SPARTA News


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November 2019


SPARTA President’s Corner

contributed by Randy Springs



With two months remaining in 2019, some of us are working extra hours to get year-end changes tested and installed before mandatory change freezes. College football season winds down in November, but basketball season begins. My wish is that the stores did not roll out Christmas-related merchandise in October.

Our speaker this month will be Peter Fandel, who is Senior Director of Software Engineering at Rocket Software, speaking on new offerings in the open source arena for mainframe use. Rocket Software is a corporate sponsor of SPARTA. Plan to join us for our November 5 meeting.

Your SPARTA group still needs a volunteer to replace Pam Tant as treasurer. This position would involve about two hours per month. Please consider serving and talk to me about the position.

Please plan to join your colleagues for subs, networking, and education on Tuesday, November 5, at 6:15 p.m. at our usual LabCorp location in RTP.

Randy Springs
BB&T



Future Speakers

(subject to change)


November 5, 2019 - Brave New World of Open Source for z/OS by Peter Fandel of Rocket Software


December 3, 2019 - Watson & Walker (Location: TBA)


January 7, 2020 - No meeting: Happy Holidays!


February 4, 2020 - TBA (first meeting of 2020)


We need ideas and volunteers for future speakers. Presentations don’t have to be fancy, just informative and interesting. Even a 5 or 10 minute talk can start an interesting interaction. Contact Ron Pimblett by phone as noted below.



2019-2020 SPARTA

Board of Directors


Randy Springs - President

BB&T                  (919) 745-5241

3200 Beechleaf Court, Suite 300

Raleigh, NC 27604


Ron Pimblett - Vice President

MDI Data Systems

Land line 613 599 6970

Mobile 613 981 6919

190 Guelph Private

Kanata, ON K2T 0J7


Chris Blackshire - Secretary

Retired (Dell, Perot Systems, Nortel)  (919) nnn-nnnn

street

Durham, NC 27713


Randy Springs - (Acting) Treasurer

BB&T                  (919) 745-5241

see Randy

Springs earlier


Ed Webb -  Communications Director

Retired (SAS Institute Inc.)  (919) nnn-nnnn

street

Apex, NC 27523


Mike Lockey -  Web Master

Guilford Co. Information Services  336-641-6235

201 N. Eugene St.

Greensboro, NC 27401



Meetings


Meetings are scheduled for the first Tuesday evening of each month (except no meeting in January), with optional dinner at 6:15 p.m. and the meeting beginning at 7:00 p.m.


These monthly meetings usually are held at LabCorp’s Center for Molecular Biology and Pathology (CMBP) near the Research Triangle Park (see last page). Take I-40 to Miami Boulevard and go north. Turn right onto T.W. Alexander Drive. Go about a mile or so. Then turn right into LabCorp complex and turn Left to the CMBP Building (1912 T.W. Alexander Drive). In the lobby, sign in as a visitor to see Bill Johnson. Bill will escort you to the conference room.


Call for Articles


If you have any ideas for speakers, presentations, newsletter articles, or are interested in taking part in a presentation, PLEASE contact one of the Board of Directors with your suggestions.


Newsletter e-Mailings


The SPARTA policy is to e-mail a monthly notice to our SPARTA-RTP Group. The newsletter is posted to the website about five (5) days before each meeting so you can prepare. The SPARTA-RTP Group is maintained by Chris Blackshire; if you have corrections or problems receiving your meeting notice, contact Chris at chrisbl@nc.rr.com.


April 2019 “CBT Tape” Shareware Online


The directory and files from the latest CBT tape V497 (dated April 29, 2019) are available from www.cbttape.org.


If you need help obtaining one or more files, contact Ed Webb (see Board of Director’s list for contact info).


Minutes of the October 1, 2019 Meeting


• The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by Randy Springs, the SPARTA President.


• The meeting was held at a LabCorp conference room in RTP, N.C.


• Sixteen (16) people were present.


• Marna Walle first presented via WebEx and her presentation was finished by 8:05 PM. The presentation is outlined below.


• Everyone introduced themselves, told where they worked, and briefly described their job functions or their job hunting challenges.


