A new SMP/E FIXCAT joins the family

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(Repost from October 11, 2021)

Finding required PTFs on your driving system has never been so easy.

As you know, with the General Availability of z/OS V2.5 on September 30, 2021, all the IBM Shopz product catalog is now fully available to install with z/OSMF.  However, that brings up another point.  How do you know if all the PTFs you need are on your driving system?  After all, some of the necessary PTFs are rather recent.  

As you might have guessed - SMP/E FIXCATs to the rescue!

We've created a new SMP/E FIXCAT to identify all the PTFs you'll need on your driving system for installation.   And this goes beyond just z/OSMF, to SMP/E or other utilities which play a role in getting your software properly installed.  And it goes beyond what you'll need for the z/OS core product installation, and will include other software on the z/OS stack.  With such an important encompassing new SMP/E FIXCAT, I thought it deserved its own article to make sure you didn't miss it.  

Here's the official description of our newest FIXCAT:
IBM.DrivingSystem-RequiredService:  Fixes required on a z/OS driving system to install a new release of z/OS or other software products. May include fixes for z/OSMF, SMP/E, or other components and products used during the software installation process.

You might have found individual PTFs documented in the z/OS Planning for Installation book, and we'll be moving those PTFs list over to instructions on how to use the new SMP/E FIXCAT.    This is just as we have done years ago with the IBM.TargetSystem-RequiredService FIXCATs.  After all, PTFs are slow to appear in publications, but are quick to be found with FIXCATs. 

As a reminder, here's how to use SMP/E FIXCATs:

  1. Ensure you have acquired the latest Enhanced HOLDDATA.  The HOLDDATA contains all the information on FIXCATs, and is refreshed daily.  If you use SMP/E RECEIVE ORDER, the latest HOLDDATA comes along for the ride.  If you automate RECEIVE ORDER, which I know many of you do, then all the better.  You've got the latest HOLDDATA already available in your SMP/E GLOBAL zone.
  2. Run the report to see if you have any PTFs missing from your driving system.  Make sure you point to the target zone of your driving system, as that is the system on which you will be doing installation work.  

SET BDY(GLOBAL).
REPORT MISSINGFIX ZONES(ZOS24T)
  FIXCAT(IBM.DrivingSystem-RequiredService).

Periodically, you can run the same report to see if anything new has been identified that you'll need on your driving system.  

As with all IBM SMP/E FIXCATs, they are documented on this website.

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