Release notes

Edit online

This documentation applies to IBM® z/OS® Container Platform (zOSCP), GA available on March 15th, 2024.

This documentation is refreshed regularly throughout the GA with clarifications and enhancements from the IBM team and in response to your feedback.

December 2025
New capabilities: zOSCP has updated the versions of the following components:
  • Kubernetes - 1.34.1
Minor editorial changes.
October 2025
Editorial changes to Messages.
September 2025
New capabilities: zOSCP has updated the versions of the following components:
  • Kubernetes - 1.33
  • Podman for IBM z/OS (Podman) - 5.4.1
  • IBM z/OS for conmon (conmon) - 2.1.13
  • Umoci for IBM z/OS (umoci) - 0.5.0
zOSCP now supports the podman system services command allowing users to manage their container lifecycle through a REST API interface. See Supported Podman commands.
Minor editorial changes.
July 2025
New capabilities: zOSCP has updated the versions of the following components:
  • Kubernetes - 1.32.5
  • IBM z/OS for runC (runC) - 1.2.6
  • IBM z/OS for Skopeo (Skopeo) - 1.18.0
A new Kubernetes dashboard has been added that you can use to interact with the Kubernetes cluster. See Using the Kubernetes Dashboard.
New kam upgrade command to automate the process of upgrading one or more IBM z/OS Control Plane Appliance (zCPA). See Upgrading IBM z/OS Container Platform.
Enhanced health check to include notifications for cri-o for IBM z/OS (cri-o), Kubelet for IBM z/OS (kubelet), and IBM z/OS Control Plane Appliance (zCPA).
Multiple DVIPA (Dynamic Virtual IP Addressing) SAF support for cri-o for IBM z/OS (cri-o). See Requirements for IBM z/OS Container Platform IP addresses.
New command options for IBM z/OS Appliance Manager for Kubernetes (kam). See kam commands.
New command options for Kubeadm for IBM z/OS (kubeadmz). See kubeadmz commands.
New information and error messages. See Messages.
Worked examples and tutorials updated to use the Java image ibm-semeru-runtimes:certified-17-jdk-zos.
Minor editorial changes.
April 2025
New capabilities: zOSCP has updated the versions of the following components:
  • Kubernetes - 1.32
  • IBM z/OS for Skopeo (Skopeo) - 1.17
Added support for Container Network Interface for IBM z/OS (IBM z/OS CNI) plug-in version 1.1.0.
New information and error messages. See Messages.
Minor editorial changes.
January 2025
Minor editorial changes.
December 2024
New capabilities: zOSCP has updated the versions of the following components:
  • Kubernetes - 1.31
  • IBM z/OS for runC (runC) - 1.1.15
  • IBM z/OS for conmon (conmon) - 2.1.12
A new health check has been added that reports a message when it is time to upgrade, or if there is a configuration issue. See Running the z/OSMF workflow to perform the prerequisite steps required to join a z/OS system to a cluster as a worker node. For information on IBM Health Checker for z/OS, see Abstract for IBM Health Checker for z/OSLink leaves IBM Docs.
The VIPARANGE statement supports defining multiple DVIPA address ranges for containers and pods on z/OS. See Requirements for IBM z/OS Container Platform IP addresses.
A new topic on cri-o for IBM z/OS (cri-o) commands. See crio commands and flags.
New IBM Health Checker for z/OS information and error messages. See Messages.
Minor editorial changes.
October 2024
Minor editorial changes for accessibility.
September 2024
New capabilities: zOSCP has updated the versions of the following components:
  • Kubernetes - 1.30
  • Podman for IBM z/OS (Podman) - 4.9.5
  • IBM z/OS for runC (runC) - 1.1.13
  • IBM z/OS for Skopeo (Skopeo) - 1.16
New topic on planning your architecture, see Hierarchy and architecture recommendations.
New topic on how to upgrade your current configuration of zOSCP, see Upgrading IBM z/OS Container Platform.
Updates to file system layout, see z/OS file system layout and requirements.
Enhanced the default security checks made when pods are deployed into Kubernetes to further limit the set of allowed user IDs for running containers on z/OS.
August 2024
Update to code snippet, see Common problems with IBM z/OS Container Platform.
Minor editorial changes.
July 2024
New capabilities: zOSCP now includes Kubernetes orchestration. You can now use Kubernetes infrastructure on z/OS to deploy, scale, and manage your applications. The following components have been added:
  • Kubernetes - 1.29
  • cri-o for IBM z/OS (cri-o) - An implementation of the container runtime interface that is used by Kubernetes to call IBM z/OS for runC (runC).
  • crictl for IBM z/OS (crictl) - The command-line interface for CRI-compatible container runtimes, such as cri-o.
  • IBM z/OS Control Plane Appliance (zCPA) – The zCPA runs in a z/OS address space and enables one or more z/OS systems to participate as control plane nodes in a Kubernetes cluster.
  • IBM z/OS Appliance Manager for Kubernetes (kam) - A z/OS UNIX command line utility that manages the lifecycle of the zCPA.
  • Kubectl for IBM z/OS (kubectl) - A z/OS UNIX command line utility for interacting with a Kubernetes cluster, for example, to create deployments.
  • Kubelet for IBM z/OS (kubelet) - The kubelet is an agent that runs on each system where you want to run a worker node.
  • Kubeadm for IBM z/OS (kubeadmz) - A z/OS UNIX command line utility that provides functions for managing the lifecycle of control plane nodes and worker nodes.
For more information on the new architecture and components, see Components of IBM z/OS Container Platform.
May 2024
Update to code snippet, see Configuring the container runtime using a z/OSMF workflow.
April 2024
New information on error messages and common issues has been added to the Troubleshooting IBM z/OS Container Platform topic.
A new IBM provided Java™ image that can be used to run your own containerized Java application on z/OS is now available. For more information, see What are the images provided for IBM z/OS Container Platform?.
A new tutorial to help you create, compile, containerize, and run a Java application that outputs "Hello World!". For more information, see Tutorial: Building and running a HelloWorld Java application that uses the supplied IBM Java image.
A second tutorial to help you containerize the supplied IBM Java image to build and run a Java server application. For more information, see Tutorial: Deploying a Java server image with Podman.
Minor editorial changes.