release-v1.3.1

Version 1.3.1

What's New

• Bug Fixes

  • Modules

    • Connection plugin zos_ssh was updated to prioritize the execution of
      modules written in REXX over other implementations such is the case for
      zos_ping.
    • zos_ping was updated to support Automation Hub documentation
      generation.

Availability

• Automation Hub
• Galaxy
• GitHub

Reference

• Supported by z/OS V2R3 or later
• Supported by the z/OS® shell
• Supported by IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Python 3.8.2 or later
• Supported by IBM Z Open Automation Utilities 1.1.0 and
  Z Open Automation Utilities 1.1.1

Known issues

• Modules

  • When executing programs using zos_mvs_raw, you may encounter errors
    that originate in the implementation of the programs. Two such known issues
    are noted below of which one has been addressed with an APAR.

    #. zos_mvs_raw module execution fails when invoking
    Database Image Copy 2 Utility or Database Recovery Utility in conjunction
    with FlashCopy or Fast Replication.
    #. zos_mvs_raw module execution fails when invoking DFSRRC00 with parm
    "UPB,PRECOMP", "UPB, POSTCOMP" or "UPB,PRECOMP,POSTCOMP". This issue is
    addressed by APAR PH28089.

release-v1.3.0

Version 1.3.0

What's New

• Modules

  • zos_apf - Add or remove libraries to and from Authorized Program Facility (APF).
  • zos_backup_restore - Backup and restore data sets and volumes.
  • zos_blockinfile - Manage block of multi-line textual data on z/OS.
  • zos_find - Find matching data sets.
  • zos_data_set - added support to allocate and format zFS data sets
  • zos_operator - supports new options wait and wait_time_s such
    that you can specify that zos_operator wait the full wait_time_s or
    return as soon as the first operator command executes.
  • All modules support relative paths and remove choice case sensitivity.

• Bug Fixes

  • Modules

    • Action plugin zos_copy was updated to support Python 2.7.
    • Module zos_copy was updated to fail gracefully when a it
      encounters a non-zero return code.
    • Module zos_copy was updated to support copying data set members that
      are program objects to a PDSE. Prior to this update, copying data set
      members would yield an error:
      FSUM8976 Error writing <src_data_set_member> to PDSE member
      <dest_data_set_member>
    • Job utility is an internal library used by several modules. It has been
      updated to use a custom written parsing routine capable of handling
      special characters to prevent job related reading operations from failing
      when a special character is encountered.
    • Module zos_job_submit was updated to remove all trailing \r from
      jobs that are submitted from the controller.
    • Module zos_job_submit referenced a non-existent option and was
      corrected to wait_time_s.
    • Module zos_tso_command support was added for when the command output
      contained special characters.

  • Playbooks

    • Playbook zos_operator_basics.yaml
      has been updated to use end in the WTO reply over the previous use of
      cancel. Using cancel is not a valid reply and results in an execution
      error.

• Playbooks

  • In each release, we continue to expand on use cases and deliver them as
    playbooks in the playbook repository that can be easily tailored to any
    system.

    • Authorize and
      synchronize APF authorized libraries on z/OS from a configuration file cloned from GitHub
    • Automate program execution with
      copy, sort and fetch data sets on z/OS playbook.
    • Automate user management with add, remove, grant permission,
      generate passwords, create zFS, mount zFS and send email
      notifications when deployed to Ansible Tower or AWX with the
      manage z/OS Users Using Ansible playbook.
    • Use the configure Python and ZOAU Installation playbook to scan the
      z/OS target to find the latest supported configuration and generate
      inventory and a variables configuration.
    • Automate software management with SMP/E Playbooks
    • All playbooks have been updated to use our temporary data set feature
      to avoid any concurrent data set name problems.
    • In the prior release, all sample playbooks previously included with the
      collection were migrated to the playbook repository
      . The
      playbook repository categorizes playbooks into z/OS concepts and
      topics, it also covers playbook configuration as well as provide
      additional community content such as blogs and where to open
      support tickets for the playbooks.

• Documentation

  • All documentation related to playbook configuration has been
    migrated to the playbook repository. Each playbook contains a README
    that explains what configurations must be made to run a sample playbook.

  • We have been carefully reviewing our users feedback and over time we have
    compiled a list of information that we feel would help everyone and have
    released this information in our new FAQs.

  • Learn about the latest features and experience them before you try
    them through the blogs that discuss playbooks, modules, and use cases:

    • Running Batch Jobs on z/OS using Ansible details how
      to write and execute batch jobs without having to deal with JCL.

    • z/OS User Management With Ansible explains all about the user management
      playbook and its optional integration into AWX.

