SPARTA News

July 2021

SPARTA President’s Corner

contributed by Randy Springs

We will meet a week earlier this month due to the timing of the July 4 holiday. Many will be traveling, making up for 2020 restrictions. I would love to go to Washington DC for the outdoor symphony concert and fireworks on the mall, but I don’t think my knees would allow me to enjoy it, so I’ll be watching on television. I am looking forward to the NC State Fair in October.

For the foreseeable future, we will be holding our SPARTA meetings via Zoom format. Due to the virtual format, we have suspended the dues requirement for 2021. Hopefully, we can resume meetings at LabCorp in 2022. Invite your fellow systems programmers to join us for networking and information.

For our July meeting (on Special Date June 29), join us for a presentation about IOF by SPARTA member Dave Crow from Triangle Systems, along with a time of networking with your fellow RTP area mainframers.

Please join your colleagues online at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 29, on Zoom. Watch for meeting connection information coming your way soon.

Randy Springs
Truist

Future Speakers

(subject to change)

June 29, 2021 (Special Date) - IOF Updates by Dave Crow of Triangle Systems

August 3, 2021 - Proxy App by Proximal Systems

August 31, 2021 (Special Date) - SHARE 2021 Summer Report by Ed Webb of SPARTA

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.

2020-2021 SPARTA

Board of Directors

Randy Springs - President

Truist                  (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

Coronavirus Change: All meetings for the foreseeable future will be held online via the Zoom App. The link to meeting is sent to SPARTA Mailing list within 24 hours of the meeting time for security reasons. Stay safe.

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.

March 2021 “CBT Tape” Shareware Online

The directory and files from the latest CBT tape V501 (dated March 4, 2021) 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 June 1, 2021 Meeting

• The meeting was called to order at 7:07 PM by Randy Springs, the SPARTA President.

• This fourteenth (April 2020 to June 2021) virtual SPARTA meeting was held via the Zoom Software.

• Thirteen (13) people were present at the virtual meeting.

• The business portion of the meeting followed the presentation.

• For the Roundtable, everyone introduced themselves, told where they worked, talked about working from home, and briefly described their job functions and what they've been doing at work and home.

OLD BUSINESS

• The minutes of the May 4, 2021 meeting as published in the June 2021 Newsletter were approved.

• The May 31, 2021 Treasurer's report (no May income or expenses) as published in the June 2021 Newsletter was approved. As of May 31, 2021, the current balance was $1,489.66.

• 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.

• 2021 meeting dates, Future Speakers and Topics (subject to change based on internal politics, budget, the weather):

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

• The next SPARTA monthly meeting will be held virtually on a special date, Tuesday, June 29, 2021, to avoid the July 4 holiday.

• The 2021 dues have been suspended (motion passed in the March 2021 monthly meeting).

• Thanks to Duane Reaugh for online hosting the June 1 meeting via Zoom.

• There are currently 92 people on the SPARTA e-mail distribution list.

• Send any e-mail address changes to Chris Blackshire so he can update the SPARTA distribution List. The SPARTA meeting notices are being sent via a simple distribution list maintained by Chris.

• Randy Springs is looking for a new Treasurer volunteer. He projects about 2 hours per month is needed.
- Contact Randy Springs if you are interested.

• LabCorp Meeting Place Update: No update needed from Bill Johnson.

NEW BUSINESS

• In person meeting discussion. Depending on vaccinations and room availability, probably Feb. 2022

• The Business portion of the meeting ended about 8:36 P.M. (And the meeting also ended at 8:36 p.m.)

• Presentation Topic: ICE/Opsys, the latest of innovation solutions to IBM mainframe user

by Glennon Bagsby, Jerry Seefeldt, and Paul Robichaux, NewEra Software, Inc.

AGENDA
• Learn about the latest innovation from NewEra Software, Inc.
• Short product review.
• Introduction to the issues going forward.
• Finding a better way.

