For years, IBM Z mainframes have been the backbone of some of the largest industries in the world. Every single person, every single day, interacts with a mainframe and doesn’t even realize it… At least I didn’t realize it until I started working at IBM and learned how common, integral, and important mainframes are.
There is debate around ‘will the mainframe still be around in X number of years’; That question crops up on reddit every now and then. If you read through the responses, or even some of the TLDRs, you will see that the mainframe is widely accepted as the most reliable, securable, scalable, ‘tried and true’ solution. The Z mainframe is the most appropriate platform for a variety of industries and business sizes.
From a cherry picked, and in my opinion wise, redditor:
“The notion that [mainframes] are legacy comes from folks who are not up to date on z/OS and System Z capabilities.”
IBM is always creating new products and even simple base functionality updates to make the mainframe even better for your business. We are always working towards the future of the mainframe because there will always be a future for the mainframe.
Since there will always be a future for the mainframe, the industry is recruiting New-to-Z users. However, we can all agree that the mainframe is not exactly easy to learn so new users are expected to become proficient in up to or even over 5 years.
The future of DFSMS for New-to-Z Users
The DFSMS team is aware of the current onboarding challenge and has a solution for storage administrators: the brand-new z/OSMF Storage Management Plugin for z/OS 3.2!
Note: z/OS 3.2 was made generally available on September 26, 2025!
The Storage Management Plugin provides a new, uniform, consistent, and intuitive z/OSMF interface and enhanced storage management APIs for early tenure storage administrators to complete storage management tasks. Putting everything, including simple tooltip documentation information, in an interface that is easy to navigate and figure out allows storage administrators to reduce manual steps, reduce the required Z specific skills, and ultimately reduce the time needed to complete storage management tasks and become proficient.
We know that New-to-Z users have industry standard skills! They grew up learning user interfaces, they have experience with a variety of programming languages (Java, Python, C++, etc.) and APIs (REST) and they have spent time learning relational or non-relational (NoSQL) databases. While there is still a need to learn the intricacies of the platform, using industry standard and intuitive solutions lowers the barrier to entry for New-to-Z users.
z/OSMF Storage Management Plugin
The landing page for the Storage Management Plugin is a dashboard that displays useful information about the active storage configuration. At the bottom of the dashboard, there are cards displaying information for each SMS construct (Data class, Management class, Storage class, Storage group, and ACS Routines):
Click any of the cards on the dashboard or the bar at the top of the plugin to navigate and drill down into each construct. Looking at any construct will display a list view:
To learn more about the exciting current capabilities of the z/OSMF Storage Management Plugin:
· Check out the z/OSMF Storage Management Plugin Content Solution page
o Click “Play Overview” to see a demo video with some interesting use cases!
· The Storage Management Plugin team will be presenting at the z/OSMF Guild on October 22, 2025, giving a full overview of the first iteration of the Plugin! Join us at this virtual event, learn about the plugin, provide your feedback, and even influence the future of DFSMS:
o Register Here!
o 
We would love to hear your thoughts on the z/OSMF Storage Management Plugin! Leave a comment on this blog post, start a discussion on the DFSMS Community Page, or join Mainframe Data Management LinkedIn group to discuss there!
Author:
Alexis Kapica – z/OS DFSMS Product Manager
Editors:
Barbara McDonald – z/OS DFSMS Senior Product Manager