Availability

• Automation Hub
• Galaxy
• GitHub

Reference

• Supported by z/OS V2R3 or later
• Supported by the z/OS® shell
• Supported by IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Python 3.8.2 or later
• Supported by IBM Z Open Automation Utilities 1.1.0 and
  Z Open Automation Utilities 1.1.1

Known issues

• Modules

  • When executing programs using zos_mvs_raw, you may encounter errors
    that originate in the implementation of the programs. Two such known issues
    are noted below of which one has been addressed with an APAR.

    #. zos_mvs_raw module execution fails when invoking
    Database Image Copy 2 Utility or Database Recovery Utility in conjunction
    with FlashCopy or Fast Replication.
    #. zos_mvs_raw module execution fails when invoking DFSRRC00 with parm
    "UPB,PRECOMP", "UPB, POSTCOMP" or "UPB,PRECOMP,POSTCOMP". This issue is
    addressed by APAR PH28089.

release-v1.3.0-beta.2

Version 1.3.0-beta.2

What's New

• Modules

  • Utility better_arg_parser - supports relative paths and removes the
    choice case sensitivity.
  • zos_operator - supports new options wait and wait_time_s such
    that you can specify that zos_operator wait the full wait_time_s or
    return as soon as the first operator command executes.

• Bug Fixes

  • Modules

    • Module zos_job_submit was updated to remove all trailing \r from
      jobs that are submitted from the controller.
    • Module zos_copy was updated to support copying data set members that
      are program objects to a PDSE. Prior to this update, copying data set members would
      yield an error:
      FSUM8976 Error writing <src_data_set_member> to PDSE member
      <dest_data_set_member>
    • Job utility is an internal library used by several modules. It has been
      updated to use a custom written parsing routine capable of handling
      special characters to prevent job related reading operations from failing
      when a special character is encountered.

  • Playbooks

    • Playbook zos_operator_basics.yaml
      has been updated to use end in the WTO reply over the previous use of
      cancel. Using cancel is not a valid reply and results in an execution
      error.

Availability

• Galaxy
• GitHub

Reference

• Supported by z/OS V2R3_ or later
• Supported by the z/OS® shell_
• Supported by IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Python_
  (previously IBM Open Enterprise Python for z/OS_) 3.8.2 or later
• Supported by IBM Z Open Automation Utilities 1.1.0_

.. _zos_operator_basics.yaml:

release-v1.3.0-beta.1

Version 1.3.0-beta.1

What's New

• Modules
  • zos_apf - Add or remove libraries to and from Authorized
    Program Facility (APF).
  • zos_backup_restore - Backup and restore data sets and volumes.
  • zos_blockinfile - Manage block of multi-line textual data on
    z/OS.
  • zos_find - Find matching data sets.
  • zos_data_set - added support to allocate and format zFS data
    sets
• Playbooks
  • In each release, we continue to expand on the use cases and
    deliver several new playbooks in the playbook
    repository
    that can be easily tailored to any system.
    • Authorize and synchronize APF authorized libraries on z/OS
      from a configuration file cloned from
      GitHub
    • Automate program execution with copy, sort and fetch data
      sets on z/OS
      playbook.
    • Automate user management with add, remove, grant permission,
      generate passwords, create zFS, mount zFS and send email
      notifications when deployed to Ansible Tower or AWX with the
      manage z/OS Users Using
      Ansible
      playbook.
    • Use the configure Python and ZOAU
      Installation
      playbook to scan the z/OS target to find the latest
      supported configuration and generate
      inventory
      and a
      variables
      configuration.
    • All playbooks have been updated to use our temporary data
      set feature to avoid any concurrent data set name problems.
    • In the prior release, all sample playbooks previously
      included with the collection were migrated to the playbook
      repository.
      The playbook
      repository
      categorizes playbooks into z/OS concepts and topics,
      it also covers playbook
      configuration
      as well as provide additional community content such as
      blogs and where to open support
      tickets
      for the playbooks.
• Bug Fixes
  • Modules
    • Module zos_copy was updated to fail gracefully when a it
      encounters a non-zero return code.
    • Action plugin zos_copy was updated to support Python 2.7.
    • Module zos_tso_command support was added for when the
      command output contained special characters.
    • Module zos_job_submit referenced a non-existent option and
      was corrected to wait_time_s.
• Documentation
  • All documentation related to playbook
    configuration
    has been migrated to the playbook
    repository.
    Each playbook contains a README that explains what
    configurations must be made to run a sample playbook.
  • We have been carefully reviewing our users feedback and over
    time we have compiled a list of information that we feel would
    help everyone and have released this information in our new
    FAQs.
  • Learn about the latest features and experience them before you
    try them through the blogs that discuss playbooks, modules, and
    use cases:
    • Running Batch Jobs on z/OS using Ansible_ details how to
      write and execute batch jobs without having to deal with
      JCL.
    • z/OS User Management With Ansible_ explains all about the
      user management playbook and its optional integration into
      AWX.

