Background on CARLa

The abbreviation CARLa stands for “CARLa Auditing and Reporting Language”. It is the main reporting engine used within zSecure Admin, zSecure Audit, zSecure Alert, and zSecure Manager for RACF z/VM. The CARLa programming language is sophisticated and can be used to generate your own reports, displays, emails, XML, as well as actions. Examples of possible actions include RACF, TSO, UNIX, and IDCAMS commands, WTO and UNIX system log messages, or CARLa code.

A large advantage of CARLa is that you no longer need to write programs by using REXX or CLISTs to mine data from and correlate data sources. What can be done with just a few lines of CARLa takes several lines of REXX. CARLa can process huge volumes of data in an efficient way while using only a minimal amount of CPU cycles. The CARLa programming language contains lots of features that you normally find in a data processing language, including statistical and mathematical features.

The reports you see in the ISPF interfaces of IBM Security zSecure are all made possible because of and using the CARLa programming language. For any of the standard reports generated, you can copy the original CARLa code that produced that report. You can then adjust the CARLa program to fully meet your (customer) reporting needs. Many customers use this method to learn the CARLa programming language. It also saves the time spent coding new CARLa programs, thereby reinventing the wheel.

CARLa is structured, repeatable, and scalable. For example, you can:

1. Build a group of CARLa programs to help with or automate security administration and auditing tasks.
2. Use the same CARLa programs on any system where IBM Security zSecure is installed with minimal or no changes to the pertinent CARLa code.
3. Use CARLa programs written for SMF event reporting in zSecure Audit also by zSecure Alert for real-time SMF event reporting.
4. Code CARLa programs that generate output in various formats. The supported formats include ISPF, print, WTO, UNIX system log message, email, and XML.

 

Objectives of this lab

The primary objective of this lab is to learn the basics of the CARLa programming language. The lab is not intended as a detailed CARLa programming tutorial. It is intended to demonstrate the fundamental functions and features of the CARLa programming language. This lab must provide you with the basic building blocks to start learning the CARLa programming language.

When completed you must have an understanding of how to use CARLa to:

• Compare user and groups.
• Create reports that go to ISPF panels.
• Create statistical reports.
• Adjust the layout of your output to contain appropriate titles, column headers, and paging.
• Clone one user ID into 100 user IDs.
• Use BOOLEAN operators.
• Compare RACF databases and CKFREEZE data sets.
• Create reports about z/OS UNIX.
• And more…

If you want to discuss issues about the CARLa language, please have a look at the zSecure forum on developerWorks.

 

Operating system background

These exercises are prepared and tested using z/OS V1R13 on a z990. The standard z/OS installation is performed, all default packages are accepted, and it uses RACF Program Control in Basic Mode.

 

Using the CARLa editor

These exercises assume that you have zSecure Admin, zSecure Audit, or a combination installed on your system, and that you can reach the zSecure Main Menu as shown in the picture below.

To access the CARLa editor, you can use panel option “CO” (for Commands) followed by “C” (for Command). These commands can also be combined / concatenated to command “CO.C” that takes you to the CARLa editor straight away. Alternatively, you can use the primary command “CARLa” from any command line on any zSecure panel to transfer you directly to the CARLa editor!

 

Notation conventions

Shaded text represents a command or the contents of a file. An example is:

Green text indicates that the text contains hints and tips beyond the instructions for completing the lab exercises. Read this information. It could be useful information that you do not see anywhere else. An example is:

You can use the FIELDS command on the command line to get an overview of all the fields that you can use in a CARLa query.

 

 

Continue with the CARLa data sources and fields available

 

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