What's New in This Release
In this release of IBM® Connect:Direct® for z/OS®, and its related software, several features have been added to enhance functionality. The following sections describe these changes in more detail.
New features added to this release
- A new status value for the Wait Queue is added in this release. A Waiting for Parsess (WP) status indicates that the Process is ready to run but other Processes are executing simultaneously on the same SNODE. Since no other sessions are available to execute the process it stays in a WP state until an eligible session is available. For more information on Wait Queue and its states see, Wait Queue.
- IBM Connect:Direct for z/OS contains various internal traces for diagnosing problems and recording events. These traces can be enabled by setting debug bits using methods as defined in IBM Connect:Direct Function Traces. The Debug Statistic facility has been introduced to generate and write a new statistic record type anytime the DEBUG settings are changed. Multiple records can now be written for a single Process providing a history of changed DEBUG Settings.
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IBM Connect:Direct for z/OS provides its
users scroll options such as, PAGE and CSR. By default, the scroll amount on many Connect:Direct IUI
panels is set to PAGE. Prior to v6.1, when the user switches to CSR scroll amount the changes were
not preserved across sessions. That is, if the user has switched to CSR scroll amount and logs out
of the current session the scroll amount is reset to the default which is, PAGE upon next log
in.
With release 6.1, IBM Connect:Direct for z/OS users will be extended flexibility to preserve the scroll option across sessions.
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Before v6.1, Connect:Direct for z/OS users would unconditionally re-submit a process with the same information by repeatedly pressing the ENTER key from the COPYFILE - RECEIVING FILE panel. This inevitably led to multiple processes being submitted with the same attributes and values, resulting in process failures or wasted processing by Connect:Direct for z/OS.
With v6.1, Connect:Direct for z/OS users can now disable re-submission of a process with the same information by setting the SUBMIT MULTI MODE attribute to N. For more information see, Generating a COPY Process.
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Before v6.1, TCP.FMH.TIMER parameter defined the length of time in hours, minutes, and seconds that the TCP session can be inactive waiting on a IBM Connect:Direct FMH to be received from the remote node before the TCP session is terminated. Enhanced TCP.FMH.TIMER.RETRIES support is added to control the number of retries after a TCP.FMH.TIMER times out. For more information see, TCP.FMH.TIMER.RETRIES=n.
- The network map adjacent node entry contains keyword parameters such as ALTernate.COMMinfo to
specify multiple remote addresses such as NODEA and NODEB for NETMAP checking. It’s sub parameter,
ALT.NODEDEF defines alternate node definition to use for NETMAP checking for example, NODEA has the
ALT.NODEDEF set to NODEB when NODEA cannot be reached. From release v6.1 onwards, many STAT records
are changed to show ALT.NODE information. It will be now visible in these stat records that a switch
to NODEB has occurred. For more information see, Keyword Parameters for Adjacent Node Entries. Listed below are stat records updated for
ALT.NODE information:
- SB - Session Begin
- CT - Copy Transfer
- PI - Process Initialization
- CI - Copy Step Start
- CE - Copy I/O Start
- RT - Run Task
- RJ - Run Job
- JI - Run Job Start
- TI - Run Task Start
- SW - Submit Within a Process
- PT - Process Termination
- SE - Session Ended
- MC - Member Copy
- DB - Debug Statistics
- M2 - Multi-Member Copy
- High-water Mark (HW) statistics record is enhanced to continually monitor sessions over the life of Connect:Direct by tracking the session high-water mark and other additional Connect:Direct server environment related information such as zOS System Name, OS type, OS version, CD version etc. Based on this information a HW record is generated once every 24-hours period at midnight UTC. This information is ready to be used and reported using IBM Control Center Director. For more information see, Simultaneous Session Reporting and Asset Tracking Reporting.
