I’ve kept (so far) my New Year’s resolution to have quarterly updates. Only 35 days until WKLD in Cincinnati! Some of what follows may be “spoiler alerts” for sessions at the conference but I will not pre-announce anything.
In January I said 2023 should be the “year of 10.1 release” but we are still seeing a lot of cases for TWSZ 9.3 and earlier. I have revised the migration related technotes to include the 10.1 release information and with the end of support for 9.3 at August 31, 2023 you should be in one of the following groups:
- Running 9.3 or earlier, thinking about getting an extension of 9.3 support rather than migrating or with a migration already planned before August
- On 9.5 or 10.1 and not thinking about future releases
- On 10.1 and thinking seriously about future releases
If you are on 9.3 or earlier my recommendation would be to skip 9.5 and go to 10.1. You can do a “normal” SHOP Zseries, order for z Workload Scheduler 10.1 but if you plan to migrate to 9.5 and don’t already have the 9.5 code in house, you will need to go through the IBM special order process.
One important FLASH clarified what is REALLY going to be removed from the product after the 10.1 release; there was a typo in the 10.1 announcement letter. See the section on FLASHES below.
WAPL, BCIT and Batch Loader will continue to be supported, only OCL is being removed from the supported APIs. This may make it easier for some of you to consider migrating to the as-yet-not-announced release after 10.1. We may hear more about this new release at ASAP; I honestly do not know anything more than you do at this moment.
For z/OS, 2.4 and 2.5 are currently supported and 2.6 should be available in 2024. zWS 10.1 has z/OS 2.4 as a prerequisite (mostly due to TLS 1.3 support) but all versions of zWS will run on zOS 2.4 or 2.5 with no additional PTFs required.
Flashes
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6963326
(FLASH – Correction to announcement letter for IBM Z Workload Scheduler 10.1 (deprecated functions))
Only these functions are going to be absent after the 10.1 release:
- Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration (OSLC) integration
- IBM Z Workload Scheduler Control Language (OCL)
- Fault tolerant agents
- Direct access storage device (DASD) connection method between controller and trackers
If you don’t receive notification for flashes, check your settings at www.ibm.com/support/mynotifications
Hipers
The technotes listing HIPERS were all updated March 14, 2023.
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6619651
(Need all HIPER maintenance for z Workload Scheduler 10.1.0 ( COMPID 5697WSZ01 ))
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/5694705
(Need all HIPER maintenance for z Workload Scheduler 9.5.0 ( COMPID 5697WSZ01))
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/556629
(Need all HIPER maintenance for IWS z/OS 9.3.0 ( COMPID 5697WSZ01 ))
The most important new HIPER is:
PH51939 EQQZ045E SUBTASK HTTP CLIENT TASK ENDED UNEXPECTEDLY.
USER COMPLETION CODE=4039 REASON CODE=00000000
9.5 PTF UI90214 superseded by UI90676
10.1 PTF UI90215 superseded by UI90677
This APAR will be set HIPER once it has closed:
PH52871 HTTP TASK ENDED WITH MESSAGE EQQZ045E CORRELATED TO ABEND U4039
OR U4042
DWC on z/OS (zliberty)
The DWC running on z/OS (DWCZOS, zDWC) is getting easier to install and now also to upgrade. If you are not currently running the DWC I would recommend installing the z/OS version. If you are currently running the DWC on another operating system, there may still be some advantages in running the DWC on z/OS, especially if the DB2 on z/OS is your preferred database.
The original documentation on installing the DWC on z/OS suggested that a root (UID=0) userid was required, but this is no longer true (see the list of technotes below). It is, however, necessary for the installation (configureDb.sh script) to run with a userid that has SYSADM authority for DB2. An RFE is currently open to allow a userid with SURROGATE authority for a DB2 SYSADM user to run this script also, but there is no expected date for this to be available.
Recent testing has shown that it is possible to upgrade a DWC installed at 10.1 FP1 level to 10.1 FP2 level (without having to do a complete, new install). There are still a few issues with this, and when these are resolved I will publish a technote. Also note that the 10.1 FP2 DWC requires Java version 11 on z/OS.
If you are still running 9.5 DWC you probably want to upgrade to version 10.1, which will allow you to run with a 10.1 zWS controller. 10.1 fix pack 2 is currently available, and 10.1 FP3 and 9.5 FP7 should become available this summer.
Since it will be possible to upgrade the DWC, having to assign DWC roles to various groups of users (via the Manage Roles panel under Administration in the DWC) is less of an issue, since you only have to do this once as the information gets written to the database associated with the DWC.
