Releases¶
Version 1.8.0-beta.1¶
New Modules¶
zos_script
- Run scripts in z/OS
Minor Changes¶
zos_archive
Add validation into path joins to detect unauthorized path traversals.
Enhanced test cases to use test lines the same length of the record length.
zos_copy
Add validation into path joins to detect unauthorized path traversals.
Add new option force_lock that can copy into data sets that are already in use by other processes (DISP=SHR). User needs to use with caution because this is subject to race conditions and can lead to data loss.
includes a new option executable that enables copying of executables such as load modules or program objects to both USS and partitioned data sets. When the dest option contains a non-existent data set, zos_copy will create a data set with the appropriate attributes for an executable.
introduces a new option ‘aliases’ to enable preservation of member aliases when copying data to partitioned data sets (PDS) destinations from USS or other PDS sources. Copying aliases of text based members to/from USS is not supported.
add support in zos_copy for text files and data sets containing ASA control characters.
zos_fetch
- Add validation into path joins to detect unauthorized path traversals.zos_job_submit
- Change action plugin call from copy to zos_copy.zos_operator
- Changed system to call ‘wait=true’ parameter to zoau call. Requires zoau 1.2.5 or later.zos_operator_action_query
- Add a max delay of 5 seconds on each part of the operator_action_query. Requires zoau 1.2.5 or later.zos_unarchive
Add validation into path joins to detect unauthorized path traversals.
Enhanced test cases to use test lines the same length of the record length.
module_utils/template
- Add validation into path joins to detect unauthorized path traversals.
Bugfixes¶
zos_copy
- Update option limit to include LIBRARY as dest_dataset/suboption value. Documentation updated to reflect this change.zos_job_submit
- Temporary files were created in tmp directory. Fix now ensures the deletion of files every time the module run.zos_job_submit
- The last line of the jcl was missing in the input. Fix now ensures the presence of the full input in job_submit.zos_lineinfile
- A duplicate entry was made even if line was already present in the target file. Fix now prevents a duplicate entry if the line already exists in the target file.zos_operator
- The last line of the operator was missing in the response of the module. The fix now ensures the presence of the full output of the operator.
Known Issues¶
Several modules have reported UTF8 decoding errors when interacting with results that contain non-printable UTF8 characters in the response. This occurs when a module receives content that does not correspond to a UTF-8 value. These include modules zos_job_submit, zos_job_output, zos_operator_action_query but are not limited to this list. This will be addressed in ibm_zos_core version 1.10.0-beta.1. Each case is unique, some options to work around the error are below. - Specify that the ASA assembler option be enabled to instruct the assembler to use ANSI control characters instead of machine code control characters. - Add ignore_errors:true to the playbook task so the task error will not fail the playbook. - If the error is resulting from a batch job, add ignore_errors:true to the task and capture the output into a variable and extract the job ID with a regular expression and then use zos_job_output to display the DD without the non-printable character such as the DD JESMSGLG.
With later versions of ansible-core used with ibm_zos_core collection a warning has started to appear “Module “ansible.builtin.command” returned non UTF-8 data in the JSON response” that is currently being reviewed. There are no recommendations at this point.
Reference¶
Supported by z/OS® V2R4 or later
Supported by the z/OS® shell
Supported by IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Python 3.9 - 3.11
Supported by IBM Z Open Automation Utilities 1.2.4 (or later) but prior to version 1.3.
Version 1.7.0¶
New Modules¶
zos_archive
- archive files, data sets and extend archives on z/OS. Formats include, bz2, gz, tar, zip, terse, xmit and pax.zos_unarchive
- unarchive files and data sets on z/OS. Formats include, bz2, gz, tar, zip, terse, xmit and pax.
Major Changes¶
– zos_copy
and zos_job_submit
- supports Jinja2 templating which is essential for handling tasks that require advanced file modifications such as JCL.
