Fall 2023 Edition
“When Autumn Leaves Start to Fall” The song by Joseph Kousma (lyrics by Jacques Prevert) captures the bittersweet season perfectly. It is both looking back (perhaps with some pessimism) and looking forward optimistically. In my garden leaves are just beginning to turn here, but the new lawn is growing nicely. My squash did not produce any fruit but at the same time I am looking forward to having an even better variety of cucumber growing next spring. There are preparations to be done before winter sets in and this is true even for z Workload Scheduler. This can be a great time of year to catch up with maintenance or finish any release migrations (yes it’s not just the hummingbirds that migrate this time of year).
Release 9.3 is finally out of support and 9.5 is getting close to 5 years old. There has already been a 10.2 release of the distributed Workload Automation so it doesn’t take a crystal ball to predict that there will be a new zWS release next year. If you have not already gotten a copy of the 10.1 code please order it soon, as 10.1 will be out of marketing once the new release is announced, and then it will not be possible to order a 10.1 CBPDO from Shop Zseries. PTFs of course you can always order. If you are still using 9.3 you can get a support extension and plan on migrating to 10.1 (yes you could also migrate to 9.5 but if you are still on 9.3 you are probably not a big fan of release migrations, so skipping one by going directly from 9.3 to 10.1 is best). Nothing has been announced yet about any new release, but from past experience it will probably not be possible to migrate directly from 9.3 to the new release – another important reason to be sure to have a copy of 10.1 handy.
A new SPE (one of my favorite oxymorons, calling a big fix “small”) will be available soon – there is already an APAR number ( PH56381 ) but nothing yet about specific contents. There is already a technote that will be mentioned as an ACTION HOLD https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7028205 so you can check there for any updates.
Having the distributed product be ahead of the z product in release number has happened before, but sometimes this leads to a zWS release being skipped later on (remember 9.4?). The DWC 10.2 of course will work with 9.5 and 10.1 controllers.
z/OS 3.1 has been available for a few weeks and still there are no identified APARs for zWS relevant to the new z/OS release. We have gotten quite a few questions about this, hence the technote
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7049418
Flashes
If you don’t receive notification for flashes, check your settings at www.ibm.com/support/mynotifications
One new FLASH:
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7022497
PTF UI93108 ( APAR PH53120 ) required if SPE02 is installed for zWS 10.1 ( SPE10102 ) PTFs UI92840 UI92841
There was some confusion about this since PH53120 is HIPER and has UI92841 as a prerequisite. However it was possible to install SPE1012 without the PH53120 fix if you didn’t keep your HOLDDATA up-to-date. Always please get the latest enhanced HOLDDATA before applying any PTFs.
Hipers
The technotes listing HIPERS were all updated October15, 2023:
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6619651
(ZWSTECHNOTE : Need all HIPER maintenance for z Workload Scheduler 10.1.0 ( COMPID 5697WSZ01 ))
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/5694705
(ZWSTECHNOTE : Need all HIPER maintenance for z Workload Scheduler 9.5.0 ( COMPID 5697WSZ01))
These are the new HIPERs since March 2023: :
PH46994 AVOID INEFFICIENT USE OF STORAGE FOR THE CELL POOLS USED FOR
CRITICAL JOB LISTS AND HOT LISTS RELATED TO EQQJTABL ENTRIES
PH55093 MANUALLY CHANGE OF THE STATUS TO W MIGHT IGNORE DEPENDENCIES UNDER SOME CONDITIONS.
PH56130 A LIST IS EMPTY MESSAGE CAN APPEAR DURING DISPLAYING EXTERNAL DEPENDENCY OF AN OCCURENCE
PH53158 A SUDDEN SYSTEM IPL MAY CAUSE THE CURRENT JT TO CLOSE INCORRECTLY
Note: These APARs is still OPEN :
PH52871 HTTP TASK ENDED WITH MESSAGE EQQZ045E CORRELATED TO ABEND U4039 OR U4042
PH55458 MESSAGES: EQQZ373W EQQZ377W CAN BE IMPROPERLY ISSUED AT THE STARTUP OF CONTROLLER/TRACKER
Technotes
As technotes are revised or new technotes added, I have started using the special keyword ZWSTECHNOTE in the subject (also DWCZOS if the technote is about DWC running on z/OS).
This should make technotes much easier to find. The process to include these keywords should be completed by January 15, 2024 (the next edition) so this is a very early “New Year’s Resolution”. You can search on ZWSTECHNOTE and/or DWCZOS and find nothing other than zWS technotes (I verified this).
Revised technote:
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6982473
zWS White Paper on Dynamic Critical Path
This technote was recently revised to include this:
If for example a pending predecessor is part of a critical network (i.e. a not solved mandatory predecessor), DP batch will not able to assign a Planned Start/End Time to it because it does not know if and when the operation will arrive. So, these times are set to the CP Tail End. The same will happen to all its successors, at any level, including the critical job(s). This will determine that the critical job(s) will be always in HIGH RISK.
