Summary of Changes

This section summarizes the significant improvements or enhancements for IBM® Operations Manager for z/VM® V1.6 and refers you to relevant sections of this book for more information. Minor modifications to the text are not listed.

Note: Changes to V1.5 of this product can be found in previous releases of this guide.

May, 2024 (PTF UI96111)

Report the error message GOM0287E to the OPERATOR also, if the maximum number of address spaces that are allowed for your virtual machine are exceeded. Sample has been added to the EXAMPLES CONFSAMP file to accordingly capture the GOM0287E message and process.

In addition to GOM0287E, the following messages are also displayed on the OPERATOR console. The System action section in Appendix K. Messages and Codes is updated for these messages:
  • GOM0180E
  • GOM0272W
  • GOM0274W
  • GOM0275W
  • GOM0287E
  • GOM0471W

October, 2023 (PTF UI93719)

Support VMEVENT Enhancements [VM66679]: With the PTF for APAR VM66679, z/VM 7.3 provides new and changed VMEVENT data for use in operations automation, resource monitoring, and auditing. This change will add support to Operations Manager to use the new and changed VMEVENT data for the following class and types:
  • Class 0 type 28: New reconnect event. Reconnect events include logon-by and terminal information as part of the event message.
  • Class 0 type 29: New disconnect event.
  • Class 0 type 0: Additional logon-by and terminal information is added to the existing logon event.
  • Class 0 type 3 and class 1 type 3: A full-precision (32-bit) timeout interval for the logoff timeout service.

For more information about the class and types, see the DEFEMON substitution variables table.

September, 2022 (PTF UI81961)

Support masking messages in the Operations Manager log.
  • Added a masking character for messages in the Operations Manager log. For more information, see DEFOPTN.
  • Added the MSK input option as a well-known action. For more information, see DEFACTN.
  • Added the MASKNEXT lines operand to mask lines in the Operations Manager log. For more information, see DEFRULE.

March, 2022 (PTF UI79652)

New CHKDUMP SAMPEXEC. For more information, see CHKDUMP SAMPEXEC.

November, 2021 (PTF UI77841)

  • Added new options to the VIEWCON command to support saving the current console to a file on disk. For more information, see VIEWCON.
  • Added new options to the VIEWLOG command to support saving the current Operations Manager log to a file on disk. For more information, see VIEWLOG.
  • Added new error message GOM0312E. For more information, see GOM0312E.

July, 2021 (PTF UI75725)

  • New CHKSFS SAMPEXEC. For more information, see CHKSFS SAMPEXEC.
  • The VIEWSPL command is updated to display system data files in addition to regular spool files. VIEWSPL is also updated to display which volume(s) a spool file occupies and to allow selection of files having data allocated on particular volume(s).
    • A new operand (SVOL) has been added to the VIEWSPL command. Valid operand length of the SVOL operand is 1-55.
    • A new function has been added to toggle display format (PF04). This is active only on the spool list panel.
    • A new configuration statement (FORMAT=) is added to the VIEWSPL PROFILE.

    For more information, see VIEWSPL.

  • The DEFOPTN command is updated to add a configuration option to control whether the system data files can be manipulated from the VIEWSPL spool file screen.
    • A new operand (SDFCMD) has been added to the DEFOPTN command. Valid operand length of the SDFCMD operand is 1-1.

    For more information, see DEFOPTN.

December, 2020

A new sample EXEC has been added, GETSPCON EXEC, that allows you to capture spooled console data and add it to the corresponding service machine’s console data, making it visible in the log and viewable with the VIEWCON and VIEWLOG commands. For more information, see GETSPCON SAMPEXEC.

July, 2020 (Documentation change only)

Numerous examples have been added to the documentation to help you understand what type of results you may see when issuing a command. For more information, see the "Example" section under any command.

May, 2020 (PTF UI68310)

The following changes have been made to the documentation for this release:

  • Support encryption of TCP/IP connections. Operations Manager now supports using SSL/TLS session encryption. TCP/IP sessions between Operations Manager instances, and TCP/IP sessions initiated by the general writer can be defined as secure connections. The DEFIPCS statements for these sessions (APPL=GOMRSCC, APPL=GOMRSCL, and APPL=GOMRSGW) now allow parameters to define them as secure, and to specify the label of the certificate to provide to the session partner. See the DEFIPCS statement for details.
    Note: The parameter validation of all DEFIPCS statements was modified to thoroughly validate the content of the PARM operand. If an error is detected with the PARM content, message GOM0503E is displayed. Also messages GOM0411E and GOM0412E have been replaced by enhanced messages GOM0501E and GOM0502E respectively.
  • Pass last invoking information when a limit is reached. When the LIMIT for a rule, schedule, or monitor is reached, the message field passed to the limit action now includes the message field passed to the previous processing ACTION. The previous message field is passed as "&6-&N" to the LIMIT action. See the DEFRULE, DEFSCHD, DEFEMON, DEFMMON, DEFPMON, DEFSMON, and DEFIMON statements in Syntax for Configuration Commands for details.
  • VIEWCON interaction with z/OS guest. VIEWCON may now be configured to send commands to a monitored guest using the simulated system console interface. This support is intended to allow Operations Manager to interact with any guest, such as z/OS, that supports receiving commands through the simulated system console.

