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Which level of WebSphere Application Server for z/OS is compatible with the different versions of z/OS?

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Abstract

Which level of WebSphere Application Server for z/OS is compatible with the different versions of z/OS?

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Are you planning to upgrade your level of z/OS or WebSphere Application Server, or maybe even both, and are wondering how one might affect the other?
The Software Product Compatibility Report will help you figure this out:

 

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/prodguid/v1r0/clarity/index.jsp

 

The first page you will see is this:

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You can select 'High-level' or 'In-depth' reports. The High-level report is sufficient if all you want to see is what maintenance level of the Application Server for z/OS is compatible with the respective z/OS version. The In-depth reports will show you additional information, such as compatibility with other products like CICS, DB2, IMS, etc.

 

For either report option the first thing you have to do is to click on 'Create a report' and type in the product name in the next window. You could use 'WebSphere Application Server' (without the quotes) and hit the search icon, which will populate the search results list with all products that contain that name. If you're only interested in the z/OS version type in 'WebSphere Application Server for z/OS'. Note that you have to specify 'for z/OS'. If you type in 'WebSphere Application Server z/OS' it will return 'No results found'. It's picky like that.

 

Next enter a version in the respective box (the oldest available one is 6.1) and leave the radio button at the 'Operating System family', which then allows you to select an OS from the pull down menu. In this case the only selection will be z/OS, so not much else you need to change.

 

If you select the 'Show fix packs' checkbox it will allow you to select a specific fix pack level. I opted not to, and instead chose V6.1 (which has been out of support since September 2013, by the way) just to see what the report looks like:

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Once you hit 'Submit' it will start to render the report page:

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Note that it has the latest available maintenance level for V6.1 (6.1.0.47) in the top box. It will always render for the latest level by default, no matter what version.

 

For more information select the little folder 'View' icon under the 'Details' column next to the z/OS version you're interested in. I chose z/OS 2.1 since it's the latest and greatest at this time. It will create the report in a new window:

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You will see the WebSphere Application Server maintenance level at the top, so you'll always know which report you're looking at. As soon as you change the level on the previous page it will render the respective report anew. No need to hit submit or anything else. I chose 6.1.0.21 and the result doesn't look much different from the highest level, so you know it is supported on z/OS 2.1:

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The 'Components' tab is not of much interest; it only shows that it is a Server component. One other thing you might have noticed on the page when it rendered the first report is the Footnote. It mentions 6.0.2.35 as a minimum level required to run on z/OS 1.11. Even though that version is no longer supported, it was important to note because z/OS 1.11 required the java version shipped with WASz 6.0.2.35 or higher.

 

The In-depth report option works pretty much the same. The only difference is that you get more tabs at the top of the first results page like this:

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Under Prerequisites you find detailed information about supported versions of Java™, Browsers, and Web Servers for the respective WASz maintenance level. Supported Software provides information about compatible levels of CICS, DB2, IMS, etc.

 

The reports will not tell you which versions are still supported or require a support extension, but it should help you in your decision making process.

 

 

title image (modified) credit: (cc) Some rights reserved by Evan-Amos

 

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ibm11080621