For example:
- You install DWC 10.1 FP1 or FP2 as a new install
- You use Manage Roles to associate roles with groups or users (groups is recommended)
- Later you migrate to a newer fix pack level but you do not need to re-do step (2)
The latest developments in the area of the DWC on z/OS will be discussed in a session at ASAP University in May, and will be covered in the next newsletter in July. Meanwhile open a case
for z Workload Scheduler if you have any questions or concerns with the DWC on z/OS (remember to mention that the case involves the z/OS version of the DWC, since other platforms for the DWC are normally handed by the Workload Automation/Workload Scheduler team).
Technotes
Some new technotes which you may find useful:
How To Install DWC z/OS with DB2 database using a non-SUPERUSER Release 10.1 Fix pack 1 https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6857859
zWS White Paper on Cross Dependencies (Shadow Jobs)
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6982471
zWS White Paper on Dynamic Critical Path
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6982473
IEW2736S error for AEQQMOD0 running ACCEPT job ( EQQACPTE ) for 10.1 release https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6957872
Additional ACTION HOLD items for PH52702 ( SPE10102 ) for z Workload Scheduler 10.1 https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6957712
Install DWC z/OS with DB2 database using a non-SUPERUSER Release 10.1 Fix pack 1 https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6857859
Installing DWC on z/OS with JAVA V11 ( DWC 10.1 Fix Pack 2 FP2 ) https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6962935
Wrong calendar — Current day configured as a free day by mistake and current plan is empty https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6572743
How to remove a special resource that are in ZWS dialog panel option 5.7 https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6980337
These technotes related to migration issues were recently updated to include the 10.1 release:
Migration to a new release of zWS in a phased approach (example – one LPAR at a time) https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6342825
TWSz MIGRATION TO NEW RELEASE – BEST PRACTICES https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/213015
Migration from an unsupported release of TWSZ to a supported release using a two-step migration job https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6342823
What PTFs must be applied to TWSz 9.2 or IWSZ 9.3 or zWS 9.5 before migration to IZWS / ZWS https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/1127883
Migration to a supported release of z Workload Scheduler ( IBM Workload Scheduler for z/OS) https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6113614
Upgrading the z/OS operating system level while staying on the same release of z Workload https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6113626
Preparation for TWSz migration (zWS z Workload Scheduler) https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/509839
TWSz migration issues when skipping release levels (zWS z Workload Schedule ) https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/509859
Ideas (formerly RFE)
Note there are 2 separate products – IBM Z Workload Scheduler and Workload Automation.
Some ideas for zWS (EQQ*) are being reported under WA (AWS*). WA includes DWC, zcentric and dynamic agents, however sometimes it is difficult to know which product is the best one to use.
Here are some ideas submitted in February, March or April 2023:
- DWC – Viewing external dependency graphically from workload designer [WAO-I-411]
- EQQSERVER avoid 878 abend by limiting connections [WAO-I-413]
- Allow RACF surrogate authority to be used in the configureDb.sh script to define the DB2 database for a DWC running on z/OS [WAO-I-421]
- Add filters with list of Jobstreams is missing in DWC [WAO-I-423]
- Job Duration Alert (supports different alert threshold for different Jobs) [ZWS-I-165]
- Removing application group entry in CP [ZWS-I-164]
- Convert zWS Exits to Parmlib [ZWS-I-163]
- * Need CDPz integration to support TWSplex with standby controller [ZWS-I-162]
- * Clean up type (CLN Ty) in Error Handler Layout (1) doesn’t provide enough details or (2) wasting spaces on Error hander layout [ZWS-I-157]
* – getting the most votes
BLOGs
You can see all the BLOGS related to workload automation (distributed workload scheduler, DWC and zWS) at http://www.workloadautomation-community.com/blogs
Some recent BLOGS which may be of interest are:
How to Enable Cloud Transformation with HCL Workload Automation on AWS
Powerful, faster, and more secure: it is Workload Automation 10.1.01
Self-Service Catalog: a business-oriented interface to submit on-demand business flows
Wrap Up
One of the biggest causes of delays for the support teams handling cases is incomplete or incorrectly sent data. Tersed files (.trs) are the best; some other formats like txt, pdf, png are easily viewable, however large text files are difficult to handle effectively.
If you are using the “SWITCHMLOG” feature and need to send in an EQQMLOG, the FIRST generation of the GDG containing the MLOG must always be sent in also, as this contains all the parameter values.
If you are opening a case involving the DWC or zcentric agents always specify the operating system, release and fix pack level involved, this makes it easier to get the case to the correct “queue”.
I will be at the ASAP University conference in May. I hope to see many of you there- it has been a long time!
If you do not currently have a “customer advocate” assigned or would like to have more information about the free HCL customer advocate program, feel free to drop me an email at stephen.viola@hcl.com.
Steve