    To use this support, you must configure Operations Manager. Each monitored guest that is to receive commands on the simulated system console should be a member of the group distinguishing how VIEWCON sends commands to guests. The DEFOPTN command now includes the operand VCSCGRP, which specifies the name of a group containing the user IDs of the monitored guests that support receiving commands on the simulated system console. See the DEFOPTN command for details.

  • VIEWLOG and VIEWCON usage of XEDIT to inspect current content. You may now pass the current view contents to an XEDIT session. When the XEDIT session completes, control is returned to the live screen. See the VIEWLOG and VIEWCON commands for details.
  • Messages. A few messages have been added or changed for this release: GOM309E, GOM0310E, GOM0311E, GOM0501E, GOM0502E, GOM0503E, and GOM2887I.

March, 2020 (PTF UI67484)

The following changes have been made to the documentation for this release:

  • Improved External Security Manager (ESM) granularity. Typically, the ESM command authorization is used in combination with the RESUME and SUSPEND commands on any resource, such as a rule, schedule, or monitor. However, now authorization checking can be changed from the use of RESUME and SUSPEND commands to authorization checking at the resource type and resource name level. This is an optional feature for people who want to more concisely control the use of the RESUME and SUSPEND commands.
    Use the DEFOPTN command to enable these changes, which are only applicable for ESM authorization. Options ESM Y, AUTHCMD Y, and AUTHEXT 1 must be active to enable these changes. Refer to DEFOPTN and to ESM class and Facility class profiles for more information.
    Note: The DEFOPTN command with the ESMCLASS operand is available to configure the ESM class containing the profiles. The default DEFOPTN ESMCLASS is “FACILITY”. You may change the DEFOPTN ESMCLASS value if the default ESM class imposes restrictions on the profile naming length. For example, to use ESM class XFACILIT to contain the profiles, specify DEFOPTN ESMCLASS XFACILIT to Operations Manager and move all ESM profiles required by Operations Manager from the FACILITY class to the XFACILIT class in the ESM.
  • Improved action processing. In the background processing, Operations Manager uses a TERM PRECEDENCE program to capture action output. The output from an action executed on an action processing machine is now captured locally, instead of being sent to the SECUSER or OBSERVER. The TERM PRECEDENCE support is only available in z/VM 7.1 and above, with PTFs UM35353 and UM35571. If TERM PRECEDENCE support is not available, this change has no effect.
    Note: If there is no SECUSER or OBSERVER established for the action processing machine, this change will have no effect. If there is a SECUSER or OBSERVER established, this change may require configuration changes to Operations Manager.

    If the action processing machine's SECUSER or OBSERVER target is an instance of Operations Manager, you should review any actions where the output triggers a rule. Any action which requires rule processing of the output should change the action definition to include the “OUTPUT ANL” operand. Adding “OUTPUT ANL” to the action will process the action output through the rules. See DEFACTN for more information on how to use the OUTPUT ANL option.

    If the action processing machine has a SECUSER or OBSERVER directed to an Operations Manager instance, the action output is logged with message GOM0270I instead of message GOM0216L.

September, 2019 (PTF UI65400)

The following changes have been made to the documentation for this release:

  • Added "Group" to some commands. A new operand, GROUP groupname, has been added to the DEFVIEW, DELVIEW, DEFDSPS, and DELDSPS commands. Refer to DEFVIEW, DELVIEW, DEFDSPS, and DELDSPS for more information.
  • Changes to Messages. Four new messages have been added: GOM2890I, GOM2891I, GOM2892I, and GOM2893I. Two messages have been removed from the product: GOM0963I and GOM0964I.

May, 2019 (PTF UI63172)

The following changes have been made to the documentation for this release:

  • Changes to Appendix C: Using substitution variables in commands. A few changes and additions have been made to the tables in Appendix C to show new values for variables. See Using substitution variables in commands for more information.
  • Correction to syntax. The Name parameter in the CMDIPCS, DEFIPCS, and DELIPCS commands can be shortened to "NA" (NAme). The syntax diagrams have been changed to show the shortened version of the Name parameter. Refer to CMDIPCS, DEFIPCS, and DELIPCS for more information.
  • Improvement to VIEWSPL. When a sort column is selected, the column heading is highlighted. See the VIEWSPL Usage notes for more information.
  • New messages. A couple of new messages, GOM0271E and GOM0276E, have been added to the documentation. See Messages and Codes for more information.

November, 2018

The following changes have been made to the documentation for this release:

  • Additional information has been supplied about the substitution variables used by the DEFEMON command. See Using substitution variables in commands for more information.
  • Additional information has been provided to explain why certain privilege classes are required for various operands. See Updates to CP directory for more information.
  • Additional information has been provided to explain when to use two single quotes (' ') as part of command syntax. See Command syntax rules for more information.
  • Additional information has been provided about the CMDIPCS command. See CMDIPCS for more information.
  • Several of the examples have been revised to more clearly show when "VMLINK" is used as part of the command.