OLD BUSINESS


• The minutes of the September 10, 2019 meeting as published in the September 2019 Newsletter were approved.


• The August 1, 2019 to September 30, 2019 Treasurer's report was approved as published in the October 2019 Newsletter. As of 09/30/2019, the current balance was $879.21.


• Call For Articles: Articles are needed for this newsletter. If you would like to write an article for this newsletter, please contact Ed Webb. Keep in mind that you don't really need to write the article, it can be an article that you read that you would like to share with the membership.


• The SPARTA Web page is available. To access the SPARTA Web page, point your Web browser to this site: http://www.spartanc.org. Please send any comments or suggestions about the Web page to Mike Lockey. Be sure to check the Web page every once in a while to see any new or changed information.


• Randy Springs reminded everyone to leave the LabCorp conference room clean.


• 2019 meeting dates, Future Speakers and Topics (subject to change based on internal politics, budget, the weather):


Date

Company

Speaker

Topic

November 5, 2019

Rocket Software

Peter Fandel

The Brave New World of Open Source for z/OS

December 3, 2019

Watson and Walker

Cheryl Watson

TBD


If you have suggestions about speakers and topics, contact Ron Pimblett.

• The next SPARTA monthly meeting will be on Tuesday, November 5, 2019 at Labcorp in RTP.

• Food for the November 5 meeting will be subs, toppings, and dessert.

• The 2019 membership fee was due ($30) starting in February 2019. Please pay Randy Springs.

• Thanks to LabCorp and Bill Johnson for hosting the meeting.

• There are currently 95 people on the SPARTA-RTP e-mail list.

• Send any e-mail address changes to Chris Blackshire so he can update the SPARTA-RTP Listserv. You will be added by the moderator (Chris = SPARTA-RTP-owner@yahoogroups.com) sending you an invitation to Join the list.

• No update from Randy Springs on the SPARTA website connection to LinkedIn.

• No update from Chris on the process of putting a package together for Brad Carson, Tommy Thomas, and John Bryan's SPARTA contributions and death information on the web page under a new Emeritus section.

• No update about whether SPARTA needs to change the website to HTTPS access.

• Randy Springs is looking for a new Treasurer volunteer. He projects about 2 hours per month is needed.

- The treasurer position duties are:
- - Collect dues and pay expenses at each monthly meeting.
- - Deposit income at the BB&T bank monthly.
- - Make an updated monthly excel income-expense list for the monthly newsletter.
- - Give a Treasurer report at each meeting.
- - One Time: Be added to the checking account authorization.
- Contact Randy Springs if you are interested.

• LabCorp Meeting Place Update from Bill Johnson: move dates are undetermined.

• Ron sent a preliminary SPARTA T-shirt design to the officers, but was not submitted to the members. More info next month.

NEW BUSINESS

• When Cheryl Watson presents (as planned for December), we usually hold that meeting at SAS. However, Ed can no longer sponsor us. Ed will contact a fellow SAS employee or Ron will contact Garry G. at IBM for a larger meeting place.

• The Business portion of the meeting ended about 9:10 P.M.

Presentation Topic: z/OS Little Enhancements - Edition 2019B

By Marna Walle of z/OS Systems Installation, IBM Systems

Agenda

• z/OS IBM Education Modules - V2R1, V2R2, and V2R3, and V2R4!
• z/OS V2.3:
- - BCP: GDGBIAS
- - z/OSMF: Looking at z/OSMF server parameters
- - z/OSMF: More information on the angel for z/OSMF
- - z/OS UNIX: SUPERUSER for consistent username
- - z/OS UNIX: Automatic VERSION UNMOUNT
• z/OS V2.2:
- - BCP: HZSPRMXx SYS Filter (OA49807)
- - BCP: HZSPRMXx Syntax Check (OA49807)
- - z/OSMF: Swagger support (PI96461)
• z/OS V2.1:
- - BCP: PDUU Support for HTTPS (OA55959)
- - BCP: Generic Tracker
- - BCP: WLM support for Specialty Engine Containment and Memory Capping
• Older than the hills:
- - BCP: D IPLINFO for IEASYSxx and MACHMIG


• Presentation Access
- See Below for a full outline of the presentation. See the SPARTA webpage for the complete presentation.


