Does FlexNet Inventory Agent support IBM Z Mainframe?

[#1]

Summary

This article discusses the current support status around the IBM Z Mainframe.

Question

Does the FlexNet inventory agent support IBM Z Mainframe operating systems such as the following?

1. z/OS V2.x
2. Linux on Z
3. z/VM
4. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.x for System Z
5. Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.x for System Z

Answer

The FlexNet inventory agent does not currently support IBM Z Mainframe systems.

Additional Information

The following idea to support Linux on Z systems is being tracked in the Ideas portal: ITAM-I-176. Please vote for this idea if it would be helpful for your organization.

[darwin_hammons]

The Status of this case

An enhancement request to support Z systems is being tracked under IOJ-1754050.

[Vijayflexera]

Do we have any workaround to get discovery data from IBM mainframe servers. 

If yes, please provide the details. 

[kclausen]

@Vijayflexera  - The workaround is to use another Discovery Tool that supports the mainframe, such as TAD4Z and then import the inventory from that tool into FlexNet Manager.

[Vijayflexera]

Thanks for your inputs! But Tivoli licenses need to be procured or any free versions available for usage. 

[ChrisG]

@Vijayflexera - I am not aware of any free products (Tivoli or otherwise) that can gather hardware and software inventory from IBM mainframe environments and make it available in a form that would be suitable for importing into FlexNet Manager Suite. I only know of commercial products that cost money.

[alaine_perrott]

Any update on the enhancement request IOJ-1754050?

[Flex-Jeremy]

This enhancement request is still pending. At this time we do not have an ETA on when this would be added to the Inventory agent. 

[hkaufman]

We are also interested in an agent version running under zLinux.

[steffen]

In the latest release 2022r2 (19.0) OnPrem there is an Agent available for Linux on z/OS.

We installed it on a SUSE guest (using root user).

But there are a few thinks not showing as expected:

• in FNMS it is calssified as a Host - I would expect a VM
• there is no Serial Number shown
• I'm missing some Hierachy, like LPAR and Host which seams to be present in the ndi file (3Layers)
• each of the 3 layer has detailed HW info in the ndi file but only layer 3 is showing up as host but inside ndi file labled as "Layer3TypeName" Value="z/VM-guest"

We dont use "Assets" in FNMS - is this possibly a prerequisite?

I also could not find any Flexera documentation onto this topic

Any comments are welcome or should I open up a case here?

greetings

Steffen

[jcp_haumersen]

Hello,

I was told that the FlexNet agent for zLinux was planned for FNMS 2023 R1 (on prem).

Is this correct ?

Kind Regards,

John

[AamerSharif]

Hi @jcp_haumersen,

For Flexera One (Cloud) customers it will be available in Q1 2023 and for On-Prem it will be part of the FNMS 2023 R1 (on-prem) release.

The focus of this release is Linux on IBM Z z/VM/KVM.

Thanks

Aamer

[steffen]

Thanks for confirmation Aamer,

we are really looking forward for that functionality in 2023R1 OnPrem!

currently, using Agent 19 for z/os on FNMW 2022R2 (onPrem) the ndi files will be produced just fine and find their way into FNMSInventory. In FNMSCompliance though they are not visable most of the time, even each having unique AgentID. I expect that this functionality (3 Layers, Guest, LPAR, Mainframe) will be solved/created in the next on Prem release like already stated. Looks like in the current release the different guests will be merged (overwritten) and sometimes even enter as "VM Host"...so still some open topics to be resoved until next release...

I fully understand that this functionality is not offically supported right now (enven though Flexera provided tha Agent Install Source!)

Thanks and greetings

Steffen