Ansible for IBM Z delivers the Event-Driven Ansible for IBM Z 1.0 Validated Content Collection

Authors: Stephanie Lieu and Sebastian Torf

We’re excited to announce the general availability of Event-Driven Ansible for IBM Z 1.0. This new validated content collection offered by Ansible for IBM Z is designed to let you leverage real-time, event-driven automation capabilities on your z/OS environments. This release focuses on IBM zSecure use cases and represents an important step forward in how teams approach automation on IBM Z, enabling systems to respond dynamically to events as they occur rather than relying on scheduled jobs or manual execution. We introduce a cohesive set of rulebooks, playbooks, and event filters that enable organizations to respond dynamically to system events, automate operational workflows, and modernize mainframe automation practices.

With this release, users can:

• React to IBM zSecure alerts in near real time

• Orchestrate automated responses using rulebooks

• Execute playbooks dynamically based on event conditions

• Leverage the provided event filter to respond to other user alerts

Rulebooks for Event-Driven Automation

At the core of this collection are Ansible rulebooks, which define how systems respond to events. Rulebooks provide a structured way to express event-driven logic, enabling teams to translate incoming alerts into consistent and repeatable actions.

• Define conditions and triggers based on incoming events

• Map events directly to actions or playbooks

• Create repeatable and scalable response patterns

Teams can capture operational knowledge and enforce consistent responses across environments by codifying these patterns

Integrated Playbooks

Complementing rulebooks, the collection includes integrated playbooks that execute the actual automation tasks. These playbooks can be invoked dynamically as part of event-driven workflows, forming the execution layer.

• Execute common operational workflows

• Integrate with existing Ansible automation assets

• Provide a foundation for building custom automation scenarios

Together, rulebooks and playbooks enable organizations to build complete end-to-end event-driven automation tasks, connecting event detection with action in a seamless and extensible way.

Event Filters

The collection introduces a set of event filters that allow users to capture, process, and refine incoming event data before any action is taken. By transforming event payloads and routing only relevant signals forward, these filters help ensure that automation is driven by meaningful events.

• Capture and process incoming event data

• Refine and transform event payloads

• Route relevant events to downstream automation workflows

This approach helps teams focus on actionable signals, reduce unnecessary triggers, and improve both efficiency and reliability across their automation workflows.

Validated Content

This collection is provided as a validated content collection. This means that resources provided have been tested and are known to work in the prescribed end-to-end flow. The collection provides rulebooks, playbooks and other assets to assist with operational tasks, reducing the need to build custom configurations from scratch, and offers step-by-step guidance for specific tasks. You can obtain this collection via Red Hat Automation Hub and easily deploy it into your Private Automation Hub for on-prem and cloud deployments. This content is highly customizable, and users are encouraged to modify it to suit their needs. As such and because of the customizable nature of the assets provided, it is not offered with the same support as Red Hat Ansible Certified Content collections.

IBM zSecure

IBM Z continues to be the home for mission critical information and essential business production applications in many organizations due to the strong heritage of integrated security support capabilities across hardware, operating system, software and applications. Resource Access Control Facility (RACF) is the foundational IBM package provided for protecting Z. The IBM zSecure portfolio builds on the security support in IBM Z, z/OS and RACF to enhance Z security capabilities.

The next chapter of event-driven automation on IBM Z

The Event-Driven Ansible for IBM Z collection provides a powerful new way to think about automation on z/OS—one that is proactive, adaptive, and built for the pace of modern operations. With the combination of rulebooks, playbooks, and event filters, teams now have the tools to build responsive automation that reacts intelligently to zSecure alerts and the world around it.

We’re excited to see how you leverage these capabilities to modernize your automation workflows and unlock new efficiencies across your IBM Z environments.

Getting Started

We recommend obtaining Event-Driven Ansible for IBM Z 1.0 to take advantage of validated end-to-end scenarios. The documentation resources allow you to follow an end-to-end prescriptive approach to implementing Event-Driven Ansible in your mainframe environment. You can find this validated content in Ansible Automation Hub.

Resources

Event-Driven Ansible for IBM Z on Automation Hub

Event-Driven Ansible for IBM Z on GitHub

IBM Z and LinuxONE Content Solutions - Ansible for IBM Z

Red Hat® Ansible Validated Content for IBM Z documentation (Ansible for IBM Z)

Engage with us!

Ansible for IBM Z LinkedIn Group

Ansible for IBM Z IBM Community Page

System Z Enthusiasts Discord Server (#ansible)

Enhancements and Bug reports - git issue