Zowe Featuring Output Management Solution CA View- The Journey of Discovering Zowe
{Ecosystem} Everyone around me at work and client sites have been talking about the Open Mainframe Project's Zowe Command Line Interface (CLI) and I was not understanding why. This is an overview on how I became familiar with Zowe CLI from a mainframe specialist point of view. Just in case you didn’t know, Zowe CLI is an open source project which includes a number of components that that allow DevOps teams to easily interact with z/OS mainframe software.
After reading Sujay’s blog about Zowe CLI, DevOps, and Output Management development, it was clear that the mainframe output management solution is considered and involved as part of the development cycle and DevOps process. With Report Output being the “end of the rainbow” of the DevOps process, no one has really talked about what happens to the report output after it is stored in an Output Management solution such as CA View or how the end-user can consume the wealth of data stored inside of an Output Management solution like CA View repository.
I was requested by my management to research a Zowe CLI plug-in as it relates to CA View. I was not really familiar with Zowe CLI other than hearing different Broadcom and IBM DevOps products announcing they were Zowe CLI enabled. In this space CA View is a report repository that hundreds or even thousands of users can log into to view reports online that were created from hundreds of mainframe batch jobs. My understanding, up till now, was that Zowe CLI was mostly about bringing mainframe development to other development tool platforms. From a CA View perspective, this solution is at the “end of the rainbow” of DevOps, where all the development of mainframe reports are stored, life-cycle managed and secured for online viewing. I had no concept or understanding of how CA View could leverage Zowe CLI.
Using the Zowe CLI Output Management logic image (see below) from Sujay’s Blog as an example, this clearly shows what CA View does “out of the box.” Capture and store the output from a batch job running on the mainframe. However, what it does not show is how the user can utilize Zowe CLI plug in to consume and analyze this business-critical data after it is stored inside CA View.
This is where my Zowe CLI journey begins, trying to figure out how to leverage the Zowe plug-in featuring CA View to enhance the business user’s access to reports stored on CA View.
As I moved towards understanding Zowe CLI plug-ins, I downloaded the product and played with the functions to see what the CA View Zowe Plug-in can accomplish. As a former mainframe system support person, it took a minute to “recall” windows command-line interface (CLI) logic. It has been a while since I used this windows logic and I am sure I am not alone trying to remember MS-DOS commands. However, once I was able to remember DOS commands, it came back to me pretty quickly. So, now as I entered the world of issuing CLI commands I was able to begin interacting with CA View from my desktop. As you can see from the picture below, I was able to extract information from CA View. However, my issue was what to do with this information.
I was wondering why this type of Line Command interaction is so important for the Zowe CLI solution. I am not a developer, so I do not have a developer’s logic on why the Command Line Interface (CLI) is so important in the DevOps world.
I asked the developer of the CA View Zowe plug-in, what to do with this tool. I said to him, it only gives me a response from CA View in a Windows DOS screen and nothing else. His response was interesting, he explained to me, in my world we work in this space all the time. Zowe CLI is just a Software Development Kit (SDK) to facilitate interaction with the mainframe to build new products. Then he said I was overthinking what Zowe CLI does. He suggested that I think of it as a tool or a bridge to create something using simple developer programs code such as Windows scripting or Python to take that Command-Line data into a program or process to do something.
After thinking about his response, I began thinking about how CA View users interact with CA View on a daily basis. I then broke this down into four personas to help develop possible Zowe CLI use cases.
Now that I have laid out the possible CA View user roles, I have an idea where Zowe CLI and CA View can play together. CA View may be the “end of the rainbow” for Mainframe DevOps, however, Zowe CLI featuring CA View is the “beginning of the rainbow” for business unit process automation for the users of CA View.
I held several socializing meetings with my clients. I shared with them the Zowe Command Line Interface (CLI) CA View plug-in to gain feedback. Their responses are below:
The responses I received did not exactly excite my CA View clients. They were looking at this solution the same way I have been looking at it. It interacts with CA View, but no one can figure out how to consume the data from Zowe CLI.
After reviewing my client notes on the subject, I realized the main reason the clients were not excited about Zowe CLI interface is we did not provide a good “concept” use case that offered the client a thought process to follow for using the Zowe CLI Plug-in for CA View. Then I remember what the Zowe CLI developer told me about the Zowe CLI plug-in, it is just a “developer tool” to create new programs, products or processes with the information received from the Zowe CLI plug-in for CA View.
Finally, this message became very clear. This is a developer tool, therefore, we can create something new using the features of the Zowe plug-in for CA View. Furthermore, I realized we needed to build some type of code around this Zowe plug-in interface. The code, I will call it a “wrapper code”, should be simple, easy to create, and supported by the business user or business unit developer.
This wrapper code should use modern program language and tools that a business unit or user would have access to, such as Windows batch, VB Scripting, UNIX shell scripts, or Python. Most importantly, Zowe plug-in featuring CA View should be flexible enough to change quickly based on business needs without a long development cycle.
After figuring out the general architecture where Zowe CLI would fit into the CA View space, working with the Broadcom Product Manager of the Output Management solution, I knew what needed to be done. We need to provide real use case concepts that demonstrate “why” Zowe Plug-in for CA View is important to the business user.
The concept use cases will have to impact and improve how the business user utilizes CA View, which, in effect would change the client conversation about Zowe CLI for CA View from “Good Info to Know” to “I Want That” feature or process because it really makes a positive difference to the client’s business. Also, recruiting a Developer or a SYSPROG resource that is familiar with modern development tools like Python is key. I was clueless about which tools are being used for development outside the mainframe space. This person will assist in the design and build-out of the wrapper code logic around the Zowe Plug-in use cases.
I have learned that although Zowe CLI is being pushed primarily as a DevOps solution, depending on the Zowe CLI product plug-in features, it can serve in a number of different capacities outside of the DevOps infrastructure. Zowe CLI can leverage zOSMF infrastructure to interact with the Mainframe and Distributed solutions. Zowe CLI can call API’s to complete a workflow process or trigger an automation process to enhance a Workload Automation solution. It is only limited by the imagination of the person developing and using Zowe CLI.
In my next blog (“Story of Zowe Featuring CA View”.) I will discuss concept use cases for CA View, and how Zowe CLI can be applied to drive new ways in making the CA View experience more efficient for the business user.
My journey discovering Zowe featuring CA View is now complete. I did have to recruit a couple of other Broadcom resources on my journey to help develop user stories and vet the new way of using the Zowe CA View Plug-in. Those resources will also discuss how we developed Zowe featuring CA View Plug-in business code that a client can use to begin leveraging in future blogs.
Zowe is owned and managed by the Open Mainframe Project which is a project under the Linux Foundation. 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.
