Dec 1, 2022
Endevor Web Services, the Modernization LaunchPad
Standing-up Web Services opens up a world of possibilities
As the foundation of application development, Endevor addresses current, emerging, and longer-term needs.
With significant numbers of career mainframers retiring, attracting the next generation of talent is a priority. Most young developers want to use contemporary tools like VS Code and Git, driven by familiar pipeline tools and DevOps automation so offering these options is becoming essential. Combined with a desire to better serve the business in terms of agility and speed, Endevor-based modernization offers a clear path forward.
While others promote modernization options that disrupt current ways of working, Broadcom offers a risk-managed approach. This approach uses hybrid workflows that enable work patterns that have been optimized over decades to continue, while still providing the option to move to a 100% native, Git-centric workflow when it becomes practical to do so.
To illustrate the many ways Endevor enables new ways of working, a DevOps Modernization Roadmap toolkit consisting of an interactive site and a comprehensive eBook is available.
The toolkit features 15 key use cases, assessed in terms of Level of Effort and Return on Investment, including:
- Using VS Code and Git
- Automating code promotion, testing and deployment
- Streamlining change requests and approvals
- Performing self-service developer builds
These exciting options are possible only by introducing a level of openness to non-mainframe-native tooling, like enterprise Git servers, IDE extensions and the Zowe CLI.
The way to achieve this level of openness in a controlled and secure way is through Endevor Web Services, a web-based API that exposes core operations in Endevor. It uses the HTTP or HTTPS protocol and the prevailing API architecture familiar to many IT teams, REST.
Web Services enable off-platform tools and processes to benefit from Endevor’s rich portfolio of services. For example:
- List actions with results in JSON format
- Element actions (ADD, RETRIEVE, GENERATE, MOVE, etc.)
- Package actions (DEFINE, CAST, APPROVE, EXECUTE, etc.)
- Authorization (either user/pass or JWT tokens)
Endevor Web Services are required for the following:
- Bridge for Git
- VS Code and Eclipse extensions
- Endevor for Zowe CLI extension
- Team Build project initialization
- Custom clients / homegrown integrations
Zowe
While Zowe is a powerful modernization framework supported by the vendor community (and winner of this year’s Best DevOps for Mainframe Solution award), it is not a requirement for a number of the modernization use cases. To gauge the value of Zowe to your modernization efforts, check out the range of conformant extensions.
Take special note of the following:
- Endevor Zowe CLI extension [link]— gives developers the freedom to build quick automation for common tasks like builds and deployments and integrate it into DevOps standards being used in their organizations
- Explorer for Endevor VS Code extension [link] — part of the Code4z pack, it allows access to the full map of elements in Endevor while using Visual Studio Code and related tools like GitHub Codespaces
- Endevor Zowe API Mediation Layer conformance — to learn more, read Two Peas in a Pod — Endevor and the Zowe API Mediation Layer
There is also an Endevor Bridge for Git plug-in for Zowe CLI that allows administrators to work with and manage Git-Endevor mappings.
To better understand Endevor’s role in a modern developer experience, check out the Developer Cockpit.
Next Steps
Deploy Endevor Web Services as soon as possible. Modernization is a key priority for most mainframe leaders so requests will come fast and furious (if they haven’t already). Being proactive will serve you well.
Endevor V19 is the current release with previous releases in maintenance mode and/or approaching EOS, so we recommend standing up Web Services on this release. V19 includes enhancements to make this as easy as possible including JCL-based configuration and a single download for Endevor, its web services and the mainframe webhook server.
Check out Web Services Implementation Checklist in the V19 Technical Documentation.
Free web-based training on this topic is available from Broadcom for customers active on maintenance.
For more detailed information, reach out to Endevor product lead Vaughn Marshall (vaughn.marshall@broadcom.com).
And for those ready for Git, don’t miss the Git for Mainframe Cheat Sheet.
Enjoy your Mainframe Modernization Journey!
