z/OS: Powerful, secure, reliable…and easy to use
from CCR2, Issue 10 - 2005
 Bernice Casey
IBM Senior Technical Staff Member
User experience architect for zSeries products |
Kelly Pushong
IBM Certified Senior Project Manager
zSeries Software Strategy Manager |
No one can dispute the strengths of the z/OS® operating system. Is it highly available? Absolutely! Does it offer tight security? Definitely! Is it simple to learn, install, manage, and use? That's the mission of IBM's Bernice Casey and Kelly Pushong. Leading a project called "The New Face of z/OS," their goal is to simplify and modernize z/OS management for "zNextGen" - the new generation of IBM System z9™ and eServer™ zSeries® IT professionals. A new management console powered by IBM Tivoli® OMEGAMON® technology is in the works, as well as other enhancements to z/OS to make it fundamentally easier to setup and manage.
On August 22, 2005, IBM and SHARE, the world's first organization of computing professionals, announced the creation of a new global community called "zNextGen" (short for zSeries Next Generation). Within this community you'll find students and young IT professionals pursuing careers in mainframe computing, and mainframe experts in industry and academia willing to mentor them.
At the heart of this community, you'll find IBM. The IBM Academic Initiative zSeries program provides colleges and universities with educational resources for developing the mainframe IT pros of tomorrow. But educational outreach is not enough. IBM is also investing in usability: Making our mainframe servers easier to learn, install, configure, administer, and program for a generation that has grown up with widgets, wizards, and the Web. In this article, we'll take you on a tour of usability enhancements for the z/OS operating system.
Putting a new face on z/OS
z/OS users today must master an assortment of user interface (UI) styles: TSO command line, ISPF panels, graphical user interfaces (GUIs), even Web-style UIs. To complete a task such as applying service, they often must interact with different UIs while flipping through a variety of publications. That's today. On the horizon is a new z/OS management console that will be headquarter central for z/OS management tasks.
The first release of the console, scheduled to ship in December 2005, is built on IBM Tivoli OMEGAMON technology and leverages the Tivoli Enterprise Portal console. Health monitoring is the focus of the first release. Using this console, IT staff will be able to monitor the availability of Sysplex and system resources and respond to problems. They will also be able to monitor health checks run by the IBM Health Checker for z/OS. Over time, the console will grow to include tasks beyond heath monitoring.
Getting a system checkup with IBM Health Checker for z/OS
The job of the IBM Health Checker for z/OS is to find potential configuration problems before they impact system availability or performance. It compares active configuration settings to "best practice" settings suggested by IBM or defined by a customer enterprise.
The IBM Health Checker for z/OS consists of two parts:
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Checks, which evaluate settings and definitions specific to z/OS products, elements, components and resources, including cross-system coupling facility (XCF), Global Resource Serialization (GRS), real storage manager (RSM), resource recovery services (RRS), SDUMP, Security Server RACF, virtual storage manager (VSM), z/OS UNIX System Services, consoles and coupling facilities. |
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The framework, which handles check registration, messaging, scheduling, command processing, logging, and reporting. The framework supports checks written by IBM, independent software vendors (ISVs) and users. |
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In z/OS V1.7, users can manage health checks using System Display and Search Facility (SDSF) panels. And, as mentioned above, the new z/OS management console will support the monitoring of health checks.
IBM Health Checker for z/OS is integrated with z/OS and z/OS.e 1.7. It is also available for z/OS and z/OS.e releases V1.4, V1.5, and V1.6 as a z/OS Web download. To learn more, visit the IBM Health Checker for z/OS Web site.
