Bringing z/OS Systems into Today’s Modern App Development
Modern application development is all about automation, addressing the concerns of developers and the operational side of the house, and supporting the common CI/CD (continuous integration/continuous delivery) approach needed to keep apps up to date.
Developers typically make use of a variety of open source and other tools to aid in their work. While most of these tools were created for traditional server or cloud-native environments. Some of the most powerful tools are available to run natively in z/OS environments.
One example is Ansible, an open source community project for app deployment, configuration management and orchestration. It is available for z/OS.
The IT automation engine works by connecting to your nodes and pushing out small programs called “Ansible modules” to them. These programs are written to be resource models of the desired state of the system. Ansible then executes these modules and removes them when finished.
Simply put, Ansible allows developers to automate z/OS applications. With Ansible, developers can use existing JCL, REXX and z/OSMF to automate z/OS-based software. This lets the developer take a common approach to hybrid applications and integrate z/OS into an enterprise automation strategy consistently.
A great advantage is that developers can work in Ansible and Python. These are readily available skills in the marketplace and they can be applied to z/OS applications.
Another common tool is Jenkins, an open source, server-based tool that builds and tests software continuously, supporting CI/CD. Jenkins integrates with a broad range of source code management systems such as Git and Subversion. Jenkins’ capabilities can be extended to different platforms and systems using plugins. One such z/OS connector is the IBM z/OS Connector, a plugin for connection of Jenkins CI to IBM z/OS, including integration of IBM SCLM as SCM.
With tools such as these, developers can build a CI/CD pipeline that, for example, calls open source scripting that you have running on Z. It might move some files from A to B, or it might call a compiler. It helps someone familiar with these tools carry out these tasks and incorporate them into their processes. If they are running on the z/OS platform, developers can interface and make calls right on the platform. For example, an app may take advantage of existing mainframe Rex scripting without having to rewrite it.
Accounting for Cultural Differences
In today’s always-on, instant-access-to-everything world, employees and customers demand frequent updates and new features to existing applications and services, as well as new and better offerings all the time. Meeting these demands is a competitive differentiator.
Bringing commonly used open source development, workflow automation and CI/CD tools to the z/OS environment helps businesses speed the development of new applications to meet changing demands of their customers. It allows a business to leverage the data and applications on its z/OS systems and create innovative new applications.
It’s also about providing the tooling to DevOps that they are familiar with and providing tools to build z/OS applications in the same way they build other applications. Many are building their applications off-platform with the same tools. Having tools that run on z/OS is helpful. It makes it easier. Businesses can make fewer application changes. So, there’s less risk.
If a business has 20, 30 or even 40 years’ of legacy applications running on z/OS, those applications have proven to be secure, stable and reliable. An open source application development tool for z/OS offers a way to retain those qualities and modernize application development for building pipelines and instituting DevOps principles and practices that are well-known to the new generation of developers.
