IBM z/OS Ansible Core 1.6.0 has released to Automation Hub,  Galaxy and is available in GitHub. This release includes a new zos_volume_init module, enhancements, bugfixes and extends support to ansible-core 2.15 and comes with optional support and service for Automation Hub users and community support for Galaxy users. 

New Module

In an effort to grow the offerings capabilities, the IBM DFMS team and the IBM z/OS core collection teams got together and decided that it was time for the collection to extend its capabilities and allow for volume initialization. The zos_volume_init module depends on the ICKDSF programs INIT command to initialize a volume and brings with it the Ansible experience on operations such as:

• Initialize a volume or minidisk on z/OS.
• Create the volume label and entry into the volume table of contents (VTOC).
• Configure volume options such as:
  • address - the address of the volume or minidisk.
  • verify_offline - verify that the device is not online to any other systems.
  • volid - the volume serial number used to initialize a volume or minidisk.
  • vtoc_size - the number of tracks to initialize the volume table of contents (VTOC) with.
  • sms_managed - specify that the volume be managed by Storage Management System (SMS).
  • and more ....

A few important points to note when using the zos_volume_init module is that ICKDSF is an Authorized Program Facility (APF) program and the zos_init_volume module will run in authorized mode.  Generally the ICKDSF program is protected by facility class STGADMIN.ICK.INIT such that the user executing the Ansible playbook must have a profile defined that permits access.  If the ICKDSF program is not APF authorized, the Ansible zos_volume_init module task will end. 

Enhancements

zos_copy added a performance enhancement that when restoring from a backup, data sets no longer need to be re-allocted. The module also updated the mode option, so permissions are applied to existing directories and files.

zos_data_set and zos_lineinfile introduced a force option that allows for data set members to be deleted while a PDS or PDSE is in use by a long running task. 

zos_tso_command introduced new option max_rc that will instruct the module of an acceptable return code. Prior to this change, a non-zero return code was interpreted as an error while there are cases where a return code of 4 or 8 are acceptable and should not be considered a task failure. 

zos_blockinfile can support double quotes in the content block. This enhancement is important when editing or generating scripts where often double quotes are needed. For example, consider a shell script update where both double and single quotes are being used to cat a data set:

- name: Update a script with commands containing quotes.
  zos_blockinfile:
    src: "script.sh"
    insertafter: "EOF"
    block: |
          cat "//'{{ DS_NAME }}'"
          cat "//'{{ DS_NAME_2 }}'"

zos_job_query now supports embedded positional wild card placement in both, job_name and job_id. In the past, only a trailing wild card was supported limiting the list being queried. Now you can place wild cards in either the job_name, job_id or in both for more explicit processing, for example: 

- name: Query jobs using wildcards to match any job name begging with 'H' and ending in 'O'.
  zos_job_query:
    job_name: "H*O"

- name: Query jobs using a wildcards to match a range of job id(s) that include 'JOB' and '014'.
  zos_job_query:
    job_id: JOB*014*

- name: Query all job names beginning wih 'H' that match job id that includes '14'.
  zos_job_query:
    job_name: "H*"
    job_id: "JOB*14*"