What’s new in 8.3

IBM Z Software Asset Management 8.3 provides you with greater efficiency in discovering your z/OS® mainframe products and their usage. The new features and capabilities are listed in this section.

The new features and capabilities are:

  • z/OS systems programmers who need to know the locations of related data when data sets are modified can capture the ALIAS-OF values for each module (and data sets listed within the reports) so they can maintain an accurate depiction of their data, even when data is modified without their knowledge.

  • z/OS systems programmers or auditors can track the correct LINKLIST indicators for each LPAR in their environment in the Usage Monitor to reduce audit exposure.

  • Asset managers responsible for managing LPAR and hardware assets can see OS versions in the Machine Inventory report to quickly identify which assets require maintenance, and which assets are compliant.

  • Systems programmers can collect RSU, RLS, and CAR levels to add them to the IBM Z Software Asset Management repository to track maintenance level changes for ISV products like IBM, BMC, and Broadcom, even if the version of the products remains unchanged.

  • Asset managers can visualize software version GA (General Availability) dates in the inventory reports to give a more holistic view of lifecycle trends so users can make more informed decisions when planning software rollouts based on current or previous software lifecycle information.

  • Asset managers can utilize a new field for product ID, which can be updated through the web user interface, with the data retained in the database repository. This field makes it easier to more accurately track/source data related to software with previous name changes.

  • Asset managers can utilize a new field for support team/group, which can be updated through the web user interface, with the data retained in the database repository. This field makes it easier to identify support ownership of associated products within an organization related to their installed software.

  • Database administrators can add a field to provide the Server Job Status in HSIAUTL, the automation server utility program, with job execution results to more efficiently identify the failed jobs and schedule them for rerun after a problem has been corrected.

  • Database Administrators can now change the name of a Vendor to use an Alternate name. This is useful as some Vendors have agents in other countries and users purchase the software from that agent. When they look at Inventory data they want to see the Agent's name and not the actual Vendor name. This can now be done via the Analyzer.

  • Usage Monitor raw data can now be viewed in the Analyzer from a temporary Db2 table, providing faster access to the raw data. Previously, the Usage Monitor raw data could only be viewed directly, often requiring significant resources. In 8.3, the Usage Monitor raw data is first pre-loaded into a temporary Db2 table and then made available to the Analyzer for access. This temp file can also be used by the new Trace Facility that captures every single event.

  • If a load module or UNIX executable is APF Authorized, then a Flag against the module will be set. Any Analyzer report that shows load modules will now also show if the module is APF Authorized.

  • Support for PLX=Y in UNIX System Services has been removed. There is no support for SYSPLEX processing for UNIX and the parameter is now redundant.

  • All Analyzer report views have been updated to allow for the report headings to remain whilst the data can be scrolled.

  • Several Analyzer reports have been updated to view the new data, including changes to the Audit tables.

  • Analyzer now provides support for IPV4/IPV6.

Changes to the Inquisitor Import

  • IQ Import job terminates if the GKB version is older than 12 months.
  • IQ Import job now runs with the default setting of FULLREMATCH=Y (previously set to N).

Changes to the Usage Monitor

The Usage Monitor has a new Trace Facility where relevant events are logged to a separate output data set without data aggregation. New commands with the TRC prefix have been added to manage this new optional output data flow. Selecting events to be traced can be based on job and/or program name. Event types which can be recorded include:
  • Program management events collected for Usage Import.
  • Program management events excluded from the data base.
  • z/OS UNIX system calls.

Changes to the Automation Server

Changes for the Automation Server and related programs in this release include:
  • The following DD names for the HSIAUTO program have changed:
    • HSIACNTL is now PARMLIB.
    • HSIACDS is now ASCDS.
    • HSIAMSG is now SYSPRINT.
  • The following DD names for the HSIADSN program have changed:
    • HSIACNTL is now PARMLIB.
    • HSIADONE is now DSNSDONE.
    • HSIAMSG is now SYSPRINT.
  • The new HSIAUTL program is supplied to provide administrators access to the ASCDS data content and to assist with triggering reruns in an automated or manual way.
  • The Automation Server Control Data Set (ASCDS) VSAM KSDS should now have SHAREOPTIONS(4,4) in effect. Users have the choice of altering the data and index components of their existing ASCDS or defining a new ASCDS and using REPRO to copy the contents from the old ASCDS to the new ASCDS.
  • Both the HSIAUTO and HSIAUTL programs issue SCOPE=SYSTEMS ENQs under the HSIZASNQ major name to serialize access to the ASCDS.

Changes to Audit tables

New tables to trap audit records when following operational jobs are run:
  • Usage deletion.
  • LDEL (System) deletion.
  • Physical deletion.
  • Aggregator jobstep.
  • Additional APAR information in TLOGIQ/TLOGUI audit tables.
  • MDEL deletion added, providing a single job to delete obsolete audit records.