Streamline z/OS application updating and
processing with Mail2ZOS/FTPSweeper. Simplify the updating of z/OS
application data and ‘on demand’ processing via email messages and/or attachments.
Eliminate open FTP ports, simplify TSO account management, and reduce calls to operations
to ‘run a job’.
Business Challenge
A large percentage of mission-critical business applications run on the mainframe.
Getting raw data to these applications can be problematic in many organizations.
Users are no longer accustomed to using green-screens and creating web-based applications
to facilitate user entry of data is not always cost effective or justifiable.
Business Need
- Improve service to business units, customers, business partners, etc. by increasing
the ease with which data can be delivered to your applications for processing and
turn-around.
- Simplify infrastructure and lower costs through the efficient e-delivery of end-user
data (ie; employee, customer and business partner desktop, laptop and mobile devices)
over the Internet, intranet or extranet; via the universally supported transport
mechanisms of email and FTP.
- Boost productivity by relieving your own operations staff of the job of manually
moving this data into mainframe files and starting the application processes; decreasing
the elapsed time for turning around the data and producing results; and by notifying
desired parties that the work has completed satisfactorily.
Our Solution
Mail2ZOS and FTPSweeper provide two solutions to this problem:
The most convenient method for moving data around is email. The simplicity to "send
and forget"; the elegance of the store-and-forward transport mechanism; and
the universality of support on nearly every known computing platform make email
the ideal way to transport data. Mail2ZOS allows data files to be emailed to the
mainframe. Those email messages and their attachments can be received by Mail2ZOS
while acting as a specialized SMTP server. In addition, Mail2ZOS can be instructed
to pick up messages from a POP3 server by acting as an email client.
Often, a more direct approach is appropriate where the user will place the file
onto an FTP server to be "swept up" by FTPSweeper. The user can accomplish
this by using an FTP client, or more easily, by copying the file to a network folder
that is accessible by the FTP server to which FTPSweeper will connect. These files
can then be swept up by FTPSweeper on an "as needed" or on a scheduled
basis and saved into host files for processing. An additional mode referred to as
HFSSweeper adds the ability to sweep the HFS (Heirarchichal File System) folders
in IBM's Unix System Services component of the host.
Once data files have been located, the principle product functions are:
- Decode attached files and store them into host files.
- Perform the desired actions on the body or attachments:
- Save to a host file and submit a job to process.
- Write the file to JES as a SYSOUT (printout).
- Wrap JCL around the data and submit it for execution.
- Dynamically compose a job stream (JCL) and submit it for execution.
- Send email notifications to keep appropriate people informed.
- Use the script language for more extensive processing of the message body (cover
page) and attachments.