SETROPTS
The RACF command that sets and shows the security options for the whole system, such as password rules and which classes are active.
Also written SETROPTS LIST, SETROPTS RACLIST REFRESH, RACF options, CLASSACT
SETROPTS, short for set RACF options, controls settings that apply to the whole system rather than to one user or profile. Security administrators use it to set how RACF behaves everywhere.
It covers a lot. Password rules, such as minimum length, how often passwords expire and how many old ones are remembered. Which general resource classes are active, with CLASSACT, and which are kept in memory, with RACLIST. Whether generic profiles are used for a class. What is recorded for auditing. Whether datasets without a profile are protected anyway.
The form most people need is SETROPTS LIST, which shows every current setting. Anyone can usually run it, and it answers questions such as "is this class active?".
The other common one is SETROPTS RACLIST(classname) REFRESH. When profiles in a class kept in memory are changed, the change only takes effect after this refresh. A new permission that "does not work" is very often waiting for one. Most other SETROPTS options need special authority, because they change security for everyone.
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
- RACFThe security manager for z/OS, which decides who may sign on, read a dataset, or run a transaction.
- General resource profileA RACF profile that protects something other than a dataset, such as a CICS transaction, a program or an operator command.
- Password phraseA long password, up to 100 characters, that RACF accepts in place of a traditional 8-character password.
- RACF auditingRecording security events, such as failed access and changes to profiles, so they can be reviewed later.
- Security administratorThe person who manages mainframe security day to day: user IDs, access requests, security rules and audits.