Minor Changes¶
zos_copy
displays the data set attributes when the destination does not exist and was created by the module.
reverts the logic that would automatically create backups in the event of a module failure leaving it up to the user to decide if a backup is needed.
zos_data_set
- supports record format F (fixed) where one physical block on disk is one logical record and all the blocks and records are the same size.zos_job_output
- displays job information asid, creation date, creation time, job class, priority, queue position, service class and conditionally program name (when ZOAU is v1.2.4 or later).zos_job_query
displays job information asid, creation date, creation time, job class, priority, queue position, service class and conditionally program name (when ZOAU is v 1.2.4 or later).
removes unnecessary queries to find DDs improving the modules performance.
zos_job_submit
- displays job information asid, creation date, creation time, job class, priority, queue position, service class and conditionally program name (when ZOAU is v1.2.4 or later).zos_archive
When XMIT encounters a space error because of the destination (dest) or log data set has reached capacity, the module raises an appropriate error message.
When the destination (dest) data set space is not provided, then the module computes it using the source (src) given the pattern provided.
zos_unarchive
When copying to the z/OS managed node (remote_src) results in a failure, a proper error message is displayed
When copying to the z/OS managed node (remote_src), if the option primary_space is not defined, then it is defaulted to 5M.
Bugfixes¶
zos_data_set
- fixes occasionally occurring orphaned VSAM cluster components such as INDEX when present=absent.zos_fetch
- fixes the warning that appeared about the use of _play_context.verbosity.zos_copy
fixes the warning that appeared about the use of _play_context.verbosity.
fixes an issue where subdirectories would not be encoded.
fixes an issue where when mode was set, the mode was not applied to existing directories and files.
displays a error message when copying into a data set that is being accessed by another process and no longer returns with changed=true.
zos_job_output
- displays an appropriate error message for a job is not found in the spool.zos_operator
- fixes the false reports that a command failed when keywords such as error were seen, the module now acts as a passthrough.zos_archive
- Module did not return the proper src state after archiving. Fix now displays the status of the src after the operation.
Availability¶
Reference¶
Supported by z/OS® V2R4 or later
Supported by the z/OS® shell
Supported by IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Python 3.9 - 3.11
Supported by IBM Z Open Automation Utilities 1.2.3 (or later) but prior to version 1.3.
Version 1.6.0¶
New Modules¶
zos_volume_init
- Can initialize volumes or minidisks on target z/OS systems which includes creating a volume label and an entry into the volume table of contents (VTOC).
Minor Changes¶
zos_blockinfile
- Adds an enhancement to allow double quotes within a block.zos_copy
Updates the behavior of the mode option so that permissions are applied to existing directories and contents.
Adds an enhancement to option restore_backup to track modified members in a data set in the event of an error, restoring them to their previous state without reallocating the data set.
zos_data_set
- Adds a new option named force to enable deletion of a data member in a PDSE that is simultaneously in use by others.zos_job_query
- Enables embedded positional wild card placement throughout job_name and job_id parameters.zos_lineinfile
- Adds a new option named force to enable modification of a data member in a data set that is simultaneously in use by others.zos_tso_command
- Adds a new option named max_rc to enable non-zero return codes lower than the specified maximum return as succeeded.module_utils
job - Adds support for positional wild card placement for job_name` and job_id.
Adds support for import common.text.converters over the deprecated _text import.
Bugfixes¶
zos_copy
Fixes a bug where files not encoded in IBM-1047 would trigger an error while computing the record length for a new destination dataset.
Fixes a bug where the module would change the mode for a directory when copying in the contents of another directory.
Fixes a bug where the incorrect encoding would be used during normalization, particularly when processing newlines in files.
Fixes a bug where binary files were not excluded when normalizing data to remove newlines.
Fixes a bug where a _play_context.verbosity deprecation warning would appear.
zos_fetch
- Fixes a bug where a _play_context.verbosity deprecation warning would appear.zos_encode
- Fixes a bug where converted files were not tagged with the new code set afterwards.zos_find
- Fixes a bug where the module would stop searching and exit after the first value in a list was not found.zos_lineinfile
Removes use of Python f-string to ensure support for Python 2.7 on the controller.