Contact Info:
Marna Walle
Senior Technical Staff Member
z/OS System Installation and Upgrade
Z Systems Software Development, IBM Systems
Poughkeepsie, NY USA

Phone: (845) 435-4064
mwalle@us.ibm.com


• The October 1, 2019 monthly meeting ended about 9:10 P.M.

Treasurer’s Report for September 2019

contributed by Randy Springs

The balance in the account is $855.67 as of October 31, 2019.


SPARTA Financial Report
10/01/2019 through 10/31/2019


INCOME


Opening Balance 10/1/2019

$879.29

Total Deposits


Food money donated

75.00

Dues

0.00

Sponsorships

0.00

TOTAL INCOME

$75.00



EXPENSES


Food

98.62

Web Site

0.00

Petty Cash

0.00

Bank Service Charges

0.00

TOTAL EXPENSE

$98.62



BANK BALANCE

661.95

PETTY CASH on hand

193.72

TOTAL CASH

$855.67



Items of Interest



SPARTA Schedule and Menu for 2019

contributed by Chris Blackshire


November 5, 2019 - Subs
December 3, 2019 - BarBQ (last meeting until Feb. 2020)


SHARE Fort Worth (Feb. 23-28, 2020) Technical Agenda Is Now Available

contributed By Ed Webb


"The desktop technical agenda for SHARE® Fort Worth is now live! Browse new education offerings from workshops to hands-on labs, all designed to help you and your team increase efficiency, agility and cost savings. Create a scheduler profile or login to your existing scheduler account to ensure your sessions are saved to your planner.

Search by day, area of interest and session type to see hundreds of technical sessions — with more sessions continually added as we get closer to the event. From security and compliance to Zowe & Open Source to container technologies — SHARE Fort Worth has everything you need to stay up-to-date in enterprise IT. Use the results to start a conversation with your manager about how you can benefit from attending."

Visit the SHARE Fort Worth Event site to register and make hotel reservations. Early registration deadline is Friday, January 10, 2020.















Humor



Wit and Wisdom continued

contributed by Ed Webb


• Letting the cat out of the bag is a lot easier than putting it back.
• Faster hardware doesn't solve business problems, unless the business problem is slow hardware.
• Happiness isn't having what you want, it's wanting what you have.

• Life is like a dog sled team—if you aren't the lead dog, the scenery never changes.
• Procrastinators always work with the very latest data available.
• Poise: The ability to continue speaking while the other fellow is picking up the check.






Membership Information



Don’t Forget the Next SPARTA Meeting


Tuesday, November 5, 2019

7 p.m.


Location: LabCorp in RTP


Use 1912 TW Alexander Drive, Durham, NC 27703 in your map app.

Take I-40 to Miami Boulevard and go north. Turn right onto 1912 T.W. Alexander Drive. Go about a mile or so. Then turn right into LabCorp complex and turn left to the CMBP Building. In the lobby, sign in as a visitor to see Bill Johnson. Bill will escort you to the conference room.


Free Food before meeting: Subs, Sodas and Tea, Dessert


Program:

Brave New World of Open Source for z/OS (webinar)


Speaker: Peter Fandel of Rocket Software




SPARTA Corporate Sponsors:


DTS Software
                              logo

Rocket Software
                              logo

Software Diversified Services
                              logo

Compuware
                              logo


October Presentation Outline


Presentation Topic: z/OS Little Enhancements: Many Small Potatoes Can Make A Big Meal! Edition 2019B

