z/OSMF desktop

The z/OSMF desktop is the user interface (UI) for interacting with z/OSMF. It replaces the z/OSMF classic (or tree-style) interface, which is obsolete.

The z/OSMF desktop interface

The z/OSMF desktop interface contains the main working area, which contains the icons for the z/OSMF tasks and folders and the taskbar. The interface consists of the following elements:

The App center, which contains the z/OSMF supported tasks.
The Reference center, which contains the reference resources for z/OSMF.
Your notifications icon, which shows the unread notification number in the corner.
The icons of tasks or folders that are pinned to the taskbar.
The icons of active tasks or folders
The user menu, which allows you to access your profile, change the background, switch user, log out and change your password.
The space monitoring icon, which indicates the percent usage of the z/OSMF data directory, which is the file system that contains the z/OSMF log files.
The search icon, which is used to search for data sets and files on your system.
The information menu, which contains links to the following resources:
- What's New
- Getting started
- About the z/OSMF Desktop
- About z/OSMF
- Provide IBM Feedback
- Help.
The Home button, which minimizes all of the open windows in the main working area of the taskbar.

For more information about the taskbar, see The taskbar.

For more information about the z/OSMF desktop functions, see the following topics:

Icons on the desktop
App center
Reference center
User menu
Space monitoring icon
Creating and renaming folders on your desktop
Task windows
Back to desktop
z/OSMF links folder
Notifications
Information menu
Provide IBM feedback.

The taskbar

Some objects are always present on the taskbar, such as your user profile, the App center, the Search function, and the Home button. You can click your user profile to see options for customizing your desktop experience. Also, you can pin an icon or folder to the taskbar. After it is pinned, the icon or folder always appears on the taskbar for the user ID that pinned it, unless it is later unpinned. Clicking Home minimizes the windows and shows the desktop.

If you pinned icons or folders to the taskbar, they can be opened or closed by right-clicking them and selecting open or close. If an icon or folder is not pinned to the taskbar, you can pin it by right-clicking the icon or folder on the desktop and selecting Pin to taskbar in the menu. If a task or folder is pinned to the taskbar, you can unpin it by right-clicking the task or folder and selecting Unpin from taskbar in the menu.

Icons on the desktop

The desktop interface consists of an icon to represent each z/OSMF task. When you open the z/OSMF desktop for the first time, you see the default task icons and the links folder. The default task icons are the tasks that are both installed and authorized tasks for the user ID logged in. The links folder contains all of the links that you created in the Links task. You can double-click an icon to start its respective task. If you right-click an icon, you get a drop-down list of actions you can take. The list includes opening the task, deleting it from the desktop, and pinning it to the taskbar. When right clicked, some tasks such as Incident Log can be opened locally or remotely. Deleting the task removes it from the desktop view, but it can still be accessed through the application center. Pinning an icon to the taskbar allows for the icon to always be present on your taskbar.

You can drag a task icon onto the desktop and drop it into the folder icon or the opened folder window, which puts this task icon into the folder. You can also drag a task icon within the opened folder window and drop it onto the desktop, which removes this task icon from the folder.

You can create an object on the z/OSMF desktop by right-clicking the empty area of the desktop and selecting New from the menu. This action opens a window for you to define the attributes of the object to be created. You can create a folder, web link, or z/OS data set.

You can auto-align all icons on the desktop by right-clicking the empty area of the desktop and selecting Auto Align from the menu. If Auto Align is selected, the icon is auto-aligned after it is dropped on to the desktop. Otherwise, the icon is placed where you drop it. You can also align all icons on the desktop by default order by right-clicking the empty area of the desktop and clicking Clean up from the menu.

You can quickly locate a task icon on the desktop by typing the first letter of the task name. When you type a letter, the matched task icon is selected. If you type the same letter repeatedly, the next matched task icon is selected sequentially.

App center

The App center contains all of the z/OSMF task icons. These icons can be dragged out of the App center to the desktop, which is organized into folders, and pinned to the taskbar. For more information about the App center, see z/OSMF Desktop App center.

Reference center

The Reference center contains all of the z/OSMF reference resource icons. These icons can be dragged out of the App center to the desktop, which is organized into folders, and pinned to the taskbar. For more information about the Reference center, see z/OSMF Desktop Reference Center.

