z/OS Container Extensions (zCX)

Hi,

just wondering if anyone has done this successfully.

I'm trying now on z/OS 2.5 (hopefully to be z/OS 3.1 soon) and it's not exactly working as shown in the fine manual, namely p58 of "IBM z/OS Container Extensions Guide" which appears not to have a document number and is admittedly over two years old.  When I read the z/OS 3.1 version online, the information is the same anyway, so here goes with my question.

I've got a running zCX instance, with only a small 4.5GB user volume, and want to add a larger 42.5 GB user volume to it, which is on a new 3390 disk volume different to the 4.5GB VSAM LDS housing the first data volume.

What variables do I need to put into the workflow variable input file?  I'd like to do that as manually entering the variables seemed not to be reflected in the JCL used by the workflow, e.g. I couldn't see the new disk volume name being used for the IDCAMS DEFINE statement, etc.

Note I'm not changing the swap volume, and so when I skipped those steps in the workflow it seemed to affect the data volume workflow steps which were also shown as skipped for some reason. 

I'm assuming this workflow, shown in the manual as /usr/lpp/zcx_zos/workflows/add_data_disks.xml, is working and I can supply some variables as input, as I did for the provisioning workflow last year.  Maybe that's a bad assumption (?).

Hi Peter,

To add the additional user data disk please use the add_data_disks.xml workflow.  From the "zCX User Data Storage Configuration" panel (see attached).  You would specify the "Additional user data" size and count along with the storage attributes of your new volume.  Once the workflow is complete, you will need to restart your instance.  Please let us know if you have additional questions.

--Adis

Hi,

just wondering if anyone has done this successfully.

I'm trying now on z/OS 2.5 (hopefully to be z/OS 3.1 soon) and it's not exactly working as shown in the fine manual, namely p58 of "IBM z/OS Container Extensions Guide" which appears not to have a document number and is admittedly over two years old.  When I read the z/OS 3.1 version online, the information is the same anyway, so here goes with my question.

I've got a running zCX instance, with only a small 4.5GB user volume, and want to add a larger 42.5 GB user volume to it, which is on a new 3390 disk volume different to the 4.5GB VSAM LDS housing the first data volume.

What variables do I need to put into the workflow variable input file?  I'd like to do that as manually entering the variables seemed not to be reflected in the JCL used by the workflow, e.g. I couldn't see the new disk volume name being used for the IDCAMS DEFINE statement, etc.

Note I'm not changing the swap volume, and so when I skipped those steps in the workflow it seemed to affect the data volume workflow steps which were also shown as skipped for some reason. 

I'm assuming this workflow, shown in the manual as /usr/lpp/zcx_zos/workflows/add_data_disks.xml, is working and I can supply some variables as input, as I did for the provisioning workflow last year.  Maybe that's a bad assumption (?).

Hi Adis,

as I mentioned earlier, running the workflow is exactly what I'm trying to do. 

My question is - can I supply variables in an input file as I did with the "Provision" workflow?

That is, in the following picture, can I supply a filename in the text field circled in red?  If so, what goes into this file?

I am using a non-SMS volume, and want to add 1 additional 42125 MB user dataset to the existing 4500 MB user dataset.  The volume name is VD325.  There is no change to the swap dataset.

I would prefer to use this variable input file so that I have a repeatable process for others to use when I explain it to them. 

Hi Peter,

To add the additional user data disk please use the add_data_disks.xml workflow.  From the "zCX User Data Storage Configuration" panel (see attached).  You would specify the "Additional user data" size and count along with the storage attributes of your new volume.  Once the workflow is complete, you will need to restart your instance.  Please let us know if you have additional questions.

--Adis

Hi,

just wondering if anyone has done this successfully.

I'm trying now on z/OS 2.5 (hopefully to be z/OS 3.1 soon) and it's not exactly working as shown in the fine manual, namely p58 of "IBM z/OS Container Extensions Guide" which appears not to have a document number and is admittedly over two years old.  When I read the z/OS 3.1 version online, the information is the same anyway, so here goes with my question.

I've got a running zCX instance, with only a small 4.5GB user volume, and want to add a larger 42.5 GB user volume to it, which is on a new 3390 disk volume different to the 4.5GB VSAM LDS housing the first data volume.

What variables do I need to put into the workflow variable input file?  I'd like to do that as manually entering the variables seemed not to be reflected in the JCL used by the workflow, e.g. I couldn't see the new disk volume name being used for the IDCAMS DEFINE statement, etc.

Note I'm not changing the swap volume, and so when I skipped those steps in the workflow it seemed to affect the data volume workflow steps which were also shown as skipped for some reason. 

I'm assuming this workflow, shown in the manual as /usr/lpp/zcx_zos/workflows/add_data_disks.xml, is working and I can supply some variables as input, as I did for the provisioning workflow last year.  Maybe that's a bad assumption (?).

Hi Peter,

Only the IZU_INSTNAME and IZU_REGISTRY_DIR variables will be used from the workflow variable input file.  It uses these two properties to get to your instance, the other properties will be ignored.

You would need to provide the new storage values (i.e. volume serial, number of volumes, and size) in the zCX User Data Storage Configuration panel.  Once you provide the values, the values will be saved.  So when you perform the add data disks again, the values you provided will be displayed in the panel.

Hi Adis,

as I mentioned earlier, running the workflow is exactly what I'm trying to do. 

My question is - can I supply variables in an input file as I did with the "Provision" workflow?

That is, in the following picture, can I supply a filename in the text field circled in red?  If so, what goes into this file?

I am using a non-SMS volume, and want to add 1 additional 42125 MB user dataset to the existing 4500 MB user dataset.  The volume name is VD325.  There is no change to the swap dataset.

I would prefer to use this variable input file so that I have a repeatable process for others to use when I explain it to them. 

Hi Peter,

To add the additional user data disk please use the add_data_disks.xml workflow.  From the "zCX User Data Storage Configuration" panel (see attached).  You would specify the "Additional user data" size and count along with the storage attributes of your new volume.  Once the workflow is complete, you will need to restart your instance.  Please let us know if you have additional questions.

--Adis

Hi,

just wondering if anyone has done this successfully.

I'm trying now on z/OS 2.5 (hopefully to be z/OS 3.1 soon) and it's not exactly working as shown in the fine manual, namely p58 of "IBM z/OS Container Extensions Guide" which appears not to have a document number and is admittedly over two years old.  When I read the z/OS 3.1 version online, the information is the same anyway, so here goes with my question.

I've got a running zCX instance, with only a small 4.5GB user volume, and want to add a larger 42.5 GB user volume to it, which is on a new 3390 disk volume different to the 4.5GB VSAM LDS housing the first data volume.

What variables do I need to put into the workflow variable input file?  I'd like to do that as manually entering the variables seemed not to be reflected in the JCL used by the workflow, e.g. I couldn't see the new disk volume name being used for the IDCAMS DEFINE statement, etc.

Note I'm not changing the swap volume, and so when I skipped those steps in the workflow it seemed to affect the data volume workflow steps which were also shown as skipped for some reason. 

I'm assuming this workflow, shown in the manual as /usr/lpp/zcx_zos/workflows/add_data_disks.xml, is working and I can supply some variables as input, as I did for the provisioning workflow last year.  Maybe that's a bad assumption (?).

Hi Adis,

thanks for the info.  It's a bit of a shame, as it's inconsistent with the Provisioning workflow where all the input variables can be supplied in the nominated variable file.  Perhaps in future releases this workflow will operate with fully-specified input file variables.

OK, so I'm using the documented procedure and here's what I get.

From the previous provisioning, I see in the user.properties file "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties" these values

ZCX_JOB_NAME ZCXJOB1                      
ZCX_REGISTRY_DIR /global/zcx_zos/instances

So I insert those into the first page as follows, and then press "Next"

I press Next on the following instructions page after reading it (not shown here for brevity as there is no input field on that page, just text) and get the following page, where I supply a new output file name so as to preserve any existing file for later reference.  The path for the output file is the tmp subdirectory of the global registry for this instance, and the filename is a temporary filename.

Pressing Next now gives me a page allowing me to create the JOBNAME card for the JCL used by the workflow (again not shown here for brevity), which I do, and then press Next again and review and submit the JCL on the following pages, which yields all zeroes in the completion code, finishing the first step of the workflow.

Moving into step 2 of the workflow I proceed to the Perform page where I see the following, and again supply a temporary name, different from the previous temporary name, which gives me my first question:  should this temporary name be the same as the previous one shown above, or something else?  The text in the help field seems to imply a different name, but it's not clear so I thought I'd better ask.

I'll stop here and wait for your response so as to avoid making any wrong turns as happened previously, leading to this thread.

Hi Peter,

Only the IZU_INSTNAME and IZU_REGISTRY_DIR variables will be used from the workflow variable input file.  It uses these two properties to get to your instance, the other properties will be ignored.

You would need to provide the new storage values (i.e. volume serial, number of volumes, and size) in the zCX User Data Storage Configuration panel.  Once you provide the values, the values will be saved.  So when you perform the add data disks again, the values you provided will be displayed in the panel.

Hi Adis,

as I mentioned earlier, running the workflow is exactly what I'm trying to do. 

My question is - can I supply variables in an input file as I did with the "Provision" workflow?

That is, in the following picture, can I supply a filename in the text field circled in red?  If so, what goes into this file?

I am using a non-SMS volume, and want to add 1 additional 42125 MB user dataset to the existing 4500 MB user dataset.  The volume name is VD325.  There is no change to the swap dataset.

I would prefer to use this variable input file so that I have a repeatable process for others to use when I explain it to them. 

Hi Peter,

To add the additional user data disk please use the add_data_disks.xml workflow.  From the "zCX User Data Storage Configuration" panel (see attached).  You would specify the "Additional user data" size and count along with the storage attributes of your new volume.  Once the workflow is complete, you will need to restart your instance.  Please let us know if you have additional questions.

--Adis

Hi,

just wondering if anyone has done this successfully.

I'm trying now on z/OS 2.5 (hopefully to be z/OS 3.1 soon) and it's not exactly working as shown in the fine manual, namely p58 of "IBM z/OS Container Extensions Guide" which appears not to have a document number and is admittedly over two years old.  When I read the z/OS 3.1 version online, the information is the same anyway, so here goes with my question.

I've got a running zCX instance, with only a small 4.5GB user volume, and want to add a larger 42.5 GB user volume to it, which is on a new 3390 disk volume different to the 4.5GB VSAM LDS housing the first data volume.

What variables do I need to put into the workflow variable input file?  I'd like to do that as manually entering the variables seemed not to be reflected in the JCL used by the workflow, e.g. I couldn't see the new disk volume name being used for the IDCAMS DEFINE statement, etc.

Note I'm not changing the swap volume, and so when I skipped those steps in the workflow it seemed to affect the data volume workflow steps which were also shown as skipped for some reason. 

I'm assuming this workflow, shown in the manual as /usr/lpp/zcx_zos/workflows/add_data_disks.xml, is working and I can supply some variables as input, as I did for the provisioning workflow last year.  Maybe that's a bad assumption (?).

Hi Peter,

Regarding the Output File Path, we recommend that you accept the value shown and not change it.  You should not worry about the properties file in your instance directory.   It is managed by the workflow.  The workflow uses the output file to internally set temporary or new values for your instance.  Hope this helps.

Hi Adis,

thanks for the info.  It's a bit of a shame, as it's inconsistent with the Provisioning workflow where all the input variables can be supplied in the nominated variable file.  Perhaps in future releases this workflow will operate with fully-specified input file variables.

OK, so I'm using the documented procedure and here's what I get.

From the previous provisioning, I see in the user.properties file "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties" these values

ZCX_JOB_NAME ZCXJOB1                      
ZCX_REGISTRY_DIR /global/zcx_zos/instances

So I insert those into the first page as follows, and then press "Next"

I press Next on the following instructions page after reading it (not shown here for brevity as there is no input field on that page, just text) and get the following page, where I supply a new output file name so as to preserve any existing file for later reference.  The path for the output file is the tmp subdirectory of the global registry for this instance, and the filename is a temporary filename.

Pressing Next now gives me a page allowing me to create the JOBNAME card for the JCL used by the workflow (again not shown here for brevity), which I do, and then press Next again and review and submit the JCL on the following pages, which yields all zeroes in the completion code, finishing the first step of the workflow.

Moving into step 2 of the workflow I proceed to the Perform page where I see the following, and again supply a temporary name, different from the previous temporary name, which gives me my first question:  should this temporary name be the same as the previous one shown above, or something else?  The text in the help field seems to imply a different name, but it's not clear so I thought I'd better ask.

I'll stop here and wait for your response so as to avoid making any wrong turns as happened previously, leading to this thread.

Hi Peter,

Only the IZU_INSTNAME and IZU_REGISTRY_DIR variables will be used from the workflow variable input file.  It uses these two properties to get to your instance, the other properties will be ignored.

