IBM Security zSecure suite 2.3.0 was co-announced with IBM Z pervasive encryption capabilities on July 17, 2017 with a planned availability date of August 11, 2017. You can read the US announcement letter here . This release provides currency with z/OS V2R3, CICS V5R4, Db2 12, and DISA-STIG 6.31, adds or extends integration with IBM QRadar SIEM and HPE Security ArcSight, and extends support for Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).   Background Mainframes continue to be the home for mission critical... [More]

Tags:  racf zsecure z access_monitor securityintelligence qradar icsf security z/os pervasive_encryption monitoring arcsight servicemanagementconnect mainframe z14 siem mfa

On July 4, 2017 a new service stream enhancement (SSE) to zSecure Audit 2.2.1 has become generally available, adding additional compliance checks for the Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) for z/OS from the US Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). This SSE focuses on adding Access Control Program (ACP) controls for systems protected through CA-ACF2. This builds on the ACF2_SENSDSN_ACCESS report type first provided in zSecure Audit 2.2.1.   Background The Security Technical Implementation Guide from DISA provides a... [More]

Tags:  compliance disa-stig zsecure z/os mainframe security z_systems acf2 servicemanagementconnect

IBM   CIC S  Tr a nsa c tio n  Se r ver   for   z/O S  V5 . 4 has become generally available on June 16, 2017. Toleration fixes for zSecure 2.1.0, 2.1.1, 2.2.0, and 2.2.1 have been made available on June 23, 2017. A new field is introduced to report on the terminal read timeout for a CICS transaction.   Background IBM Security zSecure can detect security settings for CICS regions and report on CICS transactions and programs, and can process CICS security events. ISPF menu option RE.C displays information about... [More]

Tags:  security securityintelligence qradar zsecure cics servicemanagementconnect mainframe z_systems z/os siem

A Service Stream Enhancement (SSE)  for IBM Security zSecure 2.2.1 has been made available on April 19, 2017 to provide support for new DB2 12 features. These include DB2 region settings, new SMF log record event subtypes, and a new DB2 object privilege.   Background IBM Security zSecure suite builds on the security support in z/OS and  IBM Resource Access Control Facility (RACF) to enhance mainframe security capabilities. Some components of the zSecure suite also support CA-ACF2 and CA-Top... [More]

Tags:  servicemanagementconnect siem z_systems securityintelligence guardium qradar z/os zsecure db2 security acf2 racf mainframe

A Service Stream Enhancement (SSE) has been made available for the Access Monitor component of zSecure Admin 2.2.1 on March 30, 2017 to enable analytics processing. Insight Pack 3 for IBM Operations Analytics for z Systems (IOAz) 3.1 was made available around the same time, enabling IOAz to process Access Monitor statistics.   Background IBM  Secu rity  zSe cure  sui t e can help you protect your enterprise, detect threats, comply with policy and regulations and reduce costs. Most... [More]

Tags:  analytics security z/os monitoring securityintelligence access_monitor zaware zsecure servicemanagementconnect ioaz mainframe z_systems interconnect2017

Join us on March 30, 2017 11 EDT as Dean Butler the Lead Developer will present the next webcast in our series.   z/OS systems management experts rely on having fast and accurate information about their enterprise to quickly identify problems, locate the root cause and take  the appropriate actions. The OMEGAMON Enhanced 3270UI is the strategic interface for these subject matter experts to manage their z/OS infrastructure and key subsystems. To help new users become familiar with the Enhanced 3270UI we have planned a series of... [More]

Tags:  networks networkmanagement omegamon mainframe commserver zos

New in OMEGAMON for JVM on z/OS v540, a feature for diagnosing potential native memory exhaustion has been delivered.  An OutofMemoryError condition can occur for several reasons, one of which is when a JVM has run out of native memory in the address space.   When the JVM starts, memory for the initial Java heap size is allocated (specified by the -Xms Java option). For a 64-bit JVM this is usually above the bar (>2Gb) memory. For a 31-bit JVM this memory is allocated from 31-bit addressable memory (the “extended... [More]

