We've just released the latest z/OS Connect EE open beta which is available now to download from our
open beta website. This open beta is available for up to 180 days and expires on 22 December 2021. No further open beta updates based on the z/OS Connect EE V3 product are currently planned.
The following new features are included in this open beta:
- Bidirectional support for CICS services. The z/OS Connect EE runtime and API toolkit have been enhanced with the capability to support CICS services which have their data formatted as bidirectional text (bidi). Configurations for processing and rendering bidi text are specified with attributes in a zosconnect_bidiConfig element in server.xml. This requires the latest version of the API toolkit.
- SMF 123 subtype 2 version 2 records for API requester requests.
- Samples to format SMF 123 records as a comma-separated file (CSV) for importing into a desktop spreadsheet.
- New security attributes for API requesters providing more granularity, plus an enhancement to API requester requests that use JWT.
- Liberty 21.0.0.3 including Angel V16.
- New topic in IBM Documentation (Knowledge Center) showing how to use z/OS Workload Management (WLM) to classify API requests, and RMF to measure the z/OS Connect EE API workloads.
Details of all these features are available in the IBM Documentation (Knowledge Center) Change History.
Find out more.
We encourage you to download this latest refresh, and we welcome your feedback on any features of the open beta.
Useful information about this open beta refresh:
Recent change to Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS)
The API toolkit and JavaScript clients require that CORS is enabled on the z/OS Connect EE server to allow you to connect to and test APIs on that server. Since z/OS Connect EE was released, Liberty support for CORS has been enhanced, allowing more control of the CORS headers used. z/OS Connect EE has been updated to no longer send the CORS headers, and the Liberty-supplied capability must now be used.
To enable API toolkit connections, you must have a cors definition in your server.xml. When you create a server by using one of the server templates supplied with the product, a cors element that enables API toolkit connections, is automatically added to the server.xml configuration file. The following excerpt from the server.xml shows a cors element definition that allows API toolkit connections.
You must ensure that your server.xml includes the following configuration:
<cors id="defaultCORSConfig"
domain="/"
allowedOrigins="*"
allowedMethods="GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, OPTIONS"
allowedHeaders="Origin, Content-Type, Authorization, Cache-Control, Expires, Pragma"
allowCredentials="true"
maxAge="3600" />
You may want to customize this configuration further to, for example, restrict the allowed origins.
If you have JavaScript clients that access z/OS Connect EE resources, you may need to further customize your cors element definition. For example, the allowedHeaders attribute, on the cors element, must specify all headers that you want to be permitted on any request. The CORS access control headers themselves do not need to be listed.
Find out more.
Open beta build and expiry dates
The build date for this version of the z/OS Connect EE open beta runtime is 20210625-0743 and appears on the BAQR0000I message.
This version of the z/OS Connect EE open beta is available for up to 180 days and due to expire on 22 December 2021 and appears on the BAQR9999I message.
No further open beta updates based on the z/OS Connect EE V3 product are currently planned.
Open beta version of the API toolkit
The open beta version of the API toolkit to accompany the open beta z/OS Connect EE runtime is V3.9.9.3. This open beta version of the toolkit currently only runs on Windows. Due to the long filenames of some of the file members, you should use a tool such as 7-Zip or the “jar -x” command. Do not use winzip, winrar, or the Windows own zip extraction tool, as warnings/errors will occur during the unzip and the API toolkit will be unusable.
You are strongly recommended to use this version of the API toolkit with the open beta z/OS Connect EE runtime to enjoy the full suite of new features available in both the toolkit and runtime, and also to ensure you maintain compatibility.
For bidirectional support, you must use this level of the API toolkit (or later).
WebSphere Liberty Profile 21.0.0.3
The version of WebSphere Liberty Profile embedded in this open beta is version 21.0.0.3.
The version level of the WebSphere Liberty Profile appears in both the top of the z/OS Connect EE messages.log file, and also in the STDOUT log file.
Angel V16
The version of the angel shipped with WebSphere Liberty Profile 21.0.0.3 is version 16.
If you choose to remain at a lower version of the angel, you will see the following warning message in your z/OS Connect EE messages.log file when you start your server:
CWWKB0127W: The current angel version is earlier than the version that the server expects. Update the angel version to the latest available version.
Find out more.
Java 8 required to run z/OS Connect EE
Java 8 is the only supported level of Java with this version of the open beta. Your z/OS Connect EE server will not start if Java 8 is not used. It will fail with message "CWWKE0042E: The correct Java version is not running. The runtime environment requires Java 8 or higher".
Find out more.
Feedback please!
Note that features delivered in the open beta are not always delivered in the GA product. Please provide feedback on these new features using the API Enablement forum including "z/OS Connect EE open beta" in the title of your post. Your feedback will help influence our decisions.
Get started today
Use the links below to find out more, and to get started with the open beta now!