Prerequisites and system preparation

Edit online

Before you install and run IBM Z APM Connect, your system must meet the hardware requirements and have the software prerequisites installed.

The latest available service is downloaded

Download the IBM Z APM Connect latest service. Available fixes, for both host and distributed machines, can be downloaded from IBM Fix Central.

Note:

You must apply relevant PTFs to use specific features and maintain the product. For more information, refer to the Recommended Maintenance.

IBM Z APM Connect Distributed Gateway installation prerequisites

IBM Z APM Connect Distributed Gateway (IBM Z APM Connect DG) supports the flow of data from z/OS® into the APM solutions. This component must be installed on a Linux distributed system with connectivity to your monitored z/OS systems and to APM solutions.

IBM Z APM Connect DG offers two installation options. The prerequisites that you should prepare depend on the installation option that you choose.

Note: For production purposes, it is recommended to deploy Distributed Gateway images in either an OpenShift or CNCF Kubernetes cluster. The cluster deployment ensures optimal performance and scalability, especially when dealing with large volumes of trace data that needs to be processed.
  • Option 1 (cluster deployment):

    To install in a Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform or Kubernetes cluster on x86 based Linux:

    Table 1. Supported Linux distributions for installation in a cluster
      Versions CPU architectures
    SUSE V15 or later x86_64 / amd64
    Ubuntu V20 or later x86_64 / amd64
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) V8 or later x86_64 / amd64
    Table 2. Supported product versions
    Kubernetes V1.25 or later
    OpenShift V4.10 or V4.11
    (Required if using OpenShift) Helm V3.1 or higher
    Table 3. Resource requirements for installation in a cluster
      Minimum requirements Recommended for higher performance
    CPU cores at least 24 cores, or 8 cores per node, whichever is higher 48 cores or 8 cores per node, whichever is higher
    Memory size at least 16 GB (14.9GiB) ram, or 8 GB (7.45GiB) per node, whichever is higher 100 GB (93.3GiB) or 16 GB per node, whichever is higher
  • Option 2: To install on x86 based Linux with Docker or Podman Compose:
    Table 4. Supported Linux distributions for Docker and Podman Compose installation on amd64 or s390x
    SUSE V15 or later

    • Docker - V20 or later

    • Docker Compose - V2
    Ubuntu V20 or later

    • Docker - V20 or later

    • Docker Compose - V2
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) V8 or later

    • Podman - V4.7 or later

    • Python - V3.7 or later

    • Podman Compose - V1.2.0 or later
    Table 5. Resource requirements for Docker and Podman installation
    CPU cores No less than 4 cores
    Memory size No less than 4 GBs of memory
    Disk space No less than 20 GBs of free disk space

Prerequisites for the z/OS systems and subsystems from which transaction data is gathered

Before installing IBM Z APM Connect components on the z/OS side, ensure that your z/OS environment meets the prerequisites. The prerequisites depend on which types of transactions you want to track and on which z/OS systems and subsystems. Therefore, assess your installation scenario and install the prerequisites that meet your needs.

z/OS system requirements:

  • IBM z/OS 2.5 or later
    Note: Only the supported levels of z/OS and subsystems are tested. If you are using extended support for z/OS or certain subsystems, please reach out to IBM support team for assistance.
  • IBM CICS Transaction Server for z/OS V5.6 or later
  • IBM IMS V15.2 or later
  • IBM MQ for z/OS V9.1 or later
  • IBM z/OS Connect Enterprise Edition V3.0.27 or later and APAR PH09950
  • IBM CICS Transaction Gateway for z/OS V9.2 or V9.3 and APAR PH12635/PTF UI65916
  • IBM Db2 for z/OS V12.1 or later
Java
For CICS TG transaction tracking
  • Java V8 must be installed on both the CICS TG client application environment and the CICS TG server environment.
  • If client applications use the CICS TG resource adapter, Java EE Application Servers V8 or later is needed.

APM prerequisites

  • OpenTelemetry Agent:

    You must install the OTel Agent with the distributed application that you are using. For instructions on the installation, refer to the Zero-code topic in the Instrumentation section of the Open Telemetry Concepts.

    Note: The OTel Agent does not support flows that go through IMS TMRA or MQ-IMS Bridge. You can use the AppDynamics or Instana agent.

  • OpenTelemetry Collector v0.112.0 or later. For instructions on installation, refer to https://opentelemetry.io/docs/collector/installation/.

Networking prerequisites

The various components within the z/OS system, the IBM Z APM Connect DG machine, and the OpenTelemetry Collector use TCP/IP for communications. Make sure you have the following ports opened for communications:

If an OpenShift route or proxy is not in use, the following ports must be open:
  • Ports used from z/OS host components to IBM Z APM Connect DG machine:
    • Z APM Connect Base proc uses port 30455
    • CICS TG server and z/OS Connect EE server use port 30090
  • Ports used from IBM Z APM Connect DG machine to OpenTelemetry Collector machine:
    • The port defined for the OpenTelemetry Collector.
      • 4317 is the default port for gRPC communication.
      • 4318 is the default port for HTTP(S) communication.
Attention:
  • If using TLS, Kafka and the Connection Manager both use a Java style .jks keystore and truststore (as well as their passwords) to load certificates for TLS. Each keystore should contain a private key and a matching certificate to use for connections, and each truststore should contain the full trust chain of certificates used to validate the contents of each keystore. Java Keytool can be used to easily convert a pkcs12 keystore into .jks format.
  • TLS v1.2 is required when using TLS to connect the Z APM Connect Base to the Distributed Gateway.