FICON purge path extended

image. A system conﬁ guration using FCP LUN Access Control may signiﬁ cantly reduce the number of FCP chan- nels (FICON Express features) that are needed to provide controlled access to the data on FCP SCSI devices. FCP LUN Access Control complements the zoning and LUN masking schemes that exist in open storage environments. All of these types of access control can be used together.

FCP LUN Access Control will allow read-only sharing of FCP SCSI devices among multiple operating system images via a shared FCP Channel. A device to be used in shared read-only mode must be deﬁ ned accordingly in the access control table.

Conﬁ guration Utility: The Conﬁ guration Utility for FCP LUN Access Control is expected to be a Linux user space application which will be used to conﬁ gure the FCP LUN Access Control.

To deﬁ ne and activate LUN Access Control, you would create an access control table that describes the access rights in XML format. In this table, you would deﬁ ne access rights to storage controllers and devices in the SAN and identify devices to be shared in read-only mode.

The Conﬁ guration Utility for FCP LUN Access Control is required to process the access control table, verify proper speciﬁ cation of the rules, and activate the access control functions in the FCP channel.

The Conﬁ guration Utility for FCP LUN Access Control is a package consisting of user documentation and sample

ﬁles with a skeleton to help you generate an XML-format access control table, and the utility program itself. The program is intended to provide a command line interface (CLI) and be supported by Linux on zSeries.

It is expected that the Conﬁ guration Utility will be pro- vided for download by registered users via Resource Link: ibm.com/servers/resourcelink/.

When available, FCP LUN Access Control will be sup- ported by the FICON Express2 features when conﬁ gured as CHPID type FCP, will be exclusive to z890 and z990, and is planned to be available in the z/VM and Linux on zSeries environments. This statement represents IBM’s current intentions. IBM development plans are subject to change or withdrawal without further notice.

IBM zSeries is interested in obtaining customers to par- ticpate in an Early Support Program. We encourage you to contact your IBM representative.

The new purge path extended function provides enhanced capability for FICON problem determination.

FICON purge path error-recovery function is extended so that it transfers error-related data and statistics between the channel and entry switch, and the control unit and its entry switch to the host operating system.

z/OS 1.6 can now record this information so that it can be used to more quickly isolate the source of link-related errors by both channel and control unit ﬁ eld personnel.

FICON purge path extended applies to the FICON Express2 features when conﬁ gured as CHPID type FC (native FICON), is exclusive to z890 and z990, and is sup- ported by z/OS and z/OS.e. Refer to the Hardware and Software requirements sections for further information.