Simplifying z/OS ordering, installation and maintenance
z/OS system programmers spend a significant amount of their time installing and maintaining software. A key goal of IBM's strategy to simplify z/OS management is to help decrease the time spent on those tasks through greater automation. Here are some offerings and features that you can take advantage of today:
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SystemPac, a customized system migration package for z/OS, simplifies z/OS system installation by automating, eliminating and streamlining tasks and provides for a safer and faster installation by using z/OS best practices. In the U.S., there have been major updates to SystemPac in response to customer and business partner suggestions. The price has been reduced by half, just in time for z/OS V1R7 general availability. And the SystemPac ordering process has been streamlined and simplified. Visit SystemPac for more information or to order. |
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ShopzSeries provides an easy way to plan and order zSeries software. With ShopzSeries you can order tailored product or service packages, review your software licenses and plan for future upgrades. For more details, visit the ShopzSeries Web site. |
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Internet Service Retrieval is a new feature of SMP/E V3.4 that simplifies the ordering and installation of z/OS service. It supplements existing service options in ShopzSeries. With Internet Service Retrieval, you can request a z/OS platform service order from a dedicated IBM server, download the service package to z/OS, and process the PTF and HOLDDATA contents of that package - all in one simple step. You may order and retrieve service on demand or you may automate the service delivery process. The SMP/E V3.4 User's Guide will get you started. |
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The Enhanced Preventive Service Planning (PSP) Tool helps you determine what preventive service you should order and apply to bring your z/OS systems up to date. The tool compares the contents of PSP buckets that you select against the SMP/E data on your z/OS system. The tool then generates a report that tells you which of the fixes have not been received or applied. The last step is to order and apply the fixes you need. It is available at Enhanced Preventive Service Planning Tool. |
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Simplifying network security configuration
As security concerns continue to increase, more enterprises are deploying network security protocols, such as IP Security (IPSec) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) on z/OS to protect their mission-critical data as it crosses the network. However, the programming changes needed to enable applications for security and the complexity of security configuration can increase the cost and deployment time for network security.
In z/OS V1R7, we have added the following new functions to z/OS Communications Server to address these issues and simplify the requirements for implementing network security on z/OS:
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Application Transparent Transport Layer Security (AT-TLS). This function provides TLS for TCP applications without requiring application modification for TLS enablement. |
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Communications Server IPSec (CS IPSec). This function provides an alternative to z/OS Firewall Technologies for host-based IPSec and IP filtering. |
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Both AT-TLS and CS IPSec feature a policy-based configuration that:
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Requires less definition |
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Uses existing z/OS Communications Server infrastructure, such as the policy agent |
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Is optimized for host-based security scenarios |
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To help you implement these new functions, z/OS V1R7 includes a new configuration tool, the Network Security Configuration Assistant (NSCA). The NSCA is a stand-alone application that runs under the Windows operating system and requires no network connectivity or setup. Through a series of wizards and on-line help panels, you can use the GUI to create both AT-TLS and IPSec configuration files for any number of z/OS images with any number of TCP/IP stacks per image.
The GUI can help dramatically reduce the time required to create configuration files, contributing to ease of configuration and maintenance. Because of the inherently complex nature of z/OS security, use of the GUI is encouraged to ensure that you have a consistent and easily manageable interface for implementing AT-TLS or IPSec. For more details and to download the tool visit the Network Security Configuration Assistant Web site.
Giving you the information you need, when you need it
User interfaces are not the only focus of the z/OS usability team. Information that provides step-by-step guidance and is easy to access and understand is also part of IBM's ease of use strategy.
Some highlights:
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z/OS LibraryCenter: Imagine an Internet site that lets you browse and search all of the documentation (PDFs and BookMaster files) for a release of z/OS: product publications, Redbooks, even support information. Imagine a site that lets you search by the type of information you want: how-to information, messages, commands, examples, concepts. What you're imagining is the z/OS LibraryCenter. LibraryCenters are available for each release of z/OS starting with z/OS 1.4. New navigation and retrieval features are added with each release. |
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z/OS Learning Center: IBM is developing an Internet "z/OS Learning Center" for the zNextGen community. The Learning Center, available early in 2006, will offer a series of z/OS "basics" books plus interactive learning modules. The first book in the series, Introduction to the New Mainframe: z/OS Basics, is available for preview now. |
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"Cookbooks": z/OS customers tell us they love the z/OS Migration book, which consolidates migration information into a single source and shows, step-by-step, how to migrate from one release of z/OS to the next. More books like this are under development, including a new book on how to diagnose z/OS problems. |
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Summing it up
IBM has made progress in simplifying the ordering, installing, configuring, operating and maintenance of z/OS systems — and more developments are on the way. A new z/OS console coupled with more automation of management tasks and streamlined information will help make life easier for z/OS novices and experts alike.
For more information
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