Fixes a bug where an incorrect error message would be raised when a USS source was not found.
module_utils
data_set - Fixes an failure caused by cataloging a VSAM data set when the data set is not cataloged.
zos_data_set
- Fixes a bug that will leave VSAM data set cluster components behind when instructed to delete the data set (present=absent).zos_gather_facts
- Fixes a bug that prevented the module from executing with newer versions of ZOAU.
Availability¶
Reference¶
Supported by z/OS® V2R4 or later
Supported by the z/OS® shell
Supported by IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Python 3.9 - 3.11
Supported by IBM Z Open Automation Utilities 1.2.2 (or later) but prior to version 1.3.
Version 1.5.0¶
New Modules¶
zos_gather_facts
- can retrieve variables from target z/OS systems that are then available to playbooks through the ansible_facts dictionary and managed using filters.
Major Changes¶
ibm_zos_core
- Updates the entire collection in that the collection no longer depends on the managed node having installed System Display and Search Facility (SDSF). Remove SDSF dependency from ibm_zos_core collection.
Minor Changes¶
zos_apf
- updates the module with a new option named tmp_hlq. This allows for a user to specify the data set high level qualifier (HLQ) used in any temporary data set created by the module. Often, the defaults are not permitted on systems, this provides a way to override the defaults.zos_blockinfile
fixes a bug when using double quotes in the block text of the module. When double quotes appeared in block text, the module would error differently depending on the usage of option insertafter. Examples of this error have return code 1 or 16 along with message “ZOAU dmod return content is NOT in json format” and a varying stderr.
updates the module with a new option named force. This allows for a user to specify that the data set can be shared with others during an update which results in the data set you are updating to be simultaneously updated by others.
updates the module with a new option named indentation. This allows for a user to specify a number of spaces to prepend to the content before being inserted into the destination.
updates the module with a new option named tmp_hlq. This allows for a user to specify the data set high level qualifier (HLQ) used in any temporary data set created by the module. Often, the defaults are not permitted on systems, this provides a way to override the defaults.
zos_copy
- updates the module with a new option named tmp_hlq. This allows for a user to specify the data set high level qualifier (HLQ) used in any temporary data set created by the module. Often, the defaults are not permitted on systems, this provides a way to override the defaults.zos_data_set
- Ensures that temporary datasets created by zos_data_set use the tmp_hlq specified. This allows for a user to specify the data set high level qualifier (HLQ) used in any temporary data set created by the module. Often, the defaults are not permitted on systems, this provides a way to override the defaults.zos_encode
- updates the module with a new option named tmp_hlq. This allows for a user to specify the data set high level qualifier (HLQ) used in any temporary data set created by the module. Often, the defaults are not permitted on systems, this provides a way to override the defaults.zos_fetch
- updates the module with a new option named tmp_hlq. This allows for a user to specify the data set high level qualifier (HLQ) used in any temporary data set created by the module. Often, the defaults are not permitted on systems, this provides a way to override the defaults.zos_job_output
- was updated to leverage the latest changes that removes the REXX code by calling the module utility jobs.zos_job_query
was updated to leverage the latest changes that removes the REXX code by calling the module utility jobs.
was updated to use the jobs module utility.
zos_job_submit
architecture changed such that the entire modules execution time now is captured in the duration time which includes job submission and log collection. If a job does not return by the default 10 sec ‘wait_time_s’ value, it can be increased up to 86400 seconds.
behavior changed when a volume is defined in the module options such that it will catalog the data set if it is not cataloged and submit the job. In the past, the function did not catalog the data set and instead performed I/O operations and then submitted the job. This behavior aligns to other module behaviors and reduces the possibility to encounter a permissions issue.
zos_lineinfile
- updates the module with a new option named tmp_hlq. This allows for a user to specify the data set high level qualifier (HLQ) used in any temporary data set created by the module. Often, the defaults are not permitted on systems, this provides a way to override the defaults.zos_mount
- updates the module with a new option named tmp_hlq. This allows for a user to specify the data set high level qualifier (HLQ) used in any temporary data set created by the module. Often, the defaults are not permitted on systems, this provides a way to override the defaults.zos_mvs_raw
Ensures that temporary datasets created by DD Statements use the tmp_hlq specified. This allows for a user to specify the data set high level qualifier (HLQ) used in any temporary data set created by the module. Often, the defaults are not permitted on systems, this provides a way to override the defaults.
