Starting an MFT agent on z/OS

On z/OS®, in addition to running the fteStartAgent command from a z/OS UNIX System Services session, you can start an agent as a started task from JCL without the need for an interactive session.

A started task is used because it runs under a specific user ID and is not affected by users logging off.

Note: Started tasks are typically run under an administrative user that might not have log-on privileges and so it is not possible to log on to the z/OS system as the user that the agent is running under. The fteStartAgent, fteStopAgent, fteSetAgentTraceLevel commands, and the fteShowAgentDetails command with the -d parameter specified, cannot be issued for that agent.

From IBM® MQ 9.0.2 and IBM MQ 9.0.0 Fix Pack 1, you can use the agent property adminGroup with Managed File Transfer agents on z/OS. You can define a security manager group, for example MFTADMIN and then add the started task userid and administrator TSO ids to this group. Edit the agent properties file and set the adminGroup property to be the name of this security manager group.

adminGroup=MFTADMIN

Members of this group can then issue the fteStartAgent, fteStopAgent, and fteSetAgentTraceLevel commands, and the fteShowAgentDetails command with the -d parameter specified, for the agent that is running as a started task.

For more information, see the adminGroup property in The MFT agent.properties file.

As a Java application, an agent is a z/OS UNIX System Services application that you can run from JCL by using the BFGAGSTP member, from a generated Managed File Transfer command PDSE library data set for an agent. For more information about how to create an MFT command PDSE library data set, and customize it for the required agent, see Creating an MFT Agent or Logger command data set.

Enabling agents to connect to remote z/OS queue managers

An MFT agent on z/OS can connect to a queue manager on z/OS using a client connection in the following scenarios:

The MFT agent is at IBM MQ 9.3.4 or later, or Long Term Support with APAR PH56722 applied, and has been associated with the product identifier (PID) of either IBM MQ Advanced for z/OS VUE, or IBM MQ Advanced for z/OS.
The MFT agent is at IBM MQ 9.3.0 and has been associated with the PID of IBM MQ Advanced for z/OS VUE.

See IBM MQ product identifiers and export information for information on the different PIDs.

See fteSetProductId for information on how to set the PID associated with an MFT installation.

The PID under which the agent is running is displayed in the log at agent startup.

An MFT agent on z/OS, running under any other PID, can connect only to a local queue manager using a bindings mode connection.

If an agent attempts to connect to a queue manager that is not running on z/OS, the BFGQM1044E message is issued, and agent start-up is ended.