HCI installation considerations

This topic describes considerations for installing the Host Communications Interface (HCI) which is a requirement for several BMC AMI DevX products.

TCP/IP considerations

To avoid any unpredictable connection issues, make sure all current IBM maintenance is applied to TCP/IP.
Before you install the HCI on a z/OS LPAR, you must be able to run TCP/IP traffic from the workstation to that LPAR or host.

System Security

For the HCI to function properly, you must permit access to the following, regardless of whether it is a started-task or a submitted job:

All libraries in the STEPLIB concatenation must be Authorized.
HCI PARMLIB data set containing HCI Server Activation Facility members.

You must authorize HCI for the following via the MVS system security package:

To generate SDUMPs. If DMPPFX=SDUMP has been specified (the SDUMP specification is recommended by BMC).
To output submitted jobs via an internal reader
For operator commands with update authority:
- START
- STOP
- CANCEL
- MODIFY (if OPCMD=MODIFY has been specified)

Security settings

HCI can switch ACID (UserID) while processing certain requests. Some security package settings may then prevent the HCI from writing to JES sysout after this is done. Installation with such strict security settings will need to allow the HCI task proper access to the JESSPOOL class.

Installations that have such settings—that limit any or all user access to output from other users—can do so by setting the appropriate profiles for the security class JESSPOOL.

Profiles for JESSPOOL are in the format:

Local-nodename.userid.jobname.jobid.dsnumber.name

Using combinations of userIDs and wildcard characters, output viewing can be limited on a userID or groupID basis as the installation chooses.

Please consult your installation's security software administration documentation for additional information. For RACF installations, controlling access to output via the JESSPOOL class is documented in IBM’s z/OS Security Server RACF Security Administrator's guide, in the section entitled, “Controlling Access to Spool Data”.

For BMC AMI DevX Total Test Functional Test Users

If you are using BMC AMI DevX Total Test Functional Test, you will need to add the Language Environment SCEERUN library to the STEPLIB concatenation in the HCI start-up JCL.

For users of BMC AMI DevX Total Test, settings should be REGION=0M and Language environment ALL31(ON) and STACK(,,ANYWHERE).

Example

Add the DD statements² (below) to the HCI start-up JCL when running Total Test through HCI.
//SYSOUT DD SYSOUT=*
//CEEDUMP DD DUMMY
//XASYSOUT DD SYSOUT=*
PTF CXS902A removes the need for //XASYSOUT.

For Top Secret Users

For users of Top Secret for system security, it requires a new facility to be placed in the Facility Matrix Table. Use the following facility control options:

FACILITY (USER33=NAME=HCI)
FACILITY(HCI=MODE=FAIL)
FACILITY (HCI=NOABEND, ASUBM, NOAUDIT, AUTHINIT, NOINSTDATA)
FACILITY (HCI=MULTIUSER, PGM=HCI, SHRPRF, SIGN(M), NOTSOC)
FACILITY (HCI=RES, KEY=8, NOXDEF, NOLUMSG, NOSTMSG)

For Topaz Endevor interface users

For the users of the Topaz Endevor interface, after receiving PTF CXSC30A, the SMP/E USERMOD UCX001A must be applied. The USERMOD, and the job to receive and apply the USERMOD, can be found in member UCX001A in the SLCXCNTL library. This job must be run after receiving PTF CXSC30A. This must also be run after Endevor maintenance is applied, as well as when instructed in HOLDDATA for BMC ECC PTFs.

Important

The UCX001A member must be modified manually to match your installation configuration.

Configuration considerations

In order to facilitate communication with a z/OS LPAR, you must install and configure the Host Communications Interface (HCI) on that LPAR. Depending on the BMC mainframe applications and the functionality that you plan to use, you might need to specify additional CSS TP parameters. For detailed explanations of CSS TP configuration parameters, see the installation guides of the BMC AMI products that require them.

The ECC media provides an automated mainframe upload and SMP/E installation facility within the media browser. The automated installation facility uploads, restores, and performs an SMP/E installation of the ECC software. During the automated installation process, the data set hlq.CYnnnnnn.SMPE.DATA is created. This data set contains the data set names and other variables related to your installed ECC software.

The BMC AMI Common Shared Services mainframe Transaction Program (CSS TP) serves as the primary contact point between the mainframe and certain BMC AMI products, including BMC AMI DevX Workbench for Eclipse. CSS TP services include job submission, output viewing, data set retrieval and updates, Code Debug session launch, and starting sub-tasks that support File-AID/Eclipse and BMC AMI DevX Data Studio Data Privacy sessions.

For Strobe sites that use HCI, use the same port number to configure HCI for BMC AMI DevX Workbench for Eclipse. The HCI that you configure for BMC AMI DevX Workbench for Eclipse runs instead of the HCI that you have set up for Strobe, and this change is transparent to Strobe users.

For BMC AMI DevX DevEnterprise sites that use HCI, you may choose to merge the HCI you configure for BMC AMI DevX Workbench for Eclipse with the HCI that you have configured for BMC AMI DevX DevEnterprise.