updates the module with a new option named tmp_hlq. This allows for a user to specify the data set high level qualifier (HLQ) used in any temporary data set created by the module. Often, the defaults are not permitted on systems, this provides a way to override the defaults.
updated module documentation on how to use a multi-line string when using the content field option as well as an example.
zos_operator
added in the response the cmd result.
added in the response the elapsed time.
added in the response the wait_time_s set.
deprecated the wait option, not needed with wait_time_s minor_changes.
was updated to remove the usage of REXX and replaced with ZOAU python APIs. This reduces code replication and it removes the need for REXX interpretation which increases performance.
Bugfixes¶
zos_copy
fixes a bug such that the module fails when copying files from a directory needing also to be encoded. The failure would also delete the src which was not desirable behavior. Fixes deletion of src on encoding error.
module was updated to correct a bug in the case when the destination (dest) is a PDSE and the source (src) is a Unix Systems File (USS). The module would fail in determining if the PDSE actually existed and try to create it when it already existed resulting in an error that would prevent the module from correctly executing.
fixes a bug where the computed record length for a new destination dataset would include newline characters.
fixes a bug where if a destination has accented characters in its content, the module would fail when trying to determine if it is empty.
fixes a bug where copying a member from a loadlib to another loadlib fails.
fixed wrongful creation of destination backups when module option force is true, creating emergency backups meant to restore the system to its initial state in case of a module failure only when force is false.
copy failed from a loadlib member to another loadlib member. Fix now looks for an error in stdout while copying to perform a fallback copy for executables.
fixes a bug where the module would change the mode for a directory when copying into it the contents of another.
fixes a bug where source files not encoded in IBM-1047 would trigger an encoding error while computing the record length for a new destination dataset.
fixes a bug where the code for fixing an issue with newlines in files would use the wrong encoding for normalization.
zos_data_set
Fixes a bug such that the module will delete a catalogued data set over an uncatalogued data set even though the volume is provided for the uncataloged data set. This is unexpected behavior and does not align to documentation; correct behavior is that when a volume is provided that is the first place the module should look for the data set, whether or not it is cataloged.
fixes a bug where the default record format FB was actually never enforced and when enforced it would cause VSAM creation to fail with a Dynalloc failure. This also cleans up some of the options that are set by default when they have no bearing for batch.
zos_fetch
- Updates the modules behavior when fetching VSAM data sets such that the maximum record length is now determined when creating a temporary data set to copy the VSAM data into and a variable-length (VB) data set is used.zos_job_output
- fixes a bug that returned all ddname’s when a specific ddnamae was provided. Now a specific ddname can be returned and all others ignored.zos_job_query
- was updated to correct a boolean condition that always evaluated to “CANCELLED”.zos_job_submit
fixes the issue when wait_time_s was set to 0 that would result in a type error and the response would be a stack trace.
fixes the issue when a job encounters a security exception, no job log would would result in the response.
fixes the issue when a job is configured for a syntax check using TYPRUN=SCAN that it would wait the full duration set by wait_time_s to return a response.
fixes the issue when a job is configured for a syntax check using TYPRUN=SCAN that no job log would result in the response.
fixes the issue when a job is purged by the system that the response would result in a stack trace.
fixes the issue when invalid JCL syntax is submitted such that the response would result in a stack trace.
fixes the issue when resources (data sets) identified in JCL did not exist such that a response would result in a stack trace.
fixes the issue where the response did not include the job log when a non-zero return code would occur.
zos_mount
- fixed option tag_ccsid to correctly allow for type int.zos_mvs_raw
- module was updated to correct a bug when no DD statements were provided. The module when no option was provided for dds would error, a default was provided to correct this behavior.zos_operator
fixed case sensitive error checks, invalid, error & unidentifiable.
fixed such that specifying wait_time_s would throw an error.
fixed the wait_time_s to default to 1 second.
was updated to correct missing verbosity content when the option verbose was set to True. zos_operator - was updated to correct the trailing lines that would appear in the result content.
fixed incorrect example descriptions and updated the doc to highlight the deprecated option wait.