You would need to provide the new storage values (i.e. volume serial, number of volumes, and size) in the zCX User Data Storage Configuration panel.  Once you provide the values, the values will be saved.  So when you perform the add data disks again, the values you provided will be displayed in the panel.

Hi Adis,

as I mentioned earlier, running the workflow is exactly what I'm trying to do. 

My question is - can I supply variables in an input file as I did with the "Provision" workflow?

That is, in the following picture, can I supply a filename in the text field circled in red?  If so, what goes into this file?

I am using a non-SMS volume, and want to add 1 additional 42125 MB user dataset to the existing 4500 MB user dataset.  The volume name is VD325.  There is no change to the swap dataset.

I would prefer to use this variable input file so that I have a repeatable process for others to use when I explain it to them. 

Hi Peter,

To add the additional user data disk please use the add_data_disks.xml workflow.  From the "zCX User Data Storage Configuration" panel (see attached).  You would specify the "Additional user data" size and count along with the storage attributes of your new volume.  Once the workflow is complete, you will need to restart your instance.  Please let us know if you have additional questions.

--Adis

Hi,

just wondering if anyone has done this successfully.

I'm trying now on z/OS 2.5 (hopefully to be z/OS 3.1 soon) and it's not exactly working as shown in the fine manual, namely p58 of "IBM z/OS Container Extensions Guide" which appears not to have a document number and is admittedly over two years old.  When I read the z/OS 3.1 version online, the information is the same anyway, so here goes with my question.

I've got a running zCX instance, with only a small 4.5GB user volume, and want to add a larger 42.5 GB user volume to it, which is on a new 3390 disk volume different to the 4.5GB VSAM LDS housing the first data volume.

What variables do I need to put into the workflow variable input file?  I'd like to do that as manually entering the variables seemed not to be reflected in the JCL used by the workflow, e.g. I couldn't see the new disk volume name being used for the IDCAMS DEFINE statement, etc.

Note I'm not changing the swap volume, and so when I skipped those steps in the workflow it seemed to affect the data volume workflow steps which were also shown as skipped for some reason. 

I'm assuming this workflow, shown in the manual as /usr/lpp/zcx_zos/workflows/add_data_disks.xml, is working and I can supply some variables as input, as I did for the provisioning workflow last year.  Maybe that's a bad assumption (?).

Hi Adis,

as you can see below, there is no value shown when I first display this step's input page.  So my question is then, what value to supply?

The step 1 page is shown below, for your information.  Not all the filename is shown as the field is too small.  The full filename used there, in quotes, is "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/tmp/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties".  Should this be used in the step 2 screen, or something else?

Hi Peter,

Regarding the Output File Path, we recommend that you accept the value shown and not change it.  You should not worry about the properties file in your instance directory.   It is managed by the workflow.  The workflow uses the output file to internally set temporary or new values for your instance.  Hope this helps.

Hi Adis,

thanks for the info.  It's a bit of a shame, as it's inconsistent with the Provisioning workflow where all the input variables can be supplied in the nominated variable file.  Perhaps in future releases this workflow will operate with fully-specified input file variables.

OK, so I'm using the documented procedure and here's what I get.

From the previous provisioning, I see in the user.properties file "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties" these values

ZCX_JOB_NAME ZCXJOB1                      
ZCX_REGISTRY_DIR /global/zcx_zos/instances

So I insert those into the first page as follows, and then press "Next"

I press Next on the following instructions page after reading it (not shown here for brevity as there is no input field on that page, just text) and get the following page, where I supply a new output file name so as to preserve any existing file for later reference.  The path for the output file is the tmp subdirectory of the global registry for this instance, and the filename is a temporary filename.

Pressing Next now gives me a page allowing me to create the JOBNAME card for the JCL used by the workflow (again not shown here for brevity), which I do, and then press Next again and review and submit the JCL on the following pages, which yields all zeroes in the completion code, finishing the first step of the workflow.

Moving into step 2 of the workflow I proceed to the Perform page where I see the following, and again supply a temporary name, different from the previous temporary name, which gives me my first question:  should this temporary name be the same as the previous one shown above, or something else?  The text in the help field seems to imply a different name, but it's not clear so I thought I'd better ask.

I'll stop here and wait for your response so as to avoid making any wrong turns as happened previously, leading to this thread.

Hi Peter,

Only the IZU_INSTNAME and IZU_REGISTRY_DIR variables will be used from the workflow variable input file.  It uses these two properties to get to your instance, the other properties will be ignored.

You would need to provide the new storage values (i.e. volume serial, number of volumes, and size) in the zCX User Data Storage Configuration panel.  Once you provide the values, the values will be saved.  So when you perform the add data disks again, the values you provided will be displayed in the panel.

Hi Adis,

as I mentioned earlier, running the workflow is exactly what I'm trying to do. 

My question is - can I supply variables in an input file as I did with the "Provision" workflow?

That is, in the following picture, can I supply a filename in the text field circled in red?  If so, what goes into this file?

I am using a non-SMS volume, and want to add 1 additional 42125 MB user dataset to the existing 4500 MB user dataset.  The volume name is VD325.  There is no change to the swap dataset.

I would prefer to use this variable input file so that I have a repeatable process for others to use when I explain it to them. 

Hi Peter,

To add the additional user data disk please use the add_data_disks.xml workflow.  From the "zCX User Data Storage Configuration" panel (see attached).  You would specify the "Additional user data" size and count along with the storage attributes of your new volume.  Once the workflow is complete, you will need to restart your instance.  Please let us know if you have additional questions.

--Adis

Hi,

just wondering if anyone has done this successfully.

I'm trying now on z/OS 2.5 (hopefully to be z/OS 3.1 soon) and it's not exactly working as shown in the fine manual, namely p58 of "IBM z/OS Container Extensions Guide" which appears not to have a document number and is admittedly over two years old.  When I read the z/OS 3.1 version online, the information is the same anyway, so here goes with my question.

I've got a running zCX instance, with only a small 4.5GB user volume, and want to add a larger 42.5 GB user volume to it, which is on a new 3390 disk volume different to the 4.5GB VSAM LDS housing the first data volume.

What variables do I need to put into the workflow variable input file?  I'd like to do that as manually entering the variables seemed not to be reflected in the JCL used by the workflow, e.g. I couldn't see the new disk volume name being used for the IDCAMS DEFINE statement, etc.

Note I'm not changing the swap volume, and so when I skipped those steps in the workflow it seemed to affect the data volume workflow steps which were also shown as skipped for some reason. 

I'm assuming this workflow, shown in the manual as /usr/lpp/zcx_zos/workflows/add_data_disks.xml, is working and I can supply some variables as input, as I did for the provisioning workflow last year.  Maybe that's a bad assumption (?).

Hi Peter,

My Output File Path comment was to post 5, the second image.  That one you should not change.

For the saved input properties file in post 7, this is an optional field.  The values you specify will be saved to this file.  Typically this file would be saved to a home directory.  The saved input properties file is really for creating a new instance so that it remembers the values and you would not need to type in all the values again.  You should not specify this file to be placed in your registry directory.

Hi Adis,

as you can see below, there is no value shown when I first display this step's input page.  So my question is then, what value to supply?

The step 1 page is shown below, for your information.  Not all the filename is shown as the field is too small.  The full filename used there, in quotes, is "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/tmp/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties".  Should this be used in the step 2 screen, or something else?

Hi Peter,

Regarding the Output File Path, we recommend that you accept the value shown and not change it.  You should not worry about the properties file in your instance directory.   It is managed by the workflow.  The workflow uses the output file to internally set temporary or new values for your instance.  Hope this helps.

Hi Adis,

thanks for the info.  It's a bit of a shame, as it's inconsistent with the Provisioning workflow where all the input variables can be supplied in the nominated variable file.  Perhaps in future releases this workflow will operate with fully-specified input file variables.

OK, so I'm using the documented procedure and here's what I get.

From the previous provisioning, I see in the user.properties file "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties" these values

ZCX_JOB_NAME ZCXJOB1                      
ZCX_REGISTRY_DIR /global/zcx_zos/instances

So I insert those into the first page as follows, and then press "Next"

I press Next on the following instructions page after reading it (not shown here for brevity as there is no input field on that page, just text) and get the following page, where I supply a new output file name so as to preserve any existing file for later reference.  The path for the output file is the tmp subdirectory of the global registry for this instance, and the filename is a temporary filename.

Pressing Next now gives me a page allowing me to create the JOBNAME card for the JCL used by the workflow (again not shown here for brevity), which I do, and then press Next again and review and submit the JCL on the following pages, which yields all zeroes in the completion code, finishing the first step of the workflow.

Moving into step 2 of the workflow I proceed to the Perform page where I see the following, and again supply a temporary name, different from the previous temporary name, which gives me my first question:  should this temporary name be the same as the previous one shown above, or something else?  The text in the help field seems to imply a different name, but it's not clear so I thought I'd better ask.

I'll stop here and wait for your response so as to avoid making any wrong turns as happened previously, leading to this thread.

Hi Peter,

Only the IZU_INSTNAME and IZU_REGISTRY_DIR variables will be used from the workflow variable input file.  It uses these two properties to get to your instance, the other properties will be ignored.

You would need to provide the new storage values (i.e. volume serial, number of volumes, and size) in the zCX User Data Storage Configuration panel.  Once you provide the values, the values will be saved.  So when you perform the add data disks again, the values you provided will be displayed in the panel.

Hi Adis,

as I mentioned earlier, running the workflow is exactly what I'm trying to do. 

My question is - can I supply variables in an input file as I did with the "Provision" workflow?

That is, in the following picture, can I supply a filename in the text field circled in red?  If so, what goes into this file?

I am using a non-SMS volume, and want to add 1 additional 42125 MB user dataset to the existing 4500 MB user dataset.  The volume name is VD325.  There is no change to the swap dataset.

I would prefer to use this variable input file so that I have a repeatable process for others to use when I explain it to them. 

Hi Peter,

To add the additional user data disk please use the add_data_disks.xml workflow.  From the "zCX User Data Storage Configuration" panel (see attached).  You would specify the "Additional user data" size and count along with the storage attributes of your new volume.  Once the workflow is complete, you will need to restart your instance.  Please let us know if you have additional questions.

--Adis

Hi,

just wondering if anyone has done this successfully.

I'm trying now on z/OS 2.5 (hopefully to be z/OS 3.1 soon) and it's not exactly working as shown in the fine manual, namely p58 of "IBM z/OS Container Extensions Guide" which appears not to have a document number and is admittedly over two years old.  When I read the z/OS 3.1 version online, the information is the same anyway, so here goes with my question.

I've got a running zCX instance, with only a small 4.5GB user volume, and want to add a larger 42.5 GB user volume to it, which is on a new 3390 disk volume different to the 4.5GB VSAM LDS housing the first data volume.

What variables do I need to put into the workflow variable input file?  I'd like to do that as manually entering the variables seemed not to be reflected in the JCL used by the workflow, e.g. I couldn't see the new disk volume name being used for the IDCAMS DEFINE statement, etc.

Note I'm not changing the swap volume, and so when I skipped those steps in the workflow it seemed to affect the data volume workflow steps which were also shown as skipped for some reason. 

I'm assuming this workflow, shown in the manual as /usr/lpp/zcx_zos/workflows/add_data_disks.xml, is working and I can supply some variables as input, as I did for the provisioning workflow last year.  Maybe that's a bad assumption (?).

Hi again,

thanks for clarifying what you meant.

OK, I'm now at the page where I specify the sizes for the new datasets. 

On the swap page, as I'm not making any changes, this is what I supply.

On the data page, as I'm adding a dataset, I supply the following, as the new dataset is non-SMS-managed, 42125 MB in size and on the volume shown.

Am I right so far?

Thanks for all your patience!  I'm finding this very educational and hope to automate it in due course.

Hi Peter,

My Output File Path comment was to post 5, the second image.  That one you should not change.

For the saved input properties file in post 7, this is an optional field.  The values you specify will be saved to this file.  Typically this file would be saved to a home directory.  The saved input properties file is really for creating a new instance so that it remembers the values and you would not need to type in all the values again.  You should not specify this file to be placed in your registry directory.

Hi Adis,

as you can see below, there is no value shown when I first display this step's input page.  So my question is then, what value to supply?

The step 1 page is shown below, for your information.  Not all the filename is shown as the field is too small.  The full filename used there, in quotes, is "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/tmp/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties".  Should this be used in the step 2 screen, or something else?

Hi Peter,

Regarding the Output File Path, we recommend that you accept the value shown and not change it.  You should not worry about the properties file in your instance directory.   It is managed by the workflow.  The workflow uses the output file to internally set temporary or new values for your instance.  Hope this helps.

Hi Adis,

thanks for the info.  It's a bit of a shame, as it's inconsistent with the Provisioning workflow where all the input variables can be supplied in the nominated variable file.  Perhaps in future releases this workflow will operate with fully-specified input file variables.

