Configuring the Interactive ISPF gateway for Enterprise Extensions build support

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With IBM® Engineering Workflow Management, you can run programs and executable files as part of build, deployment, and promotion. If these programs or executable files are ISPF-based, they must be started through the ISPF gateway. How these programs and executable files are run depends on the environment from which they are started.

You can configure the Legacy ISPF gateway to support build, deployment, and promotion components that are available with a Developer for IBM Enterprise Platforms client access license. For more information, see Configuring the Legacy ISPF gateway for build, deployment, and promotion support.

Alternatively, you can use the Interactive ISPF gateway for Enterprise Extensions build translators. The following explanations describe how to use the Interactive ISPF gateway for build. You cannot use the Interactive ISPF gateway for packaging, deployment, or promotion.

The ISPF gateway enables client applications to connect to a z/OS® host and run TSO and ISPF commands. The ISPF gateway is installed as part of ISPF as load modules and files in the HFS. These files are typically installed in /usr/lpp/ispf/bin.

Prerequisites

To use the Interactive ISPF Gateway for Engineering Workflow Management Enterprise Extensions build translators, you need to perform the configuration steps documented by ISPF for this purpose. Specifically, pay attention to the following prerequisites:
  • If it is not already installed, install the ISPF PTF that is related to APAR OA63977.
  • Read Interactive ISPF Gateway to get an overview of the ISPF Interactive Gateway.
  • The Interactive ISPF Gateway is invoked and runs under the address space of the caller. It then uses the z/OS CEA TSO/E address space services to start and communicate with the TSO address space on behalf of the caller. Therefore, the prerequisites described in System prerequisites for the CEA TSO/E address space services in z/OS MVS Programming: Callable Services for High-Level Languages must be completed. Read Preparing to use the Interactive ISPF Gateway to get a description of the steps needed to configure the Interactive Gateway as well as CEA TSO/E address space services.

Configuring an Enterprise Extensions build definition to use the Interactive ISPF Gateway

You configure an Enterprise Extensions build definition to use the Interactive ISPF Gateway by clicking the Interactive Gateway tab of the Build Definition editor. For more information, see Specifying z/OS dependency build settings.

Additional considerations

  • Interactive Gateway sessions are started when the first build translator that uses such a session is run. These sessions stay active during the rest of the build, assuming that they do not remain unused during the build such that any TSO CEA timeout is reached.
  • Interactive Gateway sessions are terminated at the end of the build.
  • If the Enterprise Extensions build is running with multiple threads, the best results are achieved if that number of parallel Interactive Gateway sessions is allowed by the gateway configuration and TSO CEA.
    Note: TSO translators and ISPF translators use separate sessions.
  • If a session times out (or if the session is for some reason not valid), the ISPF return code is -93 and the command is retried in a new session. Negative return codes are used for infrastructure type errors.
  • Translators do not run in an interactive fashion. So, while the TSO/ISPF session is considered interactive, commands are ran one at a time rather than in a request / response mode.
  • To run Interactive Gateway supported build translators, the Engineering Workflow Management SBLZEXEC library must be included in the SYSEXEC DD concatenation for the TSO logon PROCEDURE that will be used to launch the session. Member BLZISPGW is installed to that library as part of the SMP/E installation of the Engineering Workflow Management Build Toolkit FMID HRBT703.
  • Engineering Workflow Management Interactive ISPF Gateway support uses temporary files that are written to the Rational Build agent Java temporary directory and can be controlled by the java.io.tmpdir jvm option on the build definition.
The following table shows how programs or executable files can be run during build, deployment, and promotion, and the available support for them. As previously mentioned, only build translators can use the Interactive ISPF Gateway.
Table 1. Starting commands for Engineering Workflow Management components
Definition Command Started from
Build translator ISPF command or executable file Legacy or Interactive ISPF gateway
TSO command or executable file Legacy or Interactive ISPF gateway
Build definition Pre-build command line z/OS UNIX System Services command
Post-build command line z/OS UNIX System Services command
Package definition Package pre-command Legacy ISPF gateway
Package post-command Legacy ISPF gateway
Deployment definition Deploy pre-command Legacy ISPF gateway
Deploy post-command Legacy ISPF gateway
Rollback pre-command Legacy ISPF gateway
Rollback post-command Legacy ISPF gateway
Promotion definition Pre-build command line z/OS UNIX System Services command
Post-build command line z/OS UNIX System Services command