By Marna Walle of z/OS Systems Installation, IBM Systems

Agenda

• z/OS IBM Education Modules - V2R1, V2R2, and V2R3, and V2R4!
• z/OS V2.3:
- - BCP: GDGBIAS
- - z/OSMF: Looking at z/OSMF server parameters
- - z/OSMF: More information on the angel for z/OSMF
- - z/OS UNIX: SUPERUSER for consistent username
- - z/OS UNIX: Automatic VERSION UNMOUNT
• z/OS V2.2:
- - BCP: HZSPRMXx SYS Filter (OA49807)
- - BCP: HZSPRMXx Syntax Check (OA49807)
- - z/OSMF: Swagger support (PI96461)
• z/OS V2.1:
- - BCP: PDUU Support for HTTPS (OA55959)
- - BCP: Generic Tracker
- - BCP: WLM support for Specialty Engine Containment and Memory Capping
• Older than the hills:
- - BCP: D IPLINFO for IEASYSxx and MACHMIG

z/OS IBM Education Modules - V2R1, V2R2, and V2R3, and V2R4!
- On github! Very easy to find and download!
- zOS Education PDFs
- - Hints-and-tips-for-Java-on zOS - 2 years ago
- - zOS-V2.1-Education - 2 years ago
- - zOS-V2.2-Education - 2 years ago
- - zOS-V2.3-Education - 3 months ago
- - zOS-V2.4-Education - 4 months ago

z/OS V2R3 Small Enhancements
- BCP: GDGBIAS
- z/OSMF: Looking at z/OSMF server parameters
- z/OSMF: More information on the angel for z/OSMF
- z/OS RACF and UNIX: user ID for UID(0) consistency
- z/OS UNIX: BPXPRMxx VERSION UNMOUNT

z/OS V2R3 BCP: GDGBIAS
- What: When restarting jobs that use GDG(E)s, there might be complications on ensuring that the intended generation is used.
- - Allocation generally establishes the absolute and relative generation association for the life of the job
- - If you knew that you could “reset” the establishment of the absolute and relative generation at the step level, then it could be easier to restart a job at a specific step.
- How to use:
- - New JCL keyword on JOB: GDGBIAS=JOB|STEP –or-
- - On JES2 or JES3 JOBCLASS GDGBIAS=JOB|STEP
- - -See what is in use with message IEFA111I (system message log)
- Considerations:
- - Easy to view the setting in SDSF for JOBCLASS.
- - There are several other considerations, such as catalog, DISP, and other jobs that might have run before the current job has been restarted.
- - By default, dynamic allocation will use the same bias as the batch JCL
- - - Example, with GDGBIAS of JOB:
- - - Example, with GDGBIAS of STEP:
- - - Changing JES2 JOBCLASS dynamically for GDGBIAS of STEP:

z/OS V2.3 as of PH00712 (9/2018) and PI93759 (7/2018):
z/OSMF: Looking at z/OSMF server parameters
- What: You are wondering about what you are using in z/OSMF.
- - For instance:
- - - What URL should you be using logon to z/OSMF?
- - - What plug-ins does z/OSMF think are available?
- - - How long has the z/OSMF server been up?
- - - Is z/OSMF using a default value, or one that I’ve specified?
- - How to use:
- - - D IZU[,SERVER=servername] –or-
- - - F servername,DISPLAY IZU
- - - Look at the nice long response.
- - Considerations:
- - - Note the syntax on the modify (F) command, it is not D IZU, it is DISPLAY IZU
- Up time
- - Status of z/OSMF plugins

z/OS V2.3 as of PI82554 (4/2018):
z/OSMF: More information on the angel for z/OSMF
- What: You are unable to tell from the angel’s joblog what level of WebSphere Liberty profile is being used.
- - This makes it very hard to debug, as you quite possibly would have multiple angels on the same system.
- - More information is added during angel startup, concerning the service level of Liberty.
- How to use:
- - Look at angel startup for message CWWK0079I in joblog
- - Issue command to get the level: F angelname,VERSION
- Considerations:
- - The joblog message and the MODIFY response show very different things!

z/OS V2.3:
z/OS RACF and UNIX: user ID for UID(0) consistency
- What: You quite possibly have many user IDs assigned a UNIX UID of 0. You quite possibly want to see what user ID is associated with a file that is owned by UID 0 using common utilities (such as ls –l).
- Which user ID would that necessarily be?
- - This could actually vary from time to time, making it confusing to some.
- - Now, RACF will use the BPXPRMxx SUPERUSER(username) for reporting consistency.
- - Bonus! A matching z/OS UNIX health check to make sure that your SUPERUSER(username) is identified to your security product and has a UID of 0.
- How to use:
- - Make sure you have the desired user ID in SUPERUSER(username). BPXROOT is the default.
- - The username must be identified to RACF and have a UID of 0.

