IBM Z Resource Discovery Agent

This topic provides an overview of the IBM Z® Resource Discovery Agent and Discovery Server, and describes the types of data transferred from the agent to the server.

IBM Z Resource Discovery Data Service Agent (Discovery Agent) collects configuration resources and resource relationships (referred to as configuration items in ServiceNow) and transmits them to the IBM Z Resource Discovery Data Service Server (Discovery Server). Examples of configuration resources include a running instance of Db2, named Db2A, and a running z/OS operating system, named SYS1. Examples of resource relationships include Db2A RunsOn SYS1.

Note: Typically, each z/OS system must have one Discovery Agent. On each z/OS system, JCLs are provided to run the Discovery Agent and related utilities. You can configure the Discovery Agent JCL to run periodically.

The Discovery Agent sends the following data types to the Discovery Server:

  • Mainframe Infrastructure Data
    On every z/OS system, you can configure the periodic execution of the IBM Z Discovery Library Adapter for z/OS (zDLA) and Discovery Agent through automation. The dataset stores the discovered data in multiple XML files called IdML Books. The Discovery Agent processes the input YAML file referencing the dataset and specific dataset members. The agent then sends the data to the Discovery Server.
  • JCL Data
    By default, the JCL data exists on the mainframe. The Discovery Agent processes the input YAML file referencing the dataset and specific dataset members. The agent then sends the data to the Discovery Server.