OK, so I'm using the documented procedure and here's what I get.

From the previous provisioning, I see in the user.properties file "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties" these values

ZCX_JOB_NAME ZCXJOB1                      
ZCX_REGISTRY_DIR /global/zcx_zos/instances

So I insert those into the first page as follows, and then press "Next"

I press Next on the following instructions page after reading it (not shown here for brevity as there is no input field on that page, just text) and get the following page, where I supply a new output file name so as to preserve any existing file for later reference.  The path for the output file is the tmp subdirectory of the global registry for this instance, and the filename is a temporary filename.

Pressing Next now gives me a page allowing me to create the JOBNAME card for the JCL used by the workflow (again not shown here for brevity), which I do, and then press Next again and review and submit the JCL on the following pages, which yields all zeroes in the completion code, finishing the first step of the workflow.

Moving into step 2 of the workflow I proceed to the Perform page where I see the following, and again supply a temporary name, different from the previous temporary name, which gives me my first question:  should this temporary name be the same as the previous one shown above, or something else?  The text in the help field seems to imply a different name, but it's not clear so I thought I'd better ask.

I'll stop here and wait for your response so as to avoid making any wrong turns as happened previously, leading to this thread.

Hi Peter,

Only the IZU_INSTNAME and IZU_REGISTRY_DIR variables will be used from the workflow variable input file.  It uses these two properties to get to your instance, the other properties will be ignored.

You would need to provide the new storage values (i.e. volume serial, number of volumes, and size) in the zCX User Data Storage Configuration panel.  Once you provide the values, the values will be saved.  So when you perform the add data disks again, the values you provided will be displayed in the panel.

Hi Adis,

as I mentioned earlier, running the workflow is exactly what I'm trying to do. 

My question is - can I supply variables in an input file as I did with the "Provision" workflow?

That is, in the following picture, can I supply a filename in the text field circled in red?  If so, what goes into this file?

I am using a non-SMS volume, and want to add 1 additional 42125 MB user dataset to the existing 4500 MB user dataset.  The volume name is VD325.  There is no change to the swap dataset.

I would prefer to use this variable input file so that I have a repeatable process for others to use when I explain it to them. 

Hi Peter,

To add the additional user data disk please use the add_data_disks.xml workflow.  From the "zCX User Data Storage Configuration" panel (see attached).  You would specify the "Additional user data" size and count along with the storage attributes of your new volume.  Once the workflow is complete, you will need to restart your instance.  Please let us know if you have additional questions.

--Adis

Hi,

just wondering if anyone has done this successfully.

I'm trying now on z/OS 2.5 (hopefully to be z/OS 3.1 soon) and it's not exactly working as shown in the fine manual, namely p58 of "IBM z/OS Container Extensions Guide" which appears not to have a document number and is admittedly over two years old.  When I read the z/OS 3.1 version online, the information is the same anyway, so here goes with my question.

I've got a running zCX instance, with only a small 4.5GB user volume, and want to add a larger 42.5 GB user volume to it, which is on a new 3390 disk volume different to the 4.5GB VSAM LDS housing the first data volume.

What variables do I need to put into the workflow variable input file?  I'd like to do that as manually entering the variables seemed not to be reflected in the JCL used by the workflow, e.g. I couldn't see the new disk volume name being used for the IDCAMS DEFINE statement, etc.

Note I'm not changing the swap volume, and so when I skipped those steps in the workflow it seemed to affect the data volume workflow steps which were also shown as skipped for some reason. 

I'm assuming this workflow, shown in the manual as /usr/lpp/zcx_zos/workflows/add_data_disks.xml, is working and I can supply some variables as input, as I did for the provisioning workflow last year.  Maybe that's a bad assumption (?).

Hi Peter,

For Swap, since you are not adding anything leave it as is.

For Data, you are adding 1 additional volume with the volume serial and size specified.  Looks good. 

Hi again,

thanks for clarifying what you meant.

OK, I'm now at the page where I specify the sizes for the new datasets. 

On the swap page, as I'm not making any changes, this is what I supply.

On the data page, as I'm adding a dataset, I supply the following, as the new dataset is non-SMS-managed, 42125 MB in size and on the volume shown.

Am I right so far?

Thanks for all your patience!  I'm finding this very educational and hope to automate it in due course.

Hi Peter,

My Output File Path comment was to post 5, the second image.  That one you should not change.

For the saved input properties file in post 7, this is an optional field.  The values you specify will be saved to this file.  Typically this file would be saved to a home directory.  The saved input properties file is really for creating a new instance so that it remembers the values and you would not need to type in all the values again.  You should not specify this file to be placed in your registry directory.

Hi Adis,

as you can see below, there is no value shown when I first display this step's input page.  So my question is then, what value to supply?

The step 1 page is shown below, for your information.  Not all the filename is shown as the field is too small.  The full filename used there, in quotes, is "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/tmp/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties".  Should this be used in the step 2 screen, or something else?

Hi Peter,

Regarding the Output File Path, we recommend that you accept the value shown and not change it.  You should not worry about the properties file in your instance directory.   It is managed by the workflow.  The workflow uses the output file to internally set temporary or new values for your instance.  Hope this helps.

Hi Adis,

thanks for the info.  It's a bit of a shame, as it's inconsistent with the Provisioning workflow where all the input variables can be supplied in the nominated variable file.  Perhaps in future releases this workflow will operate with fully-specified input file variables.

OK, so I'm using the documented procedure and here's what I get.

From the previous provisioning, I see in the user.properties file "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties" these values

ZCX_JOB_NAME ZCXJOB1                      
ZCX_REGISTRY_DIR /global/zcx_zos/instances

So I insert those into the first page as follows, and then press "Next"

I press Next on the following instructions page after reading it (not shown here for brevity as there is no input field on that page, just text) and get the following page, where I supply a new output file name so as to preserve any existing file for later reference.  The path for the output file is the tmp subdirectory of the global registry for this instance, and the filename is a temporary filename.

Pressing Next now gives me a page allowing me to create the JOBNAME card for the JCL used by the workflow (again not shown here for brevity), which I do, and then press Next again and review and submit the JCL on the following pages, which yields all zeroes in the completion code, finishing the first step of the workflow.

Moving into step 2 of the workflow I proceed to the Perform page where I see the following, and again supply a temporary name, different from the previous temporary name, which gives me my first question:  should this temporary name be the same as the previous one shown above, or something else?  The text in the help field seems to imply a different name, but it's not clear so I thought I'd better ask.

I'll stop here and wait for your response so as to avoid making any wrong turns as happened previously, leading to this thread.

Hi Peter,

Only the IZU_INSTNAME and IZU_REGISTRY_DIR variables will be used from the workflow variable input file.  It uses these two properties to get to your instance, the other properties will be ignored.

You would need to provide the new storage values (i.e. volume serial, number of volumes, and size) in the zCX User Data Storage Configuration panel.  Once you provide the values, the values will be saved.  So when you perform the add data disks again, the values you provided will be displayed in the panel.

Hi Adis,

as I mentioned earlier, running the workflow is exactly what I'm trying to do. 

My question is - can I supply variables in an input file as I did with the "Provision" workflow?

That is, in the following picture, can I supply a filename in the text field circled in red?  If so, what goes into this file?

I am using a non-SMS volume, and want to add 1 additional 42125 MB user dataset to the existing 4500 MB user dataset.  The volume name is VD325.  There is no change to the swap dataset.

I would prefer to use this variable input file so that I have a repeatable process for others to use when I explain it to them. 

Hi Peter,

To add the additional user data disk please use the add_data_disks.xml workflow.  From the "zCX User Data Storage Configuration" panel (see attached).  You would specify the "Additional user data" size and count along with the storage attributes of your new volume.  Once the workflow is complete, you will need to restart your instance.  Please let us know if you have additional questions.

--Adis

Hi,

just wondering if anyone has done this successfully.

I'm trying now on z/OS 2.5 (hopefully to be z/OS 3.1 soon) and it's not exactly working as shown in the fine manual, namely p58 of "IBM z/OS Container Extensions Guide" which appears not to have a document number and is admittedly over two years old.  When I read the z/OS 3.1 version online, the information is the same anyway, so here goes with my question.

I've got a running zCX instance, with only a small 4.5GB user volume, and want to add a larger 42.5 GB user volume to it, which is on a new 3390 disk volume different to the 4.5GB VSAM LDS housing the first data volume.

What variables do I need to put into the workflow variable input file?  I'd like to do that as manually entering the variables seemed not to be reflected in the JCL used by the workflow, e.g. I couldn't see the new disk volume name being used for the IDCAMS DEFINE statement, etc.

Note I'm not changing the swap volume, and so when I skipped those steps in the workflow it seemed to affect the data volume workflow steps which were also shown as skipped for some reason. 

I'm assuming this workflow, shown in the manual as /usr/lpp/zcx_zos/workflows/add_data_disks.xml, is working and I can supply some variables as input, as I did for the provisioning workflow last year.  Maybe that's a bad assumption (?).

Hi Adis,

OK, with no swap and the data specifications above, I ran that step and the following is now the status.

I decided to run "parallel automation" as shown here, to speed things up.

I took the default option of "always use input file values"

Then I saw a failure in steps 4.2 and 4.3, shown here

They seemed to have some sort of JCL or path error, this is step 4.2, step 4.3 is similar in the JCL return codes but has different STDERR content (shown below).

Note that the file /u/pbishop/zcx/add-disk.properties was specified in step 3 as the output file there.  Here's what that directory shows after running step 3.

Here's the STDERR content for step 4.3

As with the step 4.2, there is no file with the expected name in the directory in question:

So now I'm kind of stuck as I don't know what happened.

Any suggestions?

Hi Peter,

For Swap, since you are not adding anything leave it as is.

For Data, you are adding 1 additional volume with the volume serial and size specified.  Looks good. 

Hi again,

thanks for clarifying what you meant.

OK, I'm now at the page where I specify the sizes for the new datasets. 

On the swap page, as I'm not making any changes, this is what I supply.

On the data page, as I'm adding a dataset, I supply the following, as the new dataset is non-SMS-managed, 42125 MB in size and on the volume shown.

Am I right so far?

Thanks for all your patience!  I'm finding this very educational and hope to automate it in due course.

Hi Peter,

My Output File Path comment was to post 5, the second image.  That one you should not change.

For the saved input properties file in post 7, this is an optional field.  The values you specify will be saved to this file.  Typically this file would be saved to a home directory.  The saved input properties file is really for creating a new instance so that it remembers the values and you would not need to type in all the values again.  You should not specify this file to be placed in your registry directory.

Hi Adis,

as you can see below, there is no value shown when I first display this step's input page.  So my question is then, what value to supply?

The step 1 page is shown below, for your information.  Not all the filename is shown as the field is too small.  The full filename used there, in quotes, is "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/tmp/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties".  Should this be used in the step 2 screen, or something else?

Hi Peter,

Regarding the Output File Path, we recommend that you accept the value shown and not change it.  You should not worry about the properties file in your instance directory.   It is managed by the workflow.  The workflow uses the output file to internally set temporary or new values for your instance.  Hope this helps.

Hi Adis,

thanks for the info.  It's a bit of a shame, as it's inconsistent with the Provisioning workflow where all the input variables can be supplied in the nominated variable file.  Perhaps in future releases this workflow will operate with fully-specified input file variables.

OK, so I'm using the documented procedure and here's what I get.

From the previous provisioning, I see in the user.properties file "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties" these values

ZCX_JOB_NAME ZCXJOB1                      
ZCX_REGISTRY_DIR /global/zcx_zos/instances

So I insert those into the first page as follows, and then press "Next"

I press Next on the following instructions page after reading it (not shown here for brevity as there is no input field on that page, just text) and get the following page, where I supply a new output file name so as to preserve any existing file for later reference.  The path for the output file is the tmp subdirectory of the global registry for this instance, and the filename is a temporary filename.

Pressing Next now gives me a page allowing me to create the JOBNAME card for the JCL used by the workflow (again not shown here for brevity), which I do, and then press Next again and review and submit the JCL on the following pages, which yields all zeroes in the completion code, finishing the first step of the workflow.

Moving into step 2 of the workflow I proceed to the Perform page where I see the following, and again supply a temporary name, different from the previous temporary name, which gives me my first question:  should this temporary name be the same as the previous one shown above, or something else?  The text in the help field seems to imply a different name, but it's not clear so I thought I'd better ask.

I'll stop here and wait for your response so as to avoid making any wrong turns as happened previously, leading to this thread.

Hi Peter,

Only the IZU_INSTNAME and IZU_REGISTRY_DIR variables will be used from the workflow variable input file.  It uses these two properties to get to your instance, the other properties will be ignored.

You would need to provide the new storage values (i.e. volume serial, number of volumes, and size) in the zCX User Data Storage Configuration panel.  Once you provide the values, the values will be saved.  So when you perform the add data disks again, the values you provided will be displayed in the panel.