z/OS V2.3:
z/OS UNIX: Automatic VERSION UNMOUNT
- What: BPXPRMxx VERSION statement is used in a shared file system environment to allow multiple release and service levels of a software to coexist in the hierarchy.
- - Once you’ve “passed through” that level, you should remember to unmount that unused VERSION file system from the environment.
- - And any file systems under it too.
- - z/OS can now automatically detect that that VERSION file system is no longer in use.
- - Meaning, no system is using it or using any file system mounted under it, and unmount them.
- How to use:
- - In BPXPRMxx: VERSION=(‘string’,UNMOUNT|NOUNMOUNT)
- - Can change dynamically with SET OMVS or SETOMVS
- - Validates hardening in health check USS_PARMLIB
- Considerations:
- - You’ll see messages in the hardcopy log when unmounts occur.

z/OS V2R2
Small Enhancements
- BCP: HZSPRMXx SYS Filter
- BCP: HZSPRMXx Syntax Check
- z/OSMF: Swagger support

z/OS V2.2 with APAR OA49807 (RSU1612)
BCP: HZSPRMXx SYS Filter
- What: Typically users make changes to health checks, and harden those into an HZSPRMxx. However, the differences from system to system, or sysplex to sysplex might be small. This caused full separation of HZSPRMxx parmlib members for those different environments.
- - As of z/OS V2.3, you can now use filters to consolidate those differences into a single HZSPRMxx parmlib member
- How to use:
- - WHEN (condition) DO (some_change) END to scope around the differences for an environment.
- - Condition can use SYSTEMNAME, SYSPLEXNAME, HWNAME, LPARNAME, VMUSERID, or a textstring (system symbol!), and can be compounded
- - Comparison operators: =, <>, >, >=, <, <=, IN, NOTIN
- - Can wildcard with * or ?, with some reasonable restrictions
- Considerations:
- - Good programming practice would be to include DO and ENDs for clarity, although there are rules if that is not done.
- - You can put any HZSPRMxx statement within the WHENs: HZSPDATA, …
- - Now, you can collapse perhaps several HZPRMxx parmlib members which differ slightly into a single parmlib member to maintain.
- Example listed

z/OS V2.2 with APAR OA49807 (RSU1612)
BCP: HZSPRMXx Syntax Check
- What: Also introduced is the capability to perform a syntax check only on complete HZSPRMxx parmlib member(s)
- - Does not apply the contained statements to any health checks or to any Health Checker global settings.
- How to use:
- - MODIFY hzsproc,ADD,PARMLIB=(aa,..,CHECK|C)
- Considerations:
- - ASA021I SYNTAX CHECKING IS COMPLETE FOR PARMLIB MEMBER=HZSPRMMW. NO ERRORS WERE FOUND
- - ASA020I SYNTAX CHECKING IS COMPLETE FOR PARMLIB MEMBER=HZSPRMMW. ERROR(S) WERE FOUND
- - HZS0403I ADD PARMLIB PROCESSING HAS BEEN COMPLETED
- - New option is on the ADD (not the REPLACE)
- Examples listed

z/OS V2.2 with APAR OA49807 (January 2019)
z/OSMF Swagger support
- What: “Swagger” is an open-source software framework backed by a large ecosystem of tools that helps developers design, build, document, and consume RESTful Web services. (definition from Wiki).
- - z/OSMF Swagger support allows users to:
- - - browse z/OSMF REST APIs by connecting to any z/OSMF instance:
- - - https://<hostname>:<port>/zosmf/api/explorer/
- - - Try z/OSMF REST API without having to do any coding
- - - Only subset of current z/OSMF REST APIs support Swagger today: jobs services, data set and file services, cloud provisioning for z/OS, …
- How to use:
- - Additional security resource set up is necessary.
- - -IZUDFLT.com.ibm.ws.management.security.resource.allAuthenticatedUsers resource in the EJBROLE class
- - - Go to web location, and investigate and try.
- Example: Go to URL and see what is there. Jobs APIs looks interesting…
- Example: Want to see all my MWALLE jobs

