Portable Software Instance

A software instance is a collection of data sets containing installed software, and other data sets that may be associated with that installed software. The software may be SMP/E managed, in which case the collection of data sets also contains, and is described by, one or more SMP/E target and distribution zone pairs, defined by a single global zone.

A portable software instance is, exactly as the name implies, a portable form of a software instance,which can be used to simplify distribution of a software instance across a network, and can be deployed by the z/OSMF Software Management task. A portable software instance is a set of portable archive files created by the SMP/E GIMZIP service routine for each of the data sets defined to the software instance, including SMPCSI data sets with all associated SMP/E managed target and distribution libraries, and a descriptor file to describe in detail the entire originating software instance.

Portable Software Instance Descriptor File

The portable software instance descriptor file contains detailed information to describe the content of the originating software instance. It contains the information required by the z/OSMF Software Management task to perform a deployment operation on the content of the portable software instance. The portable software instance descriptor file has a file name of IZUD00DF.json, and is created by z/OSMF during the operation of an Export action on a software instance.

The content of the portable software instance descriptor file is shown in Portable software instance descriptor file.

Figure 1. Portable software instance descriptor file

{"izud.pswi.descriptor":
 {
  "version":"pswi-descriptor-version"
  "created":"yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ssZ",
  "gimpaflocation":"relative-path-for-GIMPAF.XML-file",
  "name":"software-instance-name",
  "description":"software-instance-description",
  "globalzone":"csi-data-set-name",
  "zones":[{
    "name":"zone-name",
    "type":"zone-type",
    "related":"related-zone-name",
    "csi":"csi-data-set-name"
    }]
  "datasets":[{
    "dsname":"data-set-name",
    "volumes":["volume-serial"],
    "storclas":"storage-class",
    "dstype":"data-set-type",
    "tracks":"allocated-tracks",
    "zonedddefs":[{
      "zone":"zone-name",
      "dddefs":[{"dddef":"dddef-name", "path":"unix-directory"}]
      }],
    "mountpoint":"UNIX-path",
    "isextendedformat":true | false",
    "recfm":"record-format",
    "lrecl":"logical-record-length",
    "blksize":"block-size",
    "used":"used-tracks-percent"
    "extents":"allocated-extents",
    "dscategory":["data-set-category"],
    "archid":"gimzip-archive-id",
    }]
  "smpeproducts":[{
    "prodname":"product-name",
    "prodid":"product-id", 
    "release":"vv.rr.mm",
    "vendor":"vendor-name",
    "url":"product-url",
     “srels”:[“srel”],
     “prodsups”:[{
     “prodid”:“product-id”,
     “release”:“vv.rr.mm”
      }],
    "features":[{
      “featname”:"feature-name",
      “featid”:“feature-id”,
      “fmids”:[“fmid-name”]
      }]
    }
 }
}

Where:

version the version of the portable software instance descriptor. The initial version is 1.
created the date and time when the portable software instance was created, in ISO 8601 format. For example, yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ssZ.
gimpaflocation the relative path to the GIMPAF.XML file for this portable software instance, relative to the location of the portable software instance descriptor file.
name the name for the originating software instance.
description the description of the originating software instance. This is an optional property.
globalzone the name of the CSI data set that contains the global zone. This is an optional property, specified only if the originating software instance describes SMP/E managed software.
zones the list of SMP/E zones from the originating software instance. This is an optional property, specified only if the originating software instance describes SMP/E managed software.
name the zone name.
type the type for the zone, global, target or dlib.
related the name of the zone's related zone, if any.
csi the name for the CSI data set that contains the zone.
datasets the list of data sets from the originating software instance.
dsname the originating data set name.
volumes the list of volume serials where the originating data set resided.
storclas the name of the storage class where the originating data set resided. This is an optional property.
dstype the type for the data set. Can be one of the following types:
- HFS – Hierarchical file system.
- PDS – Partitioned data set.
- PDSE – Partitioned data set extended.
- SEQ – Sequential data set.
- VSAM – VSAM data set.
- ZFS – zSeries file system.
tracks the number of 3390-device equivalent tracks (56664 bytes/track)allocated to the data set.
zonedddefs the list of SMP/E zones and DDDEF entries that reference the data set. This is an optional property, specified only if the originating software instance describes SMP/E managed software, and if the subject dataset is referenced in the SMP/E zones.
zone the name of an SMP/E zone that contains one or more DDDEF entries for the data set.
dddefs the list of DDDEF entries that identify the data set.
dddef the name of the DDDEF entry.
path the UNIX directory identified in the DDDEF entry. Null if the DDDEF entry identifies a data set.
mountpoint the mount point for the originating UNIX file system data set. Null if the DDDEF entry identifies a data set instead of a UNIX directory. This is an optional property, specified only if the originating software instance describes SMP/E managed software, and if the subject dataset is referenced in the SMP/E zones by a DDDEF entry with a UNIX directory.
isextendedformat indicates, true or false, if the data set is an extended format sequential data set.
recfm the record format. The record format can be any valid combination of the following codes:
- A – ASA printer control characters.
- B – Blocked records.
- F – Fixed-length records.
- M – Machine code printer control characters.
- S – Standard (for F) or spanned (for V); used only with sequential data sets.
- T – Track-overflow feature.
- U – Undefined format records.
- V – Variable-length records.
lrecl the logical record length.
blksize the block size, in bytes.
used the percentage of allocated tracks used, expressed in whole numbers, not rounded. If any track is used, the minimum percentage is 1. If the data set is a PDSE, the percentage refers to the percentage of allocated pages used.
extents the number of extents allocated to the data set.
dscategory List of categories for how the data set is used. Can be one or more of the following:
- target – SMP/E managed target library, or SMP/E control dataset associated with a target zone.
- dlib – SMP/E managed distribution library, or SMP/E control data set associated with a dlib zone .
- global – SMP/E control data set associated with the global zone.
- smp – SMP/E control data set.
- other – None of the above.
archid the archive ID value, produced by the GIMZIP service routine and specified in the GIMPAF.XML file, to identify the portable archive file for the data set.
smpeproducts the list of software products installed in the originating software instance that are managed by SMP/E. This is an optional property.
prodname the name for the product.
prodid the identifier for the product.
release the version, release, and modification level for the product, in this format: vv.rr.mm.
vendor the name for the product's vendor. This is an optional property.
url the URL that links to additional information about the product. This is an optional property.
srels the system or subsystem releases on which the subject product can be installed.
prodsups the list of products that are superseded by the subject product. This is an optional property.
features the list of features for the subject product.
featname the name for the feature.
featid the identifier for the feature.
fmids the list of FMIDs for the subject feature. It is also the list of FMIDs in the originating software instance. This list includes all FMIDs associated with one or more products and features, and all FMIDs associated with no products or features.