A Step By Step Guide To Deploying Zowe With a z/OSMF PSWI
{Core} Want to learn more about how to deploy Zowe with a z/OSMF PSWI? Here are some helpful tips!
A Simple Guide
As I promised in my previous blog, I would like to offer my assistance with your journey to the adoption of The Open Mainframe Project’s Zowe using a PSWI for installation. So here is a simplified guide to Zowe PSWI acquisition, registration, and deployment. Full documentation will be available on the Zowe doc site when the GA version is released. You will notice that configuration using z/OSMF workflows is not discussed in this blog post. Be on the lookout for a follow-up in which I’ll dive deeper into z/OSMF workflows.
Note: IBM prepared a video tutorial covering z/OSMF PSWI acquisition and deployment. You may want to watch it before you will start with the Zowe PSWI.
Zowe PSWI Acquisition
First of all, you need to acquire the Zowe PSWI. Currently, the easiest way is to download the Zowe PSWI from the Zowe website here. Since you will then have the PSWI on your workstation, you need to upload the pax file to the z/OS USS directory. Then, navigate to this USS directory and run the pax command: pax -rvf zowe-PSWI-1.XX.Y.pax.Z XX.Y is the actual version of the PSWI. When it is done, you should have about 20 new files there.
Note: Please consider screenshots here as illustrative, they might not show the final data set/file names, variable values etc.
Prerequisites
To be able to successfully finish the deployment, a few prerequisites need to be fulfilled first.
- The current version of the Zowe PSWI was built for z/OSMF 2.3 and higher. The z/OSMF 2.2 and lower are not supported.
- The user ID you are using for the Zowe PSWI deployment must have READ access to the System Authorization Facility (SAF) resource that protects the Zowe data sets that are produced during the creation of the Zowe PSWI. That is, your user ID requires READ access to data set names with ZWE HLQ. Please note, that the prefix is subject to change as the current Zowe PSWI is a technology preview.
- The Zowe PSWI package has about 1.2 GB, please make sure you have enough space available on your system for the unpaxed artifacts.
Adding Zowe PSWI
Now go to the z/OSMF interface and look under Software (if you are using classic interface) -> Software Management -> Portable Software Instances -> Actions -> Add -> From z/OSMF System. Now select the system you want to use and the USS directory containing the unpaxed Zowe PSWI and click on the Retrieve button. On the next screen fill in the name and description if you are not happy with the default values. You can also select or define a software category, but it is not needed. When done, you should see your Zowe PSWI listed in the table.
Zowe PSWI Deployment
This is where it gets exciting, the deployment. Again, look under Software (if you are using classic interface) -> Software Management -> Deployments -> Actions -> New. The deployment checklist appears. It is designed like a wizard so you will follow it step by step and in the end, you will have a Zowe deployment done. Please note, that I will use as many default values as possible, to make it simple. You may want to modify the deployment process based on your needs.
Specify the properties for this deployment
Nothing special here, just fill in the name and description. You can also specify a category if you wish. Click OK, and you can see that the arrow marking the next item in the checklist has moved. Let’s move on to the next item.
Select the software to deploy
Select Portable Software Instance and from a list below select the Zowe PSWI you just added.
Select the objective for this deployment
Here you could play with SMP/E zones and catalogs, but as I said I would suggest keeping the default settings for now. Don’t forget to select the target system. You can also learn more details by following the links shown in the UI.
Check for missing SYSMODs / View missing SYSMOD reports
This item is not visible at the beginning of the process and is not needed for the Zowe. So in the wizard uncheck both reports. The Finish button should become available immediately.
Configure this deployment
This step is probably the most complex step and consists of 7 substeps covered by a wizard.
- On the DLIB page select Yes (you want to copy distribution zones and libs),
- on the following screen select that you want to model your software from The source software (PSWI).
- On the next screen, you can modify SMP/E zones, but it is not necessary.
- Modifying data sets will be the next step. Select all data sets by clicking on the top checkbox and invoke the modify screen from the Action -> Modify option. You need to specify the HLQ to which the data sets should be renamed and also the volume/storage class or leave the system to determine that. Make sure that you have all data sets selected. Click OK and in the table, you should see the planned changes.
- Catalogs configuration follows, you may keep it as it is or modify based on your needs.
- On the next screen, select a storage class or volume you already specified.
- Mount point definition for ZSS will be the next step. Select the one that is there and modify it through Actions -> Modify Target Mount Point accordingly.
Define the job settings and view the deployment summary
JCLs are the lifeblood of a mainframe, and it’s no different here. On the next screen, you can check your job settings. Feel free to modify it based on your system requirements (e.g. System affinity). Don’t forget to specify the correct location for the work data set.
Most of the configuration work for deployment is done, yay! Now you can check the deployment summary and verify one more time all the parameters you just filled in.
Submit deployment jobs
When you are done configuring, go and submit all jobs by clicking on Submit deployment jobs. Check the first one and submit it from Actions -> Submit Job. You may also check a JCL by clicking Actions -> View -> JCL before submitting if you wish. Once submitted, the refresh isn’t automatic, so if you’re like me you’ll keep clicking the Refresh button until you see the green checkmark in the status field. If you have everything configured correctly, after a while a green checkmark should appear in the status field. In the same way, submit the remaining jobs. If any error occurs, you may check job logs by selecting the job and clicking on Actions -> View -> Job Output. All jobs are written with a cleanup first approach, so it should not be a problem to rerun them when a blocking issue is solved.
Perform workflows
The Zowe PSWI contains one post-deployment workflow (Zowe mount workflow). If you are not familiar with z/OSMF workflows, you may want to check IBM’s introduction here. Simply select a workflow, click Actions > Open, and run the first step.
Note: This is valid for the Technology Preview of PSWI. The GA version of PSWI will have more z/OSMF workflows to perform installation and configuration tasks withtin z/OSMF directly. They will be disscused in my next blog post.
Specify the properties for the target software instance
This screen should be familiar to you, you can modify the name, description, and category of the new Zowe software instance.
Conclusion
Congratulations, you have successfully deployed Zowe PSWI and prepared it for configuration. Now you can follow Zowe configuration documentation here to finish this process and enjoy the running Zowe instance! And feel free to share your experience or issues with the Zowe PSWI in the Zowe community or with me directly at jan.prihoda@broadcom.com, thank you!
Learn More:
If you enjoyed this blog checkout more Zowe blogs here. Or, ask a question and join the conversation on the Open Mainframe Project Slack Channel #Zowe-dev, #Zowe-user or #Zowe-onboarding. If this is your first time using the OMP slack channel register here.
Zowe is owned and managed by the Open Mainframe Project which is a Linux Foundation project.
