General Page
For more V2R3 new functions, see z/OS V2R3 Communications Server: New Function Summary.
Enhancing security
IBM zERT Network Analyzer passphrase and password management support June 2022
The IBM zERT Network Analyzer with APAR PH43118 for z/OS V2R3 supports the use of passphrases up to 100 characters to connect to the Db2 for z/OS database. The IBM zERT Network Analyzer includes additional enhancements in the Database Settings panel to clear existing database credentials to allow for easier switching to a different database user ID.
FTP server JES access control March 2022
z/OS V2R5 Communications Server, with APAR PH42618, supports a new SAF resource in the SERVAUTH class to control which users are allowed to access FTP JES mode. When the SERVAUTH class is active and a profile is defined for the EZB.FTP.sysname.ftpdaemonname.ACCESS.JES SAF resource, only users with permission to the profile are allowed to access FTP JES mode.
IBM zERT Network Analyzer database administration enhancements May 2020
z/OS Management Facility (z/OSMF) with the IBM zERT Network Analyzer APAR PH24492 for z/OS V2R3, introduces a configurable report timeout and limits to the maximum number of open reports per user. The sample database schema tooling now includes additional templates to change the number of partitions in the partition-by-range query result tables.
IBM Health Checker for use of native TLS/SSL support for DCAS March 2020
z/OS® V2R3 Communications Server, with TCP/IP APAR PH16144 and SNA APAR OA58255, provides a new migration health check to use with the IBM Health Checker for z/OS function. The migration health check identifies if DCAS uses native TLS/SSL support.
IBM Health Checker for use of native TLS/SSL support for the FTP server March 2020
z/OS® V2R3 Communications Server, with TCP/IP APAR PH21573 and SNA APAR OA59022, provides a new migration health check to use with the IBM Health Checker for z/OS function. The migration health check identifies active FTP servers using native TLS/SSL support.
IBM Health Checker for use of native TLS/SSL support for the TN3270 server March 2020
z/OS® V2R3 Communications Server, with TCP/IP APAR PH16144 and SNA APAR OA58255, provides a new migration health check to use with the IBM Health Checker for z/OS function. The migration health check identifies active TN3270 servers using native TLS/SSL support.
IBM zERT Network Analyzer database administration enhancements January 2020
z/OS Management Facility (z/OSMF) V2R3 with the IBM zERT Network Analyzer APAR PH16222, provides additional flexibility in IBM zERT Network Analyzer's Db2 for z/OS database schema definitions and reduces the access privileges required by the IBM zERT Network Analyzer's database user ID. The supplied database schema tooling now supports customized values for the database schema name, index names and even table names along with many other operational parameters that were already configurable.
IBM zERT Network Analyzer December 2018
z/OS V2R3 Communications Server introduced a new feature called z/OS Encryption Readiness Technology (zERT). z/OS Management Facility (z/OSMF) V2R3 with APAR PH03137, provides a new plug-in named IBM zERT Network Analyzer. IBM zERT Network Analyzer is a web-based graphical user interface that z/OS network security administrators can use to analyze and report on data reported in zERT Summary records.
- You must install z/OSMF V2R3 APARs PH04391 and PH00712 to use IBM zERT Network Analyzer.
- The IBM zERT Network Analyzer task requires Db2 11 for z/OS or later.
- The IBM zERT Network Analyzer task operates on SMF type 119 subtype 12 (zERT Summary) records, which are generated by the zERT Aggregation feature introduced by z/OS Communications Server V2R3 APAR PI83362. Ensure that the zERT Aggregation feature is installed and enabled (including SMF recording of the zERT Summary records) on the systems you want to analyze through the zERT Network Analyzer.
z/OS Encryption Readiness Technology (zERT) aggregation function March 2018
z/OS V2R3 Communications Server, with APAR PI83362, provides the new z/OS Encryption Readiness Technology (zERT) aggregation function, which enhances the zERT discovery function introduced with z/OS V2R3. zERT aggregation provides an alternative SMF view of the collected security session data in the form of SMF 119 zERT Summary (subtype 12) records that summarize the repeated use of security sessions by many application connections over time. zERT Summary records are written at the end of each SMF interval. Compared to zERT discovery alone, zERT aggregation can significantly reduce the volume of SMF records while still providing all the critical security information. With PI94208, you can configure this function in Network Configuration Assistant (NCA).
TN3270E Telnet server Express Logon Feature support for Multi-Factor Authentication March 2018
z/OS V2R3 Communications Server, with RACF APAR and IBM MFA for z/OS APARs, extends the TN3270 Telnet server Express Logon Feature (ELF) to support IBM Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) for z/OS. With this support, TN3270 clients can experience the same single sign-on behavior that is already offered by the PassTicket-based ELF, but now via an MFA token that is assigned by a SAF-compliant external security manager like IBM Security Server RACF.
- IBM Security Server RACF APAR OA53002
- IBM Multi-Factor Authentication for z/OS APARs PI86470 and PI93341
Simplification
IBM Health Checker for the removal of VTAM LSA Architecture Dec 2021
z/OS V2R5 Communications Server, with SNA APAR OA62208, provides a new migration health check to use with the IBM Health Checker for z/OS function. The migration health check identifies if VTAM Link Station Architecture (LSA) devices are in use. These devices are configured with MEDIUM=CSMACD in the XCA major node PORT statement.