Hi Adis,

as I mentioned earlier, running the workflow is exactly what I'm trying to do. 

My question is - can I supply variables in an input file as I did with the "Provision" workflow?

That is, in the following picture, can I supply a filename in the text field circled in red?  If so, what goes into this file?

I am using a non-SMS volume, and want to add 1 additional 42125 MB user dataset to the existing 4500 MB user dataset.  The volume name is VD325.  There is no change to the swap dataset.

I would prefer to use this variable input file so that I have a repeatable process for others to use when I explain it to them. 

Hi Peter,

To add the additional user data disk please use the add_data_disks.xml workflow.  From the "zCX User Data Storage Configuration" panel (see attached).  You would specify the "Additional user data" size and count along with the storage attributes of your new volume.  Once the workflow is complete, you will need to restart your instance.  Please let us know if you have additional questions.

--Adis

Hi,

just wondering if anyone has done this successfully.

I'm trying now on z/OS 2.5 (hopefully to be z/OS 3.1 soon) and it's not exactly working as shown in the fine manual, namely p58 of "IBM z/OS Container Extensions Guide" which appears not to have a document number and is admittedly over two years old.  When I read the z/OS 3.1 version online, the information is the same anyway, so here goes with my question.

I've got a running zCX instance, with only a small 4.5GB user volume, and want to add a larger 42.5 GB user volume to it, which is on a new 3390 disk volume different to the 4.5GB VSAM LDS housing the first data volume.

What variables do I need to put into the workflow variable input file?  I'd like to do that as manually entering the variables seemed not to be reflected in the JCL used by the workflow, e.g. I couldn't see the new disk volume name being used for the IDCAMS DEFINE statement, etc.

Note I'm not changing the swap volume, and so when I skipped those steps in the workflow it seemed to affect the data volume workflow steps which were also shown as skipped for some reason. 

I'm assuming this workflow, shown in the manual as /usr/lpp/zcx_zos/workflows/add_data_disks.xml, is working and I can supply some variables as input, as I did for the provisioning workflow last year.  Maybe that's a bad assumption (?).

Hi Peter,

For the saved input properties file, you only specify the directory path.  For your case you just specify "/u/pbishop/zcx".  One other thing to note is that this directory path must already exist.  The file will get created with its own filename generated by the workflow.

Can you recreate the add data disk workflow and retry for clean run?

Hi Adis,

OK, with no swap and the data specifications above, I ran that step and the following is now the status.

I decided to run "parallel automation" as shown here, to speed things up.

I took the default option of "always use input file values"

Then I saw a failure in steps 4.2 and 4.3, shown here

They seemed to have some sort of JCL or path error, this is step 4.2, step 4.3 is similar in the JCL return codes but has different STDERR content (shown below).

Note that the file /u/pbishop/zcx/add-disk.properties was specified in step 3 as the output file there.  Here's what that directory shows after running step 3.

Here's the STDERR content for step 4.3

As with the step 4.2, there is no file with the expected name in the directory in question:

So now I'm kind of stuck as I don't know what happened.

Any suggestions?

Hi Peter,

For Swap, since you are not adding anything leave it as is.

For Data, you are adding 1 additional volume with the volume serial and size specified.  Looks good. 

Hi again,

thanks for clarifying what you meant.

OK, I'm now at the page where I specify the sizes for the new datasets. 

On the swap page, as I'm not making any changes, this is what I supply.

On the data page, as I'm adding a dataset, I supply the following, as the new dataset is non-SMS-managed, 42125 MB in size and on the volume shown.

Am I right so far?

Thanks for all your patience!  I'm finding this very educational and hope to automate it in due course.

Hi Peter,

My Output File Path comment was to post 5, the second image.  That one you should not change.

For the saved input properties file in post 7, this is an optional field.  The values you specify will be saved to this file.  Typically this file would be saved to a home directory.  The saved input properties file is really for creating a new instance so that it remembers the values and you would not need to type in all the values again.  You should not specify this file to be placed in your registry directory.

Hi Adis,

as you can see below, there is no value shown when I first display this step's input page.  So my question is then, what value to supply?

The step 1 page is shown below, for your information.  Not all the filename is shown as the field is too small.  The full filename used there, in quotes, is "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/tmp/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties".  Should this be used in the step 2 screen, or something else?

Hi Peter,

Regarding the Output File Path, we recommend that you accept the value shown and not change it.  You should not worry about the properties file in your instance directory.   It is managed by the workflow.  The workflow uses the output file to internally set temporary or new values for your instance.  Hope this helps.

Hi Adis,

thanks for the info.  It's a bit of a shame, as it's inconsistent with the Provisioning workflow where all the input variables can be supplied in the nominated variable file.  Perhaps in future releases this workflow will operate with fully-specified input file variables.

OK, so I'm using the documented procedure and here's what I get.

From the previous provisioning, I see in the user.properties file "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties" these values

ZCX_JOB_NAME ZCXJOB1                      
ZCX_REGISTRY_DIR /global/zcx_zos/instances

So I insert those into the first page as follows, and then press "Next"

I press Next on the following instructions page after reading it (not shown here for brevity as there is no input field on that page, just text) and get the following page, where I supply a new output file name so as to preserve any existing file for later reference.  The path for the output file is the tmp subdirectory of the global registry for this instance, and the filename is a temporary filename.

Pressing Next now gives me a page allowing me to create the JOBNAME card for the JCL used by the workflow (again not shown here for brevity), which I do, and then press Next again and review and submit the JCL on the following pages, which yields all zeroes in the completion code, finishing the first step of the workflow.

Moving into step 2 of the workflow I proceed to the Perform page where I see the following, and again supply a temporary name, different from the previous temporary name, which gives me my first question:  should this temporary name be the same as the previous one shown above, or something else?  The text in the help field seems to imply a different name, but it's not clear so I thought I'd better ask.

I'll stop here and wait for your response so as to avoid making any wrong turns as happened previously, leading to this thread.

Hi Peter,

Only the IZU_INSTNAME and IZU_REGISTRY_DIR variables will be used from the workflow variable input file.  It uses these two properties to get to your instance, the other properties will be ignored.

You would need to provide the new storage values (i.e. volume serial, number of volumes, and size) in the zCX User Data Storage Configuration panel.  Once you provide the values, the values will be saved.  So when you perform the add data disks again, the values you provided will be displayed in the panel.

Hi Adis,

as I mentioned earlier, running the workflow is exactly what I'm trying to do. 

My question is - can I supply variables in an input file as I did with the "Provision" workflow?

That is, in the following picture, can I supply a filename in the text field circled in red?  If so, what goes into this file?

I am using a non-SMS volume, and want to add 1 additional 42125 MB user dataset to the existing 4500 MB user dataset.  The volume name is VD325.  There is no change to the swap dataset.

I would prefer to use this variable input file so that I have a repeatable process for others to use when I explain it to them. 

Hi Peter,

To add the additional user data disk please use the add_data_disks.xml workflow.  From the "zCX User Data Storage Configuration" panel (see attached).  You would specify the "Additional user data" size and count along with the storage attributes of your new volume.  Once the workflow is complete, you will need to restart your instance.  Please let us know if you have additional questions.

--Adis

Hi,

just wondering if anyone has done this successfully.

I'm trying now on z/OS 2.5 (hopefully to be z/OS 3.1 soon) and it's not exactly working as shown in the fine manual, namely p58 of "IBM z/OS Container Extensions Guide" which appears not to have a document number and is admittedly over two years old.  When I read the z/OS 3.1 version online, the information is the same anyway, so here goes with my question.

I've got a running zCX instance, with only a small 4.5GB user volume, and want to add a larger 42.5 GB user volume to it, which is on a new 3390 disk volume different to the 4.5GB VSAM LDS housing the first data volume.

What variables do I need to put into the workflow variable input file?  I'd like to do that as manually entering the variables seemed not to be reflected in the JCL used by the workflow, e.g. I couldn't see the new disk volume name being used for the IDCAMS DEFINE statement, etc.

Note I'm not changing the swap volume, and so when I skipped those steps in the workflow it seemed to affect the data volume workflow steps which were also shown as skipped for some reason. 

I'm assuming this workflow, shown in the manual as /usr/lpp/zcx_zos/workflows/add_data_disks.xml, is working and I can supply some variables as input, as I did for the provisioning workflow last year.  Maybe that's a bad assumption (?).

Hi Adis,

sure, but I have two comments before I do.

1. The workflow should validate its input, and advise if it's not correct and how to correct it.  In this case it should say "the input file is not a directory, please supply a directory".
2. The workflow should also accept a variable file as its main input, to avoid the user having to respecify things like dataset size, volume name, etc.

I'll now recreate the workflow and see how we go with only a directory name in step 3.

Hi Peter,

For the saved input properties file, you only specify the directory path.  For your case you just specify "/u/pbishop/zcx".  One other thing to note is that this directory path must already exist.  The file will get created with its own filename generated by the workflow.

Can you recreate the add data disk workflow and retry for clean run?

Hi Adis,

OK, with no swap and the data specifications above, I ran that step and the following is now the status.

I decided to run "parallel automation" as shown here, to speed things up.

I took the default option of "always use input file values"

Then I saw a failure in steps 4.2 and 4.3, shown here

They seemed to have some sort of JCL or path error, this is step 4.2, step 4.3 is similar in the JCL return codes but has different STDERR content (shown below).

Note that the file /u/pbishop/zcx/add-disk.properties was specified in step 3 as the output file there.  Here's what that directory shows after running step 3.

Here's the STDERR content for step 4.3

As with the step 4.2, there is no file with the expected name in the directory in question:

So now I'm kind of stuck as I don't know what happened.

Any suggestions?

Hi Peter,

For Swap, since you are not adding anything leave it as is.

For Data, you are adding 1 additional volume with the volume serial and size specified.  Looks good. 

Hi again,

thanks for clarifying what you meant.

OK, I'm now at the page where I specify the sizes for the new datasets. 

On the swap page, as I'm not making any changes, this is what I supply.

On the data page, as I'm adding a dataset, I supply the following, as the new dataset is non-SMS-managed, 42125 MB in size and on the volume shown.

Am I right so far?

Thanks for all your patience!  I'm finding this very educational and hope to automate it in due course.

Hi Peter,

My Output File Path comment was to post 5, the second image.  That one you should not change.

For the saved input properties file in post 7, this is an optional field.  The values you specify will be saved to this file.  Typically this file would be saved to a home directory.  The saved input properties file is really for creating a new instance so that it remembers the values and you would not need to type in all the values again.  You should not specify this file to be placed in your registry directory.

Hi Adis,

as you can see below, there is no value shown when I first display this step's input page.  So my question is then, what value to supply?

The step 1 page is shown below, for your information.  Not all the filename is shown as the field is too small.  The full filename used there, in quotes, is "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/tmp/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties".  Should this be used in the step 2 screen, or something else?

Hi Peter,

Regarding the Output File Path, we recommend that you accept the value shown and not change it.  You should not worry about the properties file in your instance directory.   It is managed by the workflow.  The workflow uses the output file to internally set temporary or new values for your instance.  Hope this helps.

Hi Adis,

thanks for the info.  It's a bit of a shame, as it's inconsistent with the Provisioning workflow where all the input variables can be supplied in the nominated variable file.  Perhaps in future releases this workflow will operate with fully-specified input file variables.

OK, so I'm using the documented procedure and here's what I get.

From the previous provisioning, I see in the user.properties file "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties" these values

ZCX_JOB_NAME ZCXJOB1                      
ZCX_REGISTRY_DIR /global/zcx_zos/instances

So I insert those into the first page as follows, and then press "Next"

I press Next on the following instructions page after reading it (not shown here for brevity as there is no input field on that page, just text) and get the following page, where I supply a new output file name so as to preserve any existing file for later reference.  The path for the output file is the tmp subdirectory of the global registry for this instance, and the filename is a temporary filename.

Pressing Next now gives me a page allowing me to create the JOBNAME card for the JCL used by the workflow (again not shown here for brevity), which I do, and then press Next again and review and submit the JCL on the following pages, which yields all zeroes in the completion code, finishing the first step of the workflow.

Moving into step 2 of the workflow I proceed to the Perform page where I see the following, and again supply a temporary name, different from the previous temporary name, which gives me my first question:  should this temporary name be the same as the previous one shown above, or something else?  The text in the help field seems to imply a different name, but it's not clear so I thought I'd better ask.

I'll stop here and wait for your response so as to avoid making any wrong turns as happened previously, leading to this thread.

Hi Peter,

Only the IZU_INSTNAME and IZU_REGISTRY_DIR variables will be used from the workflow variable input file.  It uses these two properties to get to your instance, the other properties will be ignored.

You would need to provide the new storage values (i.e. volume serial, number of volumes, and size) in the zCX User Data Storage Configuration panel.  Once you provide the values, the values will be saved.  So when you perform the add data disks again, the values you provided will be displayed in the panel.