• The NewEra products
- The Control Editor (TCE)
- Image Focus (IFO)
- Integrity Controls Environment (ICE)

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

• Contact Info:
Glennon H. Bagsby, President (Speaker)
NewEra Software, Inc.
18625 Sutter Boulevard, Suite 950
Morgan Hill, CA 95037
E-mail: ghb@newera.com
Visit our Web site at www.newera.com
WebCast: June 2021 Calendar

Jerry M Seefeldt, Marketing Director
Tel: 800-421-5035
E-mail: jms@newera.com

Paul R. Robichaux, CEO
E-mail: prr@newera.com

• The June 1, 2021 monthly meeting ended about 8:43 P.M.

Treasurer’s Report for June 2021

contributed by Randy Springs

The balance in the account is $1489.66 as of June 30, 2021.

SPARTA Financial Report
4/01/2021 through 06/30/2021

Items of Interest

SPARTA Schedule and Menu for 2021

contributed by Chris Blackshire

June 29, 2021 (Special date) - Subs (Independence Day holiday is in the July 6 week)
Aug 3, 2021 - BarBQ (SHARE 137, August 09-13, 2021)
Aug 31, 2021 (Special date) - Pizza (Labor Day holiday is Monday Sept 6) - Speaker Ed Webb, topic SHARE 137
Oct 5, 2021 - Chicken
Nov 2, 2021 - Subs
Dec 7, 2021 - BarBQ
Jan 4, 2022 - No meeting!

Fallacies of Distributed Computing

contributed By Ed Webb

Michael Benson, writing in the Architect's Corner of Enterprise Executive 2021 Issue 3, looks at the past and current state of distributed computing:

"It's been over 25 years since Peter Deutsch, a Sun Microsystems Fellow, penned his famous list of seven "Fallacies of Distributed Computing." Three years later, James Gosling, one of the inventors of the Java programming language at Sun Microsystems, added an eighth fallacy. I find it fascinating that these assertions were made by some of the leaders in the distributed systems movement. Maybe that has to do with their first-hand knowledge of distributed system disasters.

Much has changed since those fallacies were identified but they are worth looking at again to see if they are still valid. First, let me say Deutsch and Gosling were not saying these problems could not be overcome, but rather that they were often overlooked based on faulty assumptions. .... "

Read Michael Benson's brief explanation about distributed computing fallacies then and now in this article.

IBM z/OS 2.4 Second Quarter Enhancements

contributed By Ed Webb

The second quarter enhancements for z/OS 2.4 include several z/OSMF changes of interest:

"The z/OSMF ISPF application, which renders ISPF applications in a browser instead of requiring a 3270 emulator, is enhanced to add a global settings configuration. .... With the PTF for APAR PH34102, this support is available for V2.3 and later.

The z/OSMF desktop editor is enhanced to highlight data set names and zFS file paths as hot-linkable URLs. .... With the PTF for APAR PH34912, this function is available on V2.4 and later.

The z/OSMF Incident Log application adds support for viewing diagnostic data using the z/OSMF desktop editor application. .... With the PTF for APAR PH34912, this capability is available for V2.4 and later.

A new REST API has been added to support changing a user’s z/OS password or passphrase. .... With the PTF for APAR PH34912, this function is available for V2.4 and later. "

Checkout this summary of recent updates for z/OS 2.4 in IBM Announcement Letter US221-213.

Windows History

Contributed by Chris Blackshire

"A new version of Windows was announced on June 24, 2021 made me research the Windows release history.

Windows 1.x (1985)

Windows 2.x (1987)

Windows 3.0 (1990)

Windows 3.1 (1992)

Windows 95 (1995)

Windows 98 (1998)

Windows 2000 and Windows Me (2000)

Windows XP (2001)

Windows Vista (2007)

Windows 7 (2009)

Windows 8 (2012)

Windows 8.1 (2013)

Windows 10 (2015)

Windows 11 and Beyond (2021) "

Humor

Wit and Wisdom continued

contributed by Ed Webb

The average person thinks he isn't.
The right to swing my fist ends where the other man's nose begins.
Why worry about the things you cannot control and why worry about the things you can control?

True friendship is like good health: the value of it is seldom known until it is lost.
It is nice to be important, but it is much more important to be nice.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

Membership Information

Don’t Forget the Next SPARTA Meeting

(Special Date) Tuesday, June 29, 2021

7 p.m.

Location: Online

Information about access to our online meeting will be sent to our e-mail list by Tuesday, June 29.

