Ansible for z/OS
Using Red Hat Ansible, a widely used automation tool, to run tasks on z/OS such as submitting jobs and managing datasets.
Also written Ansible, Red Hat Ansible, ibm_zos_core, Ansible playbook
Ansible is an automation tool from Red Hat, widely used to set up and manage servers. Tasks are written in playbooks, readable files that list the steps and the systems to run them on. IBM provides collections that teach Ansible how to work with z/OS.
With those collections, a playbook can submit JCL and check its result, create and copy datasets, run TSO and operator commands, manage files in Unix System Services, and more. The same playbook can also set up Linux servers and cloud services, so one tool can handle a change that crosses the mainframe and other platforms.
Ansible connects to z/OS over SSH and uses Python on z/OS to run its work, so both need to be set up on the system.
For teams that already use Ansible elsewhere, it brings the mainframe into the same way of working: changes are written down as code, reviewed and repeated exactly. It works alongside existing tools such as JCL and REXX, which it often calls.
Where can I learn this hands-on?
Right here, at ZedBank. You take a junior job at a simulated bank and learn each part of the work by doing it, with Zed beside you. There's nothing to install.
Start at ZedBankRelated
- Python on z/OSRunning the Python programming language on z/OS, mainly for automation and for working with data where it is stored.
- ZoweOpen-source tools that let you work with z/OS from a laptop, an editor such as VS Code, or a script.
- Unix System ServicesA full Unix environment built into z/OS, with a shell, directories and files alongside the traditional mainframe world.
- System automationSoftware that watches system messages and acts on them automatically, such as starting tasks in order or restarting one that fails.
- JCLJob Control Language: the language used to tell the mainframe what programs to run, in what order, and with what files.