Building blocks

There are many different entity types within a policy database, but you do not have to understand them all. The defaults of most entity types are a good starting point and there are a few that are not required for SA z/OS. The following resources are considered the most important.

Resources

Resource is a generic term that means any actual or logical entity that is modeled by SA z/OS. Address spaces are modeled as APL (Application) type resources, active and passive Monitors are modeled as MTR (Monitor) type resources. Systems are modeled as SYS (System) type resources, logical groupings of applications are managed by APG (Application group) type resources. The Customization Dialog recognizes the abbreviations that are given here for the resource type specified.

General naming conventions are used for all resources:

name/type/system

For sysplex-wide APGs, there is no /system qualifier, so the naming schema is:

name/APG

Application (APL)

The Application resources represent the individual address spaces (and other entities) that are to be automated.

For example, you might define APL resources for JES, VTAM®, and TSO, as shown in Figure 1.

Application Group (APG)

An Application Group is a group of Applications. It is used to manage the applications as a whole. For example, as shown in Figure 1, you might define an Application Group that is called BASE_SYS, and make the JES, VTAM, and TSO resources members of it.

There are two types of application groups:

System Application Group, which defines a set of applications and resources that reside on single systems. You need to connect the System APG to each system where it resides respectively.
Sysplex Application Group, which defines a set of applications and resources that reside on multiple systems within a sysplex. You need to connect the Sysplex APG to the Sysplex Group (GRP), then you can monitor the APG at the sysplex level, rather than at system level.

System (SYS)

A System (SYS) defines a single system that is to be automated. It includes definitions to automatically respond to events that happen on the system.

For example, you might define a System that is called SYS1 as shown in Figure 1. Connect the BASE_SYS APG to SYS1 to instruct automation to run the resources in the BASE_SYS APG on the SYS1 System.

Group (GRP)

A Group (GRP) is a collection of one or more systems (SYS). Every collection of systems, whether it consists of only one system or multiple systems, must be represented by a Sysplex Group. An SA z/OS enterprise may have several Groups.

For example, you might define a Group that is called MONOPLEX1 to hold the SYS1 System, as shown in Figure 1.

Enterprise (ENT)

The Enterprise (ENT) is the logical top of the tree and contains some global data about your business and global policies that are used by SA z/OS. Each policy database contains only a single enterprise.

If you follow the examples, you now define a relationship as follows:

Building up a structure complex enough to model an actual system is a matter of creating extra Applications and Application Groups. Then, link them into the structure. To extend the automation to cover more systems, you create new System resources and link them into the structure: