Creating a connection to a z/OS system

Before you can connect to a remote system from the IBM® Explorer for z/OS® client, you must define a connection for it and specify connection properties.

Restriction: Define only one connection to a particular remote system in each workspace. If you define multiple connections to a single remote system, and your site uses the push-to-client function to distribute updates to remote system connections, then all connections to the remote system are updated. The IBM Explorer for z/OS product does not support different configurations of the same remote system in a single workspace.
  1. In the Remote Systems view, expand New Connection and double-click z/OS.
  2. In the New Connection window, select a profile name from the list.
    Tip: If you are creating a connection for the first time, you are prompted to create a profile before you can create the new connection. After you create the connection, you can share this profile to allow other users to have this connection in their Remote Systems view.
  3. Enter the following values in the fields on this window.
    Host name
    The TCP/IP address of the remote system.
    Connection name
    The short name to call the system. For example, MYSYSTEM.
    Description
    A description of the connection.
    Verify host name
    Select this check box to verify that the host name is valid before you connect.
  4. To define the connection with default values for the MVS Files, z/OS UNIX Files, and z/OS UNIX Shells subsystems, click Finish. To set properties for these subsystems, click Next.
    The wizard opens a properties window for each subsystem. These pages display the properties of the underlying services that are used by each subsystem. For more information about the properties you can set for a subsystem, see the related topics.
The Remote Systems view displays the short name of the new connection with five nodes under the connection name:
  • z/OS UNIX Files is the z/OS UNIX file subsystem. This node contains two folders: My home and Root. You can create more z/OS UNIX file folders by adding new filters to this node.
  • z/OS UNIX Shells is a command subsystem. When you open a z/OS UNIX command shell, its name is displayed under this node.
  • MVS Files is the MVS™ file subsystem. This node contains three folders: My Data Sets displays MVS files that match the filter userid.* in which userid is the user ID with which you connected to the remote system. You can create more MVS file folders by adding filters to this node. You can change the sort order of data sets by using the MVS Files preference page. Retrieved Data Sets displays data set names searched for and added by using the Retrieve Data Sets action or by allocating a data set. My Search Queries displays search queries that you ran and saved in the Remote z/OS Search view.
  • TSO Commands is a command subsystem. When you open a TSO command shell, its name is displayed under this node.
  • JES is the JES subsystem. This node contains two folders: My Jobs displays jobs that are submitted under the user ID with which you connected to the remote system. You can create more job folders by adding new filters to this node. Retrieved Jobs displays jobs searched for and added by using the Retrieve Job action.
Connect to the remote system. After you connect to the remote system, you can control the contents that are displayed under JES, MVS Files, and z/OS UNIX Files by defining filters for these subsystems. You can add search queries to the MVS Files folder by running and saving remote z/OS searches. For instructions, see the related topics.