Tags:  mainframe omegamon jvm java zos e3270ui native memory

IBM Security zSecure suite 2.2.1 was announced on October 25, 2016 with a planned availability date of December 9, 2016. You can read the US announcement letter here . This release provides live SMF event streaming to IBM QRadar SIEM, enhanced alerting capability in zSecure Alert based on specific access events captured by zSecure Admin Access Monitor, improved scalability through exploitation of 64-bit addressing mode, new policies in zSecure Command Verifier including the ability to link denial of access to an external security... [More]

Tags:  cdp pci-dss z/os mq siem 64-bit servicemanagementconnect compliance racf acf2 mfa disa-stig security securityintelligence zsecure zenterprise icsf access_monitor windows z196 carla topsecret mainframe qradar z_systems

z/VM V6R4 was announced on October 25, 2016 with a planned availability date of November 11, 2016. Toleration fixes have been made available beforehand for zSecure Manager for RACF z/VM 1.11.1 and 1.11.2 and for zSecure for z/OS 2.1.0, 2.1.1, and 2.2.0.   Background IBM Security zSecure Manager for RACF z/VM helps you protect your z/VM systems. You can feed the data collected by its zSecure Collect for z/VM (CKVCOLL) component into IBM Security zSecure Admin and zSecure Audit. This allows comprehensive analysis including both z/OS and z/VM... [More]

Tags:  zsecure security mainframe z_systems z/vm servicemanagementconnect

Announcing a new Beta for OMEGAMON for JVM on z/OS as part of the OMEGAMON Performance Management Suite Beta program.  Today we are opening our Beta program for OMEGAMON for JVM on z/OS with enhanced capabilities to monitor various Java Virtual Machines (JVMs) and their subsystems on z/OS.  This Beta is part of the OMEGAMON Performance Management Suite Beta program.  We are looking for customers and business partners who are interested in working with us to shape and validate the new capabilities we are developing to monitor JVMs... [More]

Tags:  z/os jvm omegamon mainframe monitoring beta java performance management

A set of user interface productivity enhancements to zSecure 2.2.0 has been made available in a Service Stream Enhancement (SSE) on July 30, 2016.   Background IBM Security zSecure suite can help you protect your enterprise, detect threats, comply with policy and regulations and reduce costs. Most of the products run on the z/OS operating system. IBM Security zSecure Admin boosts productivity for RACF administrators. IBM Security zSecure Audit helps review the security of the system in various ways. IBM Security zSecure Alert is a... [More]

Tags:  64-bit servicemanagementconnect security z/os z_systems productivity zsecure mainframe

The announcement letter for IBM Security zSecure suite 2.2.0 issued on October 1, 2015 contained a Statement of Direction about providing 64-bit addressing support on a future date. This support has become available on June 25, 2016 through a Service Stream Enhancement (SSE). This SSE also contains performance improvements and scoping enhancements that also apply to 31-bit addressing mode.   Background IBM Security zSecure suite can help you protect your enterprise, detect threats, comply with policy and regulations and... [More]

Tags:  64-bit qradar siem servicemanagementconnect z/os compliance z_systems security zsecure securityintelligence carla pci-dss mainframe z196 disa-stig smf performance zenterprise

'Dear Rocky' answers your System z monitoring and performance tuning questions. Rocky McMahan, a Senior Software Performance Engineer in IBM Z Systems R&D, offers valuable tips to help you get more out of your monitoring software.     Dear Rocky, Our company recent switch over to OMEGAMON after using another monitoring product for over 15 years.  We are quickly learning more and more of the features of OMEGAMON but wasn't sure how we should go about to start monitoring our mainframe network activity and out... [More]

Tags:  performance dear_rocky omegamon tcpip situations mainframe best_practice netowrks z/os

On February 16, 2016 IBM announced authentication enhancements including a new product IBM Multi-Factor Authentication for z/OS (5655-162), with a planned availability date of March 25, 2016. z/OS Security Server RACF provided enabling infrastructure updates for z/OS V2R1 and V2R2. Supporting service stream enhancements to zSecure 2.1, 2.1.1, and 2.2 were made available around the same time. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) raises the level of assurance of mission-critical systems. It is particularly important to strongly authenticate users... [More]

Tags:  mainframe servicemanagementconnect saf zsecure mfa/k z_systems racf mfa security z/os