Zowe
Open-source tools that let you work with z/OS from a laptop, an editor such as VS Code, or a script.
Also written Zowe CLI, Zowe Explorer, Open Mainframe Project
Zowe is a set of open-source tools for working with z/OS using modern methods. It is part of the Open Mainframe Project, which is run by the Linux Foundation, and anyone can use it.
The parts most people meet are the Zowe CLI, a command line on your own computer that can list datasets, submit jobs and download their output, and Zowe Explorer, an extension for VS Code that shows datasets, Unix files and jobs in the editor's side bar. There are also server parts that sites install on z/OS.
Zowe usually talks to the mainframe through the z/OSMF web APIs. Because the CLI can be used in scripts, teams use it to automate tasks and to connect the mainframe to the same build and test pipelines used for other systems.
Zowe does not replace ISPF or TSO. Both work on the same datasets and jobs, and many people use both. If you already know VS Code, Zowe Explorer can be an easy place to start, but the concepts underneath (datasets, JCL, jobs, output) are the same.
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
- z/OSMFz/OS Management Facility: a web interface and set of web APIs for working with z/OS from a browser or another program.
- TSOTime Sharing Option: the interactive login environment on z/OS, where you get a command prompt and a session of your own.
- DatasetWhat a mainframe calls a file: a named collection of records with a defined structure, rather than a loose stream of bytes.
- JCLJob Control Language: the language used to tell the mainframe what programs to run, in what order, and with what files.
- SubmitHanding JCL to the system to be run, which queues it as a job and gives it a job number.
- Unix System ServicesA full Unix environment built into z/OS, with a shell, directories and files alongside the traditional mainframe world.