Hi Adis,

as I mentioned earlier, running the workflow is exactly what I'm trying to do. 

My question is - can I supply variables in an input file as I did with the "Provision" workflow?

That is, in the following picture, can I supply a filename in the text field circled in red?  If so, what goes into this file?

I am using a non-SMS volume, and want to add 1 additional 42125 MB user dataset to the existing 4500 MB user dataset.  The volume name is VD325.  There is no change to the swap dataset.

I would prefer to use this variable input file so that I have a repeatable process for others to use when I explain it to them. 

Hi Peter,

To add the additional user data disk please use the add_data_disks.xml workflow.  From the "zCX User Data Storage Configuration" panel (see attached).  You would specify the "Additional user data" size and count along with the storage attributes of your new volume.  Once the workflow is complete, you will need to restart your instance.  Please let us know if you have additional questions.

--Adis

Hi,

just wondering if anyone has done this successfully.

I'm trying now on z/OS 2.5 (hopefully to be z/OS 3.1 soon) and it's not exactly working as shown in the fine manual, namely p58 of "IBM z/OS Container Extensions Guide" which appears not to have a document number and is admittedly over two years old.  When I read the z/OS 3.1 version online, the information is the same anyway, so here goes with my question.

I've got a running zCX instance, with only a small 4.5GB user volume, and want to add a larger 42.5 GB user volume to it, which is on a new 3390 disk volume different to the 4.5GB VSAM LDS housing the first data volume.

What variables do I need to put into the workflow variable input file?  I'd like to do that as manually entering the variables seemed not to be reflected in the JCL used by the workflow, e.g. I couldn't see the new disk volume name being used for the IDCAMS DEFINE statement, etc.

Note I'm not changing the swap volume, and so when I skipped those steps in the workflow it seemed to affect the data volume workflow steps which were also shown as skipped for some reason. 

I'm assuming this workflow, shown in the manual as /usr/lpp/zcx_zos/workflows/add_data_disks.xml, is working and I can supply some variables as input, as I did for the provisioning workflow last year.  Maybe that's a bad assumption (?).

Hi again,

OK, I've recreated the workflow and it went a bit further, but still failed in step 4.3 with the same error as above.

Note that in my previous post I should have referred to step 2 instead of step 3.  In step 2, I chose not to supply any input directory for saving the output file to, to keep things as simple as possible.

I won't repeat the failure output for step 4.3 here for brevity, but it is identical to that shown above which refers to a missing file called /ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties in the STDERR output of the job run in step 4.3.

I hope this is enough information to determine what next to do to.

Hi Adis,

sure, but I have two comments before I do.

1. The workflow should validate its input, and advise if it's not correct and how to correct it.  In this case it should say "the input file is not a directory, please supply a directory".
2. The workflow should also accept a variable file as its main input, to avoid the user having to respecify things like dataset size, volume name, etc.

I'll now recreate the workflow and see how we go with only a directory name in step 3.

Hi Peter,

For the saved input properties file, you only specify the directory path.  For your case you just specify "/u/pbishop/zcx".  One other thing to note is that this directory path must already exist.  The file will get created with its own filename generated by the workflow.

Can you recreate the add data disk workflow and retry for clean run?

Hi Adis,

OK, with no swap and the data specifications above, I ran that step and the following is now the status.

I decided to run "parallel automation" as shown here, to speed things up.

I took the default option of "always use input file values"

Then I saw a failure in steps 4.2 and 4.3, shown here

They seemed to have some sort of JCL or path error, this is step 4.2, step 4.3 is similar in the JCL return codes but has different STDERR content (shown below).

Note that the file /u/pbishop/zcx/add-disk.properties was specified in step 3 as the output file there.  Here's what that directory shows after running step 3.

Here's the STDERR content for step 4.3

As with the step 4.2, there is no file with the expected name in the directory in question:

So now I'm kind of stuck as I don't know what happened.

Any suggestions?

Hi Peter,

For Swap, since you are not adding anything leave it as is.

For Data, you are adding 1 additional volume with the volume serial and size specified.  Looks good. 

Hi again,

thanks for clarifying what you meant.

OK, I'm now at the page where I specify the sizes for the new datasets. 

On the swap page, as I'm not making any changes, this is what I supply.

On the data page, as I'm adding a dataset, I supply the following, as the new dataset is non-SMS-managed, 42125 MB in size and on the volume shown.

Am I right so far?

Thanks for all your patience!  I'm finding this very educational and hope to automate it in due course.

Hi Peter,

My Output File Path comment was to post 5, the second image.  That one you should not change.

For the saved input properties file in post 7, this is an optional field.  The values you specify will be saved to this file.  Typically this file would be saved to a home directory.  The saved input properties file is really for creating a new instance so that it remembers the values and you would not need to type in all the values again.  You should not specify this file to be placed in your registry directory.

Hi Adis,

as you can see below, there is no value shown when I first display this step's input page.  So my question is then, what value to supply?

The step 1 page is shown below, for your information.  Not all the filename is shown as the field is too small.  The full filename used there, in quotes, is "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/tmp/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties".  Should this be used in the step 2 screen, or something else?

Hi Peter,

Regarding the Output File Path, we recommend that you accept the value shown and not change it.  You should not worry about the properties file in your instance directory.   It is managed by the workflow.  The workflow uses the output file to internally set temporary or new values for your instance.  Hope this helps.

Hi Adis,

thanks for the info.  It's a bit of a shame, as it's inconsistent with the Provisioning workflow where all the input variables can be supplied in the nominated variable file.  Perhaps in future releases this workflow will operate with fully-specified input file variables.

OK, so I'm using the documented procedure and here's what I get.

From the previous provisioning, I see in the user.properties file "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties" these values

ZCX_JOB_NAME ZCXJOB1                      
ZCX_REGISTRY_DIR /global/zcx_zos/instances

So I insert those into the first page as follows, and then press "Next"

I press Next on the following instructions page after reading it (not shown here for brevity as there is no input field on that page, just text) and get the following page, where I supply a new output file name so as to preserve any existing file for later reference.  The path for the output file is the tmp subdirectory of the global registry for this instance, and the filename is a temporary filename.

Pressing Next now gives me a page allowing me to create the JOBNAME card for the JCL used by the workflow (again not shown here for brevity), which I do, and then press Next again and review and submit the JCL on the following pages, which yields all zeroes in the completion code, finishing the first step of the workflow.

Moving into step 2 of the workflow I proceed to the Perform page where I see the following, and again supply a temporary name, different from the previous temporary name, which gives me my first question:  should this temporary name be the same as the previous one shown above, or something else?  The text in the help field seems to imply a different name, but it's not clear so I thought I'd better ask.

I'll stop here and wait for your response so as to avoid making any wrong turns as happened previously, leading to this thread.

Hi Peter,

Only the IZU_INSTNAME and IZU_REGISTRY_DIR variables will be used from the workflow variable input file.  It uses these two properties to get to your instance, the other properties will be ignored.

You would need to provide the new storage values (i.e. volume serial, number of volumes, and size) in the zCX User Data Storage Configuration panel.  Once you provide the values, the values will be saved.  So when you perform the add data disks again, the values you provided will be displayed in the panel.

Hi Adis,

as I mentioned earlier, running the workflow is exactly what I'm trying to do. 

My question is - can I supply variables in an input file as I did with the "Provision" workflow?

That is, in the following picture, can I supply a filename in the text field circled in red?  If so, what goes into this file?

I am using a non-SMS volume, and want to add 1 additional 42125 MB user dataset to the existing 4500 MB user dataset.  The volume name is VD325.  There is no change to the swap dataset.

I would prefer to use this variable input file so that I have a repeatable process for others to use when I explain it to them. 

Hi Peter,

To add the additional user data disk please use the add_data_disks.xml workflow.  From the "zCX User Data Storage Configuration" panel (see attached).  You would specify the "Additional user data" size and count along with the storage attributes of your new volume.  Once the workflow is complete, you will need to restart your instance.  Please let us know if you have additional questions.

--Adis

Hi,

just wondering if anyone has done this successfully.

I'm trying now on z/OS 2.5 (hopefully to be z/OS 3.1 soon) and it's not exactly working as shown in the fine manual, namely p58 of "IBM z/OS Container Extensions Guide" which appears not to have a document number and is admittedly over two years old.  When I read the z/OS 3.1 version online, the information is the same anyway, so here goes with my question.

I've got a running zCX instance, with only a small 4.5GB user volume, and want to add a larger 42.5 GB user volume to it, which is on a new 3390 disk volume different to the 4.5GB VSAM LDS housing the first data volume.

What variables do I need to put into the workflow variable input file?  I'd like to do that as manually entering the variables seemed not to be reflected in the JCL used by the workflow, e.g. I couldn't see the new disk volume name being used for the IDCAMS DEFINE statement, etc.

Note I'm not changing the swap volume, and so when I skipped those steps in the workflow it seemed to affect the data volume workflow steps which were also shown as skipped for some reason. 

I'm assuming this workflow, shown in the manual as /usr/lpp/zcx_zos/workflows/add_data_disks.xml, is working and I can supply some variables as input, as I did for the provisioning workflow last year.  Maybe that's a bad assumption (?).

Hi Peter,

By not providing a saved properties file directory you were able to pass step 4.2. 

For 4.3, this step is trying to access your properties file in your instance directory.  From the error it looks as though the registry directory and instance name was not supplied in step 1.

Can you go back and perform step 1 again and confirm the values are correct for your registry directory and instance name?

Then perform step 2 again and confirm your storage values for your data disk.

Then in step 3, check the box, and from the actions menu select Perform.  Then click OK.  This will perform the remainder of the workflow automatically so you  would not need to step through each step manually.  You should see the pop up screen below after you select Perform from the actions menu.

Hi again,

OK, I've recreated the workflow and it went a bit further, but still failed in step 4.3 with the same error as above.

Note that in my previous post I should have referred to step 2 instead of step 3.  In step 2, I chose not to supply any input directory for saving the output file to, to keep things as simple as possible.

I won't repeat the failure output for step 4.3 here for brevity, but it is identical to that shown above which refers to a missing file called /ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties in the STDERR output of the job run in step 4.3.

I hope this is enough information to determine what next to do to.

Hi Adis,

sure, but I have two comments before I do.

1. The workflow should validate its input, and advise if it's not correct and how to correct it.  In this case it should say "the input file is not a directory, please supply a directory".
2. The workflow should also accept a variable file as its main input, to avoid the user having to respecify things like dataset size, volume name, etc.

I'll now recreate the workflow and see how we go with only a directory name in step 3.

Hi Peter,

For the saved input properties file, you only specify the directory path.  For your case you just specify "/u/pbishop/zcx".  One other thing to note is that this directory path must already exist.  The file will get created with its own filename generated by the workflow.

Can you recreate the add data disk workflow and retry for clean run?

Hi Adis,

OK, with no swap and the data specifications above, I ran that step and the following is now the status.

I decided to run "parallel automation" as shown here, to speed things up.

I took the default option of "always use input file values"

Then I saw a failure in steps 4.2 and 4.3, shown here

They seemed to have some sort of JCL or path error, this is step 4.2, step 4.3 is similar in the JCL return codes but has different STDERR content (shown below).

Note that the file /u/pbishop/zcx/add-disk.properties was specified in step 3 as the output file there.  Here's what that directory shows after running step 3.

Here's the STDERR content for step 4.3

As with the step 4.2, there is no file with the expected name in the directory in question:

So now I'm kind of stuck as I don't know what happened.

Any suggestions?

Hi Peter,

For Swap, since you are not adding anything leave it as is.

For Data, you are adding 1 additional volume with the volume serial and size specified.  Looks good. 

Hi again,

thanks for clarifying what you meant.

OK, I'm now at the page where I specify the sizes for the new datasets. 

On the swap page, as I'm not making any changes, this is what I supply.

On the data page, as I'm adding a dataset, I supply the following, as the new dataset is non-SMS-managed, 42125 MB in size and on the volume shown.

Am I right so far?

Thanks for all your patience!  I'm finding this very educational and hope to automate it in due course.

Hi Peter,

My Output File Path comment was to post 5, the second image.  That one you should not change.

For the saved input properties file in post 7, this is an optional field.  The values you specify will be saved to this file.  Typically this file would be saved to a home directory.  The saved input properties file is really for creating a new instance so that it remembers the values and you would not need to type in all the values again.  You should not specify this file to be placed in your registry directory.

Hi Adis,

as you can see below, there is no value shown when I first display this step's input page.  So my question is then, what value to supply?

The step 1 page is shown below, for your information.  Not all the filename is shown as the field is too small.  The full filename used there, in quotes, is "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/tmp/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties".  Should this be used in the step 2 screen, or something else?

