Option 1: Use the IBM Configuration Assistant for z/OS Communications Server

The IBM® Configuration Assistant for z/OS® Communications Server, an optional GUI-based tool, provides a guided interface to simplify configuration of TCP/IP policy-based networking functions. You can use the Configuration Assistant to generate the Policy Agent files.

The Configuration Assistant is a z/OS Management Facility (z/OSMF) task. z/OSMF provides a web browser interface for a variety of z/OS system management functions. When you invoke the Configuration Assistant in z/OSMF, the Configuration Assistant runs natively in the z/OS system and you can access it through a web browser. To use the Configuration Assistant in z/OSMF, your system must be z/OS V1R11 or later.

Tip: If you have backing store files from V1R13 or an earlier release that were created on a Windows desktop version of Configuration Assistant, you can transfer them to the z/OSMF environment. For information about transferring Configuration Assistant data to z/OSMF, see IBM z/OS Management Facility Configuration Guide.

Through a series of wizards and online help panels, you can use the Configuration Assistant to create policy-based routing configuration files for any number of z/OS images with any number of TCP/IP stacks per image.

With the Configuration Assistant you use traffic descriptors, reusable objects that define traffic by its ports, protocol, security zone, security label, or sending application job name. The Configuration Assistant comes with a number of IBM-supplied traffic descriptors that are easily applied, or you can use the IBM-supplied definitions as the basis for your own set of reusable objects. For each TCP/IP stack, you then create a set of policy-based route tables and routing rules, which map traffic descriptors and IP addresses to the policy-based route tables to be used when making routing decisions for that traffic.

The Configuration Assistant can dramatically reduce the amount of time that is required to create policy-based routing files, contributing to ease of configuration and maintenance. Using the GUI ensures that you have a consistent and easily manageable interface for implementing policy-based routing.

This information primarily describes option 2, manual configuration. However, if you are using the Configuration Assistant, reading this information will help you understand policy-based routing concepts and the relationship between Policy Agent and policy-based routing.