Support for VTAM Link Station Architecture (LSA) devices will be withdrawn in a future release of the IBM z/OS Communications Server.
- Apply the appropriate PTF for SNA APAR OA62208
- Start the IBM Health Checker for z/OS
IBM Health Checker for the removal of DEVICE, LINK, and HOME for OSA Express connectivity December 2021
z/OS V2R5 Communications Server, with SNA APAR OA62208 and TCP/IP APAR PH40875, provides a new migration health check to use with the IBM Health Checker for z/OS function. The migration health check identifies if TCP/IP profile statements DEVICE, LINK, and HOME for OSA-Express connectivity are in use.
Support for DEVICE/LINK/HOME TCP/IP profile statements for OSA-Express connectivity will be withdrawn in a future release of IBM z/OS Communications Server.
- Apply the appropriate PTF for SNA APAR OA62208
- Apply the appropriate PTF for TCP/IP APAR PH40875
- Start the IBM Health Checker for z/OS
Hardware support
Communications Server support for RoCE Express3 April 2022
z/OS V2R3 Communications Server, with TCP/IP APAR PH34117 and SNA APAR OA60855, extends the Shared Memory Communications over Remote Direct Memory Access (SMC-R) function to support the next generation IBM RoCE Express3 feature. The IBM RoCE Express3 feature allows TCP/IP stacks on different LPARs within the same central processor complex (CPC) to leverage the power of these state-of-the-art adapters to optimize network connectivity for mission critical workloads by using Shared Memory Communications technology.
Dependencies:
Communications Server support for OSA-Express7S 25 GbE features April 2019
z/OS V2R3 Communications Server, with TCP/IP APAR PI95703 and SNA APAR OA55256, is enhanced to support the OSA-Express7S feature with 25 GbE bandwidth.
Communications support for 25 GbE RoCE Express2 features December 2018
z/OS V2R3 Communications Server is enhanced to support IBM 25 GbE RoCE Express2 features.
Usability and skills
HiperSockets Converged Interface support March 2018
z/OS V2R3 Communications Server, with APARs PI83372 and OA53198, provides the HiperSockets Converged Interface (HSCI) solution to support the z/VM bridge environment. With this solution, a Linux guest can connect to z/OS via Layer 2 HiperSockets and to the external network by using a single IP interface. This support also significantly improves HiperSockets usability, greatly reduces the network administration costs, and eliminates the need to reconfigure z/OS HiperSockets interfaces when moving a z/OS instance from one CPC to another. With PI94208, you can configure this function in Network Configuration Assistant (NCA).
Scalability and performance enhancement
IBM zERT aggregation recording interval June 2020z/OS V2R3 Communications Server, with APAR PH25049, introduces the INTVAL/SYNCVAL sub-parameters. The interval at which the SMF 119 subtype 12 records are created will be determined by the ZERT AGGregation sub-parameter INTVAL. To resolve a display issue related to ZERT AGGregation, install APAR PH26550.
IWQ IPSec Health Checker June 2019Inbound workload queueing (IWQ) IPSec Health Checkers are provided to check whether QDIO interfaces configured on the TCP/IP stacks support IWQ IPSec.
IWQ support for IPSec June 2018
z/OS V2R3 Communications Server, with TCP/IP APAR PI77649, is enhanced to support inbound workload queueing for IPSec workloads for OSA-Express in QDIO mode.
Incompatibilities:This function does not support IPAQENET interfaces that are defined by using the DEVICE, LINK, and HOME statements. Convert your IPAQENET definitions to use the INTERFACE statement to enable this support.
Dependencies:
- This function is limited to OSA-Express6S Ethernet features or later in QDIO mode running on IBM z14.
- This function is supported only for interfaces that are configured to use a virtual MAC (VMAC) address.
Application development improvement
SMTPD compatibility enhancements for CSSMTP December 2019
z/OS V2R3 Communications Server with APAR PH18237, enhances the Communications Server SMTP (CSSMTP)application with three new configuration parameters to provide better compatibility with SMTPD for your migrationfrom SMTPD to CSSMTP.
OSIMGMT Health Checker July 2019
z/OS V2R3 Communications Server with APAR OA57227, provides a new OSIMGMT Health Checker, ZOSMIGV2R4_Next_CS_OSIMGMT, to check whether the VTAM OSIMGMT functions are in use on this system. z/OS V2R4 is planned to be the last release to support the VTAM Common Management Information Protocol (CMIP). CMIP services is an API that enables a management application program to gather various types of SNA topology data from a CMIP application called the topology agent that runs within VTAM. IBM recommends using the SNA network management interface (NMI) to monitor SNA Enterprise Extender and High Performance Routing data.
Code page enhancements for CSSMTP July 2018
z/OS V2R3 Communications Server, with APAR PI93278, is enhanced to support multi-byte character sets with the Communications Server SMTP (CSSMTP) application. This enhancement allows migration from SMTPD to CSSMTP for customers that use multi-byte character set code pages, and provides improved code page support for characters in the mail subject line.
Dependency: To use CSSMTP MBCS function, you also need Unicode Support APAR OA55727.
If you have any comments or questions about New Function APAR Summary, send an email to comsvrcf@us.ibm.com.
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Document Information
Modified date:
29 June 2022
UID
ibm10718199