What is the z/OS Management Facility?
The z/OS Management Facility is the new face for z/OS.
The IBM z/OS Management Facility V1.11 (5655-S28) is a new product for z/OS that provides
support for a modern, Web-browser based management console for z/OS.
Who should use the z/OS Management Facility?
Everyone.
The z/OS Management Facility is intended to enable system programmers to more easily manage
and administer a mainframe system by simplifying day to day operations and administration
of a z/OS system.
More than just a graphical user interface, the z/OS Management Facility is intelligent.
Automated tasks can help reduce the learning curve and improve productivity.
In addition, embedded active user assistance (such as wizards) guides users through tasks
and helps provide simplified operations.
For example:
Tasks taking up to 20 minutes, such as collecting and sending dump data, can now take as
little as 30 seconds (or 8 key clicks) with z/OS Management Facility.
z/OS Management Facility capabilities
This initial release of the z/OS Management Facility provides the foundation for
platform simplification and has function that addresses problem data management and
TCP/IP network configuration.
Problem data management
When problems occur, the task of gathering diagnostic data to be sent to IBM or
another vendor's support team can be very time-consuming.
You need to reduce risk to the business and get to the root of the problem quickly.
The z/OS Management Facility Incident Log capability is intended to facilitate
problem data management tasks for new or less skilled system programmers and
system administrators.
It can also provide procedural advantages for the experienced system programmer by
providing an event log summary and detailed view of z/OS incidents.
The initial focus of an incident is on Abend and user initiated SVC dumps.
The Incident Log provides a consolidated list of SVC related incidents, along with details and
diagnostic data captured with each incident.
It also facilitates sending the data for further diagnostics.
The z/OS Management Facility incident log capability can mean fewer errors while obtaining,
aggregating, and sending data to IBM, or an ISV, and can result in faster diagnosis and
higher system availability.
TCP/IP network policy-based configuration
Configuring a network can be complex.
The process involves multiple tasks, the configuration syntax can be complicated and
error-prone, and it is often difficult to assess how configuration changes impact the
network.
The z/OS Management Facility V1.11 Configuration Assistant for z/OS Communications Server provides
assistance in configuring TCP/IP networking policies and can help dramatically reduce the
amount of time required to create network configuration files.
Use it to create configuration files for any number of z/OS images, any number of TCP/IP stacks,
for the following:
- Application Transparent - Transport Layer Security
- IP Security
- Intrusion Detection Services
- Network Security Services
- Quality of Service
- Policy Based Routing
- Defense Manager Daemon
To simplify things even more, step by step tasks are provided, complete with setup for
RACF security, started procedures, and Policy Agent configuration.
Health checks are provided to ensure the consistency and accuracy of policy definitions.
Note: The
Configuration Assistant for z/OS Communications Server is also available as
an as-is, non-warranted, Windows-based tool that is downloadable from the Web.
New functions and enhancements for the Configuration Assistant will be integrated into
z/OS Management Facility, but may not be provided in the Windows-based Configuration Assistant.
Improved economics
The z/OS Management Facility is a zero-priced product, so the decision to get started
with this new GUI can be fast and easy.
A large portion of the z/OS Management Facility application is written in Java, and therefore,
is eligible for the
System z Application Assist Processor (zAAP).
In addition, portions of z/OS Management Facility workload use the z/OS CIM server, and
therefore, is eligible for
IBM System z Integrated Information Processor (zIIP).
Learn more
You can find more information about the z/OS Management Facility as follows:
- IBM z/OS Management Facility V1R11.0 Program Directory (GI11-2886-00)
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PDF
- IBM z/OS Management Facility V1R11.0 User's Guide (SA38-0652-01)
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PDF
- IBM z/OS Management Facility V1R11.0 bookshelf
- IBM WebSphere Application Server OEM Edition for z/OS V7.0 Configuration Guide (GA32-0631-00)
PDF
- IBM WebSphere Application Server OEM Edition for z/OS V7.0 Quickstart Guide
PDF
- IBM z/OS Management Facility education modules in IBM Education Assistant
There are also articles about the z/OS Management Facility in
z/OS Hot Topics, Issue 21:
- z/OS Simplifies Your Life An introduction to z/OSMF
- What's in your (incident) log? An introduction to the z/OSMF Incident Log
- Setting up Operlog and Logrec for z/OSMF Incident Log
- Removing the Mystery on using System Logger for z/OSMF
Contact z/OS.
Send us your questions and comments.
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