Deprecated Features¶
zos_encode
- deprecates the module options from_encoding and to_encoding to use suboptions from and to in order to remain consistent with all other modules.zos_job_submit
- Response ‘message’ property has been deprecated, all responses are now in response property ‘msg’.zos_job_submit
- The ‘wait’ option has been deprecated because using option ‘wait_time_s’ implies the job is going to wait.
Availability¶
Reference¶
Supported by z/OS® V2R4 or later
Supported by the z/OS® shell
Supported by IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Python 3.9 - 3.11
Supported by IBM Z Open Automation Utilities 1.2.2 (or later) but prior to version 1.3.
Version 1.4.1¶
Bug fixes¶
zos_copy
Copy failed from a loadlib member to another loadlib member. Fix now looks for error in stdout in the if statement to use -X option.
Fixes a bug where files not encoded in IBM-1047 would trigger an error while computing the record length for a new destination dataset.
Fixes a bug where the code for fixing an issue with newlines in files.
fixed wrongful creation of destination backups when module option force is true, creating emergency backups meant to restore the system to its initial state in case of a module failure only when force is false.
fixes a bug where the computed record length for a new destination dataset would include newline characters.
zos_job_query
fixes a bug where a boolean was not being properly compared.
Availability¶
Reference¶
Supported by z/OS® V2R4 or later
Supported by the z/OS® shell
Supported by IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Python 3.9
Supported by IBM Z Open Automation Utilities 1.1.0 and Z Open Automation Utilities 1.1.1
Version 1.4.0¶
Modules
zos_mount
can manage mount operations for a z/OS UNIX System Services (USS) file system data set.
Plugins
zos_ssh
connection plugin has been removed from this release and is no longer a dependency for thezos_ping
module.
Bug fixes and enhancements
Modules
zos_copy
introduced an updated creation policy referred to as precedence rules that if dest_data_set is set, it will take precedence. If dest is an empty data set, the empty data set will be written with the expectation its attributes satisfy the copy. If no precedent rule has been exercised, dest will be created with the same attributes of src.
introduced new computation capabilities that if dest is a nonexistent data set, the attributes assigned will depend on the type of src. If src is a USS file, dest will have a Fixed Block (FB) record format and the remaining attributes will be computed. If src is binary, dest will have a Fixed Block (FB) record format with a record length of 80, block size of 32760, and the remaining attributes will be computed.
enhanced the force option when force=true and the remote file or data set dest` is NOT empty, the dest will be deleted and recreated with the src data set attributes, otherwise it will be recreated with the dest data set attributes.
was enhanced for when src is a directory and ends with “/”, the contents of it will be copied into the root of dest. It it doesn’t end with “/”, the directory itself will be copied.
option dest_dataset has been deprecated and removed in favor of the new option dest_data_set.
fixes a bug that when a directory is copied from the controller to the managed node and a mode is set, the mode is applied to the directory on the managed node. If the directory being copied contains files and mode is set, mode will only be applied to the files being copied not the pre-existing files.
fixes a bug that did not create a data set on the specified volume.
fixes a bug where a number of attributes were not an option when using dest_data_set.
fixes a bug where options were not defined in the module argument spec that will result in error when running ansible-core v2.11 and using options force or mode.
was enhanced to support the
ansible.builtin.ssh
connection options; for further reference refer to the SSH plugin documentation.was enhanced to take into account the record length when the source is a USS file and the destination is a data set with a record length. This is done by inspecting the destination data set attributes and using these attributes to create a new data set.
was updated with the capabilities to define destination data sets from within the
zos_copy
module. In the case where you are copying to data set destination that does not exist, you can now do so using the newzos_copy
module optiondestination_dataset
.
zos_operator
enhanced to allow for MVS operator SET command, SET is equivalent to the abbreviated T command.
zos_mount
fixed option tag_ccsid to correctly allow for type int.module_utils
jobs.py - fixes a utility used by module zos_job_output that would truncate the DD content.