Space monitoring icon

The space monitoring icon indicates the percent usage of the z/OSMF data directory (sometimes called the user directory).

When the icon background is blue, the icon displays the percent usage of the file system. Click the icon to display a tooltip. From the tooltip, you can open the Diagnostic Assistant and manage log file space, or you can disable space monitoring. The foreground is color-coded to three usage levels:

White foreground when usage is less than 80%.
Yellow foreground when usage is between 80% and 90%.
Red foreground when usage is greater than 90%.

When the icon background is gray ( space monitoring icon: disabled ), space monitoring is disabled. Click the icon to display a tooltip. From the tooltip, you can enable space monitoring.

When the icon background is black ( space monitor icon: error ), the space monitor encountered an error and stopped. Click the icon to display a tooltip. From the tooltip, you can enable space monitoring.

The default path of the z/OSMF data directory is /global/zosmf (with APAR PI92211) or /var/zosmf (without APAR PI92211).

User menu

If you click your user menu you get options to change the color of the desktop background, change your password, switch users, and log out of z/OSMF.

Changing your background: In the user menu, you can click Change Background to open the change background pane. To change the background, select a color scheme and click OK. The background is changed to your selected color.
Changing your password: You can use the Change Password menu option to change your password or passphrase. When you click this option, a dialog is displayed. Complete the form to change your password or passphrase.
Switching users: You can use the Switch User menu option to switch to a different user ID. A dialog appears that can be used to log in to z/OSMF with a different user ID. When you click log in, the z/OSMF desktop page reloads. If you click Cancel or Close after an unsuccessful attempt, you are logged out of z/OSMF.
Logging out: You can click the Log out menu option to log out of z/OSMF. If you have imported a client certificate from RACF into your browser, the Log out option does not appear.; For more information about logging in and out of z/OSMF, see Logging in to z/OSMF and Logging out of z/OSMF.

Creating and renaming folders on your desktop

Creating a folder: You can create a folder by right-clicking an empty area of the desktop and selecting New folder in the menu. This created folder is placed where you right-click the mouse on the desktop. After you refresh the browser, or the next time you log in with the same user ID, this folder still has the same name and is located in the same area.
Renaming a folder: You can rename a folder by clicking its name, and then inputting a new folder name. After you rename the folder, click an empty area of the desktop or press Enter. An empty folder name and a duplicate folder name are not valid. The new valid folder name is saved and remains the same after you refresh the browser or the next time you log in by using the same user ID.

Task windows

With the z/OSMF desktop, you can open and view multiple windows at the same time. Clicking the icon of a task opens a window, which can be resized and dragged anywhere on the desktop, so that you can see the interactions between the tasks directly. When a task or folder is opened, you can minimize, maximize, or close the window by clicking the minimize button “-”, maximize button “+” or close button “x” on the window title bar. You can also minimize or maximize the window of a task by double-clicking the window’s title bar. You can drag the window by pressing the mouse on the window’s title bar, moving the mouse to the expected placement and releasing the mouse.

The size of open windows is saved and restored when you refresh the z/OSMF page. When you open multiple windows, the initial position is auto-arranged to avoid completely overlapping each other.

Back to desktop

You can minimize all opened windows to show the desktop by double-clicking an empty area of the desktop or clicking the Home icon on the taskbar.

z/OSMF links folder

When you open z/OSMF desktop for the first time, you see the links folder on the desktop. The links folder contains all of the links that you created within the Link task. You can open the Links task and in the actions menu select at least one created link to send to the desktop. You can also select one of the created folders on the desktop to send the link to. If the selected link is placed into another folder or onto the desktop, it is removed from that folder or the desktop, and then put into the selected folder. If you delete the links folder or links from the z/OSMF desktop, but you are not authorized to access the Links task to redefine them, you can right-click the Links task in the App Center and click Restore default links from the menu to restore all of the links within the links folder.

Private links

You can personalize the z/OSMF desktop with any additional web links that you find to be useful. Unlike the z/OSMF links folder, your private links are not visible to other z/OSMF users. They are visible only to you after you log in to z/OSMF.

