
* Familiarity with the skills of the individual topics mentioned above
* Knowledge of software development processes
* Interest in computer architecture and system performance