IBM Z and LinuxONE IBM Z

  • 1.  Implement a Chatbot on the Mainframe

    IBM Champion
    Posted Mon April 22, 2024 10:55 AM

    Hi All,

    I have been asked recently about implementation of a chat bot with the mainframe.

    The question I was asked is how would I do this and I can see various way this may be achieved, has anybody done this as yet?

    - Would you use USS

    - API calls
    - Other

    Has anyone done this and can share the learning on this - is there a value in writing it from scratch or using one of the many chat bot makers if so which one.

    Many thanks everyone - Question asked to me and I wanted to ask the community.

    Andy



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    Andrew McCandless
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  • 2.  RE: Implement a Chatbot on the Mainframe

    Posted Tue April 23, 2024 06:41 AM
    Edited by Diego Cardalliaguet Tue April 23, 2024 08:51 AM

    Hello Andrew, 

    Despite some more information is needed I'll try to give you an idea of how and where to start. This is what I would do. 

    First thing is to make a clear picture of what is the mainframe technology you want to use. For what you say, talking about USS, you are thinking about setting up the bot in a z/OS LPAR. You can use Linux for Z as well for this purpose. Both are using the same underlying technologies.

    Also it will depend on what models you want to use and where the data for the model resides, the volume of data… 

    Let's say that you want to develop a chatbot using Tensorflow and that you want it on z/OS. You have several options:

    1) Develop and use on z/OS.

    In this case you can use USS as the Python runtime and use the Python AI Toolkit for z/OS where you can create your Python venvs (as in any other platform) or use Conda for it. There are a bunch of packages there to start exploring and developing. For the special case of Tensorflow you also will need zCX to host a container with the required versions. 

    You can find a list of all the containers that you can use in Linux for Z and in zCX inside z/OS in here.

    Of course there are other options and you can deploy models using some other technologies. It all will depend upon what you want to do. The example with Tensorflow is an excuse to remark one of the possibilities that run on zCX. 

    2) Develop and train outside z/OS and exploit on z/OS (as you mention USS).

    When you develop outside z/OS you can deploy the models in ONNX format and PMML format so that they will work as in any other platform. 

     As said, you have many options and this is a quick summary for you to understand that a taylor-fit solution can be built. 

    If you need more info, please, contact me and we can discuss further. 

    Regards, 

    D.



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    Diego Cardalliaguet
    IBM Data&AI zStack Leader for EMEA
    IBM
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  • 3.  RE: Implement a Chatbot on the Mainframe

    Posted Tue April 23, 2024 09:55 AM

    What about using Linux for System Z?

    Bob Plyler



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    Robert Plyler
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  • 4.  RE: Implement a Chatbot on the Mainframe

    User Group Leader
    Posted Wed April 24, 2024 08:31 AM

    Hi Andy,

    we have a chatbot to interact with the mainframe as part of our IBM Z AIOps portfolio. It's called "IBM Z ChatOps".

    If you want to take a look at its capabilities, here is the documentation: https://ibm.biz/ZChatOpsDoc 
    You can also take a look at some videos to see it in action:

    1. Collaborative incident remediation scenario with Z ChatOps running in Slack. It shows the chatbot action and also how you can drill down into a web UI in context.

    2. Z ChatOps Overview. Explanations + short live demo.

    In general, the chatbot can be deployed in either Slack, MS Team, or Mattermost; or you can embed it in a Web UI.
    With the chatbot you can receive alerts from many different tools/sources and also interact with mainframe tools, such as System Automation, Workload Scheduler, and OMEGAMON. You can even issue MVS commands through the chatbot.

    Kind regards,

    Wolfgang Schaeberle,
    Senior Product Manager, IBM Z AIOps



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    Wolfgang Schäberle
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  • 5.  RE: Implement a Chatbot on the Mainframe

    Posted Wed April 24, 2024 09:01 AM
    Hi sir, I was planning to have an chatbot which will do ipl for me, is it possible? 







  • 6.  RE: Implement a Chatbot on the Mainframe

    Posted Thu April 25, 2024 10:08 AM
      |   view attached

    Hello Andy,

    You can encapsulate the data you need to keep access too and link it to the new modern app or chat bot you are trying to create!

    I own a tool that would help in this effort.


    Best Regards,

    Joseph Winters



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    Joseph Winters
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