New technotes:
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7049418
ZWSTECHNOTE : Does z Workload Scheduler ( zWS ) require any maintenance to run on z/OS 3.1?
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6415823
Message EQQHM20E Unknown client notification URI
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7042280
ZWSTECHNOTE DWCZOS : Upgrade DWC without doing a complete new install (for example upgrade from 10.1 FP1 to 10.1 FP2)
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7037840
ZWSTECHNOTE : DWCZOS – Need bypass procedure since IJ45143 is not closed yet ( allow multiple tables in one tablespace )
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/7028205
Additional ACTION HOLD items for PH56381 ( SPE10103 or 10.1 SPE03 ) for z Workload Scheduler 10.1
Ideas (formerly RFE)
Many new ideas have been added for both Workload Automation and z Workload Scheduler. You can add your own requests or vote for the ones you like at https://ideas.ibm.com
Ideas raised as a result of a severity 1 case are marked with an asterisk ( * ) :
Enable dynamic activation of CDP logging function | IBM Z Software [ZWS-I-209]
Disable what-if analysis on DWC for Z Engine [WAO-I-449]
Enable a confirmation panel after the TWS panel EQQMEP1L (5.4) [ZWS-I-205]
Sample code for zWS user exits (EQQUXnnn) should allow a TRACE for input parameters and return codes [ZWS-I-204]
Another way for controlling access between IWSz and zCentric IWS-agent on distributed platform instead of using member in EQQPARM dataset. [ZWS-I-202]
PIF Request/Modify for CSR (Current Plan Special Resource) Interval [ZWS-I-200]
Reduce vulnerabilities within the the Workload Scheduler / z Workload Scheduler tools by using industry standard password encryption [ZWS-I-199]
JES2 Release Command (Case TS013137673) [ZWS-I-198]
Panel EQQAMTMP “not started action” cannot be used with “EVERY” repeating jobs [ZWS-I-197]
Selection Panel for CALENDAR and PERIOD [ZWS-I-196]Setting restriction for updating job status changes in TWS CP [ZWS-I-195]
EQQPIFJX should support delete JCL in JSx for an operation even appl is not completed [ZWS-I-190]
Ability for Zos controller to push zcentric agent upgrades [ZWS-I-189]
When an operation is restarted, nothing currently in the EQQAUDIT report or in the EQQMLOG documents what TYPE of restart command was used (RERUN, RC, SJR, FSR, FJR, etc) and what type of restart (STE [ZWS-I-186]
- Simplify verification of occurrence/operation status after performing a CP REFRESH (dialog option 9.5) by having an available copy of the pre-refresh files on a separate controller [ZWS-I-184]
- Allow current plan to be automatically rebuilt with correct status information after a refresh of the plan (dialog option 9.5) [ZWS-I-183]
- Completing occurrences via batch (WAPL, BCIT, etc ) should not delete predecessors without a warning or a special parameter to indicate that it is OK to delete predecessors [ZWS-I-181]
- Restore the CP at the moment just before an human error [ZWS-I-178]
The possibility in DWC (Dynamic Workload Console) to filter on codes; error code, return code, condition code. [ZWS-I-176]
Add an 80% warning message before zWS reaches 100% limit for adding applications of the same name. (EQQM952E & EQQM952I) [ZWS-I-175]Prevent errors during migration to a new zWS release by allocating files via EQQPCSxx
jobs to have the same sizes and other characteristics as in the previous release [ZWS-I-174]
Reduce CLNO errors by adding a parameter to correct the handling of an EQQJTARC file full (SB37 abend) to ensure that job tracking records are not lost, and jobs are not submitted twice [ZWS-I-169]
BLOGs
You can see all the BLOGS related to workload automation (distributed workload scheduler, DWC and zWS) at http://www.workloadautomation-community.com/blogs
https://www.workloadautomation-community.com/blogs/replacing-default-ssl-certificates
Replacing Default SSL Certificates with CA signed Customer Certificates
https://www.workloadautomation-community.com/blogs/how-to-drive-your-workload-by-business-logic
How to drive your workload by business logic (conditional dependencies)
Issuing TLS Certificates in PEM Format to be deployed automatically during the installation of HCL Workload Automation
Automate Container-Orchestration with the new Kubernetes plugin in Workload Automation
Wrap Up
You can mark these dates in your calendar for ASAP University 2024 : 5/19/24 – 5/22/24
The exact location has not yet been determined (somewhere in Florida). If you have a “freeze period” coming up, this can be a good time to try out some new functions in your test environments (or just enjoy the holidays). With 2024 being a leap year, if you are really far behind on maintenance be sure to have the PTF applied for the last known leap year issue – APAR PH23228, PTF UI69360 for 9.3 and UI69361 for 9.5. These were closed in 2020.
