z/OS zFS ISPF Tools

by Lionel B. Dyck       May 10, 2023

This article describes a collection of tools for working with zFS datasets that the author either developed or created an ISPF dialog to drive. The tools are all open source, provided with no strings attached, and the usual caveat that you should verify in your own environment.

zFS Tools under ISPF

In the middle of the last decade one of my tasks was to administer the OMVS, also known as USS or Unix System Services, environment of z/OS. At the time I was somewhat familiar with Linux, having worked with it under z/VM in the prior decade, and I could spell OMVS – not a great start but it was a start.

I found that I had several repeated tasks and began to document them. Then, because I’m basically always looking for ways to automate tasks, and being somewhat proficient with ISPF dialog development, I started to create dialogs for these tasks so that I would be able to easily repeat them, and so that others could do so as well.

As you will see, these are mostly simple tasks yet ones that need to be done on a periodic basis, and mostly those that may not be easily remembered when needed. The ISPF dialogs are not super sophisticated or complex, but they do make it easy to perform the required action.

Thus, my collection of zFSToolsbegan and evolved into this:

Dialog Notes:

1.      These ISPF dialogs are written in REXX and utilize the BPXWUNIX service[1].

2.      Where possible, existing IBM dialogs and services are used (why reinvent the wheel?).

3.      Some of the dialogs require that the user have OMVS superuser  authority[2] and are identified by a single * on the menu.

4.      The dialogs also use the STEMEDIT utility that is found in the CBTTape File 183.

5.      Option 11, zLSOF, requires read access to SYS1.SBPXEXEC, which is distributed with z/OS by IBM.

6.      There is no ISPF tutorial for this dialog as I felt it was reasonably self-explanatory (and I didn’t have a lot of time while setting up and configuring the OMVS environment as part of my-then job).

Where To Get It

1.      https://github.com/lbdyck/zFStools;

2.      https://www.cbttape.org in File 314;

3.      STEMEDIT from https://www.cbttape.org/ in File 183.

zfsadm

Documentation on IBM’s zfsadm can be found in the “z/OS File Systems Administration” manual, chapter “zfsadm - The zfsadm command suite“, or on IBM’s documentation web site.

Note that this article will not go into detail on the zfsadm commands; please read the excellent IBM documentation.