System SSL: Modify automated scripts running the gskkyman utility to interact with new menus

Description

When you run the gskkyman program in interactive mode, a series of menus guide you through various tasks, prompting you for each piece of information required to complete the task. In z/OS V2R1 and later, some of the existing gskkyman menus have been refined to make the tasks simpler and more intuitive for the user to perform.

Although users should find the new gskkyman menus clearer and more straightforward, installations that have created automated scripts to interact with the gskkyman menus will need to modify these scripts to work with the new menus. Similarly, if you have created documentation that describes the gskkyman menus, the documentation will need to be updated to describe the new menus.

Table 1 provides more details about this migration action. Use this information to plan your changes to the system.

Table 1. Information about this migration action
Element or feature:	Cryptographic Services.
When change was introduced:	z/OS V2R1.
Applies to migration from:	z/OS V1R13.
Timing:	Before the first IPL of z/OS V2R2.
Is the migration action required?	Yes, if your installation has automated scripts or documentation for the gskkyman menus.
Target system hardware requirements:	None.
Target system software requirements:	None.
Other system (coexistence or fallback) requirements:	None.
Restrictions:	None.
System impacts:	None.
Related IBM Health Checker for z/OS check:	None

Steps to take

If your installation has automated scripts or documentation based on the earlier gskkyman menus, be aware that the certificate creation, certificate request creation, and key parameters creation menus have been altered. You will need to modify any scripts that interact with these menus. Similarly, you will need to modify any documentation that describes these menus. The following topics in z/OS Cryptographic Services System SSL Programming describe the tasks that have changed because of the menu restructuring. If necessary, compare these topics against the same topics in the earlier version of the documentation.

Creating a Self-Signed Server or Client Certificate
Creating a Certificate Request
Creating a Signed Certificate and Key
Creating a Signed ECC Certificate and Key
Creating a certificate to be used with a fixed Diffie-Hellman key exchange

Reference information

For information on the gskkyman program and the menus provided when this program is run in interactive mode, see z/OS Cryptographic Services System SSL Programming.