Configuring a z/OS FTP system connection

You must have an FTP or z/OSMF connection to use the views in the z/OS® perspective.

Before you begin

You must have at least one connection credential before you can connect to a system. A credential is a repository for a user ID and password combination. For more information, see Defining connection credentials.

Note: For z/OS Explorer to successfully obtain the required spool files, the FTP.DATA configuration file for the server must specify JESINTERFACELEVEL 2. For more information about the JESINTERFACELEVEL parameter, see z/OS Communications Server: IP Configuration Reference.

About this task

By default, the z/OS FTP connection initiates a passive FTP mode connection. You can specify that the connection initiates an active FTP mode connection when you add or edit a z/OS FTP connection. For example, you might do this if your system restricts passive FTP mode connections.

Procedure

  1. Click Window > Manage Connections from the main menu for the workbench. The Host Connections view is displayed.

    If your connections are preconfigured, the connections are listed under the categories in the view. If not, the categories are empty. Each z/OS FTP connection is associated with a credential (but not the z/OSMF connection). The credential is shown in parentheses after the connection name.

  2. In the Connections section, select the z/OS FTP category and click Add.
  3. In the Add z/OS FTP Connection window, enter the FTP host name of your server in the Host name field. As you type, the characters up to the end of the first qualifier are inserted in the Name field. For example, if you enter myserver.example.ibm.com in Host name, myserver is displayed in Name.
  4. Optional: To specify a different name, type the name that you require in Name.
  5. Optional: To use active FTP mode, select the Active Transfer mode check box.
  6. Optional: Select the local and remote character sets to use during file transfer. Use these character sets to override the conversion table defaults of the FTP server when transferring untagged files in ASCII transfer mode. When you save tagged files, if specified, the local code page overrides the default setting for the local encoding. You can also select the file translation table that is located in a data set or z/OS UNIX file. For more information about FTP translation tables, see SBDATACONN (FTP client and server) statement.
  7. Optional: You can choose to associate a credential with the connection now. Right-click the connection name and hover over Set Credentials to show the credentials available. Click the credential that you want to use for the connection.
  8. Complete the other fields for your organization.
  9. Click Save and Close to save the configuration without connecting or click Save and Connect to save the configuration and connect immediately. If you click Save and Connect, the Signon window is displayed, where you must select an existing credential to use with this connection, or define a new credential.

Results

The connection and associated credential are displayed in the Host Connections view.

What to do next

When you connect, z/OS Explorer tries to connect to the system that you configured.

If the connection is successful, the connection name is displayed in the workbench window next to a green icon.

If the connection is not successful, the connection name is displayed in workbench window next to a red icon. An error message is displayed in the workbench status bar providing a reason for the failure. Check the values in the fields, correct any errors, and try to connect again.