Free Food before meeting: Your Food at Your Home

Program:

IOF Basics and Updates

Speaker: Dave Crow of Triangle Systems

SPARTA Corporate Sponsors:

June 2021 Presentation outline

• Presentation Topic: ICE/Opsys, the latest of innovation solutions to IBM mainframe user

by Glennon Bagsby, Jerry Seefeldt, and Paul Robichaux, NewEra Software, Inc.

AGENDA
• Learn about the latest innovation from NewEra Software, Inc.
• Short product review.
• Introduction to the issues going forward.
• Finding a better way.

• The NewEra products
- The Control Editor (TCE)
- Image Focus (IFO)
- Integrity Controls Environment (ICE)

• NewEra Software Software – Our Mission
NewEra Software continues to support z/OS professionals by helping them maintain the highest levels of operational integrity and readiness of their z/OS environment. We do this by providing innovative products and unique tools that monitor, protect, and evaluate the most critical datasets and assets of the z/OS Platform with the Integrity Controls Environment (ICE).

• Stand Alone Environment SAE.
- Repair IPL failures
- IPL directly from DASD TAPE CDROM USB drive Network File
- Terminal interface on HMC Integrated console or 3270
- Single USER ISPF-like interface
- EDIT functions for PDS datasets
- ERASE of DASD volumes
- New interface to Image Focus. SAEBATA

• Image Focus IFO
- Inspects configuration files
- - SYSPLEX, z/OS, JES, VTAM, TCP/IP, CICS
- - SERVAUT, PAGENT
- - PROGRAM FAULTS, ie…S047 ABENDS
- - CSFPRMxx for ICSF Inspections
- Creates profiles and history of configurations to detect changes.
- Detects Dynamic changes not hardened into PARMLIB members.
- New BATCH jobs ICEBATA and SAEBATA

• The Control Editor TCE
- Can provide additional levels of control of events to critical datasets and files.
- - Multi Factor Access controls (MFE)
- - Member level access rights by USERID
- - Email notifications to stake holders
- - Can enforce documentation standards
- Provides automatic backup of changes (versions)
- - Provides for compare and restore functions
- Provides for standard and query base reporting from journals.

• Multi-Factor Edit (MFE) – Edit and Fully Control
- z/OS LPAR
- - TSO/ISPF
- - - TCE Controlled Categories
- - - Datasets and Files
- - - Libraries
- - RACF -ACF2 -Top Secret
- - - Controlled Categories and Journals
- - - - NIST -Dependency Mapping (SP 800-207 August 2020)

• Multi-Factor Edit (MFE) – Edit and Fully Control - With Passticket
- z/OS LPAR
- - TSO/ISPF
- - - Permit
- - - - TCE Controlled Categories *
- - - - Datasets and Files
- - - - Libraries
- - - Passticket
- - - - RACF -ACF2 -Top Secret
- - - - - Controlled Categories and Journals
- - - - - - NIST -Dependency Mapping (SP 800-207 August 2020)
* Excessive access checking - The core part of protecting z/OS from malicious, hurtful activities. (ZTA)

• Multi-Factor Edit (MFE) – Edit and Fully Control - With Passticket and Private PIN
- z/OS LPAR
- - Private PIN - Registered With ICE
- - - TSO/ISPF - With MFE Challenge
- - - - Permit
- - - - - TCE Controlled Categories *
- - - - - Datasets and Files
- - - - - Libraries
- - - - Passticket
- - - - - RACF -ACF2 -Top Secret
- - - - - - Controlled Categories and Journals
- - - - - - NIST -Dependency Mapping (SP 800-207 August 2020)
* Excessive access checking - The core part of protecting z/OS from malicious, hurtful activities. (ZTA)

• The ICE Dataspace
- LPAR and Sysplex Inspections
- - Inspection Logs, Baselines and Clusters
- Policy Decision and Enforcement Points
- - Controlled Categories and Journals

• The ICE Dataspace with ICEDirect – VTAM Based Interface to the ICE Dataspace:
- Automated System Configuration Inspection
- - LPAR and Sysplex Inspections
- - - Inspection Logs, Baselines and Clusters
- Automated System Configuration Inspection
- - Policy Decision and Enforcement Points
- - - Controlled Categories and Journals
* ICE Modernization