Hi Peter,

Regarding the Output File Path, we recommend that you accept the value shown and not change it.  You should not worry about the properties file in your instance directory.   It is managed by the workflow.  The workflow uses the output file to internally set temporary or new values for your instance.  Hope this helps.

Hi Adis,

thanks for the info.  It's a bit of a shame, as it's inconsistent with the Provisioning workflow where all the input variables can be supplied in the nominated variable file.  Perhaps in future releases this workflow will operate with fully-specified input file variables.

OK, so I'm using the documented procedure and here's what I get.

From the previous provisioning, I see in the user.properties file "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties" these values

ZCX_JOB_NAME ZCXJOB1                      
ZCX_REGISTRY_DIR /global/zcx_zos/instances

So I insert those into the first page as follows, and then press "Next"

I press Next on the following instructions page after reading it (not shown here for brevity as there is no input field on that page, just text) and get the following page, where I supply a new output file name so as to preserve any existing file for later reference.  The path for the output file is the tmp subdirectory of the global registry for this instance, and the filename is a temporary filename.

Pressing Next now gives me a page allowing me to create the JOBNAME card for the JCL used by the workflow (again not shown here for brevity), which I do, and then press Next again and review and submit the JCL on the following pages, which yields all zeroes in the completion code, finishing the first step of the workflow.

Moving into step 2 of the workflow I proceed to the Perform page where I see the following, and again supply a temporary name, different from the previous temporary name, which gives me my first question:  should this temporary name be the same as the previous one shown above, or something else?  The text in the help field seems to imply a different name, but it's not clear so I thought I'd better ask.

I'll stop here and wait for your response so as to avoid making any wrong turns as happened previously, leading to this thread.

Hi Peter,

Only the IZU_INSTNAME and IZU_REGISTRY_DIR variables will be used from the workflow variable input file.  It uses these two properties to get to your instance, the other properties will be ignored.

You would need to provide the new storage values (i.e. volume serial, number of volumes, and size) in the zCX User Data Storage Configuration panel.  Once you provide the values, the values will be saved.  So when you perform the add data disks again, the values you provided will be displayed in the panel.

Hi Adis,

as I mentioned earlier, running the workflow is exactly what I'm trying to do. 

My question is - can I supply variables in an input file as I did with the "Provision" workflow?

That is, in the following picture, can I supply a filename in the text field circled in red?  If so, what goes into this file?

I am using a non-SMS volume, and want to add 1 additional 42125 MB user dataset to the existing 4500 MB user dataset.  The volume name is VD325.  There is no change to the swap dataset.

I would prefer to use this variable input file so that I have a repeatable process for others to use when I explain it to them. 

Hi Peter,

To add the additional user data disk please use the add_data_disks.xml workflow.  From the "zCX User Data Storage Configuration" panel (see attached).  You would specify the "Additional user data" size and count along with the storage attributes of your new volume.  Once the workflow is complete, you will need to restart your instance.  Please let us know if you have additional questions.

--Adis

Hi,

just wondering if anyone has done this successfully.

I'm trying now on z/OS 2.5 (hopefully to be z/OS 3.1 soon) and it's not exactly working as shown in the fine manual, namely p58 of "IBM z/OS Container Extensions Guide" which appears not to have a document number and is admittedly over two years old.  When I read the z/OS 3.1 version online, the information is the same anyway, so here goes with my question.

I've got a running zCX instance, with only a small 4.5GB user volume, and want to add a larger 42.5 GB user volume to it, which is on a new 3390 disk volume different to the 4.5GB VSAM LDS housing the first data volume.

What variables do I need to put into the workflow variable input file?  I'd like to do that as manually entering the variables seemed not to be reflected in the JCL used by the workflow, e.g. I couldn't see the new disk volume name being used for the IDCAMS DEFINE statement, etc.

Note I'm not changing the swap volume, and so when I skipped those steps in the workflow it seemed to affect the data volume workflow steps which were also shown as skipped for some reason. 

I'm assuming this workflow, shown in the manual as /usr/lpp/zcx_zos/workflows/add_data_disks.xml, is working and I can supply some variables as input, as I did for the provisioning workflow last year.  Maybe that's a bad assumption (?).

Hi Adis,

actually there was already something in the step 1 input fields, as shown below.  Just to be sure I pressed the "Save" button.

In confirmed the step 2 values as you suggested, shown below, firstly for the swap dataset (no change), again pressing "Save",

and secondly for the data dataset, adding one with the parameters mentioned above, again pressing "Save":

I ticked the box and did the automated operation you mentioned, with the same result as above, shown in summary form here but with the details again omitted for brevity.

So it seems step 4.3 is somehow not using the values from step 1, even with the "Save" button pressed, if I understand correctly.

Any other suggestions?

Hi Peter,

By not providing a saved properties file directory you were able to pass step 4.2. 

For 4.3, this step is trying to access your properties file in your instance directory.  From the error it looks as though the registry directory and instance name was not supplied in step 1.

Can you go back and perform step 1 again and confirm the values are correct for your registry directory and instance name?

Then perform step 2 again and confirm your storage values for your data disk.

Then in step 3, check the box, and from the actions menu select Perform.  Then click OK.  This will perform the remainder of the workflow automatically so you  would not need to step through each step manually.  You should see the pop up screen below after you select Perform from the actions menu.

Hi again,

OK, I've recreated the workflow and it went a bit further, but still failed in step 4.3 with the same error as above.

Note that in my previous post I should have referred to step 2 instead of step 3.  In step 2, I chose not to supply any input directory for saving the output file to, to keep things as simple as possible.

I won't repeat the failure output for step 4.3 here for brevity, but it is identical to that shown above which refers to a missing file called /ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties in the STDERR output of the job run in step 4.3.

I hope this is enough information to determine what next to do to.

Hi Adis,

sure, but I have two comments before I do.

1. The workflow should validate its input, and advise if it's not correct and how to correct it.  In this case it should say "the input file is not a directory, please supply a directory".
2. The workflow should also accept a variable file as its main input, to avoid the user having to respecify things like dataset size, volume name, etc.

I'll now recreate the workflow and see how we go with only a directory name in step 3.

Hi Peter,

For the saved input properties file, you only specify the directory path.  For your case you just specify "/u/pbishop/zcx".  One other thing to note is that this directory path must already exist.  The file will get created with its own filename generated by the workflow.

Can you recreate the add data disk workflow and retry for clean run?

Hi Adis,

OK, with no swap and the data specifications above, I ran that step and the following is now the status.

I decided to run "parallel automation" as shown here, to speed things up.

I took the default option of "always use input file values"

Then I saw a failure in steps 4.2 and 4.3, shown here

They seemed to have some sort of JCL or path error, this is step 4.2, step 4.3 is similar in the JCL return codes but has different STDERR content (shown below).

Note that the file /u/pbishop/zcx/add-disk.properties was specified in step 3 as the output file there.  Here's what that directory shows after running step 3.

Here's the STDERR content for step 4.3

As with the step 4.2, there is no file with the expected name in the directory in question:

So now I'm kind of stuck as I don't know what happened.

Any suggestions?

Hi Peter,

For Swap, since you are not adding anything leave it as is.

For Data, you are adding 1 additional volume with the volume serial and size specified.  Looks good. 

Hi again,

thanks for clarifying what you meant.

OK, I'm now at the page where I specify the sizes for the new datasets. 

On the swap page, as I'm not making any changes, this is what I supply.

On the data page, as I'm adding a dataset, I supply the following, as the new dataset is non-SMS-managed, 42125 MB in size and on the volume shown.

Am I right so far?

Thanks for all your patience!  I'm finding this very educational and hope to automate it in due course.

Hi Peter,

My Output File Path comment was to post 5, the second image.  That one you should not change.

For the saved input properties file in post 7, this is an optional field.  The values you specify will be saved to this file.  Typically this file would be saved to a home directory.  The saved input properties file is really for creating a new instance so that it remembers the values and you would not need to type in all the values again.  You should not specify this file to be placed in your registry directory.

Hi Adis,

as you can see below, there is no value shown when I first display this step's input page.  So my question is then, what value to supply?

The step 1 page is shown below, for your information.  Not all the filename is shown as the field is too small.  The full filename used there, in quotes, is "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/tmp/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties".  Should this be used in the step 2 screen, or something else?

Hi Peter,

Regarding the Output File Path, we recommend that you accept the value shown and not change it.  You should not worry about the properties file in your instance directory.   It is managed by the workflow.  The workflow uses the output file to internally set temporary or new values for your instance.  Hope this helps.

Hi Adis,

thanks for the info.  It's a bit of a shame, as it's inconsistent with the Provisioning workflow where all the input variables can be supplied in the nominated variable file.  Perhaps in future releases this workflow will operate with fully-specified input file variables.

OK, so I'm using the documented procedure and here's what I get.

From the previous provisioning, I see in the user.properties file "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties" these values

ZCX_JOB_NAME ZCXJOB1                      
ZCX_REGISTRY_DIR /global/zcx_zos/instances

So I insert those into the first page as follows, and then press "Next"

I press Next on the following instructions page after reading it (not shown here for brevity as there is no input field on that page, just text) and get the following page, where I supply a new output file name so as to preserve any existing file for later reference.  The path for the output file is the tmp subdirectory of the global registry for this instance, and the filename is a temporary filename.

Pressing Next now gives me a page allowing me to create the JOBNAME card for the JCL used by the workflow (again not shown here for brevity), which I do, and then press Next again and review and submit the JCL on the following pages, which yields all zeroes in the completion code, finishing the first step of the workflow.

Moving into step 2 of the workflow I proceed to the Perform page where I see the following, and again supply a temporary name, different from the previous temporary name, which gives me my first question:  should this temporary name be the same as the previous one shown above, or something else?  The text in the help field seems to imply a different name, but it's not clear so I thought I'd better ask.

I'll stop here and wait for your response so as to avoid making any wrong turns as happened previously, leading to this thread.

Hi Peter,

Only the IZU_INSTNAME and IZU_REGISTRY_DIR variables will be used from the workflow variable input file.  It uses these two properties to get to your instance, the other properties will be ignored.

You would need to provide the new storage values (i.e. volume serial, number of volumes, and size) in the zCX User Data Storage Configuration panel.  Once you provide the values, the values will be saved.  So when you perform the add data disks again, the values you provided will be displayed in the panel.

Hi Adis,

as I mentioned earlier, running the workflow is exactly what I'm trying to do. 

My question is - can I supply variables in an input file as I did with the "Provision" workflow?

That is, in the following picture, can I supply a filename in the text field circled in red?  If so, what goes into this file?

I am using a non-SMS volume, and want to add 1 additional 42125 MB user dataset to the existing 4500 MB user dataset.  The volume name is VD325.  There is no change to the swap dataset.

I would prefer to use this variable input file so that I have a repeatable process for others to use when I explain it to them. 

Hi Peter,

To add the additional user data disk please use the add_data_disks.xml workflow.  From the "zCX User Data Storage Configuration" panel (see attached).  You would specify the "Additional user data" size and count along with the storage attributes of your new volume.  Once the workflow is complete, you will need to restart your instance.  Please let us know if you have additional questions.

--Adis

Hi,

just wondering if anyone has done this successfully.

I'm trying now on z/OS 2.5 (hopefully to be z/OS 3.1 soon) and it's not exactly working as shown in the fine manual, namely p58 of "IBM z/OS Container Extensions Guide" which appears not to have a document number and is admittedly over two years old.  When I read the z/OS 3.1 version online, the information is the same anyway, so here goes with my question.

I've got a running zCX instance, with only a small 4.5GB user volume, and want to add a larger 42.5 GB user volume to it, which is on a new 3390 disk volume different to the 4.5GB VSAM LDS housing the first data volume.

What variables do I need to put into the workflow variable input file?  I'd like to do that as manually entering the variables seemed not to be reflected in the JCL used by the workflow, e.g. I couldn't see the new disk volume name being used for the IDCAMS DEFINE statement, etc.

Note I'm not changing the swap volume, and so when I skipped those steps in the workflow it seemed to affect the data volume workflow steps which were also shown as skipped for some reason. 

I'm assuming this workflow, shown in the manual as /usr/lpp/zcx_zos/workflows/add_data_disks.xml, is working and I can supply some variables as input, as I did for the provisioning workflow last year.  Maybe that's a bad assumption (?).

Hi Peter,

I assume your failure at step 4.3 is the same as you posted previously?  Pls see attached.

The error above indicates that it cannot find your properties file /ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties.  Note that its trying to look in the root directory for it.  This indicates that your registry directory and instance name may not have been set by the workflow.

I'd like to take a look at your instance configuration.  Would you be interested in a webex call?

Hi Adis,

actually there was already something in the step 1 input fields, as shown below.  Just to be sure I pressed the "Save" button.

In confirmed the step 2 values as you suggested, shown below, firstly for the swap dataset (no change), again pressing "Save",

and secondly for the data dataset, adding one with the parameters mentioned above, again pressing "Save":

I ticked the box and did the automated operation you mentioned, with the same result as above, shown in summary form here but with the details again omitted for brevity.