- The Thru-Put (TP) statistics record is enhanced with two new fields containing the average wait
time spent sending data and the average wait time spent receiving data. This information is recorded
for each remote node that is active during the
STAT.TPREC
recording interval. These new fields are displayed in the Select Stats report for TP records, asAvg SEND WAIT Time
andAvg RECV WAIT Time
. - An enhancement to the Netmap adds node usage information via a new Netmap record type (US),
containing four pairs of date-time information for every Adjacent Node entry. The usage information is:
- When the node is added via Netmap Loader/Unloader program DGADNTLD, or via Netmap Update Program DGADUPNT $$INSERT or $$REPLACE
- When the node is last updated via Netmap Update Program DGADUPNT $$UPDDATE
- When the node is last used in a connection as the PNODE
- When the node is last used in a connection as the SNODE
When the Netmap Loader/Unloader program DGADNTLD unloads a Netmap, it creates new keywords in the output control cards for the two last used fields for each Adjacent Node, if any. When the Netmap is reloaded, these fields are used to set the associated fields in the Netmap usage record for the Adjacent Node, so that historical use information is preserved across v6.1 Netmap unload/reload.
To start recording node usage information, the Netmap must be unloaded and reloaded one time only using the v6.1 release Netmap Loader/Unloader program DGADNTLD. If you don’t take that one time only step, but update nodes via Netmap Update Program DGADUPNT, only the updated nodes will start having usage in-formation recorded. For more information, see Netmap Loader/Unloader program DGADNTLD, and Netmap Update Program DGADUPNT.
If your Netmap data set is more than half full, you may need to increase its size to accommodate the new usage records. See Network Map File (NETMAP). Also, see Node Usage Information Maintenance and Netmap Conversion and Fallback.
- Support to specify PDSE version and MAXGENS in a Process, DMRTDYN Run Task, IUI, and the Type Record.ISITMGD information in the CT record, for both sending and receiving dataset. A new line in the Select Stats CT record interpreting the ISITMGD information. For more information on PDSE v2 support see, Using PDSE Version 2 with IBM Connect:Direct.
- If both PNODE and SNODE are running v6.1, in addition to legacy DSNTYPE support:
- The DSNTYPE version and MAXGENS can be specified for a new destination PDSE in the COPY TO section, either in the COPY statement or in SYSOPTS, but not both in the same COPY step.
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The source DSNTYPE version and MAXGENS can be propagated to a new destination PDSE if the destination DSNTYPE=YES is specified either as an INITPARM, or in an OS PARM INITPARM override in the DMINIT step JCL.
- If the PNODE is v6.1 in a PULL, the COPY TO section can specify the DSNTYPE version and MAXGENS either in the COPY statement or in SYSOPTS, but not both.
- If the SNODE is v6.1 in a PUSH, the COPY TO section can specify the DSNTYPE Version and MAXGENS in the COPY statement if the PNODE supports it, or in SYSOPTS, but not both.
- If the RUN TASK execution node is v6.1, a process can specify the DSNTYPE Version and MAXGENS in a DMRTDYN RUN TASK step, if the PNODE supports it.
- Support for specifying PDSE Version and MAXGENS in the IUI CF Receiving File panel, and in the Type Record SMS/VSAM Attributes.
- If both PNODE and SNODE are running v6.1, in addition to legacy DSNTYPE support:
- Support to allow the Connect:Direct IUI to use the VSAM message file (DMMSGFIL), process library concatenation (DMPUBLIB), and Netmap DSN (DMNETMAP), via generic LIBDEF. For more information see, Installing the ISPF IUI.
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Enhanced Connect:Direct Secure Plus:
- To implement support for TLSv1.3 security protocol
- Added TLS_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 (1301) and TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (1302) Cipher Suites for TLS v1.3 to encrypt data and maintain data confidentiality. For more information on supported Cipher suites see, Secure Cipher Suite.
- Added support to filter Cipher Suites by secure protocol selected and sort Cipher Suites by strength. Go to Secure Plus Admin Tool, SPAdmin>Edit>Edit Options (EO). For more information, see Cipher Filtering and Cipher Sorting.
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This release also extends support for enhanced diagnostic accuracy of the Secure Plus errors. The rich diagnostic information greatly improves in quickly identifying and troubleshooting Secure Plus issues.Note: CSPA003E and CSPA004E are no longer issued to CDLOG.
