Overview

IBM z Systems® Development and Test Environment (previously named Rational® Development & Test Environment for System z) runs an IBM z Systems z/OS® distribution on a personal computer or workstation Linux environment. It creates an environment for mainframe application demonstration, development, testing, and employee education without the need for z Systems mainframe hardware. It enables z/OS, middleware, and other z/OS software to run on Intel and compatible computers. It emulates z Systems architecture with virtual I/O and devices.
z Systems Development and Test Environment provides these features:
  • An application development and testing environment that can improve development infrastructure availability and flexibility.
  • Mixed workload support that can help reduce development costs.
  • A high fidelity development and test environment that can streamline the delivery of production-ready applications.
  • Current levels of IBM z/OS software, giving access to new runtime capabilities for development and testing purposes.
  • An environment for employee education on z Systems that is approachable and portable.
Important: z Systems Development and Test Environment cannot be used for production workloads of any kind, nor robust development workloads, including without limitation, production module builds, preproduction testing, stress testing, or performance testing.

z Systems Development and Test Environment Tools

IBM z Systems Development and Test Environment Tools is a simple utility which enables you to create and monitor instances of z Systems installs, or import existing packages and deploy them to test systems. This allows you to develop and test outside the regular production systems.

IBM z Systems Development and Test Environment includes the following features:
  • Creating application images from various sources.
  • Provisioning application images for developers and testers in a self-service automated way.
  • Monitoring the status and availability of all created assets and target systems.

To Learn more about z Systems Development and Test Environment Tools, see IBM z Systems Development and Test Environment Tools

To enable IBM z Systems Development and Test Environment Tools, you need to install IBM z Systems Development and Test Environment License Manager with valid licenses. For more information, see Installing z System Development and Test Environment.

z Systems Development and Test Environment

IBM z Systems Development and Test Environment is a platform for mainframe application demonstration, development, testing and education. It enables IBM z/OS® middleware and other z/OS software to run on Intel-compatible platforms without z Systems mainframe hardware. The personal edition provides two kinds of licensing mechanism.
  • Hardware (USB) Based License
    This licensing method requires a USB hardware device that contains a license key that controls the licensee’s access to all or portions of the program. To use USB based license, you can use the following two ways:
    • Making a machine as server and connecting clients (Instances) to server to get licenses.
    • Installing the z Systems Development and Test Environment (server/client) on same machine.

    To learn more about USB based license, see The USB hardware device.

  • Software Based License

    When you use software-based licensing, a license manager (License Server) provides a server for centralized management of license keys for one or more instances of z Systems Development and Test Environment.

    The z Systems Development and Test Environment license manager is installed on a PC, and the authenticated license key files are installed on the license manager (License Server). The licensee is not authorized to use z Systems Development and Test Environment or any of its components except when that license manager is activated with a license key file and is accessible by the program, as it provides proof of license entitlement.

    The license manager and an instance that runs z Systems Development and Test Environment cannot run on the same platform, but it does need network connectivity to the license manager. You can also enable license using Rational Tokens.

    To learn more about Software Based License including Rational tokens, see Software-based licensing.

z/OS Application Developer Controlled Distribution

One or more z/OS distributions are supplied with z Systems Development and Test Environment. Each is a unique distribution that is created specifically for sites that are entitled to z Systems Development and Test Environment, based on the Application Developers Controlled Distribution (ADCD). They are referred to in this IBM® Knowledge Center as the z/OS ADCD.

A z/OS ADCD for z Systems Development and Test Environment contains many of the products and subsystems you expect in a z/OS system. Most of these products and subsystems run without any customization, while some need some customization or initialization to make them work. If you migrate your own z/OS distribution, you lessen the need for customizations to your own individual products and subsystems. However, customizations to networking, such as mapping your own network devices to the devices in your Linux environment, might be required.

Important: Any z/OS ADCD for z Systems Development and Test Environment, and any related software, are supplied as a convenience. IBM does not support the operating system distributions that are made available with z Systems Development and Test Environment. You can apply fixes to any z/OS distribution through normal SMP/E facilities.

To learn more about ADCD, see Installing an operating system on z Systems Development and Test Environment

This IBM Knowledge Center contains instructions for installing and configuring z Systems Development and Test Environment, and z Systems Development and Test Environment Tools. It gives guidance for installing and customizing a z/OS distribution, whether it is a z/OS ADCD for z Systems Development and Test Environment, a migrated customer z/OS system, or a z/OS distribution from a previous release of Rational® Development and Test Environment for z Systems. Therefore, people who read this IBM Knowledge Center need basic z Systems and z/OS knowledge. Readers must understand the concept of device addresses and must be able to use the Interactive System Productivity Facility (ISPF) and SDSF to edit files, submit jobs, and review job output. After you complete the instructions in this IBM Knowledge Center, you might need to do additional customization of z/OS to meet your individual needs.

You also need a basic knowledge of the Linux operating system. Readers must be able to log in and out of their Linux system, use a Linux command line with the bash shell, navigate the Linux file system, edit files, set file permissions, mount and unmount file systems, and switch between regular user and superuser (root) authority. Knowledge of package installation methods for your Linux distribution is required if you need to install missing packages such as x3270, Perl, or other optional tools that might not be installed at your site.