December, 2017

The following changes have been made to the documentation for this release:
  • For the DEFACTN and RUN commands, the COMMAND operand has been changed to allow a prefix of "CP". This will cause the COMMAND operand to be processed through the CP diagnose x'0008' interface to send case-sensitive data to z/VM guests, such as Linux. See Usage notes for more information.
  • Additional information has been added to the "Usage Notes" for the VIEWSPL command to clarify how an asterisk (*) is treated. See Usage notes.
  • A few new messages were added. See Messages and Codes for more information.

January, 2017

The following changes have been made to the documentation for this release:
  • Several new operands have been added to the DEFOPTN command to specify the installation defaults for limits. The new operands include EMONLIM, IMONLIM, MMONLIM, PMONLIM, SMONLIM, RULELIM, and SCHDLIM. These limits can also be modified by the LIMIT operand in the DEFEMON, DEFIMON, DEFMMON, DEFPMON, DEFSMON, DEFRULE, and DEFSCHD commands. See the DEFOPTN for more information on the new operands.
  • The LIMIT operand has been changed to include an optional limit action, lmtactn. This action is processed once if the limit condition is encountered within a LIMIT interval. The lmtactn parameter is included in the DEFEMON, DEFIMON, DEFMMON, DEFOPTN, DEFPMON, DEFRULE, DEFSCHD, DEFSMON commands. Refer to any of these commands for more information on the LIMIT operand.

October, 2016

The following changes have been made to the documentation for this release:
  • A new action, NULL, has been added to several of the commands, including DEFACTN, DEFEMON, DEFIMON, DEFMMON, DEFPMON, DEFRULE, DEFSCHD, DEFSMON, DELACTN, and RUN. See DEFACTN for more information about NULL.
  • The DEFIPCS command has changed to support receiving syslog data using TCP protocol. Refer to DEFIPCS and to Collection and processing of syslog data for more information. The PTF for APAR PI74064 is required to use this function.
  • A new return code, 103, has been added to the GOMCMD, GOMMAIN, and GOMSVM commands. This return code indicates that the machine architecture of the virtual machine is not compatible with Operations Manager.
  • A few messages have been added or changed for this release: GOM0008E, GOM0014E, GOM0274W and GOM0275W. Refer to Messages and Codes to see the messages.

May, 2016

For the initial release of Version 1.6, every command listed in this book has been reviewed and revised. Numerous messages have also been improved for clarity. Additional changes are listed below:
  • A new command, DELATCQ, has been added. This command deletes an entry from the processing list. For more information, see DELACTQ.
  • CMDTCPA, DEFTCPA, and DELTCPA are no longer supported. These commands have been replaced with CMDIPCS, DEFIPCS, and DELIPCS. For information on these new commands, see CMDIPCS, DEFIPCS, and DELIPCS.
  • A new appendix describes which variables may be substituted with a value when an action is triggered by a rule, schedule, and monitor. For details, see Using substitution variables in commands.
  • A new appendix explains how wildcard pattern matching is performed, such as which symbols can be used as wildcard characters. For more information, see Wildcard pattern matching.
  • The new syntax style for commands no longer requires commas or parentheses, with very few exceptions, making it easier to type commands. For compatibility, Operations Manager V1.6 also accepts commands in the syntax style of earlier releases, which uses parentheses as operand value delimiters and commas as operand keyword separators. For additional information on command syntax, see Command syntax rules.
  • Additional information has been provided on how to resolve domain system names (DSNs) and share action processing environment for multiple instances. For details, see Using internet protocol and networked components.
  • Several new messages have been added and many changes were made to existing messages. For information on any message that is generated by Operations Manager, see Messages and Codes.
  • The USER operand is no longer supported on the DEFGROUP and DELGROUP commands. Use the MEMBER operand instead. For details, see DEFGROUP and DELGROUP.
  • The structure and operands for defining user authorization using the AUTH and REVOKE commands are not backward compatible. Refer to AUTH and REVOKE for information on the new structure and syntax.
  • The substitution variable "&S" is no longer supported. Use &SYSNAME instead. Refer to Using substitution variables in commands for more information.
  • On the DEFACTN statement, the INPUT and OUTPUT operands no longer support obsolete values. This includes the LOG option on INPUT and colors, audio, highlighting, holding, logging, and suppression on OUTPUT. Refer to DEFACTN for more information.
  • The substitution variables available for actions associated with DEFPMON and DEFSMON have changed.
    In Operations Manager V1.5.0:
    • DEFPMON - &6 was unassigned.
    • DEFSMON - &8 was unassigned.
    In Operations Manager V1.6.0:
    • DEFPMON - &6 contains the interval of the page space monitor.
    • DEFSMON - &8 contains the interval of the spool space monitor.
    For more information on these commands, refer to DEFPMON and DEFSMON.