Open Mainframe Project and Modernization of Applications on IBM Z, Project Zowe

Posted by Rick Fowler, TCC Director of Mainframe Services

By serving as a focal point for deployment and use of Linux and open Source in a z/OS mainframe environment, the Open Mainframe Project’s goal and objective is for the increased collaboration across the mainframe community to develop solutions, shared tool sets and resources. Their overall vision is to ensure that “Open Source on the Mainframe as the standard for enterprise class systems and applications. Furthermore, their mission is to build a “community and adoption of Open source on the mainframe by:

• Eliminating barriers to Open Source adoption on the mainframe
• Demonstrating value of the mainframe on technical and business levels
• Strengthening collaboration points and resources for the community to thrive

In summary, what is the Zowe project? Its main objective is to offer modern interfaces that can interact with the mainframe z/OS architecture and infrastructure in a process similar to what is experienced on today’s cloud platforms. These interfaces can be used as delivered, simply out of the box or via plug-ins/extensions that are created by the client themselves or via third-party vendors.

Zowe is made up of the four main components:

• APP Framework – contains a Web user interface (UI) for a full screen interactive experience. This includes 3270 terminal interactions and Web interfaces such as z/OSMF.
• Explorer Server – a process that provides for a range of APIs for the management of jobs, data sets and z/OS UNIX System Services/files.
• API Mediation Layer – which is an API abstraction layer by which APIs can be discovered, catalogued, and presented uniformly.
• Zowe CLI – which is a command-line interface that allows interaction with the mainframe remotely; allowing common tools such as: Integrated Development Environments, shell commands, bash scripts and build tools that result in a set of utilities/services that application developers can become more efficient in supporting/building z/OS.

Having been a mainframe geek since the 1970s and still going strong, I see this project enabling organizations to take advantage of the zMainframes’ five nines for RSA (Reliability/Serviceability/Availability) in providing an efficient suite of applications and service.

Read more on the Open Mainframe Project and Zowe at:

https://www.openmainframeproject.org/

To learn more about TCC’s Mainframe Managed Services please visit our website https://www.e-tcc.com/managed-services.