zos_ping
was enhanced to remove the need for thezos_ssh
connection plugin dependency.zos_fetch
was enhanced to support theansible.builtin.ssh
connection options; for further reference refer to the SSH plugin documentation.zos_job_output
was updated to correct possible truncated responses for the ddname content. This would occur for jobs with very large amounts of content from a ddname.
was enhanced to to include the completion code (CC) for each individual jop step as part of the
ret_code
response.
zos_job_query
was enhanced to support a 7 digit job number ID for when there are greater than 99,999 jobs in the history.
was enhanced to handle when an invalid job ID or job name is used with the module and returns a proper response.
zos_job_submit
was enhanced to fail fast when a submitted job fails instead of waiting a predetermined time.
was enhanced to check for ‘JCL ERROR’ when jobs are submitted and result in a proper module response.
zos_operator_action_query
response messages were improved with more diagnostic information in the event an error is encountered.
Deprecated or removed
zos_copy
module option destination_dataset has been renamed to dest_data_set.zos_ssh
connection plugin has been removed, it is no longer required. Remove all playbook references, ieconnection: ibm.ibm_zos_core.zos_ssh
.zos_ssh
connection plugin has been removed, it is no longer required. You must remove the zos_ssh connection plugin from all playbooks that reference the plugin, for example connection: ibm.ibm_zos_core.zos_ssh.zos_copy
module option model_ds has been removed. The model_ds logic is now automatically managed and data sets are either created based on thesrc
data set or overridden by the new optiondestination_dataset
.zos_copy
andzos_fetch
option sftp_port has been deprecated. To set the SFTP port, use the supported options in theansible.builtin.ssh
plugin. Refer to the SSH port option to configure the port used during the modules SFTP transport.
Documentation
Noteworthy documentation updates have been made to:
zos_copy
andzos_fetch
about Co:Z SFTP support.zos_mvs_raw
removed a duplicate example.all action plugins are documented
update hyperlinks embedded in documentation.
zos_operator
to explains how to use single quotes in operator commands.
Availability¶
Reference¶
Supported by z/OS® V2R4 or later
Supported by the z/OS® shell
Supported by IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Python 3.8`_ - 3.9
Supported by IBM Z Open Automation Utilities 1.1.0 and Z Open Automation Utilities 1.1.1
Known Issues¶
If a playbook includes the deprecated
zos_ssh
connection plugin, for exampleconnection: ibm.ibm_zos_core.zos_ssh
, it will encounter this error which can corrected by safely removing the plugin:"msg": "the connection plugin 'ibm.ibm_zos_core.zos_ssh' was not found"
When using the
zos_ssh
plugin with Ansible 2.11 and earlier versions of this collection, you will encounter the exception:AttributeError: module 'ansible.constants' has no attribute 'ANSIBLE_SSH_CONTROL_PATH_DIR'.
This is resolved in this release by deprecating the
zos_ssh
connection plugin and removing allconnection: ibm.ibm_zos_core.zos_ssh
references from playbooks.When using module
zos_copy
and optionforce
with ansible versions greater than Ansbile 2.10 and earlier versions of this collection, an unsupported option exception would occur. This is resolved in this release.When using the
zos_copy
orzos_fetch
modules in earlier versions of this collection without ‘passwordless’ SSH configured such that you are using--ask-pass
or passing anansible_password
in a configuration; during the playbook execution a second password prompt for SFTP would appear pausing the playbook execution. This is resolved in this release.When using the
zos_copy
orzos_fetch
modules, if you tried to use Ansible connection options such ashost_key_checking
orport
, they were not included as part of the modules execution. This is resolved in this release by ensuring compatibility with theansible.builtin.ssh
plugin options. Refer to the SSH plugin documentation to enable supported options.Known issues for modules can be found in the Notes section of a modules documentation.
Deprecation Notices¶
Features and functions are marked as deprecated when they are enhanced and an alternative is available. In most cases, the deprecated item will remain available unless the deprecated function interferes with the offering. Deprecated functions are no longer supported, and will be removed in a future release.
