ChangeMan® ZMF

It is not always obvious to customers exactly where the initial attributes assigned to ERO Release Area datasets are defined. This information may be accessed in the following manner: Select ISPF Option A (Admin) – R (ERO) – A (Application). List the release. Use line command RA to display applications joined to this release. Enter line command AL to list the library types. Enter line command QL to display the default allocation settings or UL to update them. Note: The library type allocation characteristics will only apply BEFORE the area dataset is created. Although updates to the definition panel may be allowed after this point, the dataset will already have been allocated and users will often see the following type of message issued in this situation: Not All Changes Allowed/CMR5502A - Library Type(s) JCL area libraries already allocated. Further information on allocating release area library types may be found in the section entitled ‘Define Application Library Types’ in the Cha

A new version of the ChangeMan ZMF plugin for zowe cli V2.0.5 now exists in the  OpenText Marketplace An new version of the VSCode ChangeMan ZMF Explorer V2.0.5 is now available on the VSCode MarketPlace. Please note that these will be the final version to support Zowe V2. Zowe V3 is due to be released GA at the end of March at which time, we expect to release V3.x of these compatible products. #ChangeManZMF#Announcement#NewRelease-Feature

For several years now, all ChangeMan ZMF enhancement requests have been submitted as ‘Idea’s on the OpenText Community website. This brings the request immediately to Product Management attention and also allows other customers to view, comment and vote on the enhancement requests that are submitted. The ChangeMan ZMF Idea Exchange can be reached here and the Ideas listed may be limited by your individual involvement in them and also by their status. They can be sorted by popularity or by different date criteria. Please register for a userid for this site if you do not already have one or sign in if you do, monitor this location for submissions and either up-vote those Ideas that you like or comment on those that you disagree with/require further information to understand. The more votes received from different sources on any given Idea will increase the likelihood of it being accepted and included in future releases of the product. For maximum benefit and ease make sure that you subsc

Several issues related to the use of the ZMF-Db2 stored procedure, trigger and user defined function (UDF) utility module, CMNDB2DD, have recently been reported. Namely: - OCTCR46A369002 CMNDB2DD abends processing Db2 stored procedures held in zFS library types - OCTCR46A368009 CMNDB2DD fails with SQL -104 processing external SQL stored procedure with HLLX active - OCTCR46A368007 CMNDB2DD truncates DDL when SQUEEZE=YES and HLLX routine are both supplied - OCTCR46A368004 S878 abends running CMNDB2DD with HLLX for large numbers of components ChangeMan ZMF 8.2 Patch 7 and 8.3-compatible hotfixes (ZMF8.2.7.027 and ZMF8.3.0.034, respectively) have now been produced to resolve all the issues listed above. Customers running either of these releases and using, or considering using, CMNDB2DD to manage components of these types should open a case with Support to request the hotfix appropriate for their environment.#SupportTips/KnowledgeDocs#ChangeManZMF#SupportTip#Announcemen

Status: DeliveredThis change (i.e. the introduction of the APRV0003 exit) has been completed and will be delivered with ZMF 8.3 patch 1  We have come across a requirement where certain information needs to be communicated to the package approver for verification/consideration before they give a package approval. In our case, the approve/reject HLLX program will automatically determine when this information needs to be presented to the package approver via the "longMsg" variable.  However, the challenge is that there is no APRV0003 (pre approver entity list) HLLX exit point associated with the CMNAPPLS ISPF panel; there is only an APRV0103 (post approver entity list) HLLX exit point.  Though it is possible to communicate this information to the package approver via APRV0103, the information ends-up being communicated to the package approver after a package's approval-related action is done.  (Granted, some tricky coding can be done with the h

Status: New IdeaIn ZMF4ECL 83, when we edit COBOL program, we use Smart Editor Integration. But every time we open a Changeman member the following dialog box opens : It is displayed even if you do not open a Cobol program (for example a REXX). We need a way to stop opening this dialog box. Or a quick way to deactivate the Smart Editor Integration (without going through Window/Preference)#Staging#ZMF4ECL#Simplify

Is anyone using IBM's CSSMTP SMTP client to send out the email notifications? Did you have to make any changes to the CMNS$$ENT, ENOTIFY2 sample? We are on v8.2 patch 5. Our reason for our wanting to use CSSMTP is make use of its ability to use AT-TLS when connecting to a remote SMTP server. TIA#ChangeManZMF

We all know that the ChangeMan ZMF Db2 Option can provide functionality and utilities to assist in the management of plan/package binds and database request modules (DBRMs), right? However, the ZMF Db2 Option also provides additional functionality to assist in the development and progression through the lifecycle of other Db2 component types. For example, Db2 stored procedures of multiple varieties, user defined functions, database triggers, etc. When reviewing what is currently managed by, or what you would like to manage with, the ZMF Db2 Option please refer to the appropriate version of the ChangeMan ZMF Db2 Option Getting Started Guide, the 8.3 version of which may be found here. #SupportTips/KnowledgeDocs#SupportTip#ChangeManZMF

