SDF-Message JSON Format in Apache Kafka

You can use the System Automation Info Broker component to forward SDF messages to message consumers like Service Management Unite, Z ChatOps, and so on. The System Automation Info Broker sends SDF messages to Kafka® in a JSON format. Every message ends up in a Kafka topic in a format like below.

If you want to write you own "Kafka consumer" and work with the information that is given by the SDF messages, you can refer to the following format and attribute explanations.

{
    "sdfCommand": "SDFUPD",
    "referenceValue": "string",
    "referenceValueDelete": "string",
    "component": {
        "rootName": "string",
        "statusName": "string",
        "majorName": "string",
        "groupName": "BATCH"
    },
    "priority": 0,
    "priorityDelete": 0,
    "datetime": "2021-10-14T08:20:38.735",
    "info": "string",
    "originator": "string",
    "source": "string",
    "propagation": {
        "focalPoint": true,
        "downwards": true,
        "levelDown": "string",
        "upwards": true,
        "levelUp": "string"
    },
    "dataType": "ANY",
    "data": [
        "string"
    ],
    "dataDelete": [
        "string"
     ],
    "userData": [
        "string"
    ],
    "color": "string",
    "colorDelete": "string",
    "highlighting": "string"
}

Attributes

SDF_COMMAND
This value specifies the type of the SDF command. Valid values are as follows:
  • SDFADD: Adds status descriptor.
  • SDFUPD: Updates status descriptor.
  • SDFDEL: Deletes status descriptor.
REFERENCE_VALUE
The value specifies the reference value of the status descriptor. The value must be alphanumeric with a maximum length of 40 characters, for example, TSO001.

You can use a reference value to uniquely identify a status descriptor so it can be referenced by SDFDEL and SDFQRY commands using the REFVALUE parameter only.

COMPONENT_ROOTNAME
This value is the root component name as defined in the root node of the tree structure. Normally, it is the system name.

The root component ensures that each status component in a tree structure can be uniquely identified because the status component will be prefixed with the root component name. While tree structures for different systems can have status components with the same name, for example, VTAM or TSO, the root component name must always be unique. Therefore, any status component prefixed with the root component name is uniquely identified.

COMPONENT_STATUSNAME
This value specifies the name of the status component to which the status descriptor is chained. The status component name must be a valid resource name as defined in the member AOFTREE.
Processor Operations related status components
  • ENS: zEnterprise ensemble resources (Ensembles)
  • TGT: LPAR resources (Processors)
  • THW: Processor resources
COMPONENT_MAJORNAME
This value is the major component name as defined between the root component of the tree structure and the group component. Normally, it is the parent of the group component. The name must be specified to uniquely identify the group component only when the group component is defined multiple times in the tree.
COMPONENT_GROUPNAME
This value specifies the name of the element in the tree that organized the descriptors into groups. Z System Automation supports the following values:
  • BATCH: Batch job related events
  • CPMSGS: Exceptional messages (MESSAGES)
  • GATEWAY: Gateway events (GATEWAY)
  • GROUPS: APG resources (GROUPS)
  • MONITOR: MTR resources (MONITORS)
  • OPCERR : TWS events (TWS)
  • SPOOL: Spool events
  • SUBSYS: APL resources or subsystems (APPLS)
  • TAPE: Tape-related events (Tape Devices)
  • TSOUSERS: TSO users
  • WTOR: WTOR messages (WTOR)
Processor Operations related status components:
  • ENS: zEnterprise ensemble resources (Ensembles)
  • TGT: LPAR resources (Processors)
  • THW: Processor resources
PRIORITY
The value specifies the priority number of the status descriptor. The value can range from 1 to 99999999.
DATETIME
The value specifies the date and time that is associated with the descriptor.
INFO
The value specifies the information displayed in the STATUSTEXT field of a panel. The text must be delimited. The delimiter can be any unique character that does not appear in the text.
ORIGINATOR
The value specifies the domain ID as the source of the status being added by the request. The parameter is designated for being used on a focal point system to delete all target data when the target has disappeared.
SOURCE
The value specifies an operator task and (optionally) domain ID to be identified as the source of the status being added by the request. This allows the default values of the requesting operator and domain to be overridden.
PROPAGATION_FOCALPOINT
The value specifies whether the status descriptor is propagated to the SDF focal point system. The default value is NO.
PROPAGATION_DOWNWARDS
The value specifies whether the status descriptor is propagated downward in an SDF tree structure.
PROPAGATION_LEVELDOWN
The value specifies the level of the tree structure to which the status is propagated downward. An asterisk (*) specifies that the status is propagated to all down levels of the tree structure. If a status component is specified, the status is only propagated downward in the tree structure up to and including the specified status component.
PROPAGATION_UPWARDS
The value specifies whether the status descriptor is propagated upward in an SDF tree structure.
PROPAGATION_LEVELUP
The value specifies the level of the tree structure to which the status is propagated upward. An asterisk (*) specifies that the status is propagated upward to the root component. If a status component is specified, the status is only propagated up to and including the specified status component.
DATATYPE
The value specifies the type of the descriptor.
  • ANY: specifies that the type can be any type.
  • MSG: specifies that message data is to be displayed on the status descriptor.
  • NULL: specifies that the data field contains unspecific data.
  • OTH: specifies that the data field contains user-defined data.
DATA
The value specifies the actual status data in the status descriptor. This data can be user-defined text, message data, or unspecific data. The data can be composed of one or more lines.
USERDATA
The value specifies the user data that is associated with the descriptor.
COLOR
The value specifies the color of the status descriptor.
HIGHLIGHTING
The value specifies the type of highlighting used for the status descriptor.

SDFUPD special parameters

The SDFUPD command combines the SDFADD and SDFDEL commands to a single command. Since both commands have identical parameters with different default values, the SDFUPD command defines special keywords for the SDFDEL command.
  • REFERENCE_VALUE_DELETE, see parameter REFERENCE_VALUE.
  • PRIORITY_DELETE, see parameter PRIORITY.
  • DATA_DELETE, see parameter DATA.
  • COLOR_DELETE, see parameter COLOR.