IBM Cloud Provisioning and Management (CP&M)for z/OS is continuing it’s journey to provide improved user experience and new functions. Following cool features are delivered on December 12, 2019 with PTF
UI66659 (z/OS V2.3) and
UI66660(z/OS V2.4) to expand CP&M provisioning capability and offer robust provisioning platform on z/OS.
Support for Multiple Sysplexes : This enhancement improves scalability and speed of z/OS middleware provisioning. By provisioning instances across multiple sysplexes via a primary zOSMF system, an Application Programmer can scale the cloud provisioning environment beyond the scope of a single sysplex (i.e. now has access to a larger resource pool of z/OS systems). With this configuration, System and Application Programmers no longer have to individually define and provision middleware templates and instances, using different z/OSMF access points, for each sysplex in their domain. Please refer to
Multiple Sysplex support for more information about this capability.
No changes are required in middleware provisioning template to leverage this function. With this support external cloud management platform such as OpenShift can provision z/OS middlewares on any z/OS system in the private cloud infrastructure by communicating with a single z/OSMF instance via CP&M REST APIs.
DASD/Storage Resource Pool : With this new capability, CP&M expands resource pools of managed resources to now include storage/DASD resources. Collaborating with Storage Administrator, a z/OS System Programmer can partition the storage resources for a z/OS middleware provisioning with tenant level isolation and limits. By isolating storage resources of specific teams, z/OS System Programmers can prevent "starvation" (i.e. teams sharing a resource deplete available space) and provide policy-based resource allocation.
Storage Administrator creates storage resources with dedicated attributes and settings defined via Data Classes, Storage Classes and Management Classes (e.g. encryption, performance objectives). z/OS System Programmer then defines DASD/Storage Resource Pool for specific teams and templates allowing for greater customization and quality of service tailored to tenant and templates needs. Simplified and automated allocation of storage during provisioning (through the use of templates in z/OSMF) leads to less time spent on storage resource orchestration. Please refer to
Storage Resource Pool support for more information about this capability.
To dynamically obtain data set allocation attributes, the middleware provisioning templates must be updated to invoke the "Get data set attributes" REST API, which is described in the
IBM z/OS Management Facility Programming Guide.
Support SAF group name for Administrator:You can specify SAF groups for the various administrator roles when you create, modify, or view domains. You can also specify a SAF group for template approvers when you create or modify a template. Previously, it was necessary to specify individual user IDs for these roles. You might find that using groups to represent administrators can help to simplify the management of Cloud Provisioning resources.
z/OSMF Workflow Editor enhancements:We introduced following new features to improve usability of z/OSMF workflow editor.
- Flat text editor : A raw text option is added to the Workflow Editor. If you select this option, the Workflow Editor opens the workflow definition in a simple text editor. Consider using the text editor when you need to quickly correct a syntax error that prevents the file from opening in the Workflow Editor UI. Flat text editor also helps you quickly locate where a specific variable is used.
- An Expand option is added to the Instructions tab on the Step Details page and the Template contents field for template steps. Use this option to expand the input area to full screen width for a larger text entry area.
- It is possible to create an input properties file in the Workflow Editor during an editing session. Previously, you had to supply an existing input properties file at the beginning of an editing session.
- As a convenience, the Edit Workflow Definition dialog now saves the location of the files that you edit. On subsequent uses, you can select the file location from the pull-down menu, rather than having to enter the full path and file name manually, as was done previously.