Status: AcceptedWhile the Promote Lock Reset Function could be good for some customers, and while I can see it's potential for keeping the test environments squeaky clean at package install time, it is not a one-size-fits-all feature.  Here at Truist, we are very mature in our Approval pipeline processing.  We integrated the ChangeMan package record workflow into the Change Request scheduling and implementation processing within ServiceNow.  The Promote Lock Reset Function is a feature that would pose a risk at Truist as programmers may tend to overuse the feature to get past the package / Change Request approval halt rather than fix the promotion failure before proceeding, which defeats the purpose of ensuring that the promotions that failed should be reviewed and fixed to ensure that the test environment is cleaned up in the expected manner at package installation or baseline time.  In addition, we have controlled

Have you ever wondered what the CMNBILOD program that is executed in a number of distributed build procedures actually does? Which input/output DD statements may be specified for use by the CMNBKRST unload/load/forward recovery utility? The JCL parameters that can be supplied to the SERCOPY enhanced copy program? Or anything else related to any of the generic utility programs supplied with the ChangeMan ZMF product? If so, your first port of call should be the Utilities section of the ChangeMan ZMF Customization Guide. This manual covers all of the information required to allow standard usage of a large number of these utility programs and the 8.3 version can be found here.  Note also that some more specialised utility programs will be documented in the manual provided for the specific option. For example, module CMNDB2PL is covered in the ChangeMan ZMF Db2 Option Getting Started Guide. So, if you cannot find your required documentation in the Customization Guide, please check the

Status: New IdeaAccording to the Micro Focus (now OpenText) documentation (User Guide Page 300), when ERO is NOT purchased by an organization, Input fields for the ERO product should not appear on panels presented to our users of ChangeMan ZMF.  We found that not to be the case.  The Release ID field on the CMNLIST8 panel is delivered as an Input field, even though we don't purchase ERO, which makes it very confusing for our users.  It would be best practice that if an Input query field is present on a panel, I would expect that the ‘possibility’ of that query value being true at some point, and not always false with no chance of being true.  For example, if I query for packages where the status=BAK packages, this is a legitimate query that will sometimes be true.  However, with the ERO product not being licensed here at our organization, the query will never be true.  It just leads to confusion.  To make the ZMF product more user frien

Customers must often create their own ZMF build procedures, or customize existing build procedures, to generate additional, related component types. When doing this it is often tempting to create generated components directly within the package staging dataset and to use that staging dataset as BAT90IN input to the associated BAT90/PGM=CMNBAT90 step. This temptation should be avoided for several reasons, such as: a) potential contention writing to the target dataset when multiple build requests execute concurrently. b) incorrect relationships being generated for the SRC component. Specifically for b), and as documented in the CMNBAT90 section of the ZMF Customization Guide (the 8.3 version of which can be found here), the BAT90IN dataset is a 'Library containing the build output components to be registered in the package master'. A component relationship (i.e. ‘SRC-to-LOD’ or ‘ILOD’) record will be written for the SRC component being built to every member contained in this BAT90IN dat

Every time a new ChangeMan ZMF release is made Generally Available, a Supported Platform Matrix spreadsheet is also produced and made available for download alongside the product software on the Support Portal. This document contains compatibility information for the associated ZMF release with relevant software released by both IBM and OEM providers. It should be downloaded, assessed as a part of the installation/upgrade effort and also stored for reference if/when upgrading any of those related products.  #Upgrade#SupportTips/KnowledgeDocs#compatibility#ChangeManZMF

When upgrading your ZMF systems, a summary of the changes you can expect to see may be found in the ‘New Features and Fixes’ section of the Readme file associated with that release. For example, this documentation for the ZMF 8.3 release may be found here. Also, as mentioned in the Readme files, if you are upgrading from anything other than the prior software level, e.g. if you are upgrading to ZMF 8.3 from anything other than 8.2 Patch 7, you must also refer to all new features and fixes implemented in those interim releases that have been skipped. Again by way of example, you can obtain a summary and/or links to the enhancements and fixes in all of the ChangeManZMF 8.2.x releases from the ZMF 8.2 Patch 7 Readme file, which may be accessed here. #SupportTip#SupportTips/KnowledgeDocs#ChangeManZMF

Several customers that have upgraded to the ZMF 8.3 release have been caught out by issues linked to ‘Promote locked’ and ‘CMN8856I - Package is promote locked.’ messages being issued during the final approval of packages. When upgrading to ZMF 8.3 or later releases please ensure that you are familiar with the contents of KB article KM000024359.#ChangeManZMF#SupportTips/KnowledgeDocs#SupportTip