• The ICE Dataspace with ICEDirect – A3270 and Cloud Based Interface to the ICEDataspace:
- TN3270 - TSO/ISPF Multi-Factor Edit (MFE)
- - Edit and Full Control
- TCP/IP - Cloud Multi-Factor Edit (MFE)
- - Browse and Some Control
- - - Automated System Configuration Inspection
- - - Inspection Logs, Baselines and Sysplex Clusters Resource Categories* and Event Journals
- - - - LPAR and Sysplex Inspections
- - - - - Inspection Logs, Baselines and Clusters
- - - Automated System Configuration Inspection
- - - - Policy Decision and Enforcement Points
- - - - - Controlled Categories and Journals
* Zero-Trust Architecture (ZTA) -NIST SP800-207August 2020:
1) Dependency Mapping;
2) Excessive access checking -The core parts of protecting z/OS from malicious, hurtful activities.
* ICE Modernization

• Welcome to ICEDirect –Safari, Firefox, Edge and/or Chrome:
- ICE Modernization (appeals to younger and allows less experienced people)

• The Integrity Controls Environment (ICE) – Development Directives:
- The Integrity Controls Environment (ICE) is a purpose-built, proprietary z/OS software utility, developed and maintained by NewEra Software.
- It contains NO public domain source code, exclusively supports two primary applications:
- - Image FOCUS (Inspections) and The Control Editor (Resource Control).
- Its installation package is digitally signed with an encoded HASH. This “Digital Key” is asynchronously delivered electronically and is used to verify that the package was not tampered with prior to installation.
- All components of an ICE install, are programmatically *Closed* to all others with NO external servers required.
- Consider – Apache, Tomcat, Liberty Servers and Zowe – Open to all and all likely to contain public domain source.

• Security - Under the Covers: Mainframe ESM - Fire Wall - Browser/Cloud
- z/OS/LPAR
- - ICE Server
- - Control Journal
- MPE Framework
- TSO/E Rexx
- Work Managed
- MPE Framework
- TCI/IP HTTP/S, Web server
- Fire Wall
- - OTP, Vault, MFI, AT-TLS, IPSec, HTTPS
- Content Security Policy
- - In Browser Session Token
- - Inline nonce – In Java Script
- - CSRF – In HTML Form, <a href= Request - GET and/ or POST

• Multi-Factor ICE (MFI) – Browse and Some Control
- z/OS LPAR (RACF - ACF2 - Top Secret)
- - The ICE Dataspace
- - - LPAR n - Inspection Logs
- - - SYS n - Control Journals
- - z/OS Authentication
- - Browser
- - - Person
* Excessive access checking - The core part of protecting z/OS from malicious, hurtful activities. (ZTA)
* z/OSMF -A “Best Practices” Option

• Multi-Factor ICE (MFI) – Browse and Some Control With Permits
- z/OS LPAR (RACF - ACF2 - Top Secret)
- - The ICE Dataspace
- - - LPAR n - Inspection Logs
- - - SYS n - Control Journals
- - Permit? ICE Direct
- - - z/OS Authentication
- - - Browser
- - - - Person
* Excessive access checking - The core part of protecting z/OS from malicious, hurtful activities. (ZTA)
* z/OSMF -A “Best Practices” Option

• Multi-Factor ICE (MFI) – Browse and Some Control With Permits and Passticket
- z/OS LPAR (RACF - ACF2 - Top Secret)
- - The ICE Dataspace
- - - LPAR n - Inspection Logs
- - - SYS n - Control Journals
- - Permit? ICE Direct
- - - PassTicket from RACF - ACF2 - Top secret
- - - - Delivery Options 1)Email or 2) No Email for token
- - - - z/OS Authentication
- - - - Browser
- - - - - Person
* Excessive access checking - The core part of protecting z/OS from malicious, hurtful activities. (ZTA)
* z/OSMF -A “Best Practices” Option

• Security – On the Web just as in the Real World:
- NETSPI
- - Penetration testing for an evolving attack surface

• Online, Real Time Demo Followed

The virtual presentation ended about 8:20 PM followed by the business meeting.