z/OS UNIX application considerations

z/OS UNIX supports two fundamental types of application servers:

Multithreaded application servers
Single-threaded application servers

A multithreaded application has multiple sequential flows of control. In this family of applications, the application server can process more than one unit of work at a time.

A single-threaded application has one sequential flow of control. In this family of applications, the application server processes one unit of work at a time.

z/OS UNIX provides the pthread_security_np callable service and support through the C runtime library that enables unauthorized multithreaded applications to create and delete a RACF® security environment in a fashion that is mediated and controlled by the kernel and RACF.

Note: The term unauthorized refers to applications that are not APF-authorized and do not run in supervisor state or in a system storage protection key.

The pthread_security_np callable service enables multithreaded applications to customize the security environment of a thread, allowing it to execute under a different RACF identity than the server. You need to authorize the server to use the pthread_security_np service.

For more information:

Administrative considerations of the z/OS UNIX pthread_security_np callable service are discussed in z/OS UNIX System Services Planning.
Additional information regarding the pthread_security_np service is discussed in z/OS UNIX System Services Programming: Assembler Callable Services Reference. The C language support for this service is discussed in z/OS XL C/C++ Runtime Library Reference.