To create a private link, right-click on any empty area in the desktop and select New > Link from the actions menu. In the New Link window, specify the details that are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. Attributes for private links on the z/OSMF desktop
Field	Description
Name	Meaningful name for the link (up to 30 characters).
URL	Valid web link. Ensure that the link is complete and syntactically correct.
Open In	Specify the behavior for opening the link: As a new tab in your web browser As a window in the desktop
Link Location	Specify where the link is displayed. You can add a link as a link icon on the desktop, or you can create a folder to contain your links. Tip: To avoid cluttering the desktop with too many link icons, create a desktop folder for all of your links, for example, "Favorite Links."

Notifications

The Notifications task icon indicates the number of notifications that you have received. When you load or refresh the desktop, you can see the current number of the notifications on the icon. The notification number does not automatically refresh, but when you create a new notification or read a notification entry in Notifications task, the number in the icon is automatically refreshed. When the Notifications task icon is put into a folder, the number of notifications is now shown on the folder icon.

Information menu

To view information about getting started with z/OSMF, or to provide feedback on your z/OSMF experience to IBM, click the information menu for the following topics:

What's New: Display a summary of the latest z/OSMF plug-ins and services.
Getting Started: Display a set of topics that are designed to help you become productive quickly with z/OSMF.
About z/OSMF Desktop: Display a set of topics that are designed to help you become familiar with the z/OSMF desktop.
About z/OSMF: Display component version details. This information can be useful to IBM Support for diagnosing a problem with z/OSMF. Details about the z/OSMF build level, and the SMP/E-installed z/OSMF services and their versions (FMIDs), are displayed in a window. If no z/OSMF services are installed, this area is empty.
Provide IBM Feedback: Display a feedback form. Here, you can provide feedback on your z/OSMF experience to IBM by answering a brief survey. You can submit feedback as often as you want. If you have not yet submitted feedback, this option is marked with a red dot.
For more information, see Provide IBM feedback.
Help: Open the z/OSMF online help system, which provides extensive information about all aspects of z/OSMF operations and usage.

Provide IBM feedback

You can provide feedback on your z/OSMF experience directly to IBM. Such feedback might be useful to IBM in determining the effectiveness of a particular function, or for collecting user requirements for enhancements to z/OSMF. If no questions are enabled for your system, this option is not displayed in the information menu.

To send feedback to IBM, you must be authorized by your installation to do so. Otherwise, the option Provide IBM feedback is not displayed in the information menu. Specifically, your user ID requires at least read access to the following SAF profile:

<SAF-prefix>.ZOSMF.SEND.IBM.FEEDBACK

z/OSMF administrators can optionally include usage information about z/OSMF services and tasks with their feedback. This option is available to z/OSMF administrators only. Specifically, your user ID requires at least read access to the following SAF resource profile:

<SAF-prefix>.ZOSMF.ADMINTASKS.USAGESTATISTICS

To submit feedback to IBM, do the following:

On the z/OSMF desktop, click the information menu icon, then select Provide IBM Feedback. If you have not yet accessed this option, it is marked with a red dot.
Review the Attention window to understand how IBM will use the information that you provide . Users will be asked to score their experience with z/OSMF and provide a comment to explain the score. Administrators can optionally include usage information about z/OSMF services and tasks with their feedback.
Click Agree to give your consent and display the Provide IBM Feedback page. Otherwise, click Cancel to exit the feedback session.
In the Provide IBM Feedback page, complete the information by answering the questions in the survey. z/OSMF administrators can optionally select to include information about z/OSMF enabled services and usage statistics with their feedback.
When you complete the form, click Submit. A confirmation window is displayed, showing the information that is sent to IBM.
Review the information in the confirmation window. Notice that you can view the feedback in JSON format by selecting the option View as JSON format. If so, the feedback is displayed as a JSON object in a subsequent window. You can download the JSON object to a local system for review, or click Close to return to the confirmation window.
To send the feedback to IBM, click OK. Otherwise, click Cancel to exit the feedback session.
If your system is configured for sending email, your feedback is sent to IBM in an encrypted email. On completion, a window is displayed to confirm that your feedback was submitted.

Otherwise, a window is displayed to indicate that your feedback was not submitted. Most likely, the reason is that your system is not configured to send email. Contact your z/OSMF administrator or your system programmer to ask for assistance. Outgoing email is configured in the z/OSMF Notification Settings task.

As an alternative, you can download the feedback to your local system and use a local email server to send your feedback to the IBM. The IBM email address is shown in the window. However, if you use this method, your feedback is not encrypted.

For information about enabling your system for outgoing email, see the online help for the z/OSMF Notification Settings task.