Version 1.3.6¶
What’s New¶
Bug Fixes
Modules
zos_copy
fixes a bug that when a directory is copied from the controller to the managed node and a mode is set, the mode is now applied to the directory on the controller. If the directory being copied contains files and mode is set, mode will only be applied to the files being copied not the pre-existing files.zos_copy
- fixes a bug where options were not defined in the module argument spec that will result in error when running ansible-core v2.11 and using options force or mode.zos_copy
- was enhanced for when src is a directory and ends with “/”, the contents of it will be copied into the root of dest. It it doesn’t end with “/”, the directory itself will be copied.zos_fetch
- fixes a bug where an option was not defined in the module argument spec that will result in error when running ansible-core v2.11 and using option encoding.zos_job_submit
- fixes a bug where an option was not defined in the module argument spec that will result in error when running ansible-core v2.11 and using option encoding.jobs.py
- fixes a utility used by module zos_job_output that would truncate the DD content.zos_ssh
connection plugin was updated to correct a bug that causes an ANSIBLE_SSH_CONTROL_PATH_DIR attribute error only when using ansible-core v2.11.
Availability¶
Reference¶
Supported by z/OS® V2R4 or later
Supported by the z/OS® shell
Supported by IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Python v3.8.2 - IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Python v3.9.5
Supported by IBM Z Open Automation Utilities 1.1.0 and Z Open Automation Utilities 1.1.1
Version 1.3.5¶
What’s New¶
Bug Fixes
Modules
zos_ssh
connection plugin was updated to correct a bug in Ansible that would result in playbook taskretries
overriding the SSH connectionretries
. This is resolved by renaming thezos_ssh
optionretries
toreconnection_retries
. The update addresses users ofansible-core
v2.9 which continues to useretries
and users ofansible-core
v2.11 or later which usesreconnection_retries
. This also resolves a bug in the connection that referenced a deprecated constant.zos_job_output
fixes a bug that returned all ddname’s when a specific ddname was provided. Now a specific ddname can be returned and all others ignored.zos_copy
fixes a bug that would not copy subdirectories. If the source is a directory with sub directories, all sub directories will now be copied.
Availability¶
Reference¶
Supported by z/OS® V2R4 or later
Supported by the z/OS® shell
Supported by IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Python 3.8.2 or later
Supported by IBM Z Open Automation Utilities 1.1.0 and Z Open Automation Utilities 1.1.1
Version 1.3.3¶
What’s New¶
Bug Fixes
Modules
zos_copy
was updated to correct deletion of all temporary files and unwarranted deletes.When the module would complete, a cleanup routine did not take into account that other processes had open temporary files and thus would error when trying to remove them.
When the module would copy a directory (source) from USS to another USS directory (destination), any files currently in the destination would be deleted. The modules behavior has changed such that files are no longer deleted unless the
force
option is set totrue
. Whenforce=true
, copying files or a directory to a USS destination will continue if it encounters existing files or directories and overwrite any corresponding files.
zos_job_query
was updated to correct a boolean condition that always evaluated to “CANCELLED”.When querying jobs that are either CANCELLED or have FAILED, they were always treated as CANCELLED.
Availability¶
Reference¶
Supported by z/OS® V2R4 or later
Supported by the z/OS® shell
Supported by IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Python 3.8.2 or later
Supported by IBM Z Open Automation Utilities 1.1.0 and Z Open Automation Utilities 1.1.1
Version 1.3.1¶
What’s New¶
Bug Fixes
Modules
Connection plugin
zos_ssh
was updated to prioritize the execution of modules written in REXX over other implementations such is the case forzos_ping
.zos_ping
was updated to support Automation Hub documentation generation.
Availability¶
Reference¶
Supported by z/OS® V2R4 or later
Supported by the z/OS® shell
Supported by IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Python 3.8.2 or later
Supported by IBM Z Open Automation Utilities 1.1.0 and Z Open Automation Utilities 1.1.1
Known issues¶
Modules
When executing programs using
zos_mvs_raw
, you may encounter errors that originate in the implementation of the programs. Two such known issues are noted below of which one has been addressed with an APAR.zos_mvs_raw
module execution fails when invoking Database Image Copy 2 Utility or Database Recovery Utility in conjunction with FlashCopy or Fast Replication.zos_mvs_raw
module execution fails when invoking DFSRRC00 with parm “UPB,PRECOMP”, “UPB, POSTCOMP” or “UPB,PRECOMP,POSTCOMP”. This issue is addressed by APAR PH28089.