So it seems step 4.3 is somehow not using the values from step 1, even with the "Save" button pressed, if I understand correctly.

Any other suggestions?

Hi Peter,

By not providing a saved properties file directory you were able to pass step 4.2. 

For 4.3, this step is trying to access your properties file in your instance directory.  From the error it looks as though the registry directory and instance name was not supplied in step 1.

Can you go back and perform step 1 again and confirm the values are correct for your registry directory and instance name?

Then perform step 2 again and confirm your storage values for your data disk.

Then in step 3, check the box, and from the actions menu select Perform.  Then click OK.  This will perform the remainder of the workflow automatically so you  would not need to step through each step manually.  You should see the pop up screen below after you select Perform from the actions menu.

Hi again,

OK, I've recreated the workflow and it went a bit further, but still failed in step 4.3 with the same error as above.

Note that in my previous post I should have referred to step 2 instead of step 3.  In step 2, I chose not to supply any input directory for saving the output file to, to keep things as simple as possible.

I won't repeat the failure output for step 4.3 here for brevity, but it is identical to that shown above which refers to a missing file called /ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties in the STDERR output of the job run in step 4.3.

I hope this is enough information to determine what next to do to.

Hi Adis,

sure, but I have two comments before I do.

1. The workflow should validate its input, and advise if it's not correct and how to correct it.  In this case it should say "the input file is not a directory, please supply a directory".
2. The workflow should also accept a variable file as its main input, to avoid the user having to respecify things like dataset size, volume name, etc.

I'll now recreate the workflow and see how we go with only a directory name in step 3.

Hi Peter,

For the saved input properties file, you only specify the directory path.  For your case you just specify "/u/pbishop/zcx".  One other thing to note is that this directory path must already exist.  The file will get created with its own filename generated by the workflow.

Can you recreate the add data disk workflow and retry for clean run?

Hi Adis,

OK, with no swap and the data specifications above, I ran that step and the following is now the status.

I decided to run "parallel automation" as shown here, to speed things up.

I took the default option of "always use input file values"

Then I saw a failure in steps 4.2 and 4.3, shown here

They seemed to have some sort of JCL or path error, this is step 4.2, step 4.3 is similar in the JCL return codes but has different STDERR content (shown below).

Note that the file /u/pbishop/zcx/add-disk.properties was specified in step 3 as the output file there.  Here's what that directory shows after running step 3.

Here's the STDERR content for step 4.3

As with the step 4.2, there is no file with the expected name in the directory in question:

So now I'm kind of stuck as I don't know what happened.

Any suggestions?

Hi Peter,

For Swap, since you are not adding anything leave it as is.

For Data, you are adding 1 additional volume with the volume serial and size specified.  Looks good. 

Hi again,

thanks for clarifying what you meant.

OK, I'm now at the page where I specify the sizes for the new datasets. 

On the swap page, as I'm not making any changes, this is what I supply.

On the data page, as I'm adding a dataset, I supply the following, as the new dataset is non-SMS-managed, 42125 MB in size and on the volume shown.

Am I right so far?

Thanks for all your patience!  I'm finding this very educational and hope to automate it in due course.

Hi Peter,

My Output File Path comment was to post 5, the second image.  That one you should not change.

For the saved input properties file in post 7, this is an optional field.  The values you specify will be saved to this file.  Typically this file would be saved to a home directory.  The saved input properties file is really for creating a new instance so that it remembers the values and you would not need to type in all the values again.  You should not specify this file to be placed in your registry directory.

Hi Adis,

as you can see below, there is no value shown when I first display this step's input page.  So my question is then, what value to supply?

The step 1 page is shown below, for your information.  Not all the filename is shown as the field is too small.  The full filename used there, in quotes, is "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/tmp/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties".  Should this be used in the step 2 screen, or something else?

Hi Peter,

Regarding the Output File Path, we recommend that you accept the value shown and not change it.  You should not worry about the properties file in your instance directory.   It is managed by the workflow.  The workflow uses the output file to internally set temporary or new values for your instance.  Hope this helps.

Hi Adis,

thanks for the info.  It's a bit of a shame, as it's inconsistent with the Provisioning workflow where all the input variables can be supplied in the nominated variable file.  Perhaps in future releases this workflow will operate with fully-specified input file variables.

OK, so I'm using the documented procedure and here's what I get.

From the previous provisioning, I see in the user.properties file "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties" these values

ZCX_JOB_NAME ZCXJOB1                      
ZCX_REGISTRY_DIR /global/zcx_zos/instances

So I insert those into the first page as follows, and then press "Next"

I press Next on the following instructions page after reading it (not shown here for brevity as there is no input field on that page, just text) and get the following page, where I supply a new output file name so as to preserve any existing file for later reference.  The path for the output file is the tmp subdirectory of the global registry for this instance, and the filename is a temporary filename.

Pressing Next now gives me a page allowing me to create the JOBNAME card for the JCL used by the workflow (again not shown here for brevity), which I do, and then press Next again and review and submit the JCL on the following pages, which yields all zeroes in the completion code, finishing the first step of the workflow.

Moving into step 2 of the workflow I proceed to the Perform page where I see the following, and again supply a temporary name, different from the previous temporary name, which gives me my first question:  should this temporary name be the same as the previous one shown above, or something else?  The text in the help field seems to imply a different name, but it's not clear so I thought I'd better ask.

I'll stop here and wait for your response so as to avoid making any wrong turns as happened previously, leading to this thread.

Hi Peter,

Only the IZU_INSTNAME and IZU_REGISTRY_DIR variables will be used from the workflow variable input file.  It uses these two properties to get to your instance, the other properties will be ignored.

You would need to provide the new storage values (i.e. volume serial, number of volumes, and size) in the zCX User Data Storage Configuration panel.  Once you provide the values, the values will be saved.  So when you perform the add data disks again, the values you provided will be displayed in the panel.

Hi Adis,

as I mentioned earlier, running the workflow is exactly what I'm trying to do. 

My question is - can I supply variables in an input file as I did with the "Provision" workflow?

That is, in the following picture, can I supply a filename in the text field circled in red?  If so, what goes into this file?

I am using a non-SMS volume, and want to add 1 additional 42125 MB user dataset to the existing 4500 MB user dataset.  The volume name is VD325.  There is no change to the swap dataset.

I would prefer to use this variable input file so that I have a repeatable process for others to use when I explain it to them. 

Hi Peter,

To add the additional user data disk please use the add_data_disks.xml workflow.  From the "zCX User Data Storage Configuration" panel (see attached).  You would specify the "Additional user data" size and count along with the storage attributes of your new volume.  Once the workflow is complete, you will need to restart your instance.  Please let us know if you have additional questions.

--Adis

Hi,

just wondering if anyone has done this successfully.

I'm trying now on z/OS 2.5 (hopefully to be z/OS 3.1 soon) and it's not exactly working as shown in the fine manual, namely p58 of "IBM z/OS Container Extensions Guide" which appears not to have a document number and is admittedly over two years old.  When I read the z/OS 3.1 version online, the information is the same anyway, so here goes with my question.

I've got a running zCX instance, with only a small 4.5GB user volume, and want to add a larger 42.5 GB user volume to it, which is on a new 3390 disk volume different to the 4.5GB VSAM LDS housing the first data volume.

What variables do I need to put into the workflow variable input file?  I'd like to do that as manually entering the variables seemed not to be reflected in the JCL used by the workflow, e.g. I couldn't see the new disk volume name being used for the IDCAMS DEFINE statement, etc.

Note I'm not changing the swap volume, and so when I skipped those steps in the workflow it seemed to affect the data volume workflow steps which were also shown as skipped for some reason. 

I'm assuming this workflow, shown in the manual as /usr/lpp/zcx_zos/workflows/add_data_disks.xml, is working and I can supply some variables as input, as I did for the provisioning workflow last year.  Maybe that's a bad assumption (?).

Hi Adis,

yes, it's the same error as previously mentioned.  I'm at GMT +11 (AEDT) in Sydney, available from 0800 most weekdays.  So depending on your timezone, WebEx is certainly a possibility.

Should I email you somehow, or is this the appropriate place for the invitation (?).

Hi Peter,

I assume your failure at step 4.3 is the same as you posted previously?  Pls see attached.

The error above indicates that it cannot find your properties file /ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties.  Note that its trying to look in the root directory for it.  This indicates that your registry directory and instance name may not have been set by the workflow.

I'd like to take a look at your instance configuration.  Would you be interested in a webex call?

Hi Adis,

actually there was already something in the step 1 input fields, as shown below.  Just to be sure I pressed the "Save" button.

In confirmed the step 2 values as you suggested, shown below, firstly for the swap dataset (no change), again pressing "Save",

and secondly for the data dataset, adding one with the parameters mentioned above, again pressing "Save":

I ticked the box and did the automated operation you mentioned, with the same result as above, shown in summary form here but with the details again omitted for brevity.

So it seems step 4.3 is somehow not using the values from step 1, even with the "Save" button pressed, if I understand correctly.

Any other suggestions?

Hi Peter,

By not providing a saved properties file directory you were able to pass step 4.2. 

For 4.3, this step is trying to access your properties file in your instance directory.  From the error it looks as though the registry directory and instance name was not supplied in step 1.

Can you go back and perform step 1 again and confirm the values are correct for your registry directory and instance name?

Then perform step 2 again and confirm your storage values for your data disk.

Then in step 3, check the box, and from the actions menu select Perform.  Then click OK.  This will perform the remainder of the workflow automatically so you  would not need to step through each step manually.  You should see the pop up screen below after you select Perform from the actions menu.

Hi again,

OK, I've recreated the workflow and it went a bit further, but still failed in step 4.3 with the same error as above.

Note that in my previous post I should have referred to step 2 instead of step 3.  In step 2, I chose not to supply any input directory for saving the output file to, to keep things as simple as possible.

I won't repeat the failure output for step 4.3 here for brevity, but it is identical to that shown above which refers to a missing file called /ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties in the STDERR output of the job run in step 4.3.

I hope this is enough information to determine what next to do to.

Hi Adis,

sure, but I have two comments before I do.

1. The workflow should validate its input, and advise if it's not correct and how to correct it.  In this case it should say "the input file is not a directory, please supply a directory".
2. The workflow should also accept a variable file as its main input, to avoid the user having to respecify things like dataset size, volume name, etc.

I'll now recreate the workflow and see how we go with only a directory name in step 3.

Hi Peter,

For the saved input properties file, you only specify the directory path.  For your case you just specify "/u/pbishop/zcx".  One other thing to note is that this directory path must already exist.  The file will get created with its own filename generated by the workflow.

Can you recreate the add data disk workflow and retry for clean run?

Hi Adis,

OK, with no swap and the data specifications above, I ran that step and the following is now the status.

I decided to run "parallel automation" as shown here, to speed things up.

I took the default option of "always use input file values"

Then I saw a failure in steps 4.2 and 4.3, shown here

They seemed to have some sort of JCL or path error, this is step 4.2, step 4.3 is similar in the JCL return codes but has different STDERR content (shown below).

Note that the file /u/pbishop/zcx/add-disk.properties was specified in step 3 as the output file there.  Here's what that directory shows after running step 3.

Here's the STDERR content for step 4.3

As with the step 4.2, there is no file with the expected name in the directory in question:

So now I'm kind of stuck as I don't know what happened.

Any suggestions?

Hi Peter,

For Swap, since you are not adding anything leave it as is.

For Data, you are adding 1 additional volume with the volume serial and size specified.  Looks good. 

Hi again,

thanks for clarifying what you meant.

OK, I'm now at the page where I specify the sizes for the new datasets. 

On the swap page, as I'm not making any changes, this is what I supply.

On the data page, as I'm adding a dataset, I supply the following, as the new dataset is non-SMS-managed, 42125 MB in size and on the volume shown.

Am I right so far?

Thanks for all your patience!  I'm finding this very educational and hope to automate it in due course.

Hi Peter,

My Output File Path comment was to post 5, the second image.  That one you should not change.

For the saved input properties file in post 7, this is an optional field.  The values you specify will be saved to this file.  Typically this file would be saved to a home directory.  The saved input properties file is really for creating a new instance so that it remembers the values and you would not need to type in all the values again.  You should not specify this file to be placed in your registry directory.

Hi Adis,

as you can see below, there is no value shown when I first display this step's input page.  So my question is then, what value to supply?

The step 1 page is shown below, for your information.  Not all the filename is shown as the field is too small.  The full filename used there, in quotes, is "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/tmp/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties".  Should this be used in the step 2 screen, or something else?

Hi Peter,

Regarding the Output File Path, we recommend that you accept the value shown and not change it.  You should not worry about the properties file in your instance directory.   It is managed by the workflow.  The workflow uses the output file to internally set temporary or new values for your instance.  Hope this helps.

