Hardware and software requirements

AI Framework for IBM® z/OS® requires the following hardware and software.

Tip: Start of changeYou can find additional practical guidance about these hardware and software requirements from IBM performance analysts in the white paper, IBM z/OS 3.1 AI-Powered WLM Batch Initiator Management Resource and Tuning Guidelines.End of change

Hardware requirements

The z/OS AI Framework requires the following hardware:
  • Any of the following IBM Z servers:
    • IBM z16 — all models, including A01 (machine type 3931) and A02 (machine type 3932)
    • IBM z15 — all models, including T01 (machine type 8561) and T02 (machine type 8562)
    • IBM z14 — all models, including M0n (machine type 3906) and ZR1 (machine type 3907)
  • Coupling facility (internal or external; required by EzNoSQL/VSAM record level sharing (RLS))
    • You will need a coupling facility cache structure of the appropriate size:
      • Start of changeIf you specify DIRONLY for the SMS DATACLAS RLS CF cache value (not caching data in the cache structure), a smaller structure size should suffice.End of change
      • Start of changeIf you do not specify DIRONLY (caching data in the cache structure), a larger structure size will be needed. Use the Coupling Facility Structure Sizer (CFSizer) tool for guidance on sizing the structure.End of change
      Guideline: Start of changeThe cache size (and local buffer pool size) should be a minimum of 20% of the data size.End of change
    • If possible, do not share the cache structure. The guideline is to have separate caches for different RLS exploiters. For instance, if you are using HSM, it should have its own cache and the EzNoSQL databases should have their own. (It is possible to allow both HSM and EzNoSQL to share a cache, but you will need to increase the structure size accordingly.)
    • Start of changeThe configuration workflow (discussed later in Using the AI Framework for IBM z/OS Configuration Workflow) will guide you in configuring EzNoSQL. However, if you are interested in learning more detailed information, see Record-level Sharing CF Caching in z/OS DFSMS Using Data Sets Start of changeand EzNoSQL for z/OS documentationEnd of change.End of change
  • IBM Z® Common Data Provider (ZCDP) runs on each z/OS LPAR where SMF records are to be collected for the z/OS AI Framework and requires the following minimum system capacity on each LPAR:
    • Memory: Start of change1End of change GB
    • DASD: 8 GB
    • zIIP: ZCDP can offload work to IBM Z Integrated Information Processors (zIIPs) if one or more zIIPs are online before the ZCDP components are started.
  • Machine Learning for IBM z/OS Core edition (MLz Core) runs on the z/OS LPAR where the z/OSMF server (AI Control Interface task) runs and requires the following minimum system capacity:
    • Processor: Start of change1 shared zIIP or shared CP (2 suggested)End of change
    • Memory: Start of change31 GBEnd of change
    • DASD: Start of change10 GB (50 GB suggested)End of change

    These capacities are in addition to those required for ZCDP running on the same LPAR.

Note: Start of changeThe preceding requirements are based on IBM internal testing and individual product documentation. Actual processor, memory, and DASD requirements will vary based on the number of participating z/OS LPARs, and the number of service classes per LPAR, the workload, and contention for shared resources. IBM strongly suggests that you monitor your system to ensure you have adequate memory to avoid paging, and adequate processor resource to avoid processor delays, both of which can adversely affect performance.End of change

Software requirements

The z/OS AI Framework requires the following software:
  • IBM z/OS 3.1
    The z/OS AI Framework requires the following z/OS base elements:
    • Base Control Program (BCP), which includes WLM and AI Base Component for z/OS
    • DFSMS, which includes EzNoSQL for z/OS  (Learn more about EzNoSQL for z/OS.)
      • EzNoSQL for z/OS uses VSAM record level sharing (RLS), which requires a coupling facility. Further, the VSAM server address space (SMSVSAM) must be initialized on each z/OS system in the sysplex that will be part of the z/OS AI Framework configuration.

        EzNoSQL requires the availability of one or more SMS storage classes (STORCLAS) which contain an RLS CACHESET with the name of a valid coupling facility cache structure. The STORCLAS names can be provided to the application architect or assigned by the SMS ACS routines.

      • The EzNoSQL database requires enough space to accommodate up to 60 days of SMF data. To meet this requirement, IBM estimates that 2000 cylinders of primary space and 500 cylinders of secondary space would be needed.
      • Also see the coupling facility requirements related to the RLS cache structure earlier in Hardware requirements.
      • EzNoSQL must be available on each system that will be part of the z/OS AI Framework where SMF records will be collected.
    • z/OS Management Facility (z/OSMF), which includes the AI Control Interface for z/OS
      • The z/OSMF data directory must be mounted on a shared, global path, /global/zosmf, as described in Step 2: Run job IZUMKFS to create the z/OSMF user file system in IBM z/OS Management Facility Configuration Guide. This allows z/OS AI Framework components that are running on remote systems to access z/OSMF persistent data.
    • z/OS UNIX System Services
  • IBM Z Common Data Provider 5.1.0 (ZCDP)
    • The z/OS AI Framework requires its own running instance of ZCDP on each system that will be part of the z/OS AI Framework where SMF records will be collected.
  • Machine Learning for IBM z/OS 3.1.0 Core edition (MLz Core) (Formerly, Watson Machine Learning for IBM z/OS Core edition)
    • MLz Core also requires IBM WebSphere Application Server for z/OS Liberty, version 22.0.0.9 or later.
    • MLz Core includes the Spark runtime environment, which will be configured as part of the overall z/OS AI Framework configuration process (described later).
    • The home directory for MLz Core must have at least 50 MB of available space.
  • IBM Semeru Runtime Certified Edition for z/OS, Version 11 (5655-DGJ) (SR15 or later)
    Note: Start of changeStarting in April 2024, z/OS 3.1 ships with IBM Semeru Runtime Certified Edition for z/OS, Version 17. However, you can still download and install IBM Semeru 11 (if you do not already have it) to run z/OS AI Framework. If this applies to you, you must install IBM Semeru 11 in addition to—not instead of—IBM Semeru 17. You can obtain IBM Semeru 11 from Java SDK Products on z/OS.End of change

This is not an exhaustive list. The list covers the major software items that might require advance planning. Other software setup requirements, such as access and authorization to or for various components, are identified during the configuration phase using the AI Framework for z/OS Configuration Workflow. You can browse through the configuration workflow before you actually start performing the steps to learn what the configuration process entails. (See Configuring the z/OS AI Framework.)