Availability

• Galaxy
• GitHub

Reference

• Supported by IBM Open Enterprise Python for
  z/OS 3.8.2
  or later

• Supported by IBM Z Open Automation Utilities
  1.1.0

  note

  There is an additional step for Z Open Automation Utilities
  1.1.0
  (ZOAU) over prior installations of ZOAU on the target z/OS. After
  you have configured IBM Open Enterprise Python on
  z/OS
  environment variables on the z/OS target and have installed
  ZOAU from a PAX archive or through SMPe, you will need to perform
  a PIP installation of the ZOAU Python libraries and ensure you
  have either exported or added these environment variables to your
  z/OS host .profile.

  Variables:

  export ZOAU_HOME=/usr/lpp/IBM/zoautil
export PATH=${ZOAU_HOME}/bin:$PATH
export LIBPATH=${ZOAU_HOME}/lib:${LIBPATH}

  PIP installation command:

  pip install zoautil_py-1.1.0.tar.gz.

  This will install the ZOAU Python libraries on the z/OS target
  for use by z/OS Ansible core and other collections.

  However, the Python installation may not have the the symbolic
  link for pip in which case you can use pip3 to install the
  libraries:

  pip3 install zoautil_py-1.1.0.tar.gz.

  If the Python installation has not installed the wheel packaging
  standard and not updated the pip version to the latest, the
  warning messages can be ignored.

  Example output:

  Processing ./zoautil_py-1.1.0.tar.gz
  Using legacy setup.py install for zoautil-py, since package
  'wheel' is not installed.
  Installing collected packages: zoautil-py
  Running setup.py install for zoautil-py ... done
  Successfully installed zoautil-py-1.1.0
  WARNING: You are using pip version 20.1.1; however, version
  20.2.4 is available.
  You should consider upgrading via the
  '<python_path>/pyz_3_8_2/usr/lpp/IBM/cyp/v3r8/pyz/bin/python3.8
  -m pip install --upgrade pip' command.

• Supported by z/OS
  V2R3
  or later

• The z/OS®
  shell

Known issues

• Modules
  • When executing programs using zos_mvs_raw, you may encounter
    errors that originate in the implementation of the programs. Two
    such known issues are noted below of which one has been
    addressed with an APAR.
    1. zos_mvs_raw module execution fails when invoking Database
       Image Copy 2 Utility or Database Recovery Utility in
       conjunction with FlashCopy or Fast Replication.
    2. zos_mvs_raw module execution fails when invoking DFSRRC00
       with parm "UPB,PRECOMP", "UPB, POSTCOMP" or
       "UPB,PRECOMP,POSTCOMP". This issue is addressed by APAR
       PH28089.

release-v1.2.1

Version 1.2.1

Notes

• Update required

• Module changes

  • Noteworthy Python 2.x support

    • encode - removed TemporaryDirectory usage.
    • zos_copy - fixed regex support, dictionary merge operation fix
    • zos_fetch - fix quote import

• Collection changes

  • Beginning this release, all sample playbooks previously included with the
    collection will be made available on the samples repository. The
    samples repository explains the playbook concepts,
    discusses z/OS administration, provides links to the samples support site,
    blogs and other community resources.

• Documentation changes

  • In this release, documentation related to playbook configuration has been
    migrated to the samples repository. Each sample contains a README that
    explains what configurations must be made to run the sample playbook.

Availability

• Automation Hub
• Galaxy
• GitHub

Reference

• Supported by IBM Open Enterprise Python for z/OS: 3.8.2 or later
• Supported by IBM Z Open Automation Utilities 1.0.3 PTF UI70435
• Supported by z/OS V2R3
• The z/OS® shell

Known issues

• Modules

  • When executing programs using zos_mvs_raw, you may encounter errors
    that originate in the programs implementation. Two such known issues are
    noted below of which one has been addressed with an APAR.