Hi Adis,

thanks for the info.  It's a bit of a shame, as it's inconsistent with the Provisioning workflow where all the input variables can be supplied in the nominated variable file.  Perhaps in future releases this workflow will operate with fully-specified input file variables.

OK, so I'm using the documented procedure and here's what I get.

From the previous provisioning, I see in the user.properties file "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties" these values

ZCX_JOB_NAME ZCXJOB1                      
ZCX_REGISTRY_DIR /global/zcx_zos/instances

So I insert those into the first page as follows, and then press "Next"

I press Next on the following instructions page after reading it (not shown here for brevity as there is no input field on that page, just text) and get the following page, where I supply a new output file name so as to preserve any existing file for later reference.  The path for the output file is the tmp subdirectory of the global registry for this instance, and the filename is a temporary filename.

Pressing Next now gives me a page allowing me to create the JOBNAME card for the JCL used by the workflow (again not shown here for brevity), which I do, and then press Next again and review and submit the JCL on the following pages, which yields all zeroes in the completion code, finishing the first step of the workflow.

Moving into step 2 of the workflow I proceed to the Perform page where I see the following, and again supply a temporary name, different from the previous temporary name, which gives me my first question:  should this temporary name be the same as the previous one shown above, or something else?  The text in the help field seems to imply a different name, but it's not clear so I thought I'd better ask.

I'll stop here and wait for your response so as to avoid making any wrong turns as happened previously, leading to this thread.

Hi Peter,

Only the IZU_INSTNAME and IZU_REGISTRY_DIR variables will be used from the workflow variable input file.  It uses these two properties to get to your instance, the other properties will be ignored.

You would need to provide the new storage values (i.e. volume serial, number of volumes, and size) in the zCX User Data Storage Configuration panel.  Once you provide the values, the values will be saved.  So when you perform the add data disks again, the values you provided will be displayed in the panel.

Hi Adis,

as I mentioned earlier, running the workflow is exactly what I'm trying to do. 

My question is - can I supply variables in an input file as I did with the "Provision" workflow?

That is, in the following picture, can I supply a filename in the text field circled in red?  If so, what goes into this file?

I am using a non-SMS volume, and want to add 1 additional 42125 MB user dataset to the existing 4500 MB user dataset.  The volume name is VD325.  There is no change to the swap dataset.

I would prefer to use this variable input file so that I have a repeatable process for others to use when I explain it to them. 

Hi Peter,

To add the additional user data disk please use the add_data_disks.xml workflow.  From the "zCX User Data Storage Configuration" panel (see attached).  You would specify the "Additional user data" size and count along with the storage attributes of your new volume.  Once the workflow is complete, you will need to restart your instance.  Please let us know if you have additional questions.

--Adis

Hi,

just wondering if anyone has done this successfully.

I'm trying now on z/OS 2.5 (hopefully to be z/OS 3.1 soon) and it's not exactly working as shown in the fine manual, namely p58 of "IBM z/OS Container Extensions Guide" which appears not to have a document number and is admittedly over two years old.  When I read the z/OS 3.1 version online, the information is the same anyway, so here goes with my question.

I've got a running zCX instance, with only a small 4.5GB user volume, and want to add a larger 42.5 GB user volume to it, which is on a new 3390 disk volume different to the 4.5GB VSAM LDS housing the first data volume.

What variables do I need to put into the workflow variable input file?  I'd like to do that as manually entering the variables seemed not to be reflected in the JCL used by the workflow, e.g. I couldn't see the new disk volume name being used for the IDCAMS DEFINE statement, etc.

Note I'm not changing the swap volume, and so when I skipped those steps in the workflow it seemed to affect the data volume workflow steps which were also shown as skipped for some reason. 

I'm assuming this workflow, shown in the manual as /usr/lpp/zcx_zos/workflows/add_data_disks.xml, is working and I can supply some variables as input, as I did for the provisioning workflow last year.  Maybe that's a bad assumption (?).

Hi Peter,

Sounds good.  I've sent my contact info and suggested time directly to you.

Hi Adis,

yes, it's the same error as previously mentioned.  I'm at GMT +11 (AEDT) in Sydney, available from 0800 most weekdays.  So depending on your timezone, WebEx is certainly a possibility.

Should I email you somehow, or is this the appropriate place for the invitation (?).

Hi Peter,

I assume your failure at step 4.3 is the same as you posted previously?  Pls see attached.

The error above indicates that it cannot find your properties file /ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties.  Note that its trying to look in the root directory for it.  This indicates that your registry directory and instance name may not have been set by the workflow.

I'd like to take a look at your instance configuration.  Would you be interested in a webex call?

Hi Adis,

actually there was already something in the step 1 input fields, as shown below.  Just to be sure I pressed the "Save" button.

In confirmed the step 2 values as you suggested, shown below, firstly for the swap dataset (no change), again pressing "Save",

and secondly for the data dataset, adding one with the parameters mentioned above, again pressing "Save":

I ticked the box and did the automated operation you mentioned, with the same result as above, shown in summary form here but with the details again omitted for brevity.

So it seems step 4.3 is somehow not using the values from step 1, even with the "Save" button pressed, if I understand correctly.

Any other suggestions?

Hi Peter,

By not providing a saved properties file directory you were able to pass step 4.2. 

For 4.3, this step is trying to access your properties file in your instance directory.  From the error it looks as though the registry directory and instance name was not supplied in step 1.

Can you go back and perform step 1 again and confirm the values are correct for your registry directory and instance name?

Then perform step 2 again and confirm your storage values for your data disk.

Then in step 3, check the box, and from the actions menu select Perform.  Then click OK.  This will perform the remainder of the workflow automatically so you  would not need to step through each step manually.  You should see the pop up screen below after you select Perform from the actions menu.

Hi again,

OK, I've recreated the workflow and it went a bit further, but still failed in step 4.3 with the same error as above.

Note that in my previous post I should have referred to step 2 instead of step 3.  In step 2, I chose not to supply any input directory for saving the output file to, to keep things as simple as possible.

I won't repeat the failure output for step 4.3 here for brevity, but it is identical to that shown above which refers to a missing file called /ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties in the STDERR output of the job run in step 4.3.

I hope this is enough information to determine what next to do to.

Hi Adis,

sure, but I have two comments before I do.

1. The workflow should validate its input, and advise if it's not correct and how to correct it.  In this case it should say "the input file is not a directory, please supply a directory".
2. The workflow should also accept a variable file as its main input, to avoid the user having to respecify things like dataset size, volume name, etc.

I'll now recreate the workflow and see how we go with only a directory name in step 3.

Hi Peter,

For the saved input properties file, you only specify the directory path.  For your case you just specify "/u/pbishop/zcx".  One other thing to note is that this directory path must already exist.  The file will get created with its own filename generated by the workflow.

Can you recreate the add data disk workflow and retry for clean run?

Hi Adis,

OK, with no swap and the data specifications above, I ran that step and the following is now the status.

I decided to run "parallel automation" as shown here, to speed things up.

I took the default option of "always use input file values"

Then I saw a failure in steps 4.2 and 4.3, shown here

They seemed to have some sort of JCL or path error, this is step 4.2, step 4.3 is similar in the JCL return codes but has different STDERR content (shown below).

Note that the file /u/pbishop/zcx/add-disk.properties was specified in step 3 as the output file there.  Here's what that directory shows after running step 3.

Here's the STDERR content for step 4.3

As with the step 4.2, there is no file with the expected name in the directory in question:

So now I'm kind of stuck as I don't know what happened.

Any suggestions?

Hi Peter,

For Swap, since you are not adding anything leave it as is.

For Data, you are adding 1 additional volume with the volume serial and size specified.  Looks good. 

Hi again,

thanks for clarifying what you meant.

OK, I'm now at the page where I specify the sizes for the new datasets. 

On the swap page, as I'm not making any changes, this is what I supply.

On the data page, as I'm adding a dataset, I supply the following, as the new dataset is non-SMS-managed, 42125 MB in size and on the volume shown.

Am I right so far?

Thanks for all your patience!  I'm finding this very educational and hope to automate it in due course.

Hi Peter,

My Output File Path comment was to post 5, the second image.  That one you should not change.

For the saved input properties file in post 7, this is an optional field.  The values you specify will be saved to this file.  Typically this file would be saved to a home directory.  The saved input properties file is really for creating a new instance so that it remembers the values and you would not need to type in all the values again.  You should not specify this file to be placed in your registry directory.

Hi Adis,

as you can see below, there is no value shown when I first display this step's input page.  So my question is then, what value to supply?

The step 1 page is shown below, for your information.  Not all the filename is shown as the field is too small.  The full filename used there, in quotes, is "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/tmp/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties".  Should this be used in the step 2 screen, or something else?

Hi Peter,

Regarding the Output File Path, we recommend that you accept the value shown and not change it.  You should not worry about the properties file in your instance directory.   It is managed by the workflow.  The workflow uses the output file to internally set temporary or new values for your instance.  Hope this helps.

Hi Adis,

thanks for the info.  It's a bit of a shame, as it's inconsistent with the Provisioning workflow where all the input variables can be supplied in the nominated variable file.  Perhaps in future releases this workflow will operate with fully-specified input file variables.

OK, so I'm using the documented procedure and here's what I get.

From the previous provisioning, I see in the user.properties file "/global/zcx_zos/instances/ZCXJOB1/ZCX-ZCXJOB1-user.properties" these values

ZCX_JOB_NAME ZCXJOB1                      
ZCX_REGISTRY_DIR /global/zcx_zos/instances

So I insert those into the first page as follows, and then press "Next"

I press Next on the following instructions page after reading it (not shown here for brevity as there is no input field on that page, just text) and get the following page, where I supply a new output file name so as to preserve any existing file for later reference.  The path for the output file is the tmp subdirectory of the global registry for this instance, and the filename is a temporary filename.

Pressing Next now gives me a page allowing me to create the JOBNAME card for the JCL used by the workflow (again not shown here for brevity), which I do, and then press Next again and review and submit the JCL on the following pages, which yields all zeroes in the completion code, finishing the first step of the workflow.

Moving into step 2 of the workflow I proceed to the Perform page where I see the following, and again supply a temporary name, different from the previous temporary name, which gives me my first question:  should this temporary name be the same as the previous one shown above, or something else?  The text in the help field seems to imply a different name, but it's not clear so I thought I'd better ask.

I'll stop here and wait for your response so as to avoid making any wrong turns as happened previously, leading to this thread.

Hi Peter,

Only the IZU_INSTNAME and IZU_REGISTRY_DIR variables will be used from the workflow variable input file.  It uses these two properties to get to your instance, the other properties will be ignored.

You would need to provide the new storage values (i.e. volume serial, number of volumes, and size) in the zCX User Data Storage Configuration panel.  Once you provide the values, the values will be saved.  So when you perform the add data disks again, the values you provided will be displayed in the panel.

Hi Adis,

as I mentioned earlier, running the workflow is exactly what I'm trying to do. 

My question is - can I supply variables in an input file as I did with the "Provision" workflow?

That is, in the following picture, can I supply a filename in the text field circled in red?  If so, what goes into this file?

I am using a non-SMS volume, and want to add 1 additional 42125 MB user dataset to the existing 4500 MB user dataset.  The volume name is VD325.  There is no change to the swap dataset.

I would prefer to use this variable input file so that I have a repeatable process for others to use when I explain it to them. 

Hi Peter,

To add the additional user data disk please use the add_data_disks.xml workflow.  From the "zCX User Data Storage Configuration" panel (see attached).  You would specify the "Additional user data" size and count along with the storage attributes of your new volume.  Once the workflow is complete, you will need to restart your instance.  Please let us know if you have additional questions.

--Adis

Hi,

just wondering if anyone has done this successfully.

I'm trying now on z/OS 2.5 (hopefully to be z/OS 3.1 soon) and it's not exactly working as shown in the fine manual, namely p58 of "IBM z/OS Container Extensions Guide" which appears not to have a document number and is admittedly over two years old.  When I read the z/OS 3.1 version online, the information is the same anyway, so here goes with my question.

I've got a running zCX instance, with only a small 4.5GB user volume, and want to add a larger 42.5 GB user volume to it, which is on a new 3390 disk volume different to the 4.5GB VSAM LDS housing the first data volume.

What variables do I need to put into the workflow variable input file?  I'd like to do that as manually entering the variables seemed not to be reflected in the JCL used by the workflow, e.g. I couldn't see the new disk volume name being used for the IDCAMS DEFINE statement, etc.

Note I'm not changing the swap volume, and so when I skipped those steps in the workflow it seemed to affect the data volume workflow steps which were also shown as skipped for some reason. 

I'm assuming this workflow, shown in the manual as /usr/lpp/zcx_zos/workflows/add_data_disks.xml, is working and I can supply some variables as input, as I did for the provisioning workflow last year.  Maybe that's a bad assumption (?).