z/VSE - Group home

z/VSE Newsflash March 2021

  

Overview:

  • Important z/VSE 6.2 APARs/PTFs
  • Important z/VM APARs/PTFs when using zHPF in a guest
  • Interesting z/VSE 6.2 support documents
  • Upcoming conference VM Workshop 2021 from June 10 - 12, 2021 in Columbus, Ohio
  • Upcoming conference 15th European GSE/IBM Technical University for z/VSE, z/VM, KVM and Linux on IBM Z from June 21 - 23, 2021 in Leipzig
  • Miscellaneous

Important z/VSE 6.2 APARs/PTFs

  • The PTF UD54385 for APAR DY30239 “ENABLE TLS 1.3 SUPPORT AND SECURITY FIXES FOR OPENSSL ON Z/VSE” upgrades OpenSSL 1.1.1d to provide support for TLS 1.3 in z/VSE 6.2 for highest available security. It also includes security fixes for CVE-2020-1967, CVE-2020-1971, CVE-2021-23840, and CVE-2021-23841.

  • The PTF UI73342 for APAR PH28252 “To allow CICS TS for z/VSE 2.2 to support z/VSE PTF UD54385” provides support for TLS 1.3 in CICS Transaction Server for z/VSE 2.2.

  • The PTF UI72645 for APAR PH31756 “IUI SKELETON UPDATES FOR OPENSSL TLS 1.3 AND IOCP Z15” provides support for TLS 1.3 in job skeletons in ICCF library 59. In addition it updates the job skeleton SKIOCPCN (IOCP) for z15.

There is a new z/VSE 6.2 Recommended Service Level (RSL) available with cutoff date January 7, 2021. See also the section on interesting z/VSE 6.2 support documents for instructions how to order and install an RSL.

Please see the z/VSE Service and Support - Corrective Service web page for complete lists of the latest APARs by z/VSE components and products.

Important z/VM APARs/PTFs when using zHPF in a guest

z/VSE 6.2 transparently tolerates the z/VM guest support for High Performance FICON for z Systems (zHPF) that is provided by the PTFs for the following z/VM APARs:

  • z/VM 6.2 provides guest support for zHPF with the PTF for APAR VM65041 "HIGH PERFORMANCE FICON GUEST SUPPORT FOR SYSTEM Z (ZHPF)".

  • z/VM 6.3 removes restrictions in the guest support for zHPF with APAR VM65748 "REMOVE ZHPF GUEST SUPPORT RESTRICTIONS".

  • z/VM 7.2 provides non-fullpack minidisk zHPF support with APAR VM66450 "NON FULL-PACK MINIDISK HPF I/O SUPPORT".

Interesting z/VSE 6.2 support documents

  • Rebuilding a corrupted VSAM user catalog on z/VSE 6.2 describes in detail how to rebuild a corrupted VSAM user catalog using VSESP.USER.CATALOG as an example.

  • How to FTP binary z/VSE dumps explains how to transfer binary z/VSE dumps to IBM z/VSE Support either via the IBM Support portal or by Secure FTP to the Enhanced Customer Data Repository (ECuRep). This information was formerly available in the PDF document Step by step example for binary data, which is no longer available.

  • How to FTP z/VSE text data explains how to transfer z/VSE text data (e.g. console logs, dumps, and traces from POWER LST queue) to IBM z/VSE Support either via the IBM Support portal or by Secure FTP to the Enhanced Customer Data Repository (ECuRep). This information was formerly available in the PDF document Step by step example for text data, which is no longer available.

  • How to order and install a z/VSE RSL explains how to upgrade z/VSE to the Recommended Service Level (RSL) as a step by step procedure.

Upcoming conference VM Workshop 2021 from June 10 - 12, 2021 in Columbus, Ohio

The conference VM Workshop 2021 is scheduled to take place from June 10 - 12, 2021 in Columbus, Ohio at The Ohio State University. You can learn more on the conference web site.

See my blog post Presentations and recordings of the VM Workshop 2020 z/VSE sessions available for links to the recordings of last year’s z/VSE sessions.

Upcoming conference 15th European GSE/IBM Technical University for z/VSE, z/VM, KVM and Linux on IBM Z from June 21 - 23, 2021 in Leipzig

The conference 15th European GSE/IBM Technical University for z/VSE, z/VM, KVM and Linux on IBM Z is scheduled to take place from June 21 - 23, 2021 in Leipzig, Germany. Meanwhile you can obtain more information and register on the new conference web site.

Miscellaneous

Making of miniature IBM z15 model

The documentary Miniature IBM z15 Scratch Build Making Of by 6502b on YouTube shows the making of a 1 : 12 scaled IBM z15 miniature model, scratch build handmade in mostly polystyrene.

z/VSE Blog outage resolved

Some of you may have noticed that my z/VSE Blog was temporarily broken and did not list any entries. This has been resolved.

While at it the IBM Community team has also improved the formatting of my blog. Each post is now displayed with a lead-in.

Please note that during the outage all entries were still available in the z/VSE Topic Group, which you can reach from the top navigation menu by hovering with the mouse over "Topic groups", "IBM Z", "OS", and then clicking on "z/VSE".

I greatly appreciate your feedback via the z/VSE contact form.

Disclaimer: My posts and opinions are my own.