z/OS V2R1
Small Enhancements
- BCP: PDUU support for HTTPS (OA55959)
- BCP: Generic Tracker
- BCP: WLM support for Special Engine Containment and Memory Capping

z/OS V2.1 with OA55959 (June 2019) and higher:
BCP: PDUU Support for HTTPS
- What: AMAPDUPL: Problem Documentation Upload Utility.
- - Used to sent a dump to IBM, can be compressed, encrypted, and sectioned into smaller data sets.
- - FTP (existing capability, default) was not a popular choice (firewall issues, …)
- - Now with OA55959, HTTPS can be used!
- How to use:
- - Uses private virtual storage for buffering, so specify WORK_SIZE adequately.
- - Use USE_HTTPS=Y on the SYSIN
- - Needs necessary certificates to access the IBM sites, via HTTPS_KEYRING or HTTPS_KEYFILE.
- - - Read certificate info here
- Considerations:
- - Need to select a feasible WORK_SIZE: these are allocated in 31-bit private storage, which limits it to less than 2GB (known restriction). Failures will be rc 12 w/ AMA761E (Unable to obtain necessary storage).
- - Might result in longer processing times, due to smaller work sizes, however, still may be appropriate if FTP is not an option.
- - Alas, z/OSMF Incident Log today uses PDUU FTPS.
- Example JCL listed

z/OS V2.1:
BCP: Generic Tracker
- What: Generic Tracker is a facility that can help assess usage of specific request-able incidents that happen on a system (z/OS MVS Diagnostics: Tools and Service Aids).
- It is composed of:
- - A callable tracking service (GTZTRACK).
- - A callable query service to extract previously stored records (GTZQUERY).
- - Operator commands to display and maintain information and configuration.
- - Batch utility program (GTZPRINT)
- - Parmlib members for desired customization (GTZPRMxx).
- Why it is helpful?
- - This facility can help with knowing when something is used (when it might be deleted in a future release), or to position for a new function (when changes might be required to use it).
- - GTZ will be automatically started at IPL, however by default, it is not enabled for capturing data.
- How to use:
- - 1. Enable GTZ. SETGTZ TRACKING=ON
- - 2. Check on collected information: DISPLAY GTZ or with GTZPRINT
- Considerations:
- - Currently, this is a list of the Generic Track exploiters
- - - DFSMS tracking – GDGLIMIT and EAV
- - - JES3 control statement tracking – JES3 JECL
- - - JES2 control statement tracking - JES2 and JES3 JECL
- - - MVS Allocation tracking – IEF348I message control
- - - SDSF tracking – NOPARM FALLBACK and MENU TABLE DISABLED
- - - TSO/E tracking – MVSSERV executed to invoke Enhanced Connectivity Facility
- - - VSM tracking – V=R request
- - TRACKDATA can be persisted in SMF type 125, for historical review.
- - Your DDDEF’d SYS1.PARMLIB contains a shipped GTZPRM00 which contains currently know exceptions that are acceptable and are “not interesting anymore”.
- - These exceptions will be excluded from tracking as to not clutter up new data being collected. (Currently we have about 33 of them.)
- - Change MEMLIMIT on the GTZ proc to control how much storage is used - how many events you can store.
- - - 2MB is minimum, default if 200MB.
- Very simple examples listed

