Architecture

IBM Developer for z/OS consists of a mainframe system component and a workstation client component.

Remote system

The mainframe system component is also referred to as the remote system component. It is the part of the product that is installed on the z/OS mainframe. The remote system component is the z/OS mainframe to which you connect to access data. This portion of the product is installed into a z/OS logical partition (LPAR) by the site system programmer.

The remote system component provides the interface between the workstation client and traditional development components, such as Job Entry Subsystem (JES) and the file system.
  • During setup, you create a connection between the workstation client and remote system components.
  • The remote system component provides transaction management system functions to communicate with Information Management System (IMS) and CICS®.
  • Problem determination tools, such as the IBM Debug Tool, are included.

Workstation client

The workstation client is the element that is installed on a personal computer operating environment. It must be installed on each developer's computer. Throughout the product documentation, the term IBM Developer for z/OS refers to the workstation component. The client software can be installed on a Microsoft Windows or macOS operating system. The two components communicate by using TCP/IP.

The workstation client component provides a graphical user interface to access to the remote system component. This interface is built on the Eclipse framework and infrastructure. Many other products are built on Eclipse and they can share the user interface. More information about the Eclipse platform is at www.eclipse.org.

The user interface contains a set of development tools that support the development, maintenance, and web service enablement of enterprise applications.
  • Access z/OS assets. You can organize, allocate, manage, and edit z/OS data sets and tools.
  • Develop, maintain, compile, and assemble source files by using integrated language-sensitive editors for COBOL, PL/I, IBM High Level Assembler (HLASM), C/C++, Java™, job control language (JCL), basic mapping support (BMS), and Message Format Service (MFS). You can access source directly from Multiple Virtual Storage (MVS) data sets or through a number of source control management (SCM) systems.
  • Manage and edit data such as these information types:
    • Queued sequential access method (QSAM) or sequential data sets
    • Virtual Storage Access Method (VSAM) or indexed data sets
    • Relative and entry sequenced data sets
    • Db2® tables and views
    • Information Management System (IMS) databases
  • Access to your z/OS Job Entry Subsystem (JES) to submit jobs and JES spool files to organize and manage batch jobs.
  • Access other tools such as wizards and declarative development tools that replace low-level coding to create, deploy, and test web services; and use Enterprise Generation Language (EGL) to develop Java Platform, Enterprise Edition applications.
Client and remote system components