zPDT New Release Information

README file for the zPDT distribution CD/zip from ITC.


This CD (.iso) or zip file contains the files provided by IBM to allow the installation and use of the z1090 / zPDT system on your Linux based system. ITC has included some additional IBM and ITC documentation for your convenience. This distribution package has been updated to include updated authentication procedures. This package is for zPDT release 1.12, driver 59.17.


The CD (.ISO) and zip file are organized into the following sections or directories:


  1. Important information for all systems

  2. Installable Linux code

  3. Documentation / publications


For a complete tree view of the directories and their contents, see the next page.


There are important documents/notices in the root directory with this README file. You should also review the External Release Letter carefully. It contains information about the installation and use of zPDT in general and this release specifically. The license agreement for the zPDT software is included in the "International License Agreement for Non-Warranted Programs" and you should review this prior to installing the zPDT code. You will be required to accept the license agreement when you install the code.


As with the all recent zPDT releases, this the zPDT 1.12 59.17 driver has only a single installable file and it is named z1090-1-12.59.17.x86_64. The install file will determine whether the target system is Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE or Ubuntu (openSUSE or SLES) and then install the appropriate version of the code and libraries.


The supported levels of Linux must be at least the 64-bit version of the following: Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8.9 or greater, SLES 15 SP5 or greater, openSUSE Leap 15.5 or greater, and Ubuntu 20.04 or greater. Earlier versions are not supported.



This release (1.12) continues the use of the Z1090_token_update program which replaces the SecureUpdateUtility along with a new update process. You should review the new process in the new Redbook volume or refer to the “ITC 1090 GA12_Authentication_Procedure NEW - GA12 Only as of 2024 JULY” document.


For the new replacement tokens the use update process is different. You should review the new process in the new Redbook volume or refer to the “ITC 1090 GA12_Authentication_Procedure NEW - GA12 Only as of 2024 JULY ” document. All documents are in the “Pubs” directory.


If you are installing the 1090 application for the first time, refer to the Redbook titled zPDT Guide and Reference, SG24-8205-06, chapter five, zPDT Installation. Please be sure that you have installed the appropriate version of Linux and the prerequisites before proceeding to install the 1090 code. If you have already installed the appropriate version of Linux and the required prerequisites, and you are upgrading from a previous zPDT level, please proceed to the next step.


ITC uPDT customers with a current support agreement can request specific installation instructions and assistance from ITC.


You are urged to review the included External Release Letter carefully for updated and changed features of zPDT.


  1. Directory layout and contents



/ (root directory)


/linux (Installable Files for use on OpenSUSE and RHEL systems)


/pubs (Publications of use related to zPDT)

Detailed the legacy dongle update process.














See Additional Important notes on the next page.


Additional important notes:


7.1. Restrictions

  1. SNA is not supported.

  2. Multicast IP is not supported via OSE managed devices. Multicast IP is only supported with OSA defined in OSD mode.



7.2 Exceptions



7.3 Other Notes


Addendum



The IBM 1090 license tokens have been an important part of zPDT since it was

released. The technology involved with these tokens has aged and zPDT must

switch to new tokens. The general plan is to require the use of the new tokens

when renewing a zPDT license, starting in the first quarter 2024. Since licenses are generally good for a year, this should result in all users having new tokens by the end of 2024. zPDT will support both the old tokens and the new tokens for at least a year.


The handling of IBM 1091 license tokens used by some ZD&T customers will

be addressed in the future. The software-only ZD&T licenses will not be replaced and will continue to be used.


As a general plan, the Information Technology Company (ITC) will handle the actual distribution of the new tokens. ITC will provide suitable documentation and forum notes. Depending on the customer situation, there might be a minor fee to cover the actual cost of the new tokens. The new tokens are USB devices, slightly smaller than the previous tokens, and have IBM model numbers such as 1090-LT1, 1090-LT2, and so forth.


There are only a few technical changes involved in using the new tokens. For

example, request_license and update_license commands replace the previous

Z1090_token_update command. The query_license command has been expanded to include details about the new tokens. Some IBM and ITC documentation uses the terms Gen1 (for the older SHK tokens) and Gen2 (for the new LDK tokens); this terminology was created a few years ago and these are simply convenient names with no special meanings.


For the newer (Gen2) 1090 tokens, do the following:


LEAP SECONDS:

Previous zPDT releases have automatically added a leap-seconds offset value to

the time-of-day value it obtains from the base Linux. This results in the time

of day used by z/OS (for example) being different from the Linux time of day by

about 30 seconds. Over the years this has created awkward comparisons for zPDT customers interested in automated timing comparisons, and so forth. A new devmap option is provided to bypass this automatic addition of leap seconds and this should result in the z/OS time of day (for example) being within one or two seconds of the Linux time of day. The specific devmap option goes in the “[system]” stanza and is:

cpuopt ADD_LEAPSEC=OFF

to stop the addition of leap seconds to the Linux time-of-day used by zPDT.

The default is to add the leap seconds to the time-of-day value to keep consistent with prior zPDT releases. Future release may change the default to not add the leap seconds in.



Information Technology Company LLC