ChangeMan ZMF 8.3 introduced new functionality to allow more granularity in the control of access to the Monitor - Install and Monitor - Promotion options (ZMF ISPF options M.2 and M.3, respectively). Customers upgrading to ZMF 8.3 should be aware of this change and consider any implications, especially if they use ACF2 or Top Secret (TSS) to manage security. Further information on this functionality may be found in the ‘New Features and Fixes’ section of the ZMF 8.3 Readme file and the ‘Access to ChangeMan ZMF Functions’ section in the ZMF Installation Guide.#SupportTip#ChangeManZMF#SupportTips/KnowledgeDocs

Several customers have encountered issues where ZMF REST API webhooks are failing to connect to their endpoints, receiving redirect http 3nn response codes. For example, 302, 308, etc. These failures are linked to a known issue in older versions of the Apache HttpClient software and further details, including a potential solution, can be found here.#SupportTips/KnowledgeDocs#ChangeManZMF#SupportTip

Customers often ask how they can stop the CMNs381E (where s = ZMF subsystem ID) error messages that can be frequently repeated in the system log (SYSLOG)? For example: CMNT381E Scheduling error detected at CMNSCHED+05FC for SUBMIT DEMO002605 Please refer to KB article KM000009627 for details on analysis and resolution. #SupportTip#SupportTips/KnowledgeDocs#ChangeManZMF

Status: New IdeaI am using both VSC and IDz to do various tasks (create/edit JCL, create/edit REXX, etc.) that are easier in an IDE than just connecting to the green screens via a terminal emulator package. However, I cannot find context menus to perform ADMIN functions (stub submit jobs, check baseline or staging libraries, etc.). Is this something that you can look into? I realize it's probably a limited use case, but it would sure make my life easier...#ZMF#ZMF4ECL

Hi Please, could you clarify me the following doubt(s)? From Product Support Lifecycle for ChangeMan ZMF v8.2 product, the Current Maintenance End Date is now 30 Sep 2025. www.screencast.com/.../mf4fvc6vE7Y On the other hand, in the platform matrix document for each patch release for this version shows Operating system platform supported. For instance, z/OS 2.5 is supported for ChangeMan ZMF v8.2 patch 06 but I am not sure if this Changeman version is/will be supported in z/OS 3.1 Since the Current Maintenance End Date is now 30 Sep 2025, how can I know if I need to upgrade my ChangeMan ZMF v8.2 if the z/OS is upgraded (for instance, from z/OS 2.5 to z/OS 3.1)?. Apparently, now I would not need to upgrade my ChangeMan v8.2 version. isn't like that? (Well, it is always advisable to ask to support before making a change of this caliber).   Thank you Regards Manuel#ChangeManZMF

ZMF 8.3 changed the behaviour of RACF password and password phrase processing for users connecting to a ZMF Server instance from non-mainframe user interfaces (e.g. ZDD, ZMF4ECL, zMobile, the Rest Services API web app, etc.). Specifically, the input password or password phrase is no longer automatically folded to uppercase even if the RACF PASSWORD(NOMIXEDCASE) option is set. Customers should ensure that they test these non-mainframe connections as part of their ZMF 8.3 mainframe software upgrade process to verify that these changes have no adverse impact in their particular environment. Full information on this issue, including details of a hotfix that may potentially be required, can be found here. #SupportTip#SupportTips/KnowledgeDocs#ChangeManZMF

ChangeMan ZMF submits many jobs potentially running across multiple LPARs within any given environment. As such it is liable to submit jobs that encounter S047 abends which indicate that “…An unauthorized program issued a restricted Supervisor Call (SVC) instruction…”. Several years ago we put together this S047 abend diagnosis article to assist customers in investigating/resolving such problems and which some customers may still find useful.#SupportTip#SupportTips/KnowledgeDocs#ChangeManZMF

There are several third party/independent software vendor (ISV) products that are known to potentially impact ChangeMan ZMF processing. For example, both Broadcom’s PDSMAN and Seasoft’s PDSFAST products have been known to interfere with the successful completion of various functions within ZMF. The ChangeMan ZMF Installation Guide (the 8.3 version of which can be found here) contains a list of several products known to cause such issues. Customers should ensure that they are aware of this documentation and take the appropriate action to avoid any software conflicts causing problems in their ZMF environment. #SupportTip#ChangeManZMF#SupportTips/KnowledgeDocs

I am wondering if there are others managing these component types and have any useful information to share.#Webservices

When executing XMLSERV, SERXMLS returns a RC=8 but nothing else indicating why.#ChangeManZMF