    • zos_mvs_raw module execution fails when invoking
      Database Image Copy 2 Utility or Database Recovery Utility in conjunction
      with FlashCopy or Fast Replication.
    • zos_mvs_raw module execution fails when invoking DFSRRC00 with parm
      "UPB,PRECOMP", "UPB, POSTCOMP" or "UPB,PRECOMP,POSTCOMP". This issue is
      addressed by APAR PH28089.

release-v1.2.0-beta.4

Version 1.2.0-beta.4

Notes

• Update recommended

• Bugfix

  • Fixes a bug for zos_data_set module where some parameters were not
    getting passed correctly because python considers integer value of 0
    to be false.
  • Fixes documentation in module zos_job_submit where wait_time_s should
    have been written as duration_s.
  • Fixes requirements version in sample playbook hosts-setup.yaml

• Module Changes

  • Module zos_copy can now use wildcards to copy multiple PDS/PDSE members
    to another PDS/PDSE

Availability

• Galaxy
• GitHub

Reference

• Supported by IBM Open Enterprise Python for z/OS: 3.8.2 or later
• Supported by IBM Z Open Automation Utilities 1.0.3 PTF UI70435
• Supported by z/OS V2R3
• The z/OS® shell

Known issues

• Modules

  • When executing programs using zos_mvs_raw, you may encounter errors
    that originate in the programs implementation. Two such known issues are
    noted below of which one has been addressed with an APAR.

    #. zos_mvs_raw module execution fails when invoking
    Database Image Copy 2 Utility or Database Recovery Utility in conjunction
    with FlashCopy or Fast Replication.
    #. zos_mvs_raw module execution fails when invoking DFSRRC00 with parm
    "UPB,PRECOMP", "UPB, POSTCOMP" or "UPB,PRECOMP,POSTCOMP". This issue is
    addressed by APAR PH28089.

release-v1.2.0-beta.3

Version 1.2.0-beta.3

Notes

• Update recommended

• Bugfix

  • Fixes a bug which causes action plugins to fail when collections are
    referenced using fully qualified collection names instead of playbook
    level imports

Availability

• Galaxy
• GitHub

Reference

• Supported by IBM Open Enterprise Python for z/OS: 3.8.2 or later
• Supported by IBM Z Open Automation Utilities 1.0.3 PTF UI70435 or later
• Supported by z/OS V2R3
• The z/OS® shell

release-v1.2.0-beta.2

Version 1.2.0-beta.2

Notes

• Update recommended

• Module Changes

  • Update zos_fetch and zos_copy to allow for user specified SFTP transfer
    port.
  • Refactor module option backup_file to backup_name in modules
    zos_copy, zos_lineinfile, zos_encode.
  • Fix zos_copy record format.
  • Fix zos_job_submit allowable characters for data sets.
  • Update zos_fetch and zos_copy with option ignore_sftp_stderr
    to alter module behavior.
  • Fix zos_operator_action_query so that all outstanding messages are
    returned.
  • Update zos_mvs_raw with verbose option.

• Documentation

  • Update documentation in support of centralized content

• New playbook to aid in generating group_vars

Availability

• Galaxy
• GitHub

Reference

• Supported by IBM Open Enterprise Python for z/OS: 3.8.2 or later
• Supported by IBM Z Open Automation Utilities 1.0.3 PTF UI70435 or later
• Supported by z/OS V2R3
• The z/OS® shell

Known issues

• Modules

  • When executing programs using zos_mvs_raw, you may encounter errors
    that originate in the programs implementation. Two such known issues are
    noted below of which one has been addressed with an APAR.

    #. zos_mvs_raw module execution fails when invoking
    Database Image Copy 2 Utility or Database Recovery Utility in conjunction
    with FlashCopy or Fast Replication.
    #. zos_mvs_raw module execution fails when invoking DFSRRC00 with parm
    "UPB,PRECOMP", "UPB, POSTCOMP" or "UPB,PRECOMP,POSTCOMP". This issue is
    addressed by APAR PH28089.

release-v1.2.0-beta.1

Version 1.2.0-beta.1

Notes

• Update recommended

• New modules

  • zos_copy
  • zos_lineinfile
  • zos_mvs_raw

• Bug fixes

• Documentation updates

• New samples

• Module enhancements:

  • zos_data_set - includes full multi-volume support for data set creation,
    addition of secondary space option, improved SMS support with storage,
    data, and management classes

Availability

• Galaxy
• GitHub

Reference

• Supported by IBM Open Enterprise Python for z/OS: 3.8.2 or later
• Supported by IBM Z Open Automation Utilities
  1.0.3 PTF UI70435 or later
• Supported by z/OS V2R3
• The z/OS® shell

release-v1.1.0

Version 1.1.0

Notes

• Update recommended

• New modules

  • zos_fetch
  • zos_encode
  • zos_operator_action_query
  • zos_operator
  • zos_tso_command
  • zos_ping

• New filter

• Improved error handling and messages

• Bug fixes

• Documentation updates

• New samples

Availability

• Automation Hub
• Galaxy
• GitHub

Reference

• Supported by IBM Open Enterprise Python for z/OS: 3.8.2 or later
• Supported by IBM Z Open Automation Utilities: 1.0.3 or later
• Supported by z/OS V2R3
• The z/OS® shell