CDLOG has been enhanced to provide rich information about an exception or error, such as failure reason. For example,
CSPA202E TLS/SSL handshake failure, reason=Socket closed by remote partner Msg=CSPA202E 420 Socket closed by remote partner
- Connect:Direct for z/OS extends support for client API authentication processing to authenticate client connections to a Connect:Direct server using only an SSL/TLS Certificate and a virtual user ID, that are configured in the user authorization file. The API connection certificate authentication does not require a standard user/password management routine. For more information see, Certificate-based Authentication for Client Connections.
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Connect:Direct/Plex Workload Recovery is now enhanced for v6.1. Connect:Direct/Plex Servers will now continue to work and run processes even when the Manager goes down. When the Manager comes up again after warm restart, Servers will sync with the Manager. This allows processes to be executed without any interruption when the Manager goes down.
For STOP CD command, parameter MANAGER is now added to enable only Manager to shut down while Servers continue to work.
- By default, RUN TASK converts variables passed to SYSOPTS to UPPERCASE. With v6.1, this feature is extended to ensure case is preserved when mixed case parameters are passed to the Run Task program using the SYSOPTS keyword by default. To preserve pre-v6.1 behavior that is, parameters passed to SYSOPTS be FOLDED to UPPERCASE, define DGANFLD DD statement in Connect:Direct Node startup JCL. For more information on RUN Task process statement see, RUN TASK Statement.
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PNODE/SNODE determine from where the task is initiated or the Connect:Direct node that started the process as Primary Node (PNODE), and where task will be executed OR the Connect:Direct node that was referenced as Secondary node (SNODE) . With release 6.1 a new sample exit routine, DGAXSBRX has been introduced for users who would like to restrict use of SUBMIT, RUN JOB and RUN TASK functions when these functions are executed on the SNODE. Using this exit the SNODE restricts the PNODE from executing the commands RUN JOB, RUN TASK, and SUBMIT process on the SNODE and the system issues an error. To enable a PNODE to perform RUN JOB, RUN TASK and SUBMIT action, PNODE name must be added to DGAXSBRX Node Table List . See IBM Connect:Direct Exits, Run Task Security Exit, Run Job Security Exit, and Sample Submit Exits.
- Support for the WHERE2 subparameter with SELect STATistics is now available for Connect:Direct Application Interface for Java (AIJ) programs. For more information see, SELECT STATISTICS Command.
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IBM Connect:Direct for z/OS modules can provide important information for CD z/OS Admins and Support teams to use in analyzing problems. IBM Connect:Direct for z/OS supports collection of diagnostic data for the servers it manages by leveraging its modules maintenance history including Initparms, CD Plex environment information, details of specific processes currently in the queue, storage usage for the server, details of specific processes that have executed etc.
With release v6.1, a sample BATCH JOB, DGAJDATA, is provided. This BATCH job can be modified by user according to their Connect:Direct Node setup and run to collect diagnostic data automatically to the DMPRINT DD. Additionally, a new command INQUIRE MAINT has been introduced to collect module maintenance history. For more information see, Displaying Module Maintenance History.
- Enhanced Global Signon Defaults to allow skipping of SIGNON panel without SMP/E USERMOD. Also allow changing of Signon Dummy Passwords (BAT, IUI and STC) without code changes or SMP/E USERD.
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Stage2 Security Exit enhancement to require SPOE translation be performed if the remote Connect:Direct access is attempting to use Signon Dummy Passwords. See Administration Guide for details.
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- User Specified Program Name Limitation
- This new feature has a critical impact on Connect:Direct for z/OS and will need user customization before starting the standalone or CDPLEX address space. It implements an IBM security requirement that any program the user can specify as either a Connect:Direct for z/OS EXIT or RUN TASK have its name approved through a single control point, one that is protected from tampering by an ordinary user (one without WRITE access to an APF authorized library). For more information, refer to User Specified Program Limitation Feature.
- The CDPLEX.WLM.GOAL Global Initialization Parameter exit name sub-parameter has been deprecated and disabled. If specified, a SITA994I message will be displayed and the exit name will be ignored.