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Version: Early Access

z/OS file.File Deployment

Objective​

This guide walks you through deploying text files to z/OS systems using Digital.ai Deploy. Two key tasks:

  • Automatic Text File Transcoding: Ensuring that text files are automatically converted to the z/OS-compatible EBCDIC (CP1047) encoding format.
  • Placeholder Replacement: Replacing placeholders in configuration files with actual values for z/OS environment.

Before You Begin​

Ensure you have:

  • Digital.ai Deploy running instance.
  • SSH/SFTP credentials: These credentials are essential for establishing a secure connection between your Digital.ai Deploy server and the z/OS system where the application will be deployed.

What Do You Have?​

Let's assume you have two files that need to be deployed to z/OS:

  • File with Placeholders: textfilewithphUTF8.txt – This file contains placeholders like ${APP_NAME} and ${VERSION} that need to be replaced during deployment.
  • File without Placeholders: nophutf8.txt – A simple text file without any placeholders, but still needs to be converted to the correct EBCDIC format for z/OS compatibility.

How Does It Work?​

Follow the steps below to deploy these files with proper transcoding and placeholder replacement.

Set Up Your Connection to z/OS​

To begin the deployment process, you first need to establish a connection to your z/OS environment. For more information, see Connect to a z/OS Host.

Configure File Encoding Settings​

Configure the following settings to handle file encoding during deployment:

Text File Transcoding​

In your type-defaults.properties file:

# Define which files should be transcoded to EBCDIC
udm.BaseDeployableFolderArtifact.textFileNamesRegexToTranscode=.+\.(txt|properties|xml|conf)

# Exclude binary files from transcoding
udm.BaseDeployableFolderArtifact.excludeFileNamesRegexToTranscode=.+\.(jpg|png|pdf|zip)

Placeholder Handling​

Configure placeholder scanning:

# Define which files should be scanned for placeholders
udm.BaseDeployableFolderArtifact.textFileNamesRegex=.+\.(txt|properties|xml|conf)

Here's a step-by-step.

Step 1 - Log into Digital.ai Deploy​

Step 2 - Set Up Infrastructure​

  1. Navigate to Infrastructure > Menu > New > overthere > ZosHost
  2. Configure the host:
    • Name: Your z/OS host name
    • Address: Host address
    • Port: SSH port (usually 22)
    • Username: SSH username
    • Password: SSH password
  3. Test the connection using Check connection

Step 3 - Create Environment​

  1. Go to Environment > Menu > New > Environment
  2. Configure:
    • Name: Environment name (e.g., zos-prod)
    • Containers: Select your z/OS infrastructure

Step 4 - Create Application​

  1. Navigate to Applications > Menu > New > Application
  2. Add deployable files:
    • For files with placeholders:
      • Target path: /your/zos/path
      • Enable placeholder replacement
    • For files without placeholders:
      • Target path: /your/zos/path
      • File transcoding will happen automatically based on your configuration

Step 5 - Create and Deploy Package​

  1. Create a deployment package from your application
  2. Deploy to your z/OS environment
  3. Monitor the deployment for successful file transcoding and placeholder replacement

Step 6 - Verification​

After deployment:

  • Check that text files are properly encoded in EBCDIC
  • Verify that placeholders have been replaced with correct values
  • Confirm file permissions and ownership on z/OS

Troubleshooting​

Common issues and solutions:

  • If files appear corrupted, verify transcoding patterns
  • For placeholder issues, check the placeholder syntax and defined values
  • For connection issues, verify SSH/SFTP credentials and firewall settings