Setting up the product extensions directory

The final step in the installation of IBM® z/OS® Connect is to run the zconsetup script to create the product extensions directory. This must be done to complete the z/OS Connect installation.

Before you begin

To use the zconsetup script, the file system where you installed z/OS Connect (<installation_path>) must be mounted read/write; if the file system is not mounted read/write, you receive error messages when you try to complete these steps. The user ID used to run the zconsetup script must have read/write access to the following directories:

The /var/zosconnect directory to create the /var/zosconnect/v3r0/extensions directory.
The <installation_path>/wlp/etc directory to create the symlink to the /var/zosconnect/v3r0/extensions directory.

About this task

z/OS Connect is built on the WebSphere Application Server Liberty profile and provides its features as Liberty product extensions. A product extension is a structured directory on disk that stores Liberty features. Each product extension must be configured by a properties file and stored under the product extensions directory so that the extension can be detected by the server. For z/OS Connect, the product extensions directory is /var/zosconnect/v3r0/extensions. For more information, see A launch icon to indicate a link opens a new tab or window. Liberty product extension in the WebSphere® Application Server Liberty base documentation.

The zconsetup utility must be used at least once per LPAR because /var is not a shared file system. You cannot configure the specific path for the z/OS Connect product extensions. However, you can share your z/OS Connect configuration across LPARs by mounting a shared zFS as /var/zosconnect on each LPAR.

The zconsetup utility must also be run from each server installation to create the symlink from the z/OS Connect <installation_directory>/wlp/etc directory to the /var/zosconnect/v3r0/extensions directory.

Running the zosconnect install command more than once does not cause a problem.

The /var/zosconnect/v3r0/extensions directory and its contents can be used by z/OS Connect servers at any maintenance level.

Note: Do not confuse the product extensions directory /var/zosconnect/v3r0/extensions described here with the user extensions directory <WLP_USER_DIR>/extension. The user extensions directory contains the files for user-created features. For more information about creating your own Liberty features, see A launch icon to indicate a link opens a new tab or window.

Developing a Liberty feature in the WebSphere Application Server Liberty base documentation.

Procedure

Go to the <installation_path>/bin directory.
Enter the following command to run the zconsetup script.
```
zconsetup install
```
Optional: You can now make the file system onto which you installed z/OS Connect (<installation_path>) read only. Make the file system read/write again only when applying maintenance.

Results

The script makes the following changes to the system.

Creates the release-specific product extensions directory in the /var/zosconnect directory. For example,
/var/zosconnect/v3r0/extensions
Creates a symbolic link of the extensions directory in the product z/OS UNIX installation path. For example,
/usr/lpp/IBM/zosconnect/v3r0/wlp/etc/extensions
Installs the z/OS Connect product extension properties files in the product extensions directory.

The following table shows the directory structure and contents of a typical installation.

Table 1. Directory paths and contents
Path	Contents
/usr/lpp/IBM/zosconnect/v3r0	Installation path
/usr/lpp/IBM/zosconnect/v3r0/runtime/lib/	`zosconnect` feature files
/usr/lpp/IBM/zosconnect/v3r0/wlp/etc/extensions	Symlink to /var/zosconnect/v3r0/extensions
/var/zosconnect/v3r0/extensions	Product extension properties files that contain the relative path to the service providers.

What to do next

You can now proceed to create your server instance. For more information about creating a z/OS Connect Server instance, see Creating an IBM z/OS Connect Server.