z/OS V2.1 with OA50845 (March 2017) and higher:
BCP: WLM support for Special Engine Containment and Memory Capping
- What:
- - New workloads (especially those that come from other platforms and are zIIP-eligible) can demand significant processor capacity which might impact traditional workload running on regular CPs.
- - Previously this containment was only controllable system-wide via IEAOPTxx’s IIPHONORPRIORITY.
- - WLM’s “Honor Priority by Service Class” - prevents overflow from zIIPs to CPs at an individual service class.
- - Likewise, this new workload might want to use a significant amount of memory which might impact traditional workload.
- - WLM’s “Memory Limit by Resource Group”
- How to use:
- - New field “Honor Priority” on the Create and Modify Service class panels.
- - - NO means do not spill over, DEFAULT means to use IIPHONORPRIORITY.
- - New field “Memory Limit” on the Create and Modify a Resource Group panel. Can specify an upper memory limit in GB for resource groups and associated address spaces with those resource groups through classification on the local system.
- - - - (Thanks to Mike Shorkend again for this suggestion!)
- - Via z/OSMF WLM Plug-in for Honor Priority (1 of 2):
- - Via z/OSMF WLM Plug-in for Honor Priority (2 of 2):
- - Via WLM ISPF Panels for Honor Priority :
- - Via z/OSMF WLM Plug-in for Memory Limit (1 of 2):
- - Via z/OSMF WLM Plug-in for Memory Limit (2 of 2):
- - Via WLM ISPF Panels for Memory Limit:

Older than the hills
Small Enhancements
- BCP: D IPLINFO for IEASYSxx (and MACHMIG)
- What: New IEASYSxx statements have been added recently.
- - Did you know that any IEASYSxx statement can be used on the D IPLINFO command to see if you are using them?
- How to use:
- - D IPLINFO,sysparm
- - Also nice for D IPLINFO,LOADXX,MACHMIG
- - - Note the value is LOADXX, regardless of your actual LOAD suffix.
- - - Look at response of IEE255I or IEE580I.
- Considerations:
- - This gives you a quick starting place to identifying what is in use, however, you still need to issue component-specific commands for more details (e.g. D IZU).
- - - It is great for “one value” investigation.

Summary of What We Might Want to Share:
- System Programmer & User Items:
- - BCP (V2.3): GDGBIAS
- - z/OS RACF and UNIX (V2.3): user ID for UID(0) consistency
- - -z/OSMF (V2.2): Swagger support
- System Programmers’ Items:
- - z/OSMF (V2.3): Looking at z/OSMF server parameters
- - z/OSMF (V2.3): More information on the angel for z/OSMF
- - z/OS UNIX (V2.3): BPXPRMxx VERSION UNMOUNT
- - BCP (V2.2): HZSPRMxx filter
- - BCP (V2.2): HZSPRMxx syntax check
- - BCP (V2.1): PDUU support for HTTPS
- - BCP (V2.1): Generic Tracker
- - BCP (V2.1): WLM support for Special Engine Containment and Memory Capping
- - BCP: D IPLINFO for IEASYSxx (and MACHMIG)

z/OS Summary Enhancements – Edition 2019B
- z/OS V2.3:
- - BCP: GDGBIAS (Can be very useful for restarting jobs)
- - z/OSMF: Looking at z/OSMF server parameters (Config evaluation, in a traditional way)
- - z/OSMF: More information on the angel for z/OSMF (For Liberty levels used)
- - z/OS UNIX: SUPERUSER for consistent username (Always the same user ID)
- - z/OS UNIX: Automatic VERSION UNMOUNT (Autonomic management of fs)
- z/OS V2.2:
- - BCP: HZSPRMxx filter (Consolidate your parmlib members across your enterprise)
- - BCP: HZSPRMxx syntax check (Validate your syntax before using)
- - z/OSMF Swagger support (Incredibly useful and helpful for REST API programs)
- - z/OS UNIX: TRNG for /dev/(u) random (helps with simplification)
- - z/OS UNIX: updates to zlsof, and adding jsonprint (see more and use with programs)
- - SDSF: snapshot (on tabular panels, find information fast)
- z/OS V2.1:
- - BCP: PDUU HTTPS support (For those that prefer HTTPS over FTP)
- - BCP: Generic Tracker (Helpful for upgrading and exploiting new functions)
- - BCP: WLM support for Specialty Engine Containment and Memory Capping (Limit those new guys in the pool).
- Older than the hills:
- - BCP: D IPLINFO for IEASYSxx (and MACHMIG) (Quick lookup).
z/OS Little Enhancements - A history
- Eight older “Enhancements” presentations are on LinkedIn’s SlideShare, going back to 2013 and covering other little gems!

The WebEx presentation ended at about 8:05 PM followed by the business portion of the meeting.