Setting up CA Endevor for Zowe CLI

{Ecosystem} Zowe is modernizing the way z/OS services are integrated with off-platform services. Since Zowe is open source and extensible, 3rd party tools can use Zowe as a modern access and integration path. CA Endevor is one example of that. As the leading SCM on z/OS, integration of CA Endevor processes with CI/CD tools is of utmost importance to many users in the world of DevOps. If you’d like to see how other z/OS products are also using Zowe to modernize their products, here’s a full list of Zowe conformant extensions.

At the core of Zowe are infrastructure APIs which can be used to build CLIs, GUIs or any kind of custom applications. Once you build APIs for a z/OS service, the possibilities are endless for modernization.

CA Endevor was actually ahead of the game and had already built APIs even before the advent of Zowe. However, with Zowe came the API mediation layer that manages infrastructure APIs on z/OS. Since Endevor is part of the core infrastructure, the decision was made to integrate the Endevor APIs with the Zowe API mediation layer. Endevor’s APIs had to be modified a little bit according to Zowe’s API conformance rules to integrate with the Zowe API mediation layer but the effort was relatively small.

Connecting CA Endevor to Modern DevOps Tools via Zowe CLI

After the APIs were built, the Endevor team decided to build a Zowe CLI plugin for Endevor. The Zowe CLI Endevor plugin was the perfect tool to naturally integrate Endevor with CI/CD tools like Jenkins. It 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.

The Zowe CLI plugin for Endevor kick-started an influx of modernization for Endevor as the APIs were now ripe for the picking. Here’s a list of other Endevor tools built on the Zowe conformant Endevor APIs:

1. The “CA Endevor Bridge for Git” which allows the build and source control engineer to mirror source code from Endevor in GitHub and BitBucket (and in the very near future, GitLab) so developers can access source through git.
2. The “Explorer for Endevor” extension which allows access to the full map of elements in Endevor in Microsoft Visual Studio Code or Eclipse Che

So, are you ready to modernize your Endevor experience?

Get started by setting up the CA Endevor APIs and connecting them to the Zowe API mediation layer (you may need your mainframe IT staff’s help with the following):

1. Ensure you’re on Endevor V18.0.12 or higher and CA Common Services 14.0 or higher, with the appropriate maintenance.
2. Common Services maintenance pre-reqs
3. Web Services maintenance pre-reqs for Zowe CLI
4. Configure Endevor for Web Services
5. Configure CCI and ENF started task definitions
6. Enable Security Access to Web Services
7. Install and Start the Endevor Web Services
8. Integrate the REST API with the API Mediation Layer (Optional Step)

We did a recent webinar showing the process which may be of interest. There is also free web-based training on this topic available from Broadcom for customers active on maintenance.

Next, install Zowe CLI and the Endevor plugin to get started with your automation and CI/CD efforts:

1. Download Zowe and Install NodeJS and Zowe CLI
2. Add the CA Endevor plugin into the Zowe CLI framework

Web Services Installation and Configuration Overview

At this point — you have everything you need to start using Zowe CLI with CA Endevor. Remember, even visualizing your Endevor actions like generates and package creations in a pipeline is of great value in building trust, standardization and quality in your dev teams.