Version 1.3.0¶
What’s New¶
Modules
zos_apf
- Add or remove libraries to and from Authorized Program Facility (APF).zos_backup_restore
- Backup and restore data sets and volumes.zos_blockinfile
- Manage block of multi-line textual data on z/OS.zos_find
- Find matching data sets.zos_data_set
- added support to allocate and format zFS data setszos_operator
- supports new options wait and wait_time_s such that you can specify thatzos_operator
wait the full wait_time_s or return as soon as the first operator command executes.All modules support relative paths and remove choice case sensitivity.
Bug Fixes
Modules
Action plugin
zos_copy
was updated to support Python 2.7.Module
zos_copy
was updated to fail gracefully when a it encounters a non-zero return code.Module
zos_copy
was updated to support copying data set members that are program objects to a PDSE. Prior to this update, copying data set members would yield an error: FSUM8976 Error writing <src_data_set_member> to PDSE member <dest_data_set_member>Job utility is an internal library used by several modules. It has been updated to use a custom written parsing routine capable of handling special characters to prevent job related reading operations from failing when a special character is encountered.
Module
zos_job_submit
was updated to remove all trailing r from jobs that are submitted from the controller.Module
zos_job_submit
referenced a non-existent option and was corrected to wait_time_s.Module
zos_tso_command
support was added for when the command output contained special characters.
Playbooks
Playbook zos_operator_basics.yaml has been updated to use end in the WTO reply over the previous use of cancel. Using cancel is not a valid reply and results in an execution error.
Playbooks
In each release, we continue to expand on use cases and deliver them as playbooks in the playbook repository that can be easily tailored to any system.
Authorize and synchronize APF authorized libraries on z/OS from a configuration file cloned from GitHub
Automate program execution with copy, sort and fetch data sets on z/OS playbook.
Automate user management with add, remove, grant permission, generate passwords, create zFS, mount zFS and send email notifications when deployed to Ansible Tower or AWX with the manage z/OS Users Using Ansible playbook.
Use the configure Python and ZOAU Installation playbook to scan the z/OS target to find the latest supported configuration and generate inventory and a variables configuration.
Automate software management with SMP/E Playbooks
All playbooks have been updated to use our temporary data set feature to avoid any concurrent data set name problems.
In the prior release, all sample playbooks previously included with the collection were migrated to the playbook repository. The playbook repository categorizes playbooks into z/OS concepts and topics, it also covers playbook configuration as well as provide additional community content such as blogs and where to open support tickets for the playbooks.
Documentation
All documentation related to playbook configuration has been migrated to the playbook repository. Each playbook contains a README that explains what configurations must be made to run a sample playbook.
We have been carefully reviewing our users feedback and over time we have compiled a list of information that we feel would help everyone and have released this information in our new FAQs.
Learn about the latest features and experience them before you try them through the blogs that discuss playbooks, modules, and use cases:
Running Batch Jobs on z/OS using Ansible details how to write and execute batch jobs without having to deal with JCL.
z/OS User Management With Ansible explains all about the user management playbook and its optional integration into AWX.
Reference¶
Supported by z/OS® V2R4 or later
Supported by the z/OS® shell
Supported by IBM Open Enterprise SDK for Python 3.8.2 or later
Supported by IBM Z Open Automation Utilities 1.1.0 and Z Open Automation Utilities 1.1.1
Known issues¶
Modules
When executing programs using
zos_mvs_raw
, you may encounter errors that originate in the implementation of the programs. Two such known issues are noted below of which one has been addressed with an APAR.zos_mvs_raw
module execution fails when invoking Database Image Copy 2 Utility or Database Recovery Utility in conjunction with FlashCopy or Fast Replication.zos_mvs_raw
module execution fails when invoking DFSRRC00 with parm “UPB,PRECOMP”, “UPB, POSTCOMP” or “UPB,PRECOMP,